Tom Brady’s game will be in Florida. However, he continues to have strong ties to New England.
The former Patriot and current Buccaneers quarterback delivered a commencement speech Saturday to The Forman School, a private boarding school in Litchfield, Ct. exclusively for students with learning disabilities such as ADHD, ADD, and dyslexia.
Brady addressed many subjects in his speech, which lasted almost 11 minutes.
“We’ve all had our difficult times overcoming different adversities and challenges that we’re facing, and this one is no different,” Brady said, referring to COVID-19 pandemic. “I think what you understand when you’re going through things like this is you learn from them and you make the best of them.”
Brady said he thought the lessons he learned in high school and college would lead to an easy transition to the NFL, but he quickly realized that was the wrong way to approach his future.
“I was a little disappointed that I got drafted so late in the draft,” said Brady, referring to his 199th overall selection by the Patriots in 2000. “I thought ‘I’m going to be a second-round pick or a third-round pick,’ but the scouts didn’t really see me that way.
“When I got drafted by the Patriots, nobody really believed I could be a high-caliber player in pro football, but you know what? I believed I could.”
Helping children with intellectual disabilities is an important cause for Brady, who was an honorary co-chair of the Best Buddies Foundation until December.
“Your future is going to be what you make of it,” Brady concluded. “Because you ‘re not going to be able to rely on people to do things for you. That’s not the way life is. If you want to be great at something, you’re going to have to put all your commitment and effort and discipline into doing just that.”