This weekend the almost impossible happened: Tiger Woods won the Masters. This is being touted as one of the greatest sports’ comeback stories of all time and is an incredible allegory for our kids for multiple reasons. Here are the facts:

At 21 Tiger was the youngest player to ever win the Master’s. He made golf exciting and elevated the game to an entirely new level and was ranked #1 in the world. He became a superstar and was on top of the world for 10 years.
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He had a beautiful wife, 2 darling children, money, talent and fame.
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In 2008 he started suffering from injuries and had multiple surgeries. In 2009 he crashed his car, got a divorce, and lost endorsement deals. It got so bad that in 2010 he apologized on TV for his bad behavior.
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But, life didn’t get much better. More injuries and embarrassing headlines. In 2017, Woods was arrested for a DUI and ranked 1,193 in the golf world. Almost everyone had counted him out, mocked his fall from grace, considered him a “has been.”
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But Tiger knew himself better than anyone else. He put in intense work. He fought through pain and ridicule. He ignored the naysayers. He focused on his goals and dreams. In 2018, Woods had another back surgery and had every excuse to walk away, but he didn’t. He pushed through it all, and on Sunday, won the Master’s. Ask your teens these questions and chime in with your own experiences.
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What does this story teach you?
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Have you ever felt like you have messed up too much to come back? What got you through?
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Have you ever done something that has embarrassed you or your family? What gave you the courage to keep showing up?
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Have people around you ever doubted you and made you doubt yourself? How did you prove them wrong?
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Have you ever failed, even when you tried your hardest? How did you get back up?
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Have you ever lost when everyone was expecting you to win? How did you try again?
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Have you ever felt like you couldn’t measure up to who you were before or who you wanted to be? What motivated you to keep working?
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If you haven’t been in one of these situations, you will be. You will mess up, you will be embarrassed, you will doubt yourself and others will doubt you too. You will fail. You won’t make a team or win an election or get into the school of your dreams, and when that happens, I want you to remember Tiger’s story. YOU can ALWAYS come back. Keep showing up. Keep working. Keep trying. Don’t listen to the haters. Be the author of your very own comeback story. 
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