cavtat portal: interview with dhani jones (2009)
TRANSCRIPT
8/13/2019 Cavtat Portal: Interview with Dhani Jones (2009)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cavtat-portal-interview-with-dhani-jones-2009 1/3
Vinko Rožić
Born in Dubrovnik in 1973.
Shortly after, his family moved
to Cavtat. Spent the college years (and then some) in the
US, mostly in NYC. Writer,
TV-show host and an
afficionado of water
sports.Cavtatportal's editor-
in-chief.
RSS Feed
ArchivesMay 2013
April 2011
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
October 2008
September 2008
August 2006
July 2006
May 2006
April 2006
July 2005
April 2005
Tags
All
Accounting
Acting
(am.) Football
Astrazeneca Healthcare
Foundation
Caribbean
Catholicism
Cavtat
Clarinet
Comedy
Search
Homepage Cavtat Region Croatia Columns Links News Connect
08/17/2009 0 CommentsDhani Jones
We encountered the NFL linebacker and an athlete in the truest sense, star of the Travel Channel's show and citizen of the world Dhani
Jones strolling the streets of Dubrovnik. Approachable and personable, he immediately agreed to an interview.
CP: Dhani, you've been a pro linebacker for about nine seasons now. Is that right?
DJ: Yes, this season coming up will be my tenth.
CP: How long have you been in the sport?
DJ: My mother didn't let me play in the beginning so I played all different types of sports. When I got older and went to high school, she
allowed me to play so I've been in the sport since then.
CP: What brought you to football? Did you just love the game or were there certain aspects of football that were particularly attractive to
you?
DJ: Well, I had a bit of an anger problem, so to express myself and to find my way out of certain situations, to just sort of better myself I
started playing football. I enjoyed it so much that I remained motivated to keep at it and to get good enough at the game to be able to play
in college.
"Every day, every week, I practiced hard and got a bit better, learned more"
CP: When did you first realize you were good enough you could go pro? Did someone point that out to you or...?
DJ: I don't know (laughing...). I always sort of maintained the blue collar mentality where if you just work hard things would work
themselves out. In this case they worked well. Every day, every week, I practiced hard and got a bit better, learned more. My aim was to
be as knowledgable as possible about the position that I was playing so that when I entered the field I could do whatever I wanted to do.
CP: Some people characterize you as a Renaissance man and, indeed, you are a man of a scope much wider than that of an excellent
football player. You are engaged in various worthwhile causes. Can we briefly talk about your involvement with the Climate Change
Project, working with Al Gore...?
DJ: There are people who are socially conscious, many are politically conscious, yet there is an additional important concept of being
environmentally conscious. When you spend so much time outside every day, especially playing sports, you begin to notice the difference,the changes in environment. As a result, I committed myself to learning more about the causes of those changes and being able to create
a meaningful positive impact by getting educated about it and sharing with people what I have learned.
CP: You're also involved with the UN's World Food Program...
DJ: There are millions of people in this world that are in need of the basic neccessities such as food and shelter on the one hand while on
the other there is an overwhelming amount of natural resources to take from. Certain countries and people hoard the resources and we
strive to find a way to channel those resources toward the ones that are most in need of them.
CP: A noble effort. Within the same line of thought and the spirit of charity is the Gift of New York -- a 9/11 philanthropy organization.
Perhaps you could shed a bit of light on your involvement with it?
DJ: The attack on the World Trade Center shook up America and the world. At the time I played for the Giants. We stopped playing for a
week. Aside from the much needed philanthropic side of it, we understood that people needed and wanted a way to collectively cometogether and that football, as a sport and an inexorable part of the fabric of culture, is a great means to do that, to get their mind off the
pressing thoughts by 'being on the field with the athletes', to allow them space and time to communicate and spend time with one another.
CP: Were you always a worldly person, a guy who has his mind on affairs that impact all of us, modes of existence that lie beyond your
immediate field of vision...
DJ: I've always been interested in people. Both my parents were in the military so we traveled quite a bit. Having experienced so much
interaction with various people and all these different places at such a young age ingrained in me a lasting curiousity that ever propels me
to learn about various peoples and their cultural worlds. I do not think this will ever end.
CP: Dhani, you're an athlete and entrepreneur, a poet and a painter, photographer and musician, world-traveler, environmental
philanthropist and a community volunteer. How are you able to find the time to do all these things?
