Empowering Students to Face Challenges with Confidence

Join me in supporting transformational learning. In Logan Hope's physical education program, we are empowering kids to face life's challenges with confidence.

Gym class is all about challenges. It's all about asking yourself how much farther you can go. Like can you do a push up? If you can, let's see if you can do five, let's see if you can do twenty. Can you dribble a basketball? If you can, let's see if you can run.

What most people don't realize about gym class is that it's the class where the most kids give up. And when my kids come to me wanting to give up, most of the time it's not because they don't care, it's because they're afraid. There is this deeply rooted fear in them, a belief that says that they're not good at whatever they are attempting, and that even if they try they will never succeed.

It breaks my heart whenever I hear kids tell me this, because it's such a dangerous and destructive lie to live under, especially as children. It leads to a trapped mentality. It leads to kids believing that no matter what they do, there is nothing that they can do to improve their lives, so they might as well give up.

That's why gym class in particular is so important. My favorite part of gym class is watching my kids admit that they are afraid, and that they want to give up -- but then watching them take that extra step forward, watching them persevere and try, even when it's hard -- and then seeing them light up, when they see find that they do have what it takes to succeed.

And that, I think, is the most important thing I can teach these kids: to embrace the challenges ahead of them, and to face life with confidence, knowing that they can face any difficulty and succeed against it.