University of Richmond Athletics
My Perspective: Paul Sterbenz
The following is the text of the remarks made by former Richmond men's soccer player and four-year letter winner Paul Sterbenz. He reflected on his time playing for the Spiders men's soccer team and representing the University of Richmond at the Senior Awards Banquet in the spring of 1997. The ceremony honors all Richmond senior student-athletes. Sterbenz is now the assistant general manager and director of operations for the Richmond Kickers, a local professional soccer team. He will serve as an assistant coach for the University of Richmond this season.
"As I begin tonight, I would like all of the athletes here to think back to their senior year in high school. Think back to the days that you decided that you were coming to the University of Richmond. If you were like me, you had great expectations and you thought you knew what was coming. Parties, athletics and a little school work - how hard could it be?
And then you got here...and you found out how young you really were...how little you really knew about so many things. And you found that there was very little glory, especially in preseason practice. I am sure you remember those first days, even though you have probably tried to forget them. You worked hard one day, harder the next and even harder the next. You ran, you ate, you slept and you wondered what in the world you had gotten yourself in to. But you made it. Somehow, we all did. And the dread and fear of preseason is gone. And I hope that you, like me, look back and have no regrets.
As I prepared tonight's speech, I thought of a passage I once read about Man O' War. It read 'Man O' War, as most of you know, was the greatest race horse that ever lived. They say he ran 21 races and that his total racing time was 33 minutes and 22 seconds. Now, lets stop and think about that. In all his life, Man O' War ran only a half an hour in competition and his reputation as the greatest race horse of all time was built on that half hour... What about the days, weeks and months of stubborn and relentless training with the grandstands empty and nothing to cheer him on except his own pride and ambition? This is what marked him as a true thoroughbred. A lesson to be learned from this is that the toughest and most grueling competition in life is that which the honest man sets up for himself. It's the kind of race he runs when no one else is watching.'
This is perhaps one of the most important things that we have learned here. We have worked hard to succeed, whether we have played in front of thousands or whether we were practicing alone. We have worked and worked, just hoping for that one magic moment of glory.
We have been fortunate. People on this campus are always asking how your game went. Some saw you play. Some didn't. Although it is nice of them to ask, they really don't understand, they really don't know. They might have seen you play for five minutes, but they have no idea what was behind those five minutes. They don't know what triple sessions in 95-degree heat, are like. They don't know about study hall or weightlifting. They don't know about team meetings. They don't know what it feels like to walk in your dorm room door at 10 p.m. and not have an ounce of energy left in your body because of what you did that day. They truly have no idea. But the athletes in this room do and we are better people for it.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, 'The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly, who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spend themselves at a worthy cause, who at the best, know the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls that know neither victory nor defeat.'
I believe those words exemplify every athlete in this room, because it does not matter whether we have won or lost in our competitions, it only matters that, as Mr. Roosevelt stated, we have dared greatly in doing so. When we are playing our sports each and every one of us gets caught up in the game and we find ourselves in our own little world. A world where all of your dreams and desires have a chance of becoming real. The great thing about it is that if you close your eyes, you can go back into your own world at any time and envision the best moment you have felt during your four years. And you can replay this moment over and over in your head, and it never gets old.
Please, close your eyes for a minute. Think back to your moment. It may be the home run you hit against Miami, it may be the comeback win against James Madison or it may be the game that you won and made you, a 'giant killer.' Listen, and you can hear the roar of the crowd and you can probably even hear one of your friends in the stands cheer for you like your are the best thing since Michael Jordan. Best of all, you can feel the joy and the energy that flows inside of you as you share the experience with your teammates and most likely, your best friends. Feel the chills run down your spine, through your body. They are chills of pride, chills that will let you know that you are involved in a peak experience. An experience that only few fortunate people actually encounter.
All of us here are fortunate enough to have lived one of those experiences and that is what brings us all here today. We are all here because we had the tools for what it takes. We had the motivation and the discipline. We learned how to manage our time. We understand what it takes to work hard for something we love.
In the past four years, I have learned to appreciate the value and goodness of many things. I have learned how much work people exert on causes they are passionate about. Like everyone here, I have learned that we are a family, a family whose members would do anything for any one of us at any time because they realize that you would do the same for them.
I have never been a part of something so great in all of my life and today I am sad that it is coming to a close. At the same time, this gives us all another challenge to overcome. (That challenge) is to keep in touch with the people that mean something to you and this University.
Like Man O' War, we now begin our most important race. Thank you and good luck in the future."