Sport

Sport

Requires our full makeup of all the different components of the human body

  • Physical
  • Mental
  • Spiritual
  • Soul

Out of the 4 components, three of them deal with the mind and this of course is broken down ever further into other parts

  • Thoughts
  • Emotions
  • Feelings
  • Behaviour

Our main focus is on how one’s mind functions and to maximizes its potential capacity and utilizing the complex sections which deal with the positive and negative energies of our technical and tactical abilities.

This will be the psychological component.

Mental toughness or psychological readiness

The resilience to fight back when a match gets tough.

It’s what keeps these players from giving up in the long haul – even after injuries, setbacks and adversity 

This is what defines a ‘gritty’ individual.

WHAT DOES GRIT REALLY MEAN ANYWAY?

We often hear this word grit thrown around by coaches. “Oh he’s a gritty player, he’s always fighting for the ball in the corners” or, “that was a gritty effort”.

So we tend to associate grit with things like being tough, not giving up and doing the so called ‘dirty work’.

Here’s what the leading expert on grit has to say (Duckworth et al
2007):

“We define grit as perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years
despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress. The gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina. Whereas disappointment or boredom signals to others that it is time to change trajectory and cut losses, the gritty individual stays the course.”

One of the key takeaways from this definition is that it doesn’t just takes months or a year to achieve long-term goals, but rather years of strenuous effort.

On top of that, it’s this idea that, no matter the aim, regardless of the setbacks and failures which will inevitably arise, the gritty individual carries on.

Is Consistent Effort All it Takes?

Effort, long-term effort for that matter, is critical here. It’s what develops and refines skill.

Secondly, once some form of skill is present, effort doesn’t, and shouldn’t, come to a halt.

A Closer Look at Grit Research in Sport

Players who scored higher on the grit scale in sport, also accumulated more indirect hours, (that means, outside of organized practice and competition) compared to less gritty individuals.

The preliminary conclusion here is that if you’re gritty, you spend more
time practicing on your own.

Practice Type Also Has an Influence on Grit

a) perseverance of effort – PE represents the duration of an individual’s efforts toward a goal
b) consistency of interests – represents the direction”.
c) PE portion of the grit scale were significantly associated with deliberate practice (DP), along with attendance to mandatory and optional practice.
d) as skill level increased, so did PE
e) CI – was significantly related to commitment across all skill levels.
f) CI was inversely related to thoughts of ‘switching out’ or ‘quitting’ one’s main sport.

“(one) key to amassing the quantity of training required for developing expert-level skill is sustaining commitment across years of involvement in a domain” (Baker and Cote 2003).

CAN WE DEVELOP OR ENHANCE THE CONCEPT OF GRIT?

The concept of grit is often discussed in the field of high-performance athletics. We have seen the post-game interviews with coaches and players alike stating that “we need to be gritty” or “it was a gritty effort.”

However, if I was to put you on the spot and ask you to define it – could you?

Grit is a term that we use daily in our lives, but some perspective on the meaning could be crucial in developing the action focussed athlete. To me, grit can be defined simply as “the perseverance and passion required for long term goals the best predictor of success “was the ratings on a noncognitive, nonphysical trait known as grit”

Like the mastery of skills, grit could be enhanced by asking the right questions and developing the right type of plan for athletes. It will not happen overnight, or even possibly within the year but motivation and the intensity of effort I like to believe can be a cornerstone to grit.

To enhance the motivation towards that long-term commitment (grit) are as follows:

Establish Our Goals

Understand the Process Needed

Insight into Your Design (How You Will Get There?)

Enable Yourself and Teammates

In conclusion, enhancing grit is not an overnight workshop, it is a dedication to establishing ourselves in action focussed priorities and objectives. It is evaluating these aspects and building a conscious effort towards the plan for performance.

Sports always fall into this category. Undertakings that keep our kids active and social are at the foundation of who they are, and the goal is to allow these activities to help them thrive.

We teach follow-through and perseverance when we allow kids to choose an activity that interests them and carry through with their actions.

PERSEVERANCE. DRIVE. GRIT. This is how it happens.

When this drive, or ambition is present, grit follows. These kids are learning that disappointment can happen, but they don’t let it get them down. They allow their experiences to help them grow.

Through guidance from parents and coaches, they set the bar high for themselves, and succeed. Whether they lose a chess match, forget a line on stage during a play, or turn the wrong way in a dance recital, they don’t let it get them down. These kids are full of strength, courage, independence, perseverance, and determination. Just by accomplishing one key element, they are developing their character and setting the bar higher for not just the next performance.

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