Kenn Dickinson: Secrets of Elite Athletes at TEDxSnoIsleLibraries (Transcript)

Kenn Dickinson

Here is the full transcript of Kenn Dickinson’s TEDx Talk: Secrets of Elite Athletes at TEDxSnoIsleLibraries conference.

Kenn Dickinson: I want to introduce you to a friend of mine: Mr Wilson.

No, not Russell Wilson from the Seahawks. He plays with this oblong ball, and it doesn’t bounce very well. But Mr Wilson and I have been friends for a long time. We go way back, and he’s been by my — I mean, I first met him when I was — at Christmas time.

I was about four years old, and there was this big box in front of the Christmas tree, and I just dove in and opened it up, and there was this big orange ball. And he’s been by my side ever since.

When I walked down the street or went to school, I always had Mr Wilson with me. And then I went on to college and obviously played college basketball.

Then I went on to play professional basketball, and he’s been actually a part of my life in my business career. So we’ve been on this journey for a long time, and it’s been an interesting journey. And one of the things that we’ve been able to do is meet some amazing people. Those amazing people are elite athletes; not just your regular athletes but your elite athletes.

Now, a lot of you are going to say, “I can’t relate to these people. They’re superhuman, these men and women.” I’ll give you a little secret: they’re just like you and me. I actually had a front row seat. OK, I was at the end of the bench, watching, and observing, and learning from these world-class amazing kind of athletes.