More Than Wins: How Pressure Builds Resilient Children

"Everything negative—pressure, challenges—is an opportunity for me to rise." – Kobe Bryant

Thought of the Day

We always want to celebrate the wins and try to model the best Instagram-worthy highlight reel. But sometimes the best teacher for your youth is pressure, mistakes, challenges, and other seemingly negative things. Giving your child the opportunity to balance the pressure of school and sports may be exactly what sets them up for success as an adult.

We know that the busyness of life does not slow down once you’re out of school. On the contrary, it usually gets busier—with the constant juggling of life, work, and family commitments. How will you model this balance for your children and support them in creating their own?

While I was taking my son to swim lessons, he asked me, “Why are you up and working before I get out of bed?” The short answer: So I can take you to swim lessons, bud.
I was happy to have a chat with him about balancing time with him and his sister, while also fitting in work and all of life’s other commitments. It’s good for kids to witness how we handle pressure, and I hope to instill in them the ability to manage it better than I have. Usually, what we say has little bearing on the outcome; because what we do, how we model, and what we help them commit to is the real teacher.

You want your children to grow into not just great kids, but well-rounded and balanced adults. That doesn't happen by lobbing the easy path in their direction, but by helping them overcome pressure, challenges, and other seemingly negative experiences. The first step can be helping them balance school with sports and other activities.

If they don’t make this a priority while life’s demands are still relatively low, how do you expect them to make the shift when life gets crazier and more demanding?

If you’re looking for an activity to help them rise, we have our Empower Youth programs. These classes are a great opportunity for them to build physical literacy, learn commitment to a process, and have fun along the way.

For more information on our Homeschool PE, Teen, and Tween classes, follow this link: Youth programs

Thursday

H: 03-10 Warm up (7 min)

• 500 meter row or bike

• Chest stretch, wall angle and thoracic stretch

• With a PVC pipe:

  Shoulder pass thru

  Around the world

  Overhead squat with PVC or resistance band

• Hamstring stretch, Cossack stretch

H: 10-24 Tech (14 min)

If use barbell and perform snatch first:

Snatch mini pull, snatch high pull, and snatch to overhead

Use 2 or 3 weights to build up to the workout weight.

Suggestion on the weight choice: 70-80% of 1RM, aiming for unbroken 10 reps

If not able to perform overhead with a good form, or afraid of barbell overhead:

Use a plate. Try to align your arms with your ears while maintaining your heels down.

H: 25 WOD

4 rounds for time of:

Row 500 meters

155-lb overhead squats, 10 reps

Time cap: 20 min

Notes:

• We have limited number of rower. Can use bike as an alternative

• Snatch to overhead is recommended. Share the bar with a partner if more than 6 people on the platform.

• For partners who share the bar:

You will use either the rower or bike for the cardio part.

Partner A will start from one cardio equipment

Partner B will start from the barbell with one minute staggered

If both are going for their cardio part and one is already on the rower, the other can use the bike for that round.