On Saturday I was checking the schedule of authors on CSPAN book TV to see what authors would be interviewed that day. I saw a name that I recognized, Donna McAleer. So I clicked on the link next to her name and sure enough it was the same Donna McAleer that I had helped with her training 11 years ago. Donna had contacted me through a friend at US Skiing. She was training to make the 2002 Olympic team in the bobsled. She came to Sarasota for three days and we devised a program for her. Get this picture in your head. She was thirty years old, a graduate of West Point with no background in any sport that required speed and explosion. My first impulse was to try to talk her out of her pursuit, but after a short time around her it was clear that this woman had determination and drive that was off the charts. So she trained and I mean trained hard both in her physical preparation and in the sled. She had to make up for what she had not done before. To make a long story short she finished fourth in Olympic trials just a few hundreds of a second out of a spot on the Olympic team. It was great to see her on CSPAN as one of a panel of experts. Check out her site www.porcelainonsteel.com and her book Porcelain on Steel - Women of West Point’s Long Grey Line. Seeing Donna and revisiting her training and her relentless quest for an Olympic berth reminded me of how important grit is in success.
The annals of sport are populated with talent promised and not delivered, of potential unrealized. Do you ever wonder why? I can run through a list of athletes I have seen in my 42 years of coaching who had all the tools but never achieved anything close to their potential. Physically they were talented, in many cases they were anointed or at least appointed early as the next great one. As I reflect back on that list I realize what was missing with these folks was grit. Grit a real want to, a burning desire to get it done, no excuses, just doing what it takes to be the best they could be.
Those with grit don’t take no an answer. No talent, no problems, just dig down deeper, find a way. They get knocked down they get up and come back for more. Those with grit have an ability to turn setbacks and defeats into stepping-stones for success. Work, hell yes, they work, but anyone can work. They work with a focus that is laser like. Some become champions in the traditional sense in that they win medals and set records, but most importantly they get everything out of the talent they possess. When the race is done, the game is over, the career ended they have no regrets. There are no could have’s or should have’s. They maximize what they have because they have grit. I love coaching gritty athletes!