Larry Kesslin

GRIT & Pride

Posted on July 13, 2017

I have written about GRIT in the past, but today I want to talk about it as it relates to our kids. Over the past few years I have noticed a level of GRIT in our 17 year old daughter, Drew, that is amazing to observe. We are also starting to see it in our 15 year old son, Noah. Watching both of them learn the value of GRIT is just amazing and it makes me so proud of the people that they are and the young adults they are becoming.

In particular, this week I’d like to focus on our daughter, Drew. When she was little she loved dresses and loved to be a little doll. She would even get her little brother to dress up with her. She was never much into sports, although she was open to playing basketball in 4th grade and soccer in 5th grade, yet it was never something she was driven to do. One our global journey Drew started to work out and started to take her body seriously. Upon our return to San Diego in 10th grade, Drew became friends with a someone who was an excellent basketball player. Now, Drew had never shown any interest in playing basketball, yet she didn’t want to lose out on time with her new best friend. So, when the coaches went around the lunch area looking for girls to join the JV basketball team Drew said yes.

When she started she had no idea what she had gotten into. She started going to practice and came home each night lost and confused. Over the season she went from not knowing anything about the game to becoming a huge fan of being on a team and was voted the most improved player on the team. She tried so hard to learn the game of basketball even though she admits that she’s not very good. Her GRIT and determination are what makes her a great teammate. At the end of that season Drew loved being on a team sport so much that she decided to try her hand at lacrosse. She made the JV team after never having picked up a stick before the tryouts. She worked really hard that season and was voted most improved on that team as well.

Now, if you ask me of my wife, Drew is not a star athlete, she’s not overly coordinated, but she has a competitive fire that is hard to match. She wants to improve in everything she does and she will practice, run, do drills as long as she can to get better. I don’t believe she will ever be the best athlete on most teams, but there won’t be many on the team that will practice harder or dedicate themselves the way she will. To me GRIT is even more important than skill. Angela Duckworth, the author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, would totally agree. You can learn more about Angela through her TED Talk.

This GRIT, this determination has allowed Drew to get everything that she has in life. For someone who never played a team sport until 18 months ago, our little girl is currently in Israel representing Team USA at the Maccabiah Games. This is basically the Jewish Olympics and is held once every four years. We found out about this opportunity back in March and over the past few months she’s been getting ready for this chance to demonstrate her GRIT and be on a team that represented her country. Over the past two weeks Team USA has won all of there games and Drew will forever be part of the first ever Gold Medal team for Junior Girls Lacrosse. What an amazing accomplishment for a young lady that never played the game of lacrosse until a bit over a year ago!

Over the past two weeks Drew has learned some amazing lessons and she has represented her country along with 13 other young women. We are so proud of her accomplishments and what she’s been able to achieve in her short sporting career. It proves to me that the GRIT it takes to push forward and never, ever quit is something that is invaluable in life. I look forward to celebrating many more proud parenting moments in the future, yet this one is pretty special!

To a life well lived 🙂