Athlete Vs. Mathlete

In these chapters, Owen and Russell experience both negative and positive emotional growth. Up until the basketball tryouts, Owen’s selfishness wanes because he is convinced Russell won’t make the team and, thus, that there is no harm in helping Russell do his best. Once Russell makes the jump shots at tryouts, though, Owen’s selfishness rears, sparking jealousy and anger that drive him away from Russell in the following chapters. Russell making the team threatens Owen’s sense of self and his assuredness that he is the athlete in his family. By contrast, making the team expands Russell’s sense of who he is and his identity. With the pressure he feels from Masters of the Mind, making the basketball team feels like an outlet—something else he can do and be good at—but these feelings are only a distraction. As Arthur compounds the Masters of the Mind struggles, Russell feels even more torn, particularly because he doesn’t think he should enjoy both activities. The Effects of Peer Pressure dictate that Russell should firmly belong either in the mathlete group or the athlete group, and this contributes to Russell’s struggles with his identity and sense of self throughout the rest of the book.

These chapters continue to highlight the types of peer pressure and the effects this pressure can have on individuals. In addition to his internal struggle over identity, Russell’s position of leader in Masters of the Mind is now threatened by Arthur’s ability to make it sound like Russell isn’t committed to the team. Arthur volunteering to write a check for the competition entrance fee shows how social and economic status contribute to the struggles of peer pressure. Arthur’s antics are an attempt to unseat Russell for his own personal gain. This combined with Russell’s inner struggles makes Russell start to doubt his position on the team, which is compounded by his friends giving into Arthur’s pressure. When Russell tries to heal this divide by discussing how a basketball principle gave him an idea for the egg challenge, his friends dismiss his idea because it’s related to basketball. This makes Russell feel like they are distancing themselves from him because he no longer fits their view of someone who belongs to Masters of the Mind. This part of Russell’s character journey shows the problem with being closed-minded. The Masters of the Mind kids are biased against basketball, so they feel betrayed when one of their own starts playing the sport, even if nothing about Russell has actually changed.

Russell making the basketball team is a trigger for Owen’s increased levels of selfishness and jealousy, but it also jumpstarts external factors that contribute to how Mindset Matters. When the boys tell their parents they both made the team, their parents celebrate this as an accomplishment for Russell but barely acknowledge it for Owen because it isn’t new or exciting. As a result, Owen feels like he doesn’t matter, and this starts his move toward a more aggressive playing style, foreshadowing his mean actions in the latter portion of the book. The preference their parents show Russell represents how the reactions of others have an effect on someone’s identity and how they feel about themselves, especially during adolescence. Owen was confident he’d make the team, but even so, he wants to be celebrated for it because it feels like something big. So when his parents brush him aside, Owen starts to seek validation from other sources—in this case, the high school kids who are impressed with his playing style. This leads Owen to adopt this playing style during games because it got him the type of attention he wanted from one group, and thus, he believes it will get him similar attention elsewhere.

Russell improving at basketball by thinking of jump shots in terms of math shows the intersection of activities, specifically how basketball and Masters of the Mind are not as different as the kids in each group think they are. Russell’s ability to make jump shots because of his math skills highlight the importance of being well-rounded, as well as how truly insignificant the complications of The Effects of Peer Pressure are. Russell isn’t concerned with maintaining a divide between basketball and Masters of the Mind here. Instead, he lets the two aspects of himself work together, which produces a better result than either could on its own. This shows how identity is comprised of a multitude of factors. Russell brings his Masters of the Mind knowledge to basketball, allowing him to become the go-to person for jump shots. At the same time, he brings his basketball enthusiasm to Masters of the Mind, which lets him understand the importance of teamwork and how he can be a good team leader to bring the best outcome for his group. Bringing these two aspects together also highlights how Mindset Matters, specifically how accepting the different parts of himself lets Russell feel better about who he is, even if he doesn’t realize this until the very end of the novel.