How It All Started

My name is Justin Kong, currently a high school athlete (class of 2025) playing tennis and football at Loyola High School of Los Angeles. 

Since starting high school I became open to more opportunities and I enjoy being a part of my school's brotherhood; athletically in sports and academically in the classroom. 

Managing two sports has been difficult. Waking up early for morning lifting, having classroom instruction, and going to both football and tennis practice after school has not been easy to say the least. Most days I would leave the house at 5 AM and not be back until 9 PM. Being Asian and one of the smallest on the football team does not help either. Learning to become a smarter player was something I had to do in order to overcome my physical disadvantage. 

Studying for hours after school to get good grades adds even more stress. Striving to have straight A’s has always been a goal of mine, but I must admit that motivation runs low at times. Having to manage my time between sports, clubs, friends and academics while being happy is hard, and I am sure that other high schoolers have similar issues.

This is why I decided on creating Varsity Grit, a resource to help high schoolers (especially athletes) to be more aware of the physical and mental aspects of school life and the impact on their personal lives. It is easy to feel stressed out for your upcoming test or feel hopeless after an injury but I hope to create a community where we can learn from others who have dealt or are dealing with this. It is the hope that learning from different perspectives can give people hope and encouragement when feeling lost.

The people that I would like to invite into this community could range from high school freshmen to college seniors, athletic coaches and anyone else who may have some encouraging advice for us. Every person has some sort of advice that they wish they knew sooner than later and I hope this platform can be that bridge of advice to me and other student-athletes out there.