"Certain countries and people hoard the resources
and we strive to find a way to channel those resources
toward the ones that are most in need of them"
"If you wanna travel, get on a plane and get out of the country;
if you wanna paint, find a canvas and illustrate"
i Jones - CAVTATPORTAL http://www.cavtatportal.com/3/post/2009/08/dhani-j
02/18/2014
8/13/2019 Cavtat Portal: Interview with Dhani Jones (2009)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cavtat-portal-interview-with-dhani-jones-2009 2/3
Dalmatian Klapa (folk Band)
Dhani Jones
Dino Imeri
Dubrovnik
Eddie Tiozzo
Eduard Tiozzo
Epidaurus Festival
Family
Fatherhood
Football
Gambling
GothamGregorio Patrick Galligano Stats
Gregorio Patrick Galligano "Stats"
Holy See
Italian American
Ivana Marija Vidović
John Vargas
Joseph
Jug Co
Llangollen
Marija Župić
Miami
Music
National Council On Strength And
Fitness
Nyc
Parenting
Piano
Ragusavecchia
Robert Campanelli
Sports And Physiology
Stand Up
Stanford University
Steve And Alisa
Tony Azevedo
Travel
Travel Channel
Tricia Kendall
University Of Miami Medical
School
Urbanization
Us Masters SwimmingVideo
Waterpolo
Water Polo
Zagreb
DJ: It's about using your time wisely, that is, finding what you passion is and commiting the time to yourself so that you can do the things
that you want to do. If you wanna travel, get on a plane and get out of the country; if you wanna paint, find a canvas and illustrate. It's the
same approach for any of the things you wanna do.
CP: You're a man of action, you don't just think of something you would like to do and then leave that wish stowed away in some drawer to
wait for a better, more auspicious time...
DJ: My motto is CARPE DIEM. I truly believe that. You know, a lot of people stare out of the window and just wait... Other people see that
window is open and they take a chance and jump through it. I live my life trying to take chances. Now, of course I do not proceed
haphazardously. I think and calculate, but I do proceed despite inherent inevitability of a certain amount of risk.
CP: Your love of travel is well known.DJ: Travel is my passion, it's what I love to do. It's something I'd like for others to do as well because I believe it would enrich their lives.
CP: How has traveling enriched your life?
DJ: I think it has allowed me to be a better person, to expand my horizons, to learn how to communicate with different people even if I do
not always know their language. Point in case is when I found myself in Paris. I do not speak French, but because I have traveled widely I
just drew from my experiences and successfully communicated with the French. Or, when I ended up some four hundred miles outside
one of the main cities in an African country without a translator. Same thing. Communication is not only verbal. Thus, I find that people can
always relate to one another and find a way to communicate.
CP: Travel, it seems, is also a great way to get the first-hand knowledge of the world?
DJ: Sure. You learn about places, about people, different cultures, history, you learn what makes the world -- the world. Some people sit at
home and try to learn that through televison and the internet, but there is no better way to acquire the understanding of the world than bywitnessing it first hand.
CP: You were a TV-host and now a TV-star. How has being in the spotlight affected your life?
DJ: I don't pay attention to it. I maintain understanding that we're all just men, women, and children who happen to live in different places
and do different things.
CP: Let's talk about sports for minute. You participated in a whole variety of them. Can you tell us of some?
DJ: For example, Hurling in Ireland, America's Cup racing in New Zealand, Surf Life-Saving in Australia, Mauy Tay in Thailand, Pradal
Serey in Cambodia, Waterpolo in Croatia... the list goes on and on. I just hope I can continue and do as many sports as possible during
my off season and then, during the season, just get back to football.
CP: How was your athletic experience here in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the world's capital of waterpolo?
DJ: It was a bit ackward because waterpolo is a very difficult sport that you have to practice to be able to really play. However, I am a
swimmer and I am a competitor, so I had at least two thirds covered. The last third is being an experienced waterpolo player and that's the
edge that professionals in the sport have over me. I just went at it wanting to participate in the sport and to learn, to have fun experiencing
it.
CP: Your advice to children. How can they grow up to be better persons, better athletes, how can they better respect and appreciate the
world and people in it?
DJ: Open your eyes. Go out and see the world. Don't spend all your time in the house, with the blinders on. God gave us the environment,
God gave us nature, God gave us people and different countries and forms of transportation, a way to see the world, God gave us means
to communicate with our mouths, with our eyes, through foods, through sports. Go out and experience all these different cultures. That's
the best form of education you can get, the best way to understand who you are and where you fit into this world, the best way to express
yourself and give to other people.
CP: Dhani, on behalf of Cavtatportal, thank you very much and welcome to Dubrovnik and our Riviera. We hope to see you here again.
DJ: Of course. And, I'll always come back.
Related Resources
Official Website of Dhani Jones
Dhani Tackles the Globe
About the game of waterpolo
"My motto is CARPE DIEM"
"Communication is not only verbal.
Thus, I find that people can always relate to one another
and find a way to communicate"
"I maintain understanding that we're all just men, women, and children
who happen to live in different places and do different things"
"... Waterpolo is a very difficult sport
that you have to practice to be able to really play"
"Open your eyes. Go out and see the world"
Tweet 0 0LikeLike
i Jones - CAVTATPORTAL http://www.cavtatportal.com/3/post/2009/08/dhani-j
02/18/2014
8/13/2019 Cavtat Portal: Interview with Dhani Jones (2009)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cavtat-portal-interview-with-dhani-jones-2009 3/3
Comments
Leave a Reply
Notify me of new comments to this post by email Submit
Name (required)
Email (not published)
Website
Comments
0
Cavtatportal © 2004 - 2013
Translate / Languages
Why not share something you like?
i Jones - CAVTATPORTAL http://www.cavtatportal.com/3/post/2009/08/dhani-j
02/18/2014