We hit the road last weekend for a long but positive trip to Oregon and picked up some great wins. Now the countdown to Nationals begins with the return of schoolwork! As much as no one wants to go back to class, it’s nice to be back in the routine of campus life and having something to do besides training 24/7. We’ve used Christmas break to elevate our conditioning limits and find new levels of fatigue. The season is a long one, but when you have an opportunity to do nothing but train, mistakes can be corrected and focus can be dedicated toward All-American honors. We told the team the stretch would be tough, but those pains will be worth the rest and dedication to technique that will follow. We just ended a circuit-lifting phase and will shift to a strength phase for the next month. Individual drills are beginning this week so that we can fine tune everyone on their personal strengths and turn weaknesses into assets. I personally love individual drills, they’re phenomenal for learning and comprehending the mental part of training. Individual drills are a time to get a wrestler over a hump and open up their technique. We go on the road for one more overnight competition before having a comfortable stretch of home duals. A mere 53 days from now we will know who’s making the trip to NCAA’s and who’s on their way to becoming an All-American and NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPION. An entire season of hard work boils down to 4 days when a wrestler must have the best tournament performances of their career. (National Qualifier March 8th and the Big Show March 20th, 21st, 22nd !) With roughly 14 days dedicated to rest / recovery and 6 duals, we really only have about 33 days to elevate our technique, strength, conditioning, and mental toughness on the mat. Everyday truly counts toward improvement and I believe our men are starting to come together as a tight-nit team focused on their goals! When everyone believes in where this program can go and everyone commits to their plan of attack, we will be well on our way to becoming the elite team we are fighting to be.