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In the world of endurance sports like mountain biking, grit is not just an asset—it’s a necessity. Grit, defined as the combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals, can make the difference between giving up at the first sign of struggle and pushing through to achieve greatness. But how can young athletes cultivate this critical quality? This article dives into practical strategies for athletes, parents, and coaches to foster grit, not only in sports but also in academics and life.

The Power of Grit

Kate’s journey in mountain biking began as a middle school athlete with a knack for NICA races. Her first season was full of promise, with steady improvements and a growing love for the sport. However, the transition to high school racing brought unexpected challenges. The faster pace, both uphill and downhill, left her struggling to keep up with her competitors. Despite her efforts, Kate found herself plateauing. Her frustration grew as it seemed that no matter how hard she trained, improvement eluded her.

One day after practice, Kate confided in her coach, Alex, about her struggles. Alex listened attentively, asking Kate specific questions about her training habits, mindset, and race-day strategies. Together, they identified key areas that needed attention. For instance, Alex noticed that Kate often pushed herself too hard during training without allowing adequate recovery, which led to burnout. They also discovered that Kate’s negative self-talk was eroding her confidence, making her hesitant during technical descents.

With Alex’s guidance, Kate began to work on her grit skills. They set small, manageable goals, such as focusing on technique rather than speed during descents and incorporating regular recovery rides into her schedule. Alex introduced Kate to visualization exercises, encouraging her to picture herself confidently navigating challenging sections of the trail. They also practiced re-framing setbacks—a poor race result became an opportunity to learn rather than a reflection of her worth as an athlete.

By her junior year, Kate’s efforts paid off. She not only raced better but also rediscovered her joy for mountain biking. She learned to embrace the process, finding satisfaction in her growth rather than fixating solely on results. Even on days when a race didn’t go as planned, Kate could reflect on her performance with pride, knowing she had given her best effort. Her renewed mindset and perseverance ultimately led to her placing in the top five at the state championships by senior year, a milestone she once thought unattainable.

Kate’s story illustrates how grit is built through deliberate effort, self-reflection, and a supportive environment. From identifying specific weaknesses to celebrating small victories, her journey highlights the transformative power of persistence and growth. Let’s explore how athletes, parents, and coaches can replicate her success.

Strategies to Develop Grit

1. Adopt a Growth Mindset

Grit starts with a growth mindset—the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and effort. Encourage athletes to:

• View challenges as opportunities: Re-frame failures as stepping stones to improvement.

• Celebrate progress over perfection: Focus on effort and incremental growth rather than immediate results.

• Practice self-talk: Replace negative thoughts like "I can’t do this" with "I’m learning to do this."

Activity: Have athletes journal after each practice or race about one thing they improved on and one lesson they learned. This activity can also be incorporated as an end-of-ride practice within your ride group. In this format, first, make sure to let all athletes know what you will do at the end of practice before you start your ride; this can also be a good time to ask them to identify what they want to work on during the practice as well! At the end of the ride, have all the athletes in your group share one thing they improved on during the ride and one lesson they learned (i.e., something to work on). You will likely have hesitant athletes at first, but keep encouraging them to share and don't try to force them to do so! Coaches should be a part of this practice as well and should participate in the reflection at every practice. Over time, this reflection builds awareness of their growth and helps reinforce a positive mindset.

2. Set SMART Goals

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART) goals provide direction and motivation.

• Short-term goals: For example, increasing cadence on a specific climb during training.

• Long-term goals: Like completing a challenging endurance event or improving race placement over a season.

• One sentence: SMART goals should be written as one sentence that includes all of the relevant parts (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound). 

• Focus on process over outcome: Most athletes will fall into outcome based goals focused on something like winning a race. These are not wrong but not an ideal place to start. Instead, guide them to think about the things they need to do to reach a point where that outcome goal is achievable. Focus the goals on things they control. By shifting to focus on the process of being prepared for the outcome goal then they not only have more control over success but will be able to see and reflect on their achievements even if the outcome goal doesn't pan out. 

Activity: Work with athletes to create a "goal ladder," breaking a larger objective into smaller, actionable steps. Celebrate each rung achieved to maintain motivation and momentum. Setting SMART goals is new and difficult for many athletes. If this is new to them it may help to provide a "fill in the blank" style template for them to use at first. Then, it is very important for coaches to have discussions with their athletes about their goals to help them flesh out the details and create a "goal ladder". Finally, regular check in sessions on goal progress is critical to long term success! Having these sessions in small groups is a great way to create a supportive environment for athletes to discuss what is, and is not, working for their current goals. 

