Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Identity

"Sharing One Skin"

Okanagan Community

By- JEANNETTE ARMSTRONG

This article "Sharing One Skin" (Okanagan Community) by Jennette Armstrong is about the community togetherness she is apart of. Armstrong tells us about what it is to be an Okanagan and how they view things. First we learn that Okanagan is a British Columbia made up of four tributaries. Known as The kettle, The Okanagan, The San Poll and The Methow. Okanagans uphold themselves with these keywords (us, we, and as one) not only do they have different bodies, but they see themselves as one. This also goes as far as seeing everything on earth has life, they have a spirit. "Respecting yourselves is respecting everything around you" Lasty Armstrong talks about how now technology is tearing the community apart, and how people are doing their own things. Setting aside the keywords they live by, falling further away from the Okanagan community togetherness. Protecting this valuable knowledge that's kept them together all these years.

Jennette Armstrong 1966 "Sharing One Skin: Okanagan Community" 460-470 in Jerry Mander and Edward Godsmith (eds.) The Case Against The Global Economy, San Francisco, CA=Sierra Club Books

Riley, Kaydence. "LAGUNA FUTURE IS BRIGHT" 2025

Posy Roland (Personal Collection) 2025

"And Then I Went to School"

By- JOE SUINA

In this article "And Then I Went to School" by Joe Suina shares a story about a regular life on the rez. How living that traditional native lifestyle, may have different outcomes, Suina goes into detail about his surroundings, he uses a lot of imagery in his work. Giving the readers who are native or non-native something to imagine. Throughout the article Suina gets personal about his beginning of a "new experience" . Which come with struggles of balancing native living and "white people education". Having to give his full attention to learning the this new environment. Over time things get easier, he begins to get assimilated and school tries to make him forgot his traditional ways of life. But in the end he realizes what his been longs for his Culture.

"How Place Name Impact the Way we see Landscape"

By- B. TOASTIE

In this article "How Place Name Impact The Way we see Landscape" was very impactful by emotionally connecting us to the land and treating it like another living soul. Understanding the landscape values during our tradition, our culture, and our ceremonies. This article demonstrates caring for the environment, because this land was given to us to look over, and gift from mother e

History

Billy Mills

Billy Mills in the 10,000m at the 1964 Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)

Ewen, Alexander, and Jeffrey Wollock. “Mills, Billy.” Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century, Facts On File, 2014. American Indian History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=18626&itemid=WE43&articleId=359416.

Billy Mills. Billy Mills was brought up like many Native kids, He had a hard time finding his own identity due to being mixed blood not having enough to be one or the other. Mills turned to running as an outlet, he achieved many goals in his high school career. Mills was not going to stop there and went to become a U.S. marine. He was finding ways to get to the big stage, running interservice meets. Mills' mental resilience and dedication puts him in the best spot to try out for the Olympic team. In 1964 Tokyo Olympics Mill competed in the 10,000 meter race. Coming in as an underdog, Mills had run into some obstacles like Clarke from Australia. Having a tiny set back in the moment but having the resilience mentally to come back and win it all, gold for the USA. Representing not only himself but all Native American people.

Running Systems, American Indian

Fig. 1 Posy Roland (Personal Collection) 2026

Running Systems, American Indians. Throughout the article it talks about all the Native American Tribes and Pueblos; that used the running system for transportation and communication. Runners would be trained to run these long distances, relaying messages and good between tribes. It would be an honor for a young man to be chosen with commitment and hard work, because it was the only way to get messages about the war from the other Pueblos or Tribes.

Native American Boarding Schools and Assimilation

Native American Boarding School Experience - NEZ Perce National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/news/native-american-boarding-school-experience.htm

Native American Boarding Schools and Assimilation. In this article it talks about the development of the boarding school era. Richard H. Pratt wanted to prove the theory on how to fix the ¨indian problem¨. Pratt made the famous saying ¨kill the indian save the man¨, that was exactly his goal. Pratt got ¨civilization funds¨ in 1819, his plan was on track to kill the ¨indianness¨ .. 1879 was the start of thousands of Native Americans being torn from their homes and shipped away to these boarding schools. Native American Parents were happy to send their children to school in hopes to have a better education. Hopi tribes resisted to give their children up. In refusing to cooperate, they sent U.S. cavalry troops to arrest nineteen of their leaders and sent them to Alcatraz prison. Many troops and officials stuck on to Native lands to kidnap children in the night. Boarding school young native children arrive sick and sometimes dead. They were stripped of their traditional clothing, given names, and taught harsh labor. Slowly the school was trying to pick away at killing the indian by having them go to church, operating like an army camp, and having older native students punish the younger students. I connect with this article because my topic talks about coming across obstacles and others doubting you.

Current State of The Issue

Janee’ Kassanavoid made history and found her purpose.

by being the first Native American woman to compete in the Worlds Athletics Championships. The journey wasn't easy for her but it wasn't just about achieving her goals, it was about finding her purpose. With things like injury and the passing of her father she shows incredible amount of perseverance and resiliency. Her purpose was to use her platform to advocate and role model for Native Americans everywhere. Janee’ Kassanavoid, is her using her heritage to find the purpose of pushing to strive to advocate for Native Americans. She's shown great abilities to overcome challenges like the passing of her father, but also turning it into motivation. Her being the first Native American woman to place in the World Athletics Championship, not only does it bring awareness to the Native American community. It opens doors for young Native American athletes to push past the barriers. She is a woman I highly admire. She's made me realize it's possible to go far if I really work hard and just enhance the grit mentally to the next level.

Native American High School Basketball Given a Place to Shine at NABI

NABI stands for Native American Basketball Invitational, it is a week-long event that provides ¨last chance¨ for many student athletes to put on a show before going to college. NABI highlights more than just basketball it offers beyond the courts. The NABI foundation provides student athletes with scholarships. The goal is to have more Native American athletes to represent their communities at the next level.

Global Connections

Resilience in Sports: A Multidisciplinary, Dynamic, and Personalized Perspective

The Netherlands want to understand and improve the resilience of athletes to decrease in performance. They examine a load ¨stressor¨ watching out for warning signals of possible loss of resilience. In their research they discover a ¨bounce back stage¨. Athletes generally react differently but most go through a depressed state. In these stages they tend to find a meaning to a goal. There is no set time line of how long it takes to bounce back but it does not happen overnight. Some ways to practice being resilient are self motivation, and self efficacy. Lastly ¨mood is a state of mind reflecting the way athletes are feeling at a particular moment, so surround yourself with a community that cares for your well being.

Impact of Coping Strategies on Resilience of Ellite Beach Volleybal Athletes

The most resilient athletes know how to deal with added pressure. The research with elite beach volleyball athletes shows the development of resilient profiles. Testing many coping skills that had an impact on the resilience of the athletes. With the Brazilian athletes showing incredible high levels of resilience and personal coping resources being the highest level of coping skills. Being resilient is tough but you have to find a way to motivate yourself. Find what you're passionate about and keep setting little goals for the day. Breaking up goals that would add up to the big goal will take off the heavy load. No matter the stressor, do not give up. There are many coping strategies. It is just finding the best one that fits you. These beach volleyball pro athletes have learned to cope with adversity and research shows that the most successful athletes have self motivation and confidence.

The Effect of Spoorts Injuries on The Skill of Self Confidence in Athletes: A Case of King Fasial University, KSA

The article is about the impact of sports injuries with Saudi Arabia Athletes. Using a mixed-methods approach, the quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interview. The research found that sports injuries significantly decrease athletes self-confidence. The finding of effective rehabilitation and psychological strategies have a great impact on an athlete's recovery. It ultimately restores and even enhances their self confidence post-injury. This study investigates that a good support system for an athlete has a big effect on an athlete's recovery and self confidence. An athlete that enhanced their self-confidence, demonstrating grit by passion and persevering for long term goals. The two are exactly what you need to push through challenges of sports injuries. By physically and psychologically recovering from the process. The article helps find suggestions to help athletes around the world have a better healing stage. It leads up to grit and being resilient, overcoming the negative impact of injuries to look on the bright side. Finding what you're passionate about, but also doing everything you can to bring yourself to perform again.

Action Plans

Spring 2025

For the Spring 2025 action plan I got a great understanding of how to step into the Elite Athlete mentally. At the start of Winter basketball, my team and I were set on bringing back the blue trophy this year. This was the big topic in every summer ball tournament, so I did some thinking with my mentor. What was the best possible way for our team to stay motivated for this whole season? From my research we need to build a good support system, and learn coping strategies. I had my action plan during my athletic period, my dad came to talk about what it means to set goals, and how grit had impacted his life. I also had goal sheets, they broke up their goal to find what they need to do everyday to get to their goal. The thing my team and I really took away from my dads presentation was doing the little things, and getting one present better everyday. We used this saying to push ourselves, because we are better as one. If one of us goes down we all go down. Our season wasn't perfect. We ran into obstacles, we doubted our abilities, but we built a good foundation to where we can all express our feelings. I had my teammates come up to me, telling me how I made it easy to talk about things and no one would judge.

Fall 2026

For the Fall 2026 action plan I wanted to focus on our bond and team motivation, but also visualization. After school we dedicated a practice to my action plan. I had everyone write their names on a paper. We all took turns writing motivational paragraphs to each other. We played music and laughed. I wanted something we can read back on if we ever doubt ourselves during the state basketball tournament. For the visualization I brought my state medals to give my teammates the feeling of putting a state medal around their head. We took pictures to keep in our phones, so we had something to work forward too. My teammates wrote a lot of great things to each other, we took them on our state trip. Before each game we would read everything on our paper, we said it helped us get over those pre game jitters. I added something to probably our biggest game of the state tournament was our district rivals. I gave everyone a piece of paper and wrote down one word, that they will remember to repeat to themselves to stay motivated. I believe this was the turn point of our season. We looked the most confident when it came to pressure situations. Our state title win opened my eyes for what is possible if you input grit and being resilient. I would like to thank my team for believing in my topic, and for understanding what I was teaching.

Page updated

Report abuse