Apolo Ohno and Team Extreme Children's Speed Skating Club
The thing I appreciate most about Olympic athletes – especially Apolo Ohno (Olympic Short Track Speed Skater) – is the example they set for living full-out – no excuses.
Apolo responded to the question: What is the #1 thing you’d like to do before you die? His answer: “I’m doing a lot of them. I don’t really hold back. If I really want to do something, I will go out there and do it.”
His attitude and approach to life is grounded in being raised by Yuki, a single dad since Apolo was a year old. Yuki encouraged Apolo to channel his energy into proving how good he could be rather than how bad he could be. “Those conversations changed my life,” says Ohno, who admits to hanging with the wrong crowd as a young teen. “Above all, he told me how great my life could be. He believed it before anyone else, even before me.”
Apolo’s greatest mentor has been his father, but not everybody has a father like Yuki.
Do you have any teens in your life that you can encourage and mentor – to help them understand how great their life can be?
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