Mental toughness is a key difference between good athletes and great athletes; and as a coach, it’s important to me to give my athletes every opportunity to succeed. Today, I put my high school freshman to the test. I asked them to hold a wall squat for two minutes, which if you aren’t familiar, creates an intense burning of the quads very quickly. I wanted to teach these young men how to eliminate the desire to quit when it hurts and becomes unbearable, to teach them how to use their focus and determination to grind through and see the task at hand to completion. At the two minute mark, no one had quit, so I kept them going, asking repeatedly if they wanted to stop. These guys proved their desire to be great and went three minutes as a team, with no one quitting or failing. I can’t wait to see how these guys grow into young men over the next few years!!!
