#Stadium2020: Resilience, Inspiration and a Workout

Resilience, and so much of what we learn from sports done right was on display on Thursday, August 27, 2020 when PCA hosted its fourth annual, and first ever virtual, STADIUM STAMPEDE. In the midst of the pandemic and as we confront racial inequity, we did not cancel this “sweat for good” event. We pivoted to virtual. We pivoted because we believe that it’s more important than ever that young athletes learn, grow, and experience the joy of sports to build the character, leadership, grit, resilience, compassion and so much more they need to thrive today.

Our virtual program featured a workout with TB12, woven through with inspiration from beloved New England sports figures. This was a chance to be a part of something bigger than all of us, and to make a difference for kids now. The final tally of people who joined us from Boston to Ann Arbor, Chicago, Minneapolis, and LA? More than 200.

We cheered each other on, and we were inspired by the digital “character banners” we brought to life with the help of respected college, Olympic, and professional athletes, coaches, and sports leaders who shared messages about how sports shaped them as people. We competed for prizes for Grit, Team Spirit, Creativity, and Generosity, all in the name of Sports Done Right. You can watch our inspiring highlight film, or, get the full experience with the workout, and the whole evening with emcee David Wade of WBZ-TV/ CBS Boston here.

We encourage you--sports leaders, coaches, parents, athletes, anyone looking for a way to stay active or help their young athletes be ready to play--to do the workout. Do it “together” via Zoom or in small groups outdoors in compliance with all social distancing requirements. You will be inspired. A special version of the event is available here for everyone to enjoy. We would love it if you let us know, drop us a note or go here to share a photo or video from your team’s workout.

Here’s a taste of the inspiration from our 2020 HARVARD STAMPEDE

“When you play sports especially team sports, you learn at a very young age how accountable your actions are to the others on your team if you take a play off, if you don’t work hard enough it’s not just yourself that’s impacted by that, you are letting down your entire team.”
Brian Bilello, NE Revolution President

“Achieving peak performance starts with one thing, Mental Toughness. It’s a learned behavior that gets better with practice ... The real challenge is finding the determination to keep doing it.”
Tom Brady, NFL Quarterback

“As a young boy I loved playing sports, and through these sports, I think that helped me to amplify my character ... Sports should not always be about winning and losing. It’s more about the influence you can have ... because at the end that’s how you build your character, through your actions not just words.”
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins Captain

““Sports has helped me build work ethic. Work ethic isn’t something that can be turned on and off depending on the day, depending on your mood, it’s something you do every single day ... It’s all about embracing the grind, so get after it.”
Jillian Dempsey, Boston Pride Captain

“Character is what you do when no one else is watching, it means you are always going to try to do the right thing.”
James Jones, Yale Basketball Coach

“Unfortunately, I was last one cut from my college baseball team, was able to stay at it, and fortunately I was able to continue with a career in sports today ... Life is indeed a Team Sport. Very proud of the Red Sox and throughout Fenway Sports Group for supporting the Positive Coaching Alliance.”
Sam Kennedy, Boston Red Sox President

“Sports has helped me build self-confidence ... still to this day, my self-confidence for games comes through practice and hard work and work with my teammates. I encourage you all to go out there and compete, and love it, and have fun with your teammates.”
Devin McCourty, NE Patriots Captain

“Sports helped me build resilience ... whether it was going through a season where I didn’t win a game, going 0-16 to eventually switching teams the very next year and winning a Super Bowl. Just learning how to work in those down moments, to continue to build myself up, continue to build confidence, continue to work towards my goal.”
Jason McCourty, NE Patriots Captain

“Sacrifice ... for an entire year 364 days our players sacrificed a great deal to get back to the MLL playoffs ... They captured the MLL title, they competed for 60 minutes, playing one minute games and sacrificing everything on the line to do it for the teammates to the left and right of them.”
Sean Quirk, Boston Cannons Head Coach

“Sport has taught me to take risks embrace my mistakes, and understand that it’s fuel for my success ... I truly believe that sport is a great classroom for life.”
Kathy Delaney Smith, Harvard Basketball Coach

“Key ingredient to success, TEAMWORK. The value of teamwork, none of us gets to where we want to be alone, we need our teammates, coaches, trainers, and parents and everyone helping us toward a common goal.”
Katey Stone, Harvard Ice Hockey Head Coach

“Character is a tremendous outcome of playing sports. It’s so important for coaches to develop, besides slapshots and checking abilities in our sport of hockey, also Character. I think it’s a mainstay as you go through life.”
Jerry York, Boston College Hockey Head Coach

“The epitome of joy is having my best performance in a competition setting ... if I’m able to incorporate everything I have been focusing on technique, strength, endurance, mental toughness, grit, all that stuff and incorporate every little bit of that, into every last stroke on the water, and execute my best performance, that is true joy.”
Gevvie Stone, MD and Olympian

“Adjust and Improvise, A+I. We use those words frequently as we adjust to changes in the world. It’s on the field as well, things don’t always go the way we like. Do you get down, depressed, upset, angry? No. Focus on the positive, how can we improve the situation, what do we need to do Adjust and Improvise ... we all deal with ups and downs. Just roll with it.”
Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth Football Head Coach

Finally, thanks to all of YOU who participated and supported this event for helping us continue to support young athletes in New England as they navigate this challenging moment in time.

To see the full stadium workout, watch below!