"New medley: Running, jumping, writing and painting"

Bill Bradley
The New York Times
June 20, 1993

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Although we often speak of student-athletes competing against each other, rarely if ever do we talk about goalies participating with sculptors and novelists in the same arena. But that will change tomorrow in Newport and Kingston, R.I., when the Institute of International Sport inaugurates a very special event, the World Scholar-Athlete Games. These games will introduce a type of youth-oriented, international competition never seen before, featuring participants exercising intellectual and artistic skills as well as athleticism.

The World Scholar-Athlete Games will assemble 2,000 young men and women, ages 16-19, from more than 100 countries and all 50 states to compete in basketball, tennis, soccer, volleyball, sailing, writing, poetry, choir or art. The students will compete on teams that will be chosen at random, not by nationality, creating squads whose only defining characteristic will be a diverse mix of nations and cultures.

Delivering on Loftiness

Participants in the World Scholar-Athlete Games have been selected for their scholastic and cultural attributes as well as for their athletic skills. Thus, the participants, all of whom are good students, also either play a varsity sport or are distinguished singers, writers, poets or artists.

We adults are fond of telling children that rewards come both on the field and off, but the World Scholar-Athlete Games deliver on these lofty words. They will provide the first-ever forum for these multitalented teen-agers, who are often praised but rarely celebrated.

Countries could stage these games on their own, but it is far better that they are launched as an international competition. The challenges facing us in the wake of the Cold War's end demand that we seek new vehicles of cooperation and new sparks of global leadership.

International games have the power to transcend racial and cultural barriers to make all nationalities come together as one, and the World Scholar-Athlete Games will only enhance this power.

And as a former athlete, I know the impact that international athletics can have on spectators as well as participants. Whether they are watching in person, listening on the radio, or watching on television, spectators, whether from Indiana or India, understand and feel all that international competition can represent.

Adrenaline of Human Spirit

I was a member of the 1964 Olympic basketball team, which is an experience that I will always treasure.

Competing with the best athletes in the world not only brought out pride in nation but also fired a deeper feeling, pride in the human spirit.

It is the adrenalin of the human spirit that propels athletes through competition. I met and competed with individuals from all over the world who felt and used this same pride. And I think that we grew to admire and respect each other because of it.

International competition also fosters a higher level of communication that encourages positive interaction and brings one through a spectrum of emotion with both teammates and foes. While the often-silted processes of government and protocol tend to impede our ability to learn from each other, competition requires and welcomes interaction between all.

The World Scholar-Athlete Games will thrive on this relationship, creating a world in which hands must be stretched across ethnic lines, language barriers, areas of skill, and interests. The young people who spend the next 12 days in Rhode Island cannot help but push themselves farther than they thought possible and, in the process, learn something new about themselves.

These games will provide an excellent opportunity to plant the seeds of international education and understanding for the next generation.

In this uncertain era, it is a comfort to know that this event, bringing together the youth of the world, will be making a major contribution to the promotion of international goodwill. The poet from Venezuela will get to know the point guard from China, and in this friendship we will all inch a bit toward a better world.

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