"Grit" More Important than Brains and Brawn According to New Study

Now if there were a way to 'measure' grit in an interview?
 
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why participation in sports is valued so highly by the academies. As the father of baseball players, the fundamental separator among those who seek to play beyond high school is the capacity to keep working, every day. Lots of kids have talent, but strangely enough the kids who play in college are the ones who took the extra 500 ground balls on their own every week.

Participation in varsity sports - with the added layer of captaincy or post-season honors - requires the integration of perseverance and talent for the vast majority of HS student athletes. It might be a considered a proxy for "grit"
 
ALF648 said:
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why participation in sports is valued so highly by the academies. As the father of baseball players, the fundamental separator among those who seek to play beyond high school is the capacity to keep working, every day. Lots of kids have talent, but strangely enough the kids who play in college are the ones who took the extra 500 ground balls on their own every week.

Participation in varsity sports - with the added layer of captaincy or post-season honors - requires the integration of perseverance and talent for the vast majority of HS student athletes. It might be a considered a proxy for "grit"
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...and nothing requires more grit, perseverance and pushing yourself further than you ever thought possible than wrestling at the highest levels. This guys are hardcore beasts and work harder than I'd ever be willing to and that's why I stuck to baseball and football.
 
Sitting at a family dinner tonight, celebrating his 18th birthday....also day one of wrestling. He is beaten. Bruised. Bloodied. Sore. Tired. And telling how his bicep broke a kids tooth in practice. Wrestling isn’t for wusses.
 
I know I am going to sound really old school and old grad like, but I believe that is why they used to make beast and plebe year so hard. I'm not talking about academics. I saw really good cadets walk out the door, not because of academics or honor boards, but because they couldn't take the pressure of the plebe year BS. Just because they were really good cadets didn't mean they would be really good officers. To echo what others have said, I do think playing high level sports does put you through the ringer when you are younger and teaches you to get up when the chips are down (over and over). Go ahead and flame me now.....
 
I'm going to be a little contrarian here - of course "grit" is important, but it doesn't matter if you don't have the basic level of brains and brawn to succeed at a Service Academy. "Trying" isn't the objective, "success" is , and some people simply aren't going to succeed no matter how hard they try.,

That said, I agree with the conclusion that grit is more important than brains and brawn one at a Service Academy. This was a study of Cadets attending West Point, so they by definition (and determination of the Admission Board) had the basic level of brains and brawns necessary to succeed.
 
Physically, Army basic training was pretty easy for my DD after being a D1 athlete. I also thought it was not too difficult physically after playing a season of college football and “two a days”.
 
billyb said:
I know I am going to sound really old school and old grad like,
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I agree. Back in the day at USNA the attrition was such taht about 1/3 of the entering class failed to graduate. After the 1970s it reduced to 10-15% don't finish. It is my understanding this was/is typical at USMA.

Dare I say, "Go Navy?"
 
SaltiDawg said:
I agree. Back in the day at USNA the attrition was such taht about 1/3 of the entering class failed to graduate. After the 1970s it reduced to 10-15% don't finish. It is my understanding this was/is typical at USMA.

Dare I say, "Go Navy?"
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While I’m a “muggle” most Old Grads I talk to, while commenting about some areas that are easier, generally feel the physical fitness and combat readiness have more emphasis such as ruck marching.
 
I had to take no Physical Fitness to gain entry.... or least none that I remember.

And I guarantee I did not have to do a Mile Run nor throw a basketball.

I can remember that The Commandant of Midshipman addressed my Class within a couple of days of our entering. He told us to look at the man sitting to our right and the man sitting to the left - in four years one of you will not be here.

He was correct. My Class entered with 1202 and Graduated 802. Neither of my two Plebe Year Roomates made it - one bilged out at the end of Plebe Year, the other at the end of Youngster year.

For you woo poos, "bilged" means failed.
 
SaltiDawg said:
I had to take no Physical Fitness to gain entry.... or least none that I remember.

And I guarantee I did not have to do a Mile Run nor throw a basketball.
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I was a USNA candidate in the early 70's and vaguely remember a "Physical Aptitude Test" that I had to pass. I know that there was a shuttle run in it and I seem to recall situps and pushups, maybe pull ups as well. Definitely not a distance run. I made the mistake of having my wrestling coach administer the test and he had me do it at the end of wrestling practice (wearing wrestling shoes) which probably impacted my results but I still got in,

Now the Mile Run was part of our set of required physical fitness tests every semester that I was at USNA. Mile Run (passing was 6:30), Obstacle Course and Applied Strength Test. Applied Strength was Pull Ups, Parallel Bar Dips and Situps. The minimum pull up score got tougher each year and I think it was 8 minimum as a First Class.
 
My time was before yours. Had none of those tests to get in.

Did the Mile Run once - 1/c Year. Did the Obstacle Course once and the 40 Minute Swim once. Boxed for a grade once - Capt Hopkins, USMC, administered. Blood mandatory.

The requirements have certainly changed - in lots of ways. ;)
 
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