Resilience

JUST MY PERSPECTIVE BY MARGEAUX DUPUY

Resilience - February 12, 2026

Day 1 of my NapTime Blog series - today's theme - Resilience. As a heads up I'm literally writing this with a baby sleeping near -sometimes there may be errors. If so, please forgive me.

Resilience has been a core theme for my life, not because I have sought after opportunities to build resilience, but because I have faced so many challenges in my life that it's been the only way. I’m a very private person and so I don’t talk about the challenges that I have overcome much, but I’m finally ready to open up. For anyone who is facing challenges in work, school, or life - this little story was quickly written for you, and I hope you get a laugh out of it too.

When I was in elementary and middle school I loved playing soccer and it was 'my sport'. I played and would (thanks to my parents) spend the weeknights and weekends running from practices to games in Texas, where I grew up. One weekend - my parents split responsibilities, and my dad took me to a soccer tournament while my mother planned to take my brothers to a football game.

During one of my games - I slid in for a goal and landed under the goalie. Now if you know me IRL, you might know that I'm not very tall and when I was in middle school, I was small in frame compared to other kids (side-thought: BUT I WAS FAST!!!!). When I slid for the goal - the goalie fell on top of me…I got up to finish the goal since the ball stopped just short of the goal line. In that moment, I yanked my leg out and shattered my ankle. The feeling was so incredibly painful that I went in and out of blacking out for the next hours. Worse, I had to ride in an ambulance by myself with what felt like my ankle dangling from my body. This led to two years of surgeries and recoveries (at one point on both ankles due to my growth plate being shattered in the incident). Recovery was TOUGH and in middle school, when you're already awkward, being in a wheelchair with your legs in two casts was somewhat embarrassing… Definitely didn’t help with any potential crushes I had. The years after this is when resilience comes into play - my parents felt strongly that I should try a different sport due to the injury and recovery, and so basketball and track were two they encouraged.

I LOVED playing basketball. LOVED it, but let me tell you the truth - I wasn’t even decently good until about 9th grade. Like I couldn't make a layup, made the 'b' team, and my skill wasn't up to snuff with my speed (think bricked layups, leaving the ball behind when dribbling, tripping from dribbling too fast…you get the point). Until...8th grade summer I spent every day for many hours at a time at a gym in my hometown. To be honest - my parents would drop me off on their way to work and would pick me up after work. I worked on my shot, layups, and ball handling for HOURS. I got with a skills trainer and told myself that 'if I wasn't working hard, that someone else was'.

I hesitate to write this, but it’s the truth…Growing up in Texas in the 90s- I also faced a lot of adversity and politics related to my race. It's simply a fact (stories for another time), but the cool thing about sports was always if you were the fastest, shot the highest percentage, jumped the farthest, or could get past any defender - at some point that's hard to deny [and it was]. But I wasn’t good enough to make varsity or junior varsity as a freshman. I knew that no one would ever ‘give’ me anything. In fact, even at that young age experience taught me the opposite – so I had to find a way…

Through hard work, finding additional support, and taking every opportunity to shoot around and play against guys twice my size I did improve. I asked the men’s basketball coach at my school to open the gym for me at 5:00 AM during the school year so that I could workout before school. My sophomore year, I showed up to the first days of practice/ tryouts as a much better player and was able to compete. I had high hopes but when the rosters came out, I still didn’t make varsity. So I did the only thing I knew – I worked even harder. I also learned for the first time how to advocate for myself (mostly because I didn’t want my parents to intercede on my behalf). I wanted to EARN that spot. So every day after practice I’d shoot 300-500+ extra shots, I played more against guys twice my size, learned how to play with contact, and I found select (AAU) teams that challenged me. Playing and practicing against some of the best talent in the country (some of my favorite memories).

At the end of my sophomore summer, exhausted from skills, AAU games and practices, traveling across the country, and still getting extra reps in outside of this…I got my first 2 college letters at once. One from a top 25 program and one from a smaller program in Texas. All before I even made the varsity team. The adversity, challenges, and lessons DEFINITELY don’t stop there (more stories and lessons for another time) but it was enough to teach me an important life lesson.

Sometimes we don’t know if the hard work we’re putting in will pay off, BUT in my opinion the only way to be when you have a vision for something is to go after it to the best of your ability. There’s more to this story and mine, but if you’ve been on the grindstone and haven’t seen the results just yet, keep going. I remember these feelings of overcoming adversity (again there’s more!!) many times when faced with challenges. Especially remembering these times since becoming a first-time mom. There is ALWAYS a way…

No matter what – the hard work will pay off OR it will develop something inside of you that no one can stop.

Resilience.

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