In our huddle talks, we are diving into what separates true champions—those with a relentless drive and grit—from average people. It all comes down to one crucial factor: how we handle failure.
Picture this: both a champion and an average person face a significant challenge in their lives. Maybe it’s a tough school project, a difficult task at home, or mastering a challenging martial arts technique. Both give it their all—and both fail. Here’s where things get interesting. The average person might think, “I failed; maybe I’m just not good enough. This isn’t for me.” To them, failure feels like a dead end. But for a champion, for someone who’s got the mindset of a true savage, failure is just the beginning.
Learning from Legends: Leaning on Support
Take Michael Jordan, for example, one of the most legendary athletes in history. Throughout his career, Jordan missed over 9,000 shots, lost almost 300 games, and 26 times was trusted to take the game-winning shot—and missed. Yet, he famously said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Jordan didn’t see failure as a reason to quit. Instead, each failure became fuel for improvement, a lesson pushing him closer to success. That’s failing forward.
A person with an average mindset might think after a tough practice, “This is too hard. Maybe I just can’t do it.” But a champion says, “Yes, it’s hard, but it’s making me stronger. I can do this!” They dig deep, push through, and get back up every time they stumble.
The Winning Mindset: Learning from Setbacks
Legendary coach Bill Walsh of the NFL knew every practice and every mistake was an opportunity for growth. He prepared his players to use each mistake as a lesson so that, when game time came, they’d learned every angle and prepared for every scenario. To a champion, there’s no such thing as wasted effort.
The same goes for Phil Jackson, who coached Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers. His teams didn’t win championships because they never failed. They won because they knew how to turn every misstep into motivation. They missed shots, lost games, but always came back with stronger skills, sharper strategies, and unstoppable drive. They learned that every setback held the seeds of a comeback.
Then there’s Deion Sanders, who famously said, “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good.” Confidence doesn’t just come from success. It comes from the inner satisfaction of knowing you’ve given your all, of bouncing back after every setback.
What Champions Do Differently
Today, as your child steps onto the training floor, they’re faced with a choice. They can take the easier path of the average person, letting frustration and defeat hold them back. Or they can be a champion and approach every mistake with curiosity: “What can I learn from this? How can I do better?”
At Boundless Martial Arts, we’re committed to helping every athlete develop this champion mindset, a mentality that sees setbacks as stepping stones. Just as Jordan, Walsh, and Jackson’s players used failure as fuel, we’re teaching our athletes that each challenge is a chance to grow stronger, smarter, and more resilient.
So, as your child trains this week, talk to them about what it means to be a champion. Remind them that true strength isn’t about avoiding failure; it’s about rising above it. With every stumble, they’re one step closer to becoming unstoppable.
Are you ready to help them fail forward?