How can some competitive athletes push through injuries, losses and years of training without giving up, while others throw in the towel?
The idea of grit the ability to push through setbacks and keep moving toward goals when things get tough has been popular in performance psychology for close to a decade.
Now, Danielle Cormier, a Killam postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta, has led a new study that is the first of its kind to explore how competitive athletes develop grit while also looking at the psychological processes that shape it.
(Photo: Supplied)
"I grew up playing sports, and around the time when I was 13 or 14, I started noticing that many of my peers who were talented athletes were quitting, while others kept going," says Cormier.
"Since then, I've always been fascinated by the idea that there might be a psychological difference between athletes who stay in sport and squeeze out every drop of their experience, and those who leave before reaching their potential."
Cormier and her team set out to learn how athletes acquired grit and examined the types of behaviour and cognitive processes adopted by gritty athletes.
"There are very few empirically driven playbooks' that describe how grit is grown," says Cormier.
Previous research has identified grit as an important factor in achievement, but this study aimed to go deeper by examining the real-life experiences of athletes to see how grit forms, evolves and affects performance. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 27 competitive athletes and coaches across different sports, asking them to describe their experiences with setbacks, motivation and long-term goal-setting to identify common patterns. Their findings offer insights into how we get grittier.
Success can come from setbacks
Major setbacks often force athletes to make a decision, says Cormier.
"Injuries, being cut from a team, losing an important match these experiences force athletes to make a choice. Are they going to keep pushing forward? This can lead to a renewed determination to achieve their goals."
Athletes who develop grit tend to reframe these setbacks as temporary challenges rather than failures. They also adopt a mastery-oriented mindset, measuring success by continual improvement rather than just wins and losses.
This mindset is often shaped by supportive coaches, teammates and parents. Athletes who received positive reinforcement when facing perceived failures were more likely to persist.
Passion and perseverance work together
The study also identified two key components of grit in sport: passion (commitment to long-term goals) and perseverance (pushing through obstacles).
"Although these two aspects of grit aren't new, the findings tell us something new about how athletes experience them," Cormier points out.
Athletes with a strong passion for their sport have a clear vision of where they want to go with it. Their desire to make that vision a reality keeps them focused and motivated.
Perseverance keeps them grinding through challenges such as gruelling training sessions, setbacks and moments of doubt. It's what keeps athletes showing up, even when it isn't easy.
The team's research suggests that passion and perseverance must work together. Focusing too much on the goal without adapting to day-to-day challenges can be counterproductive.
"You can't just fixate on the big picture," says Cormier. "Athletes who succeed are the ones who break their goals into small, achievable steps and celebrate progress along the way."
Maintaining a steady balance matters
While grit can be a powerful tool for success, the study also highlights that a balanced life is also important.
Different groups of athletes define grit in different ways, and sometimes they understand it as an "at all costs" mindset, Cormier says. "But this can be massively detrimental to their health and well-being. It is important to note that athletes only experience positive long-term outcomes if they maintain a sense of balance in their sporting lives. The ones whose identities reside solely in sport tend to experience isolation and burnout.
"Athletes who maintain friendships, hobbies and a sense of identity outside of their sport tend to have longer careers, more satisfaction and smoother transitions out of sports."
