Largo's Dev Shah spent years preparing for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
It was literally win-or-go-home for him this year.
"I knew it was my last year. So I really devoted a lot of my time to spelling," explained Shah.
The 14-year-old won after heartbreaking performances three times before.
"Last year, he did not make the finals. And he was so broken down, and it took me a while to bring him back on track," said Nilam Shah, Dev's mom.
Nilam Shah is also Dev's doctor. The internal medicine physician said building mental toughness in kids is critical.
"I always told him three things, stay positive, stay yourself, and be confident," said Nilam Shah. "Even though I have no knowledge of spelling bee words, I was always joking and making fun to keep the environment happy in the house. And it's very important to keep environment very pleasant, happy in the house than being anxious all the time."
And "mistakes" are part of the learning process.
"Failure has to happen in order for us to grow," said Nadine Serrano with the nonprofit More Than A Game.
Serrano is the founder of the sports-based nonprofit that trains kids to be mentally tough.
"Mental toughness is really an idea or a practice where you can able, where you're able to rise above an emotion, any discomfort physically, emotionally, mentally, and focus on your goal," said Serrano.
Anyla Parker, 12, is her number one client. She's also her daughter.
"When I'm overcoming adversity, I become a better version of myself because I'm overcoming what I couldn't do a second ago, but I can do now," explained Parker.
The basketball phenom has been the starting point guard on her school's varsity team since she was in third grade.
Serrano said visualization is key to that.
"We have to encourage them to see the version of themselves that they like to be, visualization is so important," said Serrano.
Dev Shah said he learned from his mistakes, he focused on a good performance and listened to his mom.