Hall Of Fame

The Speech (pdf) is intended to be used in a group setting, but also works on individual basis. There is no age restriction. In comparison to younger adolescents, outcomes of older athletes are likely to be more detailed, because they should already have a better understanding of who they are and what they want. Younger athletes are usually less preoccupied with the future. The exercise addresses visions from a sporting context; the Hall of Fame. A Hall of Fame is a list or an actual museum, where the best of the best in a given sport are honoured and celebrated. When retired athletes are inducted into the Hall of Fame, it is a great honour and during the ceremony they give a speech in front of their families, friends, fans, former teammates and coaches. In this speech they reflect on their illustrious career and explain how they made it as far as they did. By writing their own Hall of Fame speech, athletes are likely to get a better idea of what their vision for the future is.

1. Tell the athletes to imagine themselves 15-20 years down the line, getting inducted into the Hall of Fame in front of all the important people in their life. Invite them to create a mental picture of the type of life they want to have lived until then and all the things they want to have accomplished. What kind of person will you be? How are you going to feel on that day? Who will be with you? What would you like to tell the people in front of you about your career and life?
2. Ask them to write a speech for their own Hall of Fame induction. The guiding questions of The Speech (pdf) will support this exercise.
3. Start a group discussion to discuss findings, learnings and questions arising from the exercise.
4. Advise the athletes to keep their speech somewhere safe and read it from time to time to verify if their current behaviour, goals and progress are still in line with their vision.

Variations

• Let the athletes share their Hall of Fame Speech with classmates, friends, teachers, coaches, teammates or other people of trust.
• Ask the athletes to imagine that someone close to them would give the Hall of Fame speech about them. Advise the athlete to write down what that person should say about them in his or her speech. What would you like that person to tell about your career and about you as an athlete, student and person in general? 
• Write down all the names of the group members on a piece of paper and put them in a closed box. Let every athlete draw a lot. Ask the athletes to write an anonymous Hall of Fame speech about their secret partner and hand it in within a given time. To prevent bullying, check the feedbacks before handing it over to the respective athlete. This variation gives athlete valuable feedback about how others see them and what those people think they can achieve.
• Suggest to the athletes that someone else keeps their speech and controls from time to time if the athlete still behaves in line with what he or she has written down. The speech can then be used as a good starting point for possible feedback conversations.

Please consider that these variations require a trustful environment.

• NFL (2021): Hall of Fame Enshrinement

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