I want to play football. I'm not just here to pick up my salary and do nothing. I'm young, I'm still 23 and still have a very long career, and I want to play games.
I feel a lot older than I am but at the same time I don't want to play too old on T.V. I still want to be young. I still want to be 20 and enjoy this period of my life where I still have that flexibility.
When I represent my country on the field, I do so with heartfelt gratitude to the people who fight for and defend our fundamental freedoms - to believe in whatever I want, to love whoever I want, and to be a valued member of society while doing so. That's the America I play for.
I'm still figuring out why people would want to look at me. Maybe it's generic beauty, but it's weird to be valued for something I was born with.
This was a no-brainer, ... When it came down to it, I said to myself, Hey, you can still play, you can still play at a high level and you still enjoy playing. Why not play?
I'd like to play as long as I still love the game, as long as I'm still feeling healthy and playing well so a team would want me to play for them.
I want to play for a team that has a strong defensive reputation. One that relies on a system and where assists are valued. And a team that needs what I do - making other guys better, leading a team, being a defensive stopper every night. I want to be a good fit.
Oh, I still like to play and I still play when I want to.
Now I'm a free agent, literally and figuratively. I've reached that enviable state in life in which I can do pretty much what I want. And what I want is to continue to play basketball. I still love the game, and I still have something to offer. My coaches and teammates recognize that. At the same time, I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful.
In any culture, subculture, or family in which belief is valued above thought, and self-surrender is valued above self-expression, and conformity is valued above integrity, those who preserve their self-esteem are likely to be heroic exceptions.
I decided that I want to live the rest of my life happy with what I'm doing. So when I play tennis again, I have to play it for the right reason. I don't want to play to get my No. 1 ranking back. I don't want to play for the attention, or to earn more. I don't even want to play because the world wants to see me do it, even though it's nice to know that the world is interested. I only want to play because I love the game, which is the reason I began to play at age seven in the first place.
Every man is valued in this world as he shows by his conduct that he wishes to be valued.
It is, perhaps, better to be valued as an object of passion than never to be valued at all.
It is, perhaps, a better thing to be valued only as an object of passion than never to be valued at all.
The time and the quality of the time that their parents devote to them indicate to children the degree to which they are valued by their parents. . . . When children know that they are valued, when they truly feel valued in the deepest parts of themselves, then they feel valuable. This knowledge is worth more than any gold.
When I got dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn't want to play anymore. I didn't want to practise. I couldn't motivate myself. Then I said, 'Look what are the options?' Cricket is the only option. Whether I play happily or sadly, it's still all I have. There are not a lot of things I am good at.