I am thrilled to introduce you to the amazing and thoroughly impressive mother-son duo of Mary and Kobe Nhin, authors of How to Win Wimbledon in Pajamas and How to Win the World Cup in Pajamas – the Grow Grit series of adorable, fun and helpful picture books about mental toughness for kids!
Kobe Nhin
This is Kobe Nhin – so cute, right?! Kobe’s only 14 and he’s already accomplished what most of us only dream of. This middle-schooler has already written and self-published two books on Amazon, with more on the way! His first book was funded through Kickstarter in 6 days. On May 17th, Kobe launched his first book on Amazon and it quickly became a #1 new release and best seller! Wow!
In the Grow Grit series’ books, Kobe presents mental tips and tools that helps kids conquer performance anxiety, negative self-talk, and frustration. These self-help guides provide the skills necessary to overcome adversity and achieve success by teaching kids the techniques used by business leaders and top athletes of the world. Plus the books are beautifully illustrated and fun and easy to read!
The stories from How to Win Wimbledon in Pajamas and How to Win the World Cup in Pajamas took Kobe a few months to write, despite maintaining his National Junior Honor Society status and juggling a competitive tennis schedule that includes two tournaments a month. His mother, Mary, helped him refine his ideas and is listed as a co-author — more about her below.
Kobe points to his own struggles as a particular source of inspiration for his book. He has played competitive tennis since he was 10 years old. In the beginning, he won a lot but then as he reached new levels it became more and more difficult to close out matches. Kobe went through a phase where he was losing the really tight matches.
He, with his mom’s encouragement and help, began researching mental toughness through books, took a course to help him develop necessary skills, and spent time to work with coaches to overcome his plateau. The investment paid off. He started winning again, but more importantly the love of the sport came back to him. He enjoyed playing after learning how to be calm and carefree.
Kobe was motivated to help others overcome their own self-limiting beliefs during a high school course he took during eighth grade. The course required Kobe to write a research paper. He chose the subject of finding the zone and increasing mental toughness so that he could further his understanding of key concepts. From his research and from what he had learned firsthand on the court, he wrote his first two books, How to Win Wimbledon in Pajamas and How to Win the World Cup in Pajamas.
Mary Nhin
This is Mary Nhin. As you can imagine, Mary is a super proud mom! And she has gone a step beyond just being supportive. When Kobe went through a rough patch in his young tennis career, she became immersed with him in all mental health and mental strength literature. Then she helped him co-author these amazing books. She says, “the journey has led to a closer relationship to my teenage son. We share a common thread of empathy and compassion to inspire others to reach beyond the status quo. “ How lovely is that? I’m hoping I will have a close relationship with my son like this when he becomes a teenager.
Mary is not just Kobe’s mom, she is a mom of 3 boys – yes, that’s right, 3 boys! I can barely handle 1! She is also a life coach, as well as author. For 20 years, she has been enriching people’s lives successfully through her companies, Nhinja, Lean CEO, and Grow Grit. She has been awarded the Forty under 40 and Inc 5000. Super impressive!
Kobe and Mary’s goals for this book series include:
- Encourage a growth mindset: We believe it is important for kids to develop intrinsic motivation and autonomy through the development of long-term goals. Setting our sights on performance goals, rather than outcome goals provide a basis for long-term satisfaction. We hope these books give children a love for battling new challenges and that they grow up eager to explore what this big, beautiful world has to offer.
- Cultivate kids’ self-confidence: We believe it is important for kids to learn how to practice positive self-talk and positive body language. The more they understand that even mistakes and failures teach us, the more they can focus on celebrating their journey, mistakes and all. Our books will teach kids to be courageous enough to take risks and trust that the dots will someday connect. We want to teach kids how it feels to be scared and brave all at once, and how to move past fear and learn to jump.
- Increase kids’ focus and attention: We all get side-tracked and that’s why it’s important to have rituals to reset oneself. Our hope is that these stories will help kids get back on track and focus on the task at hand. Life itself is overwhelming. We want to help kids see that everyone faces hurdles and that we can stay focused with habits and mantras.
- Develop perseverance and grit: Setbacks and failures teach us how to be graceful in the face of adversity. The books aim to encourage diligence and a hard work ethic.
To order these books, visit Amazon at https://amzn.to/2KhBjih and https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Wimbledon-Pajamas-Toughness-ebook/dp/B07RHWHZNN/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=how+to+win+pajamas&qid=1560824555&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1
For more information, follow Mary and Kobe at:
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How nice! Thank you!