Wrestling Blogs - Martin Floreani

One of the things I learned traveling up I35 from John Smith, Brian Smith, & J Robinson is that the little things matter.

I learned from John Smith how important the technical and mental perspective in your given expertise. He focuses on crossing all the t s and dotting all the i s with his wrestlers on the mat and studies their weaknesses and strengths constantly. It is intense experience being around John Smith in the wrestling room because you can feel his mind turning and analyzing and gaging everything going on.

From Brian Smith I learned how important the little supporting roles are to making the bigger picture work. One time I went up to Missouri and Coach Smith asked me to use a camera for an hour. I said "sure". He then ran out to the local businesses that supported his program and personally filmed them with a 15 second ad saying "this is so and so and we support Tiger Wrestling". It was funny because one of the business owners wasn't fluent in English and probably, before he came to Columbia MO, never watched a wrestling match in his life. It didn't matter though, you could see the excitement the business owner had for in the University of Missouri program. (It is always a learning experience going up to Missouri because Brian Smith is always tweaking these many "little" components of his program and always trying something new.)

For J Robinson I learned that the little things matter in how you view the world and the actions you take. J Robinson has core things that he believes in and every action he takes flows with those core beliefs. He doesn't give an inch on one "little" aspect because that would erode his core beliefs. Just watching Coach Robinson speak to the kids on his camp, you can see the passion for his beliefs. He is not trying to instill a specific passion and belief into his campers but the enlightenment that if you have core beliefs and you follow them in everything you do then you can do anything you want...no questions asked. But the "little" things and the discipline it takes to follow through on them is critical to your passion and core beliefs.

This is an important lesson that I have learned in different variations and different ways from each coach. The fact that I have learned it from several people is 10 times more powerful than if I learned it from a single person. It is the constant reaffirmation from different sources in different ways that makes me a believer.

This leads me to the NWCA dilemma. They make money off doing stats, but stats would be better promoted by by all media companies having free and open access. A purpose of their organization is to promote the communication of wrestling. http://www.nwcaonline.com/mission.cfm Furthermore a community of