"As a youngster, I enjoyed sport and my ambition was to be a great sportsman"
About this Quote
The phrase “enjoyed sport” matters because it refuses the modern script where greatness is supposedly engineered from day one by parents, programs, and hyper-specialization. Davies frames aspiration as something that grows out of play. That’s also the subtext: elite performance, at least in his telling, starts as joy before it becomes work. The sentence is modest, but it quietly argues against the culture that treats youth athletics as a pipeline and childhood as a training camp.
“Ambition was to be a great sportsman” is old-fashioned in the best way. Not “a champion,” not “the best,” but “a great sportsman” - a word that carries a moral charge: character, composure, respect for the event and the opponent. Coming from an athlete whose era prized amateur ideals even as global sport professionalized, it reads like a self-portrait and a value statement. He’s not just recalling what he wanted; he’s signaling what kind of greatness he believes still counts.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Davies, Lynn. (2026, January 17). As a youngster, I enjoyed sport and my ambition was to be a great sportsman. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-a-youngster-i-enjoyed-sport-and-my-ambition-79421/
Chicago Style
Davies, Lynn. "As a youngster, I enjoyed sport and my ambition was to be a great sportsman." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-a-youngster-i-enjoyed-sport-and-my-ambition-79421/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"As a youngster, I enjoyed sport and my ambition was to be a great sportsman." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-a-youngster-i-enjoyed-sport-and-my-ambition-79421/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2026.








