Stephen Perno

Intro to Rhetoric And Composition

Ted Choice: The Difference Between Winning And Succeeding

John Wooden, also known as Coach, is a legendary basketball coach who was in

charge of UCLA that had record wins that are still unmatched to this day. Coaching

basketball was not Wooden’s top priority, Wooden wanted to develop his students in the

classroom and players on the court into young men and women with honorable values.

Wooden developed these values from his father and other interests such as poetry

which he is a big supporter of. Wooden says if a person is putting forward all they have

to give in order to reach their full potential and make their goals achievable, then they

have won and succeeded no matter if they won or lost.

Wooden’s audience was made clear throughout this speech. He wanted to reach

out to adolescents who have years of their lives to create their own destiny. His goal in

life was to change students' mindsets from just receiving a high mark in class to getting

the most that they could out of their classes and work as hard as they can in order to be

the best versions of themselves. Wooden’s legacy goes further than basketball, he

wanted to be a mentor to people and change the way they carry themselves and how

they work daily. What prompted Wooden to perform this speech was his wisdom that he

had to offer, during the time he is an old man that has been through it all in life and has

been able to change the lives of some of the greatest athletes in the world so he wanted

to share the values he believed in to others.

Multiple forms of rhetoric were used by Wooden throughout his speech, the first

one he used was ethos. Wooden uses poetry that he has read over the years to explain
his positions that he has on his definition of succeeding. He also received values from

his father, those being never be late, be neat and clean and start on time close on time.

Wooden took all he could from poetry and his father in order to create his own set of

morals and values. I trust Wooden to be credible because during his speech he was

reciting poetry that was word for word that reflected his ethics that he believed in. This

truly amazed me on how much poetry can coincide with what he taught through his

lifetime on and off the court .

Pathos is another form of rhetoric used by Wooden throughout his talk. I see

Wooden using pathos when he was speaking about his past interactions with former

UCLA players. He used passion, emotion and enthusiasm when giving examples of who

he thought succeeded in UCLA. One person he talked about using pathos was Doug

McIntosh, Wooden explained that as a freshmen Doug struggled with the level of

competition and never was really that great of a shooter, rebounder, or passer of the

ball compared to others, but he worked his socks off in order to be the best that he

could and make his own fate. He spoke of Doug so highly with a lot of emotion in order

to make the audience feel connected with the player. In the end, Doug was one of the

players on the national championship team and had the best statistics on the team due

to how hard he worked to be his best self and this is all Wooden ever wanted in a young

man.

An argument for Wooden using or not using logos could be entertained either

way. I believe Wooden does not use logos because his definition of succeeding comes

based on past experiences that he encountered, wisdom from authors of poetry and

other figures throughout the world. He takes all of these opinions and values taught by
these people in order to create something that he claims to be correct and teaches it to

others. I do not see this as logos because there is no facts or logic behind this, only

belief, but I could see why one would believe logos is used because Wooden takes

pieces of wisdom from poetry which demonstrates logical reasons as to why something

could be right.

Wooden’s tone and style throughout the speech was very enjoyable as he was

serious about what he was explaining, but at the same time light hearted and joking with

his choice of words and style of speaking with the audience. Wooden’s use of

storytelling was my favorite part of his style of speech because using past experiences

helped solidify his purpose of what he was trying to teach and his stories helped

members of the audience, such as me, relate to what he truly meant through his story.

His speech was very informal, but was easier to understand due to the way that he

brought everything full circle and related it back to his definition of success.

Lastly, I believe that Wooden’s style would be much appreciated by the target

audience, which I would believe to be myself and all other college students. He speaks

in a style which is more laid back and easier to stay focused on as if it were more a

conversation with Wooden rather than a speech. His use of informality helped me stay

engaged because it didn’t feel like a burden to listen to him, it was an enjoyment and I

know that all other students would feel the same way that I do. Wooden has been

dealing with college students his whole life and knows how to reach out to them to truly

grasp his message and develop an understanding for what his real meaning is and that

is exactly what he did within this Ted Talk.

 John Wooden’s definition of success struck me on a personal level and really

made me question if in everything I do that I was giving my all. Wooden says that if you

want something to happen for you, then you have to do everything possible in your

power to tell yourself that there was nothing more that you could have done. All

adolescents should take this advice from Wooden because later down the road in life

when one is not where they want to be they will question themselves and ask if they did

their best to get what they wanted and that answer will be no, so they did not succeed

and reach their full potential. Woodens speech was perfectly executed to reach his

audience and through the use of rhetoric and informal style of speech, Coach

successfully completed his task.