2024 Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Rooks spoke to the Y-Sport camp on how his faith and resilience played a role in his running career in the Kimball Tower on May 30.
His address capped off the first day of the inaugural Y-Sport camp, a collaboration between BYU and Baylor University.
Rooks began his address by talking about his underdog status going into the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship, saying nobody expected him, including himself, to win after falling down early in the race.
Rooks said even though he got very good at running, he did not love running at first.
“I hated workouts, I hated how nervous I got before races, sometimes I hated how much it hurt, but I had to learn to embrace being uncomfortable,” Rooks said. “One thing that helped me embrace being uncomfortable was my faith.”
As Rooks learned about Jesus Christ and everything he went through, he observed that Christ went through so much and he was uncomfortable all the time.
“We, in order to follow him, have to be uncomfortable too,” Rooks said. “But there’s a lot of peace that can come and comfort that can come by following the Savior.”
He also spoke about the parallels between running and faith. Rooks noted that not everyone in the room was of the same faith as him: a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I think that faith is powerful,” Rooks said. He also spoke about other athletes he trained with who have faith as a basis of what helped motivate them.
The main theme of his address was resilience, which he brought up when he spoke on his experience in the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
“Falling is part of the process,” Rooks said. He was not expecting to fall in the race, but he had a plan for what he would do if he fell.
He fell two weeks earlier prior to that race in practice and he knew falling was a reality in steeplechase.
He decided to keep going and that plan came into his mind.
In the race, Rooks said he wanted to work his way back up slowly and not use his adrenaline all at once. He eventually made his way to the front.
“I was not expecting to win,” Rooks said. “I went into that race with the mindset of I’m going to give it my all today … I wanted to leave at the end of the day knowing that I given everything that I had.”
He said he was grateful that he made the decision to keep going and that he learned something new about resilience.
“You just gotta get up and keep going and keep moving forward the best you can,” Rooks said.
Rooks also spoke positively on the teachings of Jesus Christ when reflecting on this experience.
“When we fall in life, because all of us are going to fall, we can actually get up with Jesus Christ and we know we can win,” Rooks said. “If that’s our plan — to turn to him when we fall — he will help us.”
Those present at the address said they felt inspired by his remarks after his address.
“What resonated with me the most was probably about him getting up and just that split second of him deciding if he should just quit or stay in the course and get back up,” DaMon Macklin, who is part of Baylor University’s Faith and Sports Institute Program, said. “I feel like oftentimes in all of our lives, we have a split second choice to either lay down or to continue going.”
Jenae Nelson, co-founder of Y-Sport, said a lot of the youth only came to the camp because they knew Rooks was coming.
For them, this was the highlight of the camp.
“They were so excited to also have this special VIP meet and greet with him afterwards, and Kenneth was really generous to offer his time and talents to us,” Nelson said.
She said she hopes that this event sets the stage for Y-Sport’s future and letting the community know that the camp has high-quality programming for youth.
