G is for Growth
A plan your coach builds with you, and one hard thing you commit to each season. You get a little better every week.
The belief that you can get better at anything you work at, which is what lets you start.
Growth · Passion · Perseverance
How Sports Build Character and Grit in Kids
Most kids stop playing their sport one day. The ones who learned grit keep what it taught them for the rest of their lives. Here is what grit is, why sport is the best place to learn it, and what coaches and parents can do this week.
What grit is, and what it isn't
Psychologist Angela Duckworth defines grit as passion and perseverance for long-term goals. It is not toughness for its own sake, and it is not pushing a child through pain. It is caring about something enough to keep working at it when it gets hard, and when progress is slow.
Carol Dweck's research adds the other half: a growth mindset, the belief that ability grows with effort. Without it, a setback feels like proof you are not good enough. With it, a setback is information about what to practise next.
What GPP stands for
Growth, Passion and Perseverance. Together, they build character and grit.
P is for Passion
Goals written in your own words. Your coach shapes practice around what you love, so you keep coming back.
Knowing what you care about and choosing it, even when nobody is watching.
P is for Perseverance
Weeks kept, not streaks broken. A missed day never wipes out your progress, and a loss is a lesson.
Finishing what you start, and getting back up after a setback.
Why sport is the best classroom for grit
Few places give a child real stakes in a safe setting. In sport, effort shows up in results you can see, a loss stings but is over by next week, a coach gives honest feedback, and teammates depend on you. Every practice is a small chance to choose to keep going.
The catch is that the same setting can teach the opposite: that only winning counts, that you are worth what your ranking says, that a bad game means you are not a real athlete. What a child learns depends on the adults around them.
7 ways coaches and parents build grit
- 1
Let them choose one hard thing
In her book Grit, Angela Duckworth describes her family's "Hard Thing Rule": everyone does one thing that takes daily practice, everyone picks their own, and nobody quits in the middle of a season. Choosing it is what makes it theirs.
- 2
Praise effort and strategy, not talent
In Carol Dweck's studies, children praised for being smart chose easier tasks afterwards and gave up sooner. Children praised for their effort took on harder ones. "You kept going after that bad set" builds more than "You're a natural."
- 3
Measure against yesterday, not teammates
Comparison teaches kids that someone else decides whether they are good enough. Progress against their own last month teaches them that work pays off, and that is the lesson that lasts.
- 4
Make the goal theirs, and plan for the obstacle
Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen's WOOP method asks four things: the Wish, the best Outcome, the inner Obstacle, and the Plan for when it shows up. A goal in a child's own words, with an if-then plan, survives a bad week.
- 5
Count weeks kept, not streaks
A streak teaches that one missed day erases everything. A count of weeks kept teaches that showing up again is what matters. Life gets in the way; perseverance is coming back.
- 6
Turn a loss into a question
After a loss, ask instead of tell: What went well? What would you try next time? What do you want to work on this week? The answer becomes the next practice.
- 7
Finish what you start
Quitting is fine at a natural stopping point, like the end of a season. Leaving in the middle of a bad week teaches that discomfort is a reason to stop. Finishing teaches that it passes.
What to say on the ride home
Coaches Bruce Brown and Rob Miller asked athletes what they most liked hearing from their parents after a game. The answer that kept coming back was the simplest one. Start there, and save the analysis for when they ask.
- “I love to watch you play.”
- “What was the most fun part today?”
- “I saw how hard you worked on that.”
- “What do you want to try next time?”
How GPP Coaches puts this into practice
Every coach on the platform works with a development plan: goals in the athlete's own words, one hard thing for the season, practice blocks and progress measured only against yourself.
No leaderboards
We never rank children against each other. Progress is measured only against yourself.
No broken streaks
A missed day is life, not failure. The weeks you kept still count.
No hidden scores
Nobody gets a grit score or a label. Effort and growth are what we celebrate.
No paying up front for nothing
Your payment is held and only released to the coach after the session happens.
Questions parents ask
What is grit in sports?
Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals, as psychologist Angela Duckworth defines it. In sport it looks like practising when it is hard, coming back after a loss and working toward a goal for a whole season, not just a game.
Can grit be taught to kids?
Grit grows with the right experiences: choosing a hard thing to work on, being praised for effort rather than talent, setting goals in their own words and finishing a season. Sport gives children all of these in a safe place to fail.
What does GPP stand for?
GPP stands for Growth, Passion and Perseverance. Growth is the belief that you can get better through effort, passion is caring about what you do, and perseverance is keeping going through setbacks. Together, they build character and grit.
How do sports build character?
Sport puts children in real situations with real stakes: winning and losing, being part of a team, being coached, and working for something that takes months. Handled well by coaches and parents, each of those builds honesty, resilience, respect and self-discipline.
How do I find a coach who builds character, not just skills?
Ask how the coach measures progress, how they handle a loss and whether they compare players. Look for a coach who sets goals with the athlete, praises effort and builds a plan for the season. On GPP Coaches, every coach works with development plans and progress measured only against yourself.
Find a coach who builds character
Set real goals, train a real plan and grow at your own pace. Free to join.