Over recent years talent identification in sport has begun to acknowledge and account for the crucial character element in talent development. In particular, the importance of ‘grit’ is increasingly championed. Coaches and parents are accordingly becoming more aware of this concept in relation to youth sports. So what is grit, how does it relate to long-term success in sport and what can we do to create the conditions to help foster grittiness in young performers?
IN FOR THE LONG HAUL…
The journey for a young performer is a prime example of delayed gratification - the reward of fulfilling a long-term aspiration by definition will only arrive an unspecified number of years in the future. Moreover, if the aspiration is ambitious enough then success is far from assured, and so the ultimate reward may not come at all.
The youth sports journey continually tests the character and mettle of young performers. Regardless of talent, performers require tenacity so that short-term failures or disappointments do not lead them to becoming demotivated and dispirited. Aside from the ability to persevere, it is also crucial that performers do not get distracted by other short-term rewards or succumb to other influences that might derail them from their chosen path. In the digital era this has become perhaps the biggest obstacle, particularly for adolescent performers who are highly sensitive to social judgement and thus prone to the perils of social media.
The concept of grit has been used to capture each of these elements. Of the three factors used to define character (intellectual, inter-personal and intra-personal), grit relates to the intra-personal element. Grit therefore concerns the internal dialogue we have with ourselves and our internal decision-making process that steers our behaviours, including what we choose to act on and how much of ourselves we choose to invest in the endeavour.
More specifically, grit is described as a personality trait that leads us to pursue long-term goals with sustained zeal and investment of hard work. Ratings of grit are accordingly predictive of long-term success in different domains, notably sport. The underpinning elements of grit include motivation and the meaning attributed to our chosen quest. A deeper sense of meaning helps fuel motivation and alters how young performers respond to challenge and difficulty.
Crucially grit encompasses the drive to selectively engage and invest effort in purposeful actions oriented towards long-term outcomes, in preference to whatever other opportunities for instant gratification that might be on offer. Once again, it is immediately obvious how this might be useful for young performers!
WHEN AND WHERE DO WE BEGIN..?
Young brains emerge from the womb only partly formed and so are constantly developing and making connections. The environment and experiences during childhood are part of the neurocognitive development that helps to shape how kids see the world and in turn their behaviour. On a simplistic level, formative experiences build associations with threat and reward in different scenarios. Such learned associations have a bearing on how we anticipate and respond in particular situations.
The onset of adolescence marks a critical period in the development of young performers. Whilst adolescent brains remain work in progress, during this phase young performers gain the propensity to contemplate abstract goals and aspirations that extend far into the future. Crucially they also begin to acquire the cognitive and emotional aptitudes and self regulation tools to allow them to pursue these long-terms aspirations.
As the grown ups what we can do is strive to create the conditions that allow young performers to exercise and refine these capabilities. Similarly we can help provide the resources and guidance to support the process and assist them in learning key lessons along the way.
STEPPING STONES…
During my time in New Zealand I was coaching director for an athlete development organisation that served school-age young performers in all sports across multiple sites, including programmes within schools. One practice that we implemented once they arrived at the middle tier in the programme (coinciding with the phase approaching and during the adolescent growth spurt) was to ask each athlete to identify three things. The first was their long-term aspiration in sport. Secondly, they were to select a medium term objective - what did they want to achieve over the coming year? The final component was to identify a short-term process goal to work on in training during the weeks ahead - for instance, a young volleyball athlete might opt to focus on improving their standing jump by working on jump technique or their lower body strength training.
Each of these aspects of course relate to each other: the short term process goal was intended to allow them to achieve their medium term objective, which in turn would hopefully serve as a stepping stone towards achieving their long-term aspiration.
Having a long-term aspiration is crucial to know the ultimate destination. Arguably more important is the sense of meaning that the young performer attributes to the quest. In essence, it has to mean something to to the individual on a deep level in order to sustain them on long journey ahead. To that end, as part of the regular exercise to identify goals, coaches and parents might probe to see how serious they are about their identified aspiration and what (if anything) lies beneath it. That said, the discovery of deeper meaning is highly personal and it is something that only the performer themselves can have. It is also a realisation that might come at any point in the process. Hence the exercise is worth revisiting periodically!
Beyond long-term aspirations, it is nevertheless important that the performer is clear on what they can do today in order to take a step forward on that journey (work on areas over the short-term). Likewise, having checkpoints along the way (the medium-term objectives) is also very helpful to sustain motivation over time.
CONSISTENCY AND COMPOUNDING…
Understanding the principle of compounding is crucial for anybody working towards a long-term goal. Just as with investing, incremental short term improvements accumulate over time in a way that eventually yields big dividends. Exponential growth (fixed gain over a fixed period of time) is an illustration of the compounding principle! This phenomenon is generally not intuitive, not least because we do not tend to notice growth on a day by day basis.
Consistency is required in order to accrue gains and derive the benefits of compounding. This concerns not only attendance but also consistency of effort and attention. I can recall many instances of two athletes who had comparable attendance, yet one showed dramatic improvements over the course of a year’s training whereas the other did not demonstrate much change in their performance tests. The intention, attention and directed mental effort invested in each session were major factors in what led to the diverging outcomes.
It follows that we need to take the time to explain and illustrate the concept of compounding to young performers. Periodic evaluation and feedback to allow them to register the improvements they have made over the period are also helpful to reinforce the point. Progress reports demonstrate that the effort invested is yielding results.
“Don’t be upset about the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do”
Equally, it is worth communicating and reinforcing regularly that what the young performer chooses to invest each day will make a dramatic difference on what results they see over time. By extension, whilst consistent attendance is clearly a prerequisite, coaches and parents should seek to reward consistency of effort and attention during sessions.
IN CLOSING…
Grit is understandably prized as an important asset for young performers embarking on the long and uncertain journey to elite level. A single-minded focus on their ultimate objective allows the individual to apply themselves to the quest to the exclusion of extraneous short-term rewards and distractions (which are plentiful). The pursuit really begins when the young performer identifies a long-term aspiration and makes the decision to commit to it. Somewhere along the way this involves realisation of what it means to them on a deeper personal level.
The journey to achieving any long-term goal comprises a long series of choices. This is a good definition of achievement: the cumulative result of the choices made and actions taken over an extended period.
The consistency they bring to the pursuit and how the individual applies themselves in the endeavour determines the compounding effect of their daily efforts. This largely serves to determine what progress they make towards the destination over time. Making sure they realise and understand these fundamental concepts is an important part of how parents and coaches can assist young performers on the journey.
Readers who are interested can enquire to find out more about what support and coaching provision we can offer for those local to Vancouver, as well as remote coaching options for those further afield. For more, including how to arrange an initial assessment, see the ‘Enquire’ link at the top of the page or email us direct at PreparedATH@gmail.com.
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Thanks also to all those who have shared feedback on the recent release Prepared: Unlocking Human Performance with Lessons from Elite Sport (click on the image below for details).
