Fight for your dreams

Being resilient: Based on the story of George Foreman

by Hannah Taylor

Suitable for Key Stage 2

Aims

To encourage students to pursue their hopes and dreams.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the PowerPoint slide accompanying this assembly (Fight For your Dreams) and the means to display it.

Assembly

1. Today’s assembly is all about resilience, being able to recover from difficult situations and come back strong and willing to try again.
   There are many famous people who have shown resilience in their lives – we can probably all think of different examples. Examples could be Stephen Hawking, who has Motor Neuron disease and has still accomplished great work in physics; Ariana Grande who has struggled with her confidence but has achieved her music and film career; JK Rowling who was rejected for her writing 32 times before she became the famous author of the Harry Potter series.
2. Today we are going to think about a man called George Foreman.
   
   Ask the students to raise their hands if they have heard of him.
3. Explain that George Foreman was born and raised in Texas. His early years had many challenges, which lead to him fighting and stealing from the age of 15.
   George looked for a way out of this hard life, and joined a program designed to help disadvantaged kids to learn key job skills, this led to him travelling to California and training to become a boxer.
   After years of training, persistence and hard work, George became a professional boxer and fought Mohammed Ali, who was the heavyweight champion of the world. George lost this match against Mohammed Ali.
   2 years later, George collapsed in his changing room, his heart stopping and after returning back to consciousness, George believed this to be a message from God, and decided to take a break from boxing and instead become a preacher to teach others about God.
   He set up the George Foreman Youth and Community Centre, to support other young people to lead fulfilling lives instead of walking the streets. Years later, George started to run out of money, and the youth centre was at risk of being closed. So George Foreman bravely trained to be a boxer again and at the age of 45 became the oldest heavyweight champion in the world.
4. Raise your hand if you have ever wanted to achieve something, but gave up on the idea?
   Now think, if you had believed in yourself more, could you have achieved it? Next time a challenge comes your way, can you find the resilience to try again? Sometimes when we put ourselves out of our comfort zone, we can achieve the things we always dreamed of.
5. Thinking back to George Foremans story. What key values can we take from it? What made him a good man to others?
   
   Resilience – George was knocked down several times when he lost matches, lost his money but he did not lose hope, he got up and tried again.
   Kindness and generosity – George was given the opportunity to join a youth programme, so gave back to his community by opening his own.
   Courage – It takes courage to perform in front of millions of others and to get back up when you have failed.
   Achievement – George set his sights on what he wanted, learnt from his mistakes and worked hard to get it.
   Appreciation – George appreciated his family who helped him to achieve his dreams, his trainer Doc Boraddus, his community and the youth programme that led him to his career.
   
   If you have enjoyed the story of George Foreman, there is a video adaption of his life on Netflix called ‘The big George Foreman’.

Time for reflection

Let us think of people who have achieved greatness, how it has not always been an easy task, with many obstacles. Think of something you would like to achieve, think of how you can achieve it using the values we spoke of. Why not write them down or make a plan. You too can achieve greatness.

Prayer

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the opportunities that are given to us.
Please guide us so that we may have the courage, resilience and kindness,
To achieve our dreams,
And to support and help others enjoy theirs.
Amen.

Music

‘Don’t stop believing’ by Journey. This can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8craCGpgs