"Failure is Your Friend"

Alex Roelse, a 2016 U.S. Olympian in water polo, is a new participant in Ready, Set, Gold! for the 2019/2020 school year and he visited with 5th, 6th, and 7th graders in his first visit to View Park Elementary.

During his talk, Alex spoke about multiple subjects, from cross training to how he had to think outside of the box to become a better competitor in his sport. He spoke about his road to the Olympics and it how it took time to reach his goal. After failing a few times and not understanding why he wasn't succeeding, Alex realized that he needed to learn from each failure. Ultimately, it was this lesson that kept him going and what made him stand out from all the athletes.  

“Failure is your friend,” Alex told the students.

"It may take a couple of times to succeed and reach your goals but the best athletes are the ones who keep on going. All good things take time," he added.

Alex's visit marked the return of Ready, Set, Gold! to View Park Elementary and students, teacher, and parents lined up to speak with him after his presentation to share with him their excitement in having the program back at their school.

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