3. Embrace the Discomfort

Endurance sports inherently involve discomfort, but grit grows when athletes learn to thrive in tough situations. This does not mean coaches, parents or peers should engage in negative behaviors that we have all seen in classic sports movies ("suck it up buttercup", hazing, etc.). These behaviors do not build grit, they are potentially forms of mental abuse. Instead, take a healthier approach of acknowledgment and understanding. To do this coaches and parents can:

• Normalize discomfort: Frame tough practices as opportunities to grow resilience. This should mean letting students know about what the upcoming practice plan is AND allowing them to self-select into the parts they want to be a part of during the practice. Some coaches may approach this as all athletes must do the drill but by forcing an athlete to do a thing they don't want this is likely to backfire. Instead, view opting out as an opening to chat with an athlete about how things are going, especially if they normally participate but recently have not. This may provide perspective into their choice and open a window for a more in depth discussion. 

• Provide perspective: Share stories of professional athletes who have overcome significant setbacks, in a healthy manner. One of the stories I have used as a coach, and a teacher, is Michael Phelps. Michael is an athlete almost everyone knows due to his historic swimming career. Fewer young athletes today know that he struggled with alcohol abuse and was actually banned from competition in international races after a DUI. However, Michael has said that this provided the wake up call he needed to change his training and lifestyle behaviors. Due to these changes he came back to the sport after his ban was up faster than when he left!! There are many stories of professional athletes overcoming adversity (Simone Biles, Kate Courtney, etc.) that you can research out online easily and bring into discussions. 

• Foster pride in effort: Teach athletes to see the value in their hard work, regardless of the outcome. This falls in line with defining goals and efforts based on process. Guiding athletes to objectives/goals they have control over and define, we can reinforce the importance of "putting in the work" vs. just chasing an easy outcome. 

Activity: Include controlled adversity in training, such as riding in less-than-ideal weather, tackling challenging trails, or simulating race conditions. Remember to keep things safe and allow for all athletes to opt in on the experience when setting up challenges. Reflect on these experiences to show athletes the strength they’ve gained. Another activity is to use real-life races and challenges that happen to athletes as a chance to reflect. Be prepared to guide athletes with questions to pull out the details about the experience. This guidance is a skill that may take you a bit of time, so be patient!

4. Create a Supportive Environment

Building grit is a team effort, and support from coaches and parents is essential. There is an unhealthy concept that grit is something that individuals need to struggle with on their own (source: most sports movies) and that by learning to handle the difficulties in this way, they will be stronger. Further, this concept means that many athletes feel that it is not acceptable to discuss hard topics, feelings, emotions, etc., with coaches, peers, or parents. Nothing could be further from the truth! Creating a supportive environment where athletes support each other and have thoughtful coaches to support the process is key to creating grit. Here are some concepts to start with:

• Encourage open communication: Create a space where athletes feel comfortable sharing their struggles. This may look like establishing a regular "end of ride practice" for your group of athletes, like we described above. Creating a routine and encouraging discussion is a practice that feeds on itself and can open the floodgates for more open conversation on harder topics. 

• Model resilience: Demonstrate how to handle setbacks constructively as a coach. This might look like when you fail to complete a skill or feature, behaving in the way you want them to act. Likewise, at races, this means not yelling, being upset at a change in schedule, etc. 

• Balance feedback: Combine constructive criticism with genuine positive reinforcement. We have covered in another article the importance of both constructive feedback and meaningful positive reinforcement. If we go to one side or the other, the outcomes are not ideal! Check out our Healthy vs. Unhealthy Coaching Behaviors article for more details.

Activity: Hold regular team meetings to reflect on challenges and successes, encouraging athletes to share how they overcame obstacles. These discussions can also build camaraderie and foster a sense of shared purpose among teammates. You may be surprised how much "silly" incentives work to spur this type of discussion. One team in Idaho found that giving out gold stars to teammates who call out a great achievement of a peer helped drive this type of supportive environment. Coaches could also award gold stars when an athlete achieved a difficult goal that they had been working on. This turned into a point of pride for athletes to have as many gold stars running down their top tubes as possible by the end of the season, which meant that they were more observant and supportive of their peers while pushing themselves to improve towards their goal. 

