A Lesson From Young Athletes

By Valerie Solomon, Busy Mom Gets Fit

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Recently I was observing an elite teenage girls soccer team train on the track while one of my boys was practicing on the field. The girls ran a series of drills... Some laps for time, then a line drill set. 

These girls looked like phenomenal athletes. All of them were strong and in great shape.

One girl in particular was last to finish in every drill they did.

She was the shortest of them all with powerful quads. A few of the other girls who finished sooner would turn around a root her on to the finish every time.

I watched this go on for 45 minutes or so. At first I thought, “Man I’d hate to be the one that is last every time”.


Then I noticed.


When they did the line drill, many (most) of the girls stopped shy of the line 2 feet, 3 feet, a couple yards even when they were to turn around. They didn’t want to be last either. 

But my powerful quad girl went past the line. Everytime. She gave zero cares about being last. She gave 100% effort to the drill itself… to improve herself, to work hard. 

If I was picking players for a team that night based on just these running drills, she’d be my number one pick.


Effort.

Mental toughness.

Giving zero cares about the noise around her and focusing on doing the hard work 100% all out.


And my second picks would be the girls who finished first, of course, and turned around to cheer on the rest. 

The world needs women who root for other women. And the world needs confident women who put their blinders on and do the work they need to do without caring what anyone thinks.


Which will you be? 

Can we be both?