I believe mediocrity is a temptation for all humans. Years of coaching tweens and teens have shown me that this is especially for tweens and teens. In the middle school years, students may not even realize that mediocrity is such a strong temptation. They also may not realize the opposite extreme of mediocrity: perfectionism. It is critically important for parents, mentors, teachers, and coaches of middle schoolers to not only be aware of the lure of mediocrity and the pitfalls of perfectionism, but to be able to guide students to find the healthy balance somewhere in between them. That somewhere in between is excellence.