I have been in the process of reading Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion by Pete Carroll. I am about halfway done and I resonate with just about everything he has to say.
I resonate with the fact that he has the “win forever” mentality. He states in the book that “the first step to doing great things was affirming the belief that great things are possible.” He also believes that anything is possible if you clear your mind and visualize it.
After reading much of this book over the last few days, I was inspired to look for athletes that have similar mentalities. Luckily, I found an athlete that shares similar ideas to the ones stated in this book and he uses sneakers to continue inspiring people with his mentality.
Russell Westbrook is one of basketball’s most intense players and known for his saying “why not.” Westbrook grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles and came up with the phrase with his friends in the eighth grade. In a video on @jumpan23 on Instagram, Westbrook says the phrase “illustrates the blocking out the naysayers, the haters and the nonbelievers.” Coming out of high school, Westbrook wasn’t a highly recruited player but he kept asking himself “why not? Why can’t I go to UCLA, be an all-defensive player, and then go to the NBA?” He never let anyone tell him he couldn’t do something. He says he remembers being told he would never make it to the NBA. Westbrook is now a nine-time NBA All-Star and has averaged a triple-double for multiple years.
He has partnered with Nike to create his own collection of shoes, and all of them have “why not” in the title. The shoes come in sizes for men, teens, kids and infants. Westbrook also started his own foundation, “Why Not Foundation.” The organization sets out to “inspire children that they can do inspire the lives of children, empower them to ask ‘Why Not?’ and teach them to never give up.” I love that he sends this message to kids and even offers the shoes in multiple sizes including kids sizing. Every kid wants to have those sneakers from their sport idols or they want to have a matching pair of sneakers with their parents. I think a lot of times kids get left out in the sneaker world, and I respect that Westbrook made sure to include them.
Alyssa Freyder 