‘Tough Enough’ (Melissa Majchrzak - NBAE/Getty Images)

I wanted to be able to explain the term ‘mental toughness’ to my girls. I use it often when I see players/teams overcome difficulties, persevere and come out on top. I actually googled the term and found there are many, many definitions out there. Some that sound like they came straight out of a doctoral thesis! Some quite simple. There are articles about improving mental toughness. Classes you can take. Books you can buy. Experts you can hire.

I can tell you that, when it comes to public ‘performances’, of any kind, I do not have mental toughness. Once, I was accompanying a friend of mine (luckily, she is still a friend) at a vocal competition. Right at the end of her song, her words were done and there were about three measures of straight chords to complete the accompaniment. Well, I placed my hands in the wrong position to start the three measures and, well, you guessed it, the entire three measures of chords were played completely wrong. The only ‘mental toughness’ I showed was that I refrained from crying until we got out of the room. You couldn’t have paid me a million dollars to go back and play ANY song at that point, not even “Mary Had A Little Lamb”!

Oh, memories.

Well, just for fun I asked my girls what they thought ‘mental toughness’ was and how you get it. See what you think!

Kara (9 years old): Definition: When you play basketball and you get mental problems and boo your teammates (okay, I may have some more teaching to do with her . . .) How do you get it? You’re born with it

Mallory (11 years old): the ability to not get discouraged when things go wrong How do you get it? You just think of happy things

Brooke (14 years old): the ability to get back in the groove and be able to ignore your mistakes so they don’t affect your play, but still know that you did something wrong and be strong under pressure How do you get it? You just be positive and realize that if you mess up it’s okay but you need to do better

I think they did a pretty good job. It’s such a hard thing to teach a child. But such a powerful lesson that even if you get knocked down hard (like Deron Williams the other night against Denver) you can still get back up, re-set and “get back in the groove”.

Over the course of this season, the Jazz have had to show quite a bit of mental toughness–the entire month of December, for instance. I think this has resulted in a more mature team. A team ready for the playoffs and whatever anyone has to throw at them. A team hungry for success but a team that doesn’t take success for granted. Let’s hope that skill can get them a win over Houston tonight!!