5. Teach Emotional Regulation

Handling disappointment effectively is a hallmark of gritty athletes. Disappointment is something that we all encounter...probably regularly in our lives to varying degrees. The ability to recognize emotional states, the causes of them, and to reflect on them is key to everyone, not just athletes. 

• Recognize emotions: Teach athletes to identify and label their feelings. This may be difficult to do at first, as many individuals have not been asked to do this prior, and may be uncomfortable. Be patient and use questions as a way to help them reflect. 

• Use coping strategies: Breathing exercises, mindfulness, or taking a brief break to reset. There are many free resources for these practices online. I would recommend starting with ones from good sources such as Headspace. A great place to start is to use their free breathing practice and meditation videos on their YouTube channel. 

• Re-frame setbacks: Help athletes see mistakes as temporary and solvable. Again, this involves discussion and reflection. Don't expect them to be amazing at this at first, it is a skill that takes time to build. 

Activity: Introduce mindfulness practices, such as a five-minute guided meditation before or after practice. Pair this with techniques like gratitude journaling to build emotional resilience over time. You could encourage this as at-home practices or include a format of it during practices. Remember that these reflections may be highly personal, and athletes may not want to share them with their peers, so invite all athletes to share, but don't force anyone! Also, as noted many times earlier, as a coach/parent, you should be setting the example and taking part in this practice as well. 

Applying Grit Beyond Sports

The skills endurance athletes develop through grit have applications far beyond the racecourse. Academic challenges, personal relationships, and future careers all benefit from the persistence and resilience cultivated in sports. For instance, the focus and discipline required to endure a tough climb can help an athlete break a daunting school project into manageable steps and steadily work toward completion (SMART goal setting). Similarly, the emotional regulation learned from handling race-day disappointments can aid in resolving conflicts with friends or family by encouraging calm, solution-focused discussions.

In future careers, the ability to set long-term goals and persist through challenges mirrors the grit needed to tackle professional growth, like earning a promotion or mastering a new skill. Consider an athlete who uses emotional regulation to excel in a race—these same strategies can be applied to nailing a job interview or leading a team project. These parallels show that grit is not just a tool for athletic success but a lifelong asset in overcoming diverse obstacles. Additionally, the teamwork and adaptability learned on the trail can enhance collaboration and problem-solving in any field. In fact, as a University program director, I can tell you that we are hearing employers are beginning to look for more skills such as the ones outlined here in their future employees. The rapid rate at which the world is changing currently requires individuals to be flexible, self-motivated and self-regulating with the ability to self-evaluate and learn new skills on the fly as needed. In short, grit is becoming a marketable skill for the jobs our youth athletes are likely to be applying for in their future!

Measuring Progress in Grit

Progress in grit is not always easy to quantify. Many of these skills take consistent practice for months or years to really see large improvements. This is a double edged sword as with a long time scale it is harder to see where you started and how far you have come. Here are some practical methods to help your athletes understand the progress they are making:

1. Journaling: Track goals, setbacks, and reflections regularly to identify growth over time.

2. Performance Metrics: Monitor improvements in training or race results tied to persistence.

3. Self-Assessments: Use tools like Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale to gauge personal development.

4. Feedback from Others: Coaches and teammates can provide insight into observed improvements in attitude and effort. This may be a good every 3-4 weeks larger activity to use in a practice. Set up a tradition of having peers and coaches call out improvements in others that they have observed over the past 3-4 weeks. 

Additionally, celebrate subjective milestones, such as an athlete’s ability to remain composed under pressure or their willingness to tackle a previously avoided challenge. These qualitative markers can provide meaningful insights into the development of resilience and determination.

Grit is a Journey

Developing grit is a journey, not a destination. For middle and high school endurance athletes, it’s a skill that can transform their performance on the bike, in the classroom, and throughout life. With a growth mindset, clear goals, and a supportive environment, young athletes can learn to embrace challenges, overcome disappointment, and persist through adversity. As parents and coaches, fostering this resilience is one of the greatest gifts we can offer.

By helping athletes understand that grit is built one step at a time, we empower them to see every obstacle as an opportunity for growth. Let’s commit to guiding the next generation of athletes to pedal their way to grit—and greatness.

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