Last evening, I had a wonderful time at the Rose Café series. I enjoyed Cornell’s Head Tennis coach Silviu Tanasoiu’s talk about the necessary personal qualities and sacrifices to succeed in college athletics. These traits and actions are not only applicable in sports, but also in other aspects of our lives.

I have always admired college athletes for their time management skills; not only do they have classes and activities like non-athletes, but they also have daily training and games against other university teams. Because of their high-intensity workouts, athletes need more sleep than non-athletes. Tanasoiu emphasized the importance of being intentional with time, a habit essential for success. I think that their ability to prioritize is extremely valuable not only on the game field, but also in the professional world.

Tanasoiu’s stress on embracing adversity also resonated with me. He said that athletes “make it their friends”. They not only face adversity in order to receive a spot on the team, but they also face it within the team, against other teams, and in the classroom and beyond. I think this is great advice because it is impossible to live without adversity or failure. What he said reminded me of J.K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech, during which she said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which you fail by default.” Tanasoiu talked about the adversity and sacrificed he faced as a teenager when he was given a chance to compete in a tennis tournament in Miami. Having grown up in a blue-collar family, he could not afford the round-trip flight from Bucharest, Romania. His father sold their car to purchase the ticket.

Overall, I found Tanasoiu’s speech extremely inspirational. He was engaging, down-to-earth, and humble about his accomplishments. I will try harder to improve my time management skills and resilience so that I can reach my full potential!