General | 3/24/2017 1:19:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY — Former tennis professional Billy Nealon spoke with captains and leaders of the Tigers' 24 Intercollegiate Athletic programs on Friday, March 24 at the Gene Polisseni Center Club Lounge. Nealon stressed learning from failure in order to come back strong and build success.

"What do you think about and how do you handle failure?" said Nealon in his speech. "We can guarantee that we will fail. But you need to go through that process in order to ultimately succeed."

Nealon, who is the son of former RIT tennis coach Ann Nealon, was an All-American tennis player at USC, and was a world-renowned player in the professional ranks. Billy, who was born and raised in Rochester, now runs a very successful tennis instruction business at the Tennis Club of Rochester, called "Billy Nealon Tennis." He has taught and developed many tennis stars from all over the world, giving away his message of learning from failures and mistakes.

"You have a guy who moves into the professional ranks and understands what sports are all about, and how tremendously competitive sports are," said RIT Executive Director of Athletics Lou Spiotti, Jr. "Billy just told some great stories. The athletes were just so impressed and blown away by his emotions and the message that he was giving. Having Billy here to really convey some important messages about overcoming defeat, gives the message that when you lost, you re-commit yourself and then learn from your mistakes."

Nealon's message was warmly embraced by the captains and leaders from all of RIT's teams. The conversation added context to what they already grasped about the concepts, as well as created new mindsets for leaders on the 24 teams.

"I enjoyed his speech, it resonated very well with me," said RIT baseball senior Will Gorman. "Managing and reacting to mistakes is definitely something that a lot of athletes can improve on, and I can use his advice moving forward."