PRIDE

Today we had the honor of having Vince and Barbara Dooley as guest speakers here in Cape Town. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from their speeches. I was just assuming Coach Dooley would only talk about football and reminisce on the golden years at UGA (Go Dawgs!). I was pleasantly surprised to find that he did quite the opposite; he opened my eyes and inspired me this morning.

Coach Dooley first talked about Cape Town and how he and Barbara were honored to be here again. He also mentioned some cool facts about South Africa, such as that it is the smallest floral kingdom in the world, and that was really neat. It was exciting to see how he and his wife were excited to be here and how much they loved South Africa. After telling us numerous jokes and amazing victory stories, Coach Dooley told us about PRIDE. He said in order to be a good leader, or even just a good person, you need to have PRIDE in what you do.

The P in pride, as Coach Dooley was telling us, represents preparation. He said, “you have to teach yourself to be lucky,” which means preparation is a must in order to do something well. You never know when you are going to be cast in a leadership role and the best way to succeed in life is preparing for it. You must do everything to your best ability, is what Coach as teaching us. He also told us about the 5 P’s: proper preparation prevails poor performance.

The R in pride represents risk. You gotta take risks in life sometimes. Coach told us the inspiring story about his friend Billy who wanted to try and bring the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta. And as we all know, his friend succeeded but it wasn’t without him taking a big risk.

I represents integrity. Integrity is the foundation of everything you do. Coach called it the golden rule. He said, “treat people how you want to be treated” and he is absolutely right. You cant get anywhere in life walking all over people or hating others. I like to think of integrity in relation to ubuntu, which means we are human because of other people. We would be no where if it wasn’t for others and we, as humans, deserve to treat others the way they deserve to be treated.

The D in pride represents drive and determination. More important then talent, these two d’s will get you further in life then anything. People who are talented express and share their drive and determination instead of gloating about their talents. Its drive that gets you far in life and its determination that helps you accomplish your goals. Looking back to this past Friday, its drive and determination that got me up Table Mountain. I couldn’t have done it unless I put my mind and body to it. It was the hardest experience I have put myself through physically, but I overcame that challenge with my drive and my determination.

And finally the E in pride represents everybody. Coach was reminding us that it takes a team in order to win. Winning is never an individual effort and you have to remember that. “It’s the ability to work together that separates the good from the great,” Coach said during his speech. I think he reminded us to set aside our differences and remember that at the end of the day we can only accomplish what we are here to accomplish if we truly respect and believe in one another.

After Coach taught us about PRIDE I felt inspired. I felt as though he had passed on a set of tools for us to use in life to succeed. As I look at each letter and diagnose its meaning and value to life I think to myself why haven’t I thought of this sooner? I truly believe in this acronym and that it can and will take you far in life as long as you stay true to it. I am so thankful that Coach Dooley took the time and taught us something so useful in life. He is such a good hearted soul, him and his wife, and it is truly an honor to have them here with us in Cape Town.

-- Brooke Weintraub