Believe. Believe in the world. Believe in your peers. And most importantly, believe in you. This was the main message told by Richie McCaw, former All Black and speaker at the iSport Leadership Conference that myself and nine other students attended at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manakau. The word ‘believe’ really resonates with me as it motivates me to achieve my goals and dreams, not only in sporting aspects but also in my school and personal life.
The speakers at the conference were Sir John Walker, Dr. Ralph Pim, Richie McCaw, Temepara Bailey and Jeremy Scott. They all provided their own insight into what leadership meant to them and how their own experiences helped them to build their confidence and lead them to success. Some of the key words they used were dream, purpose, passion and attitude. These are qualities and ideas we all have inside us, but it is a leader who uses them and plans their goals to achieve their greatest desires.
One of the messages that stuck with me was about the idea of ‘What if I can’t? But what if I can?’ In life, there always will be people who try to dampen your success, who try to drag you down and tell you you cannot achieve your goals. Instead of listening to these negative thoughts, you have to motivate yourself to fulfill your own dreams. I really relate to this because in my sporting and academic life, there have always people who have told me I can’t achieve the highest grades or win competitions because “it’s impossible.” The very word “impossible” says, “I’m possible”, and it only drives me even more to complete my goals! Also, many people think that a goal can be impossible because it might be something major like being a great All Black or cycling around the world, but if you break this one goal into lots of little goals, it becomes more achievable, realistic and possible.
Along with ACG Strathallan, there were 50 other schools, and all students in attendance were specially selected for having an aptitude in leadership and sport. This created a great atmosphere and we were able to meet so many other young leaders and visionaries. After the main speeches, we split off into groups and played many icebreaking games, along with discussing ideas like success, dreams and optimism. It was very interesting hearing other people’s views on what leadership meant to them and their opinions on the ideas we heard in the speeches earlier. It was also great fun playing games and experiencing different cultures.
One of our students, Mckenzie Northcott, got selected to go white water rafting with a group of students and Richie McCaw at the new course recently built next door to the event Centre. They paddled in rapids, went down a 4m waterfall, got soaking wet, and had a blast!