I have a lesson plan in Helping Student Motivate Themselves about grit, and I also have related videos in The Best Resources For Learning About The Importance Of “Grit”, as well as a number of fun “grit” videos in The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner.
However, I wanted to find a few more, and thought that some athletic-related ones would be helpful. So I’ve found a few (along with Paul Tough clip I’m adding at the end). I hope readers will suggest more.
Here’s what I have so far:
Here are two versions of the famous clip showing Derek Redmond at the Barcelona Olympic Games. The first one is very well done. However, it has a soundtrack to the song “You Raise Me Up,” which is sung in many different situations, including in churches. In case people were concerned about showing a video with that sound track, the second video doesn’t contain it:
Of course, there’s the last race in the film, Cool Runnings:
I’m not sure where or when the race in this next video took place:
Students may not recognize a number of examples cited in this video, but it’s still worthwhile:
And then there’s the Paul Tough clip:
You may have seen the amazing performance by U.S. skater Jeremy Abbott at the Sochi Olympics where he took a terrible fall but then recovered to finish very strongly.
The video of happened (I can only link to it since it’s not embeddable) will be a perfect addition to The Best Video Clips Demonstrating “Grit” though, since its seven minutes long, you probably want to only show the fall and its aftermath to students.
In addition, I’d supplement showing it with having students read some of the following articles:
Jeremy Abbott suffers brutal fall, but skates on is from The Washington Post.
After fall, Jeremy Abbott shows grit and finishes short program is from NBC.
Jeremy Abbott, U.S. figure skating champ, falls hard but finishes routine to huge ovation is from CBS.
Digg describes this next video as “Watch A 2-Year-Old Amputee Learn To Walk Before Your Eyes”:
Iris suggests this one — it highlights grit as focusing on long-term success (the following two do so, also):
Grit from Trent Jaklitsch on Vimeo.
Zootopia Movies Highlights Importance Of Grit, But Also Its Limitations
What other athletic feats of grit would you recommend?
The video of Steve Jones winning the 10,000 meter is from 1983 in Brussels. Jones became the world’s best marathon runner in the mid 1980s. The 10,000 meter was too short of a race for Jones to be effective on the world stage, and this was the one time he proved the experts wrong. If I remember correctly, the time was not great; but the win was amazing.
The other two runners were Shahanga (I think that is his name) from Tanzania and Bekele Debele from Ethiopia (always loved that name!).
Thanks, Ric!
Gymnast Kerry Strug doing an amazing vault on a sprained ankle at the 1996 (?) Olympics showed tremendous grit……..
Check out our grit board. Lots of videos. http://www.pinterest.com/morlyce/grit/
Heather Dorniden 2008 Big 10 Indoor Track Championship 600m Christian Athlete Takes a Fall But Still Wins the Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjejTQdK5OI
My husband and I always refer to the “Tin Cup” moment when our kids think about giving up. It’s the scene where Costner decides to risk the U.S. Open in order to go for a difficult shot. He doesn’t give up, and he resists the naysayers.
Do you happen to have a link to the YouTube clip?