“I am David; I can make this shot.”

David and his mentor were at the park, taking advantage of the nice weather during their weekly visit to practice basketball. His mentor made shot after shot from the baseline, but David kept missing. He was starting to get frustrated.  

“Let’s build your confidence in close, and then you can step back and make the baseline shot.”  

His mentor taught him to take a deep breath and say, “I am David; I can make this shot.” He stepped in, closer to the basket, to master his form, before moving back out to try the shot again. He missed several times, but he didn’t give up. He didn’t allow frustration to overtake him; he practiced believing in himself.  

When he finally made the shot, both David and his mentor ran around the court screaming with joy, until a neighbor came outside and kindly asked them to leave.  

Perseverance is the theme of the month for our Life Buddies program: "persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” David’s mentor—along with the rest of our team--is looking for ways to embody perseverance and preparing for opportunities to practice it with our students.  

Thank you for helping send mentors out to teach perseverance to kids who face more than their fair share of difficulties.