Matilda’s Grit
It would be remiss of me to not mention the phenomenal effort of our Women’s National Soccer team during the recent World Cup! Growing up in a soccer household, my appreciation and understanding of the game has always been close to my heart, however how these inspiring women captured the heart of a nation was something extraordinarily inspiring to witness. I recently watched a Ted talk about an educator who was working in New York City public schools that left teaching to pursue psychology. Her main field of study centred around studying children and adults in all kinds of challenging settings to find out ‘who was successful here and why?’ Her research team worked with military academies, participants in National Spelling Bee competitions, private companies and schools. In all those different contexts, one characteristic continued to emerge as the significant predictor of success and it wasn’t social intelligence, IQ, family background, wealth or physical health. It was GRIT.
So, what is grit? Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina, grit is sticking to your future, day in day out, not for a week, not for a month but for years on end and working hard to make that a reality. I connected that to the Matilda’s as I watched and listened to the media coverage surrounding the women’s commitment to their sport but more importantly the back story as to how many of them got to where they are today. Grit isn’t just talent – yes, these athletes can play, but surely it relates to their mindset. A belief that they can improve, grow, develop and succeed due to their effort, their determination, their commitment – their grit.
I shared this with my son, as he watched the Matilda’s play. Although he is a passionate and avid basketballer, I used this opportunity to talk about grit, and redirected his regular dialogue and perceived limitation of his height as he is not ‘a tall’ on the court as he is yet to have had his growth spurt. I reminded him that he still has plenty of time to grow in height, but it was the growth of his mindset, his grittiness to commit to his passion, that is far more important!
Enjoy the weekend ahead!
Go well,
Kelly Manera
Assistant Principal Learning and Wellbeing