Every year a new word is chosen to represent athletic program. The theme is announced at the fall athlete meeting at the beginning of the school year to the participating athletes. The meeting consists of all fall athletes in the main gym with coaches and the director, who gives an explanation of the year’s theme.
As a theme, grit has many meanings to different people. For the creator of this theme, Athletic Director Dan Jones, he has his own perspective on how to showcase it.
“To me, grit is a mindset,” Jones said. “It’s doing things the right way and outworking your opponents.”
Jones does not pick the theme completely on his own, as coaches give their own input on his theme suggestions.
“Some coaches gave me some information on some books and articles about it and so we kind of incorporated that to make it our own,” Jones said.
Others have a different perspective on what grit is. One of these different perspectives comes from cross country and track and field coach, Noah Lawrence.
“I actually read the book entitled Grit which was written by Angela Duckworth and as she defines it as passion plus perseverance,” Lawrence said.
As Lawrence coaches cross country, he’s noticed an element of grit in his runners.
“You are never going to have a truly upward trajectory. You re inevitably going to face setbacks, whether that’s injury or poor performance and if you are not able to overcome or persevere through those setbacks then you are not going to achieve what you are capable of. I think that’s an aspect of grit,” Lawrence said.