Remarks at the Women's National Basketball Association Inspiring Women Luncheon

SECRETARY RICE: Well, thank you. Thank you, Donna. Thank you, Tamika, for those wonderful words, inspiring in their own way. Tamika, thank you so much. And I want to thank you all here today -- and especially the WNBA -- for this wonderful honor. I'm really just thrilled to receive the WNBA's Inspiration Award and to be in the company of women with such amazing achievements.

Donna, I want to especially recognize and thank you for all of your efforts to support, not only women professional athletes but also young girls who are involved in sports and athletics. You've done wonderful work as a mentor in the FORTUNE/State Department International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership Program and I'm very grateful for your efforts on behalf of our country.

I'd also like to recognize and thank Sheila Johnson, the owner of the Washington Mystics, who is not only a team owner but an International Ambassador for CARE. And in that work she is helping to lead the fight against global poverty. Thank you, Sheila, for all that you do. (Applause.)

And of course, what can I say about Tamika Catchings. I have to tell you a little secret because I'm a lover of sports and at one time -- maybe even still -- I was an aspiring athlete. And I, therefore, found myself really eager to meet Tamika because she's such a great athlete. And you see, other than the President, I'm probably the Administration's biggest sports fan. And as a follower of women's basketball, and I've attended several of the Women's NCAA Final Four events back when I was at Stanford, I have to say that meeting Tamika Catchings was a real honor and thrill for me. Tamika, as you know, is a graduate of Tennessee, and along with so many other basketball greats here, she's a real inspiration to many. But I have to say that I think the last time I saw Tamika she was helping to defeat Stanford. I will forgive her for that. (Laughter.)

Sports has been a major part of my life ever since I was a child. You see, growing up, or when I was born, my father was an athletic director at the local high school, an assistant football coach. He himself had played high school, college and semipro football and I was supposed to be his All-American linebacker. (Laughter.) When he had a girl, he thought, well I'll just teach her everything about sports. But he also really wanted me to play sports and that was Pre Title IX. And if you don't believe Title IX has made a difference just talk to those of us who were born before Title IX. (Applause.)

You see there were limitations and not that many options, and so, I took up a sport that girls did. I became a figure skater. Now, this despite the fact that I am 5'8" with 5'10" legs and was definitely in the wrong sport -- (laughter) -- it was also a sport where you wore wonderful costumes and skated to music, but you had to fall, get up, and smile as if nothing had happened. And so I always envied women basketball players who could sweat and get dirty on the court, maybe even swear a little bit, and look like they were playing sports. (Laughter & Applause.)

My father wanted me to be an athlete and I learned early on what many of you know firsthand: That even when you fall, you must always get back up -- and above all, that the key to success in sports, and in life for that matter, is perseverance and tenacity and that goes for even when your team's record isn't so great -- or, as was the case in my brief skating career, when you fell a lot.

Women athletes hold a special place in my heart therefore. As women, I think we can all relate to similar challenges. We've made gains over the years, but there is still much to be done. Team sports have advanced women's development and growth, not just in the United States but throughout the world. Here in the WNBA, you are exposing so many women to images they never dreamed possible and that they desperately need. Now, even I can remember growing up at a time when women were not allowed to play beyond the half court in basketball. I frankly never understood what that rule was supposed to accomplish -- but since I was tall and a little bit chubby as a 7 year old, I was assigned to the back court. Maybe that's the reason I never played basketball again.

But the good thing is that today women are clearly playing full court. (Applause.) And the WNBA is the longest running and most successful professional women's league in American sports history. I am happy to note that the WNBA is poised for further growth internationally as well. This year, the WNBA's regular season games and programming will reach a record 203 countries with 88 broadcasts in 32 different languages. (Applause.) That's a wonderful accomplishment. And global television interest has been boosted by the league's diversity, with 23 players from 16 different nations. The league's global presence gives men, women, and especially youth, exposure to our values of equality, excellence, and sportsmanship.

So many of our women athletes have played internationally, where they truly serve as citizen ambassadors for America -- not for a particular political party, not for any set of ideas or policies, but for the American people, for the values that we all hold dear and keep faith with. It is in this way that these players, though they may not even realize it, make important contributions to the world's understanding of our nation and of our people. In fact, in many countries, athletes like you may be the only ones that -- the only Americans that young players overseas will ever encounter. So on and off the court, our athletes are inspirational role models for young women everywhere.

Just this past April, Washington Mystics' guard Nikki Blue and Mystics General Manager Linda Hargrove joined First Lady Laura Bush for Malaria Awareness Day. Together, they brought attention to the need to stop the spread of malaria in the hardest hit African nations. We are so grateful for their commitment to helping eradicate a disease that is crushing the hopes of so many women and children overseas.

The State Department has also sent WNBA and NBA players on a very successful sports envoy program to work with youth around the world, teaching basketball and sharing American culture and values with those that they meet. These programs open up a dialogue that creates mutual understanding with people who often have either a limited or, more likely, a distorted view of what America is and what we stand for.

In that regard, even though they are not here today, I would like to thank Cynthia Cooper and Andrea Stinson and Shameka Christon, Edwina Brown, and Nikki McCray for their contributions to the State Department's sports diplomacy efforts. Nikki, in fact, left today to hold a basketball clinic in the Congo. I would personally like to invite, encourage, persuade, recruit other players to participate in the sports envoy program in the future.

One great example of that effort is a basketball clinic that Edwina Brown conducted in Jerusalem at Bethlehem University. Her workshop included nearly 60 Palestinian girls, ages 12 to18, from four nearby basketball clubs. Edwina told the girls how the discipline and good sportsmanship required by basketball helped her to expand her own horizons and become the first in her family to go to college. She gave those young Palestinian women a firsthand account of how dedication and perseverance are keys to success.

Now, before I close, I want to just share just one other story with you about the power of what you do and its affect on women across the world.

Three weeks ago, we had a group of eight Afghan women gym teachers visit the United States on one of our exchange programs. This is Afghanistan, a country which just a few years ago was one in which women couldn't go to school and in which women were whipped, and in some cases executed, in a stadium provided by the international community to play sports because they were not sufficiently attuned to certain cultural mores and norms.

These women from the new Afghanistan came to the United States. And the theme of the program was sports opportunities for women and coaches. The program was full of activities in and around Washington, including soccer clinics run by the U.S. Soccer Federation and the opportunity to watch the U.S. Women's National Team play a friendly match against Brazil. After all of these fun and exciting experiences, what did the participants tell us was the greatest highlight of their visit? Seeing a WNBA game.

Donna hosted the Afghan gym teachers at a New York Liberty game. And in an amazing show of how public diplomacy can take place in so many ways, this group of Afghan women could not speak English -- but they could speak the universal language of basketball. They love the sport. They were very excited to experience a women's professional game. And by the end of the night this group not only had learned how to call foul (laughter), but they fully understood the term "nothing but net." (Laughter.) Imagine the stories that they're going to tell back in Afghanistan. Thank you again, Donna, for stepping forward.

As Secretary of State, I travel extensively, and I have seen in my travels that sports and athletes have an ability to bring people together across the divisions of religion, and race, and region. Through sports, we are sending messages across the globe of international understanding, cultural tolerance and mutual respect.

And that's the message that I want to leave you with today as I accept this Inspiration Award: Never forget the power of your own inspirational leadership through this wonderful sport to change and transform lives. It is so critical that young people see role models who don't just look like them, but who face similar challenges. Many of you have amazing stories of triumph over adversity and challenge. We need you to share your stories abroad so that women across the world can see a real league of inspiring women.

The success of the WNBA is owed in no small part to the many women of courage and vision who came before us -- women who persevered in a hopeful cause larger than themselves, and above all, women who were dedicated to positive change. They inspired us all not to let anyone define our horizons. This is as true for me as it is for you. I am the descendent of Alabama sharecroppers. I never imagined that I would one day decide to be a Russian expert, and I certainly never imagined that I would one day become the 66th American secretary of state. We all stand on the shoulders of a long legacy of dedicated, tenacious women. It is a legacy we should share with the world.

And as I accept this Inspiration Award, I want you to know how honored I am to stand in the company of such women. I urge each and every one of you to remain steadfast in a long legacy of women inspiring women.

Thank you. (Applause.)

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