By Mindy Pierce & Jessica Pall
Lions’ Pride Sports Editors

Photograph courtesy of Jessica Pall

After a long day of class and practice, student athletes were informed they had to attend a mandatory assembly which began at 7 pm on Tuesday night to listen to motivational speaker Thomas Dismukes. While some who attended may have reluctantly went, most will agree that they got a laugh or two from Dismukes lecture “Unmasking Your Super Powers”.

Thomas Dismukes is a motivational storyteller, humorist, and adventurer. Since 1991, he has spoken to audiences in 19 countries. Some of his true life experiences include bareback rodeo and skinning skunks in space suits. Athletic Director Fran Reidy told Leo athletes that he invited Dismukes to speak because he wanted to develop more leaders on the sports teams.

As soon as the guest speaker stepped in front of the assembled athletes, there was a noticeably energy radiating from him. Dismukes’ passion for talking and inspiring people shone through and he particularly commented of his love of speaking to student-athletes. As he addressed the Saint Leo assembly, his main topic for the night was “FOCUS.” Thus, he had each letter of “focus” spell out a word, of which athletes jotted down in the blanks of the handout they received at the door.

One point that Dismukes stressed that night was the idea that everyone has gifts. To demonstrate, he showcased his own gift to the audience by balancing two ladders on his chin of which he ultimately holds the record in the Guinness book of World Records.

To break up the monotony of a listening to a speech, Dismukes had the athletes physically involved by making them perform exercises with fellow athletes of which was extremely humorous.

Additionally, Dismukes also shared personal stories of his childhood. For instance, Dismukes shared about one bad day where he got caught cheating on the SATs which made him stress to the point where he accidently shot his family’s cat, Flower. His stories were not only very entertaining, but they also had a purpose behind them.

Dismukes was definitely very entertaining to listen too; and while it lasted almost two hours, Dismukes left enough lasting impression that in some way, everyone who listened to him learned something to better themselves.