AMBASSADORS WE BELIEVE IN

[MUSIC PLAYING]

On screen: Footage of Christian’s high school from various angles.

Christian Yelich: We're at Westlake High School, where I went to school about 10 years ago, 2010. Going to school here was cool. I mean, it was your average high school experience — football games on Friday nights, playing baseball games here. It's cool to be back.

It's a pretty common dream and goal, is to play pro sports; whether it's baseball, basketball, football — whatever it may be. As a kid, I had that dream. All my friends had that same dream.

[Sound of a wooden baseball bat cracking from a hit and people clapping]

Yeah, it was here, where you were just playing with your buddies for fun. Trying to make the team freshman year and then having a chance to go pro four years later as a senior — it's pretty cool that a lot of it just started right here.

I didn't know I was ever going to play in the big leagues until probably the year before I did. I was a first-round pick and all that, but at the end of the day, that doesn't mean anything either. That just means that's where you're drafted, and now you're in the minor leagues like everybody else.

I don't know if I ever knew that I'd play at an MVP level. But, once you get there and you know you're capable of it, then that's the standard and that's what you hold yourself to.

[Cheering]

My family, my friends — people that have known me forever — they've seen good, bad, all those moments since I was a kid. Not even just baseball stuff, just life things.

After my injury, there's a frustration period; you have a couple day lull and then, once you realize there's no changing it, you have to put your focus into getting better. I know that I can do it. I've got all the confidence in the world to do that, and that's what's going to happen.

I think to be fearless means you acknowledge the fear, adversity, but push through it anyways. Sure, there's a sense of doubt there, but you have to have belief in yourself and, kind of, laser focus on what you want to achieve. And that's what makes it possible to achieve your dreams, and I've had that since I was a kid.

You get to play the game for a short amount of time, so why not get everything you can out of it while you can? I think you'd be cheating yourself, the game, the fans, the team, the organization if you didn't have that drive and you didn't want to be the best version of yourself.

On screen: American Family Insurance logo with the tag line, “insure carefully, dream fearlessly.”

Kathy Ireland: This is American Family Insurance ambassador, Kathy Ireland, welcoming you as we break through to dream fearlessly.

On screen: Break / Through logo, presented by American Family Insurance.

Kathy Ireland: Please welcome, to Break Through, Mr. Derek Jeter. Welcome, Derek.

Derek Jeter: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

Kathy Ireland: Derek, there's a legendary story about you being away from home, the first time, being very homesick. And it was a time where you could either break down or break through.

Can you share with us how you chose to break through?

Derek Jeter: I was drafted when I was 17. I left the day after my 18th birthday and, really, the only time I've been away from home was when I went to see my grandparents in New Jersey.

So, here I was going from Michigan down to Tampa, Florida, and struggling for the first time because, I never really struggled before.

Kathy Ireland: What was the struggle?

Derek Jeter: I got there and I was completely overmatched playing against the best players in the world. And constant phone calls at night, crying every night, being away from home, homesick — I didn't give up. I kept fighting, kept battling. And, you know, anytime I struggled from that point forward, I always used to say to myself, well, it's not as bad as when I first started.

So, you need to experience success, but I think, more importantly, you need to experience failure.

Kathy Ireland: Right — right. So, what would you say to a young person who is going through similar struggles and considering just giving it up?

Derek Jeter: Keep fighting. You know, you have to have a short memory. And everyone's been there. And if they're telling you that they haven't, then it hasn't meant enough to them and they're not telling you the truth.

Kathy Ireland: Derek, Sharlie shared with me that she was diagnosed with cancer in her senior year of college. And so many families are facing that tragedy. What can you share that will inspire, and encourage, people who are going through such challenges.

Derek Jeter: Yeah, my sister — right before her 21st birthday — she was diagnosed with cancer. And when I was growing up, you heard someone had cancer, it was an automatic death sentence.

Kathy Ireland: Terrifying.

Derek Jeter: And that was it. But her strength that she had, instead of taking time off and going through her treatments, she wanted to have her treatments and still continue to go through school. I thought that it was very powerful. I thought it was encouraging to me. But she fought hard.

And, you know, just to be there as a family. I miss my sister — I left when she was in the eighth grade — so I wasn't home when she went through high school, and then she's dealing with this. And you know, I'm in New York playing. So, we had a lot of phone calls at night. A lot of conversations that went very, very late. But any time I would struggle, I'd always say, well, how can I complain about what I'm doing on the field when I have my sister that's battling cancer?

But she won the battle and she's healthy today. And she's an inspiration to everyone that knows her.

Kathy Ireland: Derek, your life, your careers, your adventures in family, they're great inspirations to all of us. Thank you for helping our viewers to break through.

Derek Jeter: Thank you very much.

Kathy Ireland: Thank you so much, Derek.

On screen: American Family Insurance logo, sitting above the home, auto, life, and business product line details, with the tag line, “insure carefully, dream fearlessly.”