Abstract
Grit is the tendency to work hard toward long-term goals, maintaining effort and interest despite challenges (Duckworth et al., 2007). Cross-sectionally, grit relates to achievement criteria outside sport (Credé et al., 2016) as well as practice amounts and skill level within sport (Tedesqui & Young, 2017). This study aimed to longitudinally examine relations between grit and practice engagement. At time 1, 14 athletes (10m, 4f; 13-23 yrs-old; weekly practice hours = 10.46, SD = 6.34) from two Canadian canoe/kayak clubs identified for having structured, competitive, and demanding programs, completed a survey for two grit facets (Tedesqui & Young, 2017): perseverance of effort (PE) and consistency of interests (CI). At times 1, 2 (one month later), and 3 (two months after time 1) coaches assessed each athlete's level of practice engagement (i.e., diligence, hard work, attitude, attendance). Results were plotted as performance profile cases or radar charts (Butler & Hardy, 1992). We examined representative cases to elucidate the suitability of each facet for explaining the variability/stability of practice engagement. Results highlight cases identified as (a) high PE at time 1, which were accompanied by evidence for stable levels of practice engagement (across the three time points); and (b) high CI at time 1, where no discernible patterns of association with measures of practice engagement and attendance could be gleaned. Discussion focuses on why the two grit facets differentially associate with measures of practice engagement longitudinally, and the value of using performance profile cases for observing such associations.Acknowledgments: This research was supported initially (2013-2016) by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (767-2013-2136), and subsequently (2016-2017) by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.