Playing Hurt: The Power of PerseVERAnce

What athletes know about resilience that the rest of us don’t.

In sports, everyone plays hurt at some point. The game doesn’t stop because you’re sore.

Great athletes don’t wait until everything is perfect. They adjust. They push through. They know the difference between pain that leads to injury and pain that just makes them stronger.

Kobe Bryant understood this better than most.

In 2013, with just minutes left in a crucial game, Bryant tore his Achilles tendon. Most players would have collapsed, and some would have been carried off the court, but not Kobe.

He hobbled to the free-throw line, sank two shots, then walked off the court under his own power. He later called it one of his toughest moments—but also one of his proudest.

The lesson? You don’t wait for the perfect conditions to act. You don’t sit on the sidelines because you’re not 100%. You figure out what you can do, and you do it.

Adversity is inevitable in life. Waiting until you feel fully ready, confident, and prepared is a recipe for inaction.

Resilience isn’t about pretending things are easy. It’s about moving forward even when they’re not.

Are you waiting for everything to be perfect? Or are you willing to play hurt?