Ian Hill is speaking upstairs at the Brewery Arts Center to raise funds for CPAC-Soccer so 80 girls can go to the FIFA Women's World Cup and participate in the President's Invitational Tournament.
Entering into his 10th hour of nonstop speaking, Ian Hill said he was feeling fine.
“It’s amazing that after nine-and-a-half hours, I still have all this energy,” he said.
The business leader and international motivational speaker began talking 6 a.m. Thursday and is continuing through Saturday morning in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for longest public speaking event.
“I’m taking what I have and giving it all I’ve got,” he said on Wednesday.
Hill’s record-breaking attempt is part of a fundraising effort to send members of his CPAC soccer program to an international tournament in Canada.
He will need about $90,000 to take 80 girls to the Presidents Invitational Cup in Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada, — just outside of Edmonton, where the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be taking place at the same time.
During his Thursday afternoon speech at the Brewery Arts Center, he said the trip is about more than soccer.
“This is an outreach program to help young girls reach their full potential,” he said. “We’re using athletics as the vehicle. Statistics show that works. We’re trying to build something special. It’s a program that’s built principally on love.”
Hill started the program in the Woodside Drive area to empower girls who lived in the typically low-income, mostly Hispanic neighborhood. However, the program now draws participants from across Carson City.
Hill is compiling the content from the talks he gives across the country and internationally to businesses and institutions.
He spoke about the importance of being aware and getting involved to make a difference.
“Good-hearted, well-meaning people don’t change the world,” he said. “Good-hearted, well-meaning, equipped people change the world. You gotta get equipped.”
He is collecting pledges to sponsor a dollar amount for each hour he speaks.
Bob McCann, a manufacturing-business owner, sent in a chat message via the live stream video at cpacathletics.org/world-record. He pledged $2 for every hour Hill speaks.
“Go Ian,” McCann wrote. “I am sending you energy and good thoughts to keep you going. Your content is great, and I hope there are lots of viewers.”
He said the program has collected $15,000 so far.
“That’s a good amount of money,” he said. “We weren’t even in existence seven months ago. That’s crazy.”
He plans to speak through 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
He was still going as of press time Thursday, having just completed a third of the record.
“I’m doing pretty good for 13 hours,” he said.
He hopes his success will inspire others, especially the youth in his soccer program. “I want you to think now in terms of what you can accomplish,” he said.
