Pat Summitt

I can remember trying to coach, trying to figure out schemes, and it just wasn't coming to me.

I remember standing on a medal podium at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, imbued with a sense that if you won enough basketball games, there was no such thing as poor, backward, country, female, or inferior.

Competition got me off the farm and trained me to seek out challenges and to endure setbacks; and in combination with my faith, it sustains me now in my fight with Alzheimer's disease.

I think that a lot of people would perceive my style as being intimidating. And although I don't want to intimidate kids, I am very demanding.

I'm not a good loser. I get sick physically... I take it to heart. I hate it.

Winning is fun... Sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point.

When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life. It gives you vision. But you can't acquire it if you're afraid of keeping score.

Most people get excited about games, but I've got to be excited about practice, because that's my classroom.

I don't want to sit around the house. I want to be out there. I want to go to practice. I want to be in the huddles. That's me.

We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. It matters. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities because they fear failure. They don't understand commitment.

I think I can help others just by my example.

I hate to sound this way but, 'Why me? Why me with dementia?'