Grit Is Enough Until Grit Isn’t All You Need: A Tale of the Haves and the Have-Nots

In 2013, Angela Lee Duckworth introduced millions of people to the idea of “grit” through her TED Talk, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.

Her message was powerful: success is not determined by talent or intelligence alone. It also depends on a person’s ability to remain committed to a long-term goal, continue working through setbacks, and keep improving when progress is slow.

Duckworth described grit as passion and perseverance over time. In her 2016 book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she explained that grit involves staying committed to something meaningful for the long term. She described success as a marathon rather than a sprint.

Those ideas resonated with athletes, educators, parents, coaches, and leaders because they challenged the belief that talent alone determines success.

Duckworth argued that effort matters—not just once, but repeatedly. Her well-known formula suggested that effort helps develop skill, and that skill combined with continued effort produces achievement. In her words, “Effort counts twice.”

Her work also drew attention to research involving incoming cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Researchers examined whether grit could help predict which cadets would persist through the demanding first summer known as Beast Barracks. The research suggested that a person’s ability to remain committed through difficulty could matter even when academic performance and physical ability were also considered.

That finding helped establish grit as an influential idea. It offered a hopeful message: people are not limited entirely by their starting point. Persistence, practice, and commitment can shape what they become.

But as Duckworth’s work has continued, her message appears to have evolved.

A recent conversation featuring Duckworth is titled, “Why Grit Isn’t Enough to Get What You Want.” Its description explains that effort alone does not create a great life. A person’s circumstances, relationships, environment, and support system also matter.

That evolution also aligns with Erik Erikson’s theory of human development. Erikson believed that development is shaped by the interaction between a person’s biological tendencies and social environment. Some people may have a natural tendency toward persistence, while others develop it because their circumstances, relationships, and experiences demand it. His theory helps explain why grit is neither formed nor expressed in the same way for everyone.

Duckworth’s original message was easy to hear as:

If you work hard enough and refuse to quit, you can accomplish your goals.

But is that true for everyone?

What if two people work equally hard, but one has access to better coaching, more financial support, reliable transportation, more competition, and a stronger support system?

What if one athlete has a place to practice every day while another has to search for opportunities?

What if one young person constantly hears that she belongs, while another is always questioning whether there is a place for her?

Both may have grit. Their circumstances are still different.

This does not make Duckworth’s research unimportant. It makes the conversation more honest.

The West Point research showed that grit can help predict persistence in a demanding environment. It did not show that grit eliminates barriers or guarantees success. A cadet’s determination matters, but so do the resources, expectations, training, relationships, and institutional structures surrounding that cadet.

In a 1967 NBC News interview, Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the idea that effort alone can overcome inequality. Although he believed people should strive to lift themselves, he warned against demanding self-reliance from people who had been denied the resources needed to advance:

“it’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”

His point was not that individual effort is meaningless, but that perseverance cannot substitute for resources, access, and fair opportunity. This is where I believe the wrestling world divides into the “haves” and the “have-nots.” It is easier for someone who already has the boots to work hard, persevere, and rise above difficult circumstances. The person without access to those boots must first work to obtain what someone else inherited before either person can begin the same climb.

The same is true in wrestling.

Grit can help an athlete show up after a difficult practice. It can help her learn from a loss, try again, and stay committed when improvement takes time. 

But grit cannot provide transportation.

It cannot pay tournament fees.

It cannot create a wrestling room, provide experienced coaching, or guarantee access to meaningful competition.

Grit has limitations because it is one part of an ecosystem, not the entire ecosystem. I am writing this on the eve of an opportunity to volunteer with Black Girls Advocate, a Denver nonprofit hosting the I Got Next Sports Bra Giveaway. The organization has collected more than 500 sports bras for young athletes. As a father of girls in combat sports, I know that a properly fitting sports bra is essential. When I told my daughters how we would spend our Saturday, one asked, “Why can’t those girls just buy bras?” She meant no harm; she simply had never needed to imagine competing without the required equipment. I explained that the issue is bigger than wrestling and affects girls across sports. Wrestling uniform rules can be strict, and wearing the wrong equipment can disqualify an athlete from a match. Now imagine a girl who has shown up, drilled, learned, grown, overcome setbacks, and persevered but still lacks access to the right equipment. Grit cannot remove every socioeconomic barrier, but community support can help ensure that those barriers do not erase the work an athlete has already done.

That is where community matters: it creates the conditions that allow a child’s grit to become visible.

I live in a state that demonstrates progress not only by recognizing when people need help, but also by choosing to provide it. In 2022, Colorado voters approved Proposition FF, creating the Healthy School Meals for All program so students at participating public schools could receive breakfast and lunch at no cost. That decision reflects a shared understanding of community: everyone contributes so that children do not have to learn while hungry. I see that same spirit in the loyalty of Colorado Rockies fans, who continue to fill the stands with purple even through losing seasons. In both cases, commitment is expressed through support. Wrestling needs that same collective investment. A family may be unable to pay $200 each month for one child to join a club—especially when four children want to wrestle—and even free practices remain inaccessible without reliable transportation or programs located nearby. The problem is not a lack of grit. It is the absence of a community structure that gives every athlete a reasonable opportunity to participate.

A high school coach once told me that several girls wanted to train during the freestyle season and would gladly attend practices at Regis High School. However, they could reach only a closer school because they depended on the bus, and that school was on the bus line. Think about what that means: these athletes were willing to travel after school and put in the work, yet transportation determined where they could train. In 2026, wrestling may be growing, but much of that growth is occurring where families can afford club fees and athletes can travel 20 or 30 minutes to practice, including district programs hosted at a school other than their own. Desire and determination are present; access is not.

Before my friends at Denver Wrestling Academy established a presence in downtown Denver, I knew of only a few prominent clubs serving the broader metro area.

The Ridge Wrestling club & Jefferson Saints club-

Denver Public Schools has the largest student enrollment among the metro-area districts discussed here. According to 2025–26 Colorado Department of Education data, about 65 percent of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Although several clubs are now doing good work in and around Denver, the number of accessible programs remains too small for such a large student population.

Aurora, the second-largest city in the Denver metropolitan area, has more than 410,000 residents, but its students are divided primarily between Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek Schools. APS serves a population with especially high economic need: nearly three-quarters of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Affordable and accessible wrestling opportunities are therefore particularly important. Yet within the APS area, I can name only a small number of established programs serving young wrestlers.

Team X-treme lead by coach Cortez

Athletes & Beyond lead by Coach Nelson and his Daughter World Champion Maya Nelson.

Even in Denver and Aurora—the two largest cities in the metro area—I can identify fewer than five programs that directly address the communities I am discussing. Whether that list is complete or not, the larger question remains: how can grit overcome a lack of practical access?

Grit can’t!!!

but we can! A Unified Colorado Living The Same Dream_ That’s how we make the Colorado Grit visible. TOGETHER

Mikki Kendall writes that

“America loves the myth of a meritocracy more than anything else, because it lets us ignore the reality of the impact of bigotry.”

The idea that anyone can succeed through sheer talent and hard work is deeply comforting. It provides a moral framework where outcomes reflect effort. However, when applied as a blanket description of how society currently functions, it creates a toxic inverse logic: if success is earned, then failure must be deserved.

In wrestling, the myth of meritocracy can make every difference in performance look like a difference in effort. It ignores the structural barriers that shape an athlete’s opportunity to develop, including club fees, transportation, equipment costs, access to experienced coaching, nearby practice rooms, and the ability to travel for competition. Athletes who benefit from those advantages may view their success as the result of hard work alone, while wrestlers without the same support are judged as less committed or less talented. At 5280 Wrestling Community, we reject that assumption.

At 5280 Wrestling Community, we believe an athlete’s effort is only one part of the equation. Our responsibility is to create the conditions in which that effort can become visible progress.

That means providing consistent practices, family camps, committed coaching, opportunities to compete, exposure to college programs, and a community where girls can see themselves represented.

It also means recognizing that access is not equal for every family.

Some athletes have more resources than others. Some families can travel to tournaments, pay for training, and find opportunities without much difficulty. Others have to make difficult decisions just to get their athletes in the room.

Telling every athlete to simply work harder ignores those differences.

Our athletes bring the determination. Their families make sacrifices. Coaches give their time and knowledge. Supporters help make opportunities possible. Teammates create a sense of belonging.

No one person is bigger than the group.

That belief is connected to Duckworth’s evolving message.

A wrestler should absolutely be encouraged to work hard, persevere, and believe she can improve. But she should not be told that her success depends only on how badly she wants it.

Sometimes the most important question is not:

“Does this athlete have enough grit?”

Sometimes the better question is:

“Does this athlete have the support and opportunity necessary for her grit to matter?”

5280 Wrestling Community exists to help answer that question.

Grit may help an athlete keep going.

But community gives her somewhere to go, people to guide her, and opportunities that make the journey possible.

So we want to hear from you:

Is grit enough?

Or does grit become most powerful when it is part of an ecosystem supported by community, opportunity, coaching, family, and belonging?

What did wrestling teach you about perseverance—and what support helped you continue when perseverance alone was not enough?

Join the conversation below.