Bobby Petrocelli Encourages the Students of Frostburg

On Oct. 24th Bobby Petrocelli, a motivational speaker from Brooklyn, New York visited Frostburg to talk with students. Petrocelli has been coming to Frostburg for more then 20 years. He has spoken to numerous sports teams around the world and came to Frostburg to motivate the students and remind them that “You Matter, It Doesn’t.”

He first gave the students a background story of his upbringing living in New York. He said “When you visit New York make sure you bring a camera, you will see something you will never see again… Your camera.” Everyone laughed because he continued to tell his jokes about New York.

After the jokes, he got more serious and talks about self-awareness. Petrocelli stated, “Some people study more for an exam than to study for something that will make their life better.” Being aware in this generation is extremely important because there are influences that can drive a person into doing something they will later regret in the future. When talking to the athletes in the room, he asked when they were on the field, if it was possible for someone to stand in the exact same space as someone else. Petrocelli explained, “It is impossible because no one can have the same drive as you and no one can do the same thing that you are doing.”

He also discussed how society goes after the behavior and not the actual problem: “We go after the behavior, but if I don’t go after the root of the problem, I am not getting to the real conflict. Going after the behavior isn’t getting to the root of the problem.”

He talked about how he does not agree with the phrase, “life changes in a day.” When his wife of two and a half years died in a horrific incident, it changed his life in one moment. “Life does not change in a day it changes in a moment,” he noted.

The students had visited him after the incident and they told him. “the incident that happened with your wife was terrible, but it doesn’t define you. You matter.” That is what he started to live by; his own phrase “You Matter, It Doesn’t.”

He left the students with one last thing. He mentioned, “the people in your life are one of three things, the leaves, the branches, or the roots. The ones who are the roots will be there for you and stay with you. Who are your friends?”