Jim Loria / Sports Career Mentor

All successful athletes carry with them these two attributes: They can think through critical situations and do so in a calm state of mind. This holds true no matter the sport. Much of the difference is in a person’s mental strength. Speaking on that subject, this week while studying the life of the Formula One race car drivers – mostly because of a current friendship that I enjoy with a young up & coming driver in Great Britain, I found how many mental and physical demands are placed on the drivers. Perhaps even greater than those experienced by athletes here in our team sports where every lap needs maximum concentration and a focus that cannot even slip below 100%?  What fascinated me most for this piece was in finding out the story behind this one driver ( Nico Rosberg of Germany ) who would become the only person in the last seven years to defeat the brilliant Lewis Hamilton for the World Championship among F1 Drivers. This took place in 2016. The story he tells is wha...

Every person or athlete faces a challenge when they first sign up for employment or shows up at a training camp. Some find ways to battle through adversity, makes adjustments and flourishes along the way. Some just are not ready to follow through with the task at hand or compete for a starting position. For this piece, I want to focus on a pharmacist back during the year 1886 who was living in Georgia. While at work, his curiosity and determination over a period of time, led him to create a caramel-colored syrup that he would mix with carbonated water. He took it to a local neighborhood pharmacy where people sampled the taste. Having met with favorable responses, the pharmacy decided to test the public’s interest and sold the beverage in a glass for 5-cents each. This magic formula would soon become known as Coca-Cola . During that first year, sales would only average a modest nine servings a day that brought in around $50 dollars in revenues. It was someone’s perseverance and attitud...

With this being the start of a New Year, I wanted to share a fantastic video clip that features Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo taken from a post-game interview just before the calendar changed over to the 1st of January in 2021. The seven-year NBA veteran and two-time All-Star, speaks about FINDING YOUR TRIUMPH during times of unrest or when things are just not going your way? The video is 2-minutes and 12-seconds in length.  Oladipo, who’s averaging just over 20-points-per-game in this new NBA season, had to find his TRIUMPH recently when he was sidelined for 371 straight days back in 2019 that also carried over into the early 2020 calendar year as he rehabbed from a ruptured quadriceps tendon injury. He then had his return to NBA game action halted and altered by the pandemic virus.  Always remember this: “We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity - stated by Barbara De Angelis , Relationshi...