18/08/2026
My Address to DepEd Tayo IN-Bingao NHS August 15th, 2026.
I thought I would Share it.
My name is Houston Greenlee. I am a retired Sergeant First Class from the United States Army, a combat veteran, and the Program Director of Hustlers Grind Juniors. Together with my husband, Gio, I now proudly call Ilocos Norte home.
Your theme this year is “Transforming the Art and Heart of Sportsmanship: Inspiring Excellence in Action.” I want to spend a few minutes with you this morning breaking that down, because I think it says more than most people will stop to notice.
Art. And heart.
The art of sportsmanship is everything you can see. It is the jump shot you have practiced a thousand times until your feet know where to land without you thinking about it. It is the serve you have hit in the rain and in the heat until it became automatic. It is the discipline of showing up to practice on the days you did not feel like it, because excellence is not something that happens on the day of competition. Excellence is built quietly, over months, when nobody is watching and nobody is clapping.
But the heart of sportsmanship, that is a different story. That is what nobody can see on a scoreboard. That is how you treat your teammate when they miss the shot that costs the game. That is how you shake the hand of the opponent who just beat you, and mean it. That is choosing to compete with integrity even when you think no one is watching closely enough to notice if you cut a corner.
Sportsmanship is easy when you are winning. It is easy to smile when the score is in your favor. Your real character appears when the call does not go your way, when your opponent plays better than you, or when you make the mistake that costs your team the game.
That is when sportsmanship stops being a ceremony and becomes a choice.
I served in the United States Army, including combat deployments. The Army raised me on a set of values, and those values never left me. Loyalty. Duty. Respect. Selfless Service. Honor. Integrity. Personal Courage.
I am not here to tell you war stories. That is not what this morning is about. But I will tell you this. Those values are not only military values. They are human values. They belong just as much on this court, on this field, and at this table as they ever belonged anywhere, I served. Every single one of you already carries them, whether you have put a name to them yet or not.
Loyalty is the teammate who stays after practice to help someone else catch up, because a real teammate does not leave someone behind.
Duty is showing up when you are tired, when you are sore, and when you would rather be anywhere else, because you made a commitment to your team and to yourself.
Respect is how you treat the referee who makes a call you disagree with. It is how you treat an opponent from another barangay, another school, or another province. Your opponent is not your enemy. Without an opponent, there is no competition and no opportunity to discover how good you can become.
Selfless Service is choosing the good of the team over your own stat line, your own highlight, and your own pride.
Honor is playing the game the same way whether the referee is watching closely or not watching at all.
Integrity is doing the right thing when it costs you something. Anyone can be honest when honesty is easy.
And Personal Courage, that might be the most important one of all for young people your age. Personal Courage is not the absence of fear. It is stepping onto that court, up to that table, or onto that field knowing you might lose, knowing you might embarrass yourself, and competing anyway.
Courage is deciding that something else matters more than your fear.
I learned these values as an American soldier, but after making my home here, I began recognizing them in the people of Ilocos Norte.
I see loyalty in the strength of Ilocano families. I see duty in parents who work long hours so their children can have opportunities they never had. I see Selfless Service in teachers and coaches who give more than their job descriptions require. I see Personal Courage in young people who step forward knowing everyone is watching and victory is never guaranteed.
Ilocos Norte has been shaped by people who understand endurance.
This is a land of farmers who know that no harvest comes before the work. It is a land of weavers who create in-a-bel one careful thread at a time. It is a land where Paoay Church has stood for centuries because it was built with foundations strong enough to withstand earthquakes.
It is a land where the wind does not simply create resistance. It is transformed into power.
That, to me, is the Ilocano spirit.
The Ilocano spirit does not wait for the wind to stop. It learns how to turn the wind into power.
And that is what athletes must learn to do.
Pressure can frighten you, or it can focus you. Failure can embarrass you, or it can educate you. A strong opponent can become your excuse, or that opponent can reveal exactly what you need to improve.
You choose what those experiences become.
Those values did not stay behind in the Army. I carried them everywhere I coached afterward. I had the honor of coaching a 12U soccer team to win a State Championship. I have also coached adult amateur billiards players in the APA, the American Pool Players Association, at the APA World Championships.
Different sports. Different ages. Same lessons every time.
Winning is always the goal. But the losses, those are the lessons.
Some of you will lose this week. Some of you already know what that feels like. A loss is not the end of anything. It is only a lesson if you choose to let it be one.
Through every early practice, every drill nobody wanted to run, every long season, and every long tournament, there was one phrase that carried every team I have ever coached, and I lived by it right alongside them:
Stay humble and hustle hard.
I want to tell you about a young man I know. He is sitting out there somewhere today, listening to his Tito give this speech. Less than a year ago, he had never picked up a billiards cue in his life. Volleyball had his attention. Then something changed, and he decided to give this sport a real chance.
Five months.
That is how long he had actually been playing when he started competing seriously. Five months.
This week, he punched his ticket to compete right here in these Intramurals by winning his 9-Ball bracket. While he is a natural athlete, his progress did not happen because of talent alone. It happened because he shows up every day, whether he wants to or not. Because he chose the art, the discipline, and the practice nobody saw. And because he had the heart to step up to that table and compete like he belonged there before he ever felt like he did.
That is what excellence in action looks like. It rarely comes from talent alone. It almost always looks like somebody who refused to quit on an ordinary Tuesday when nobody was watching.
So here is my challenge to every student Athlete here today or reading this, whether you are playing basketball, volleyball, badminton, billiards, or anything else on the schedule this week, next month 5 years from now. And to those of you who are not competing at all, because excellence is not reserved for athletes. It belongs to the student working late on a project, the son or daughter helping at home before school, and the friend who chooses kindness on a hard day.
Build the art. Put in the repetition nobody sees.
And protect the heart.
Compete with honor. Treat each other with respect, win or lose. Show up for your teammates the way you would want them to show up for you. Stay humble and hustle hard in everything you do this week and long after it.
Because long after the scoreboard is turned off, the titles fade, and the medals collect dust, what stays with you is who you became while you were chasing them.
On behalf of Hustlers Grind Juniors, thank you to Bingao National High School for the honor of this morning and to every one of you for the example you are about to set.
Good luck to every team, every athlete, and every student competing this week.
Some of you will win. Some of you will lose. Every one of you will face moments when you fall, both in sports and in life.
Falling does not make you a failure. But when we fall, we have to get back up.
So before I give this microphone back, I need to know that you are ready.
When you fall, what are you going to do?
GET BACK UP!
That is the heart of sportsmanship.
That is excellence in action.
Bingao National High School, do not wait for the wind to stop. Turn that wind into power.
Stay humble. Hustle hard. And when your moment comes, have the courage to step forward.
Mabuhay Kyong Lahat, and let’s go make this Intramurals one to remember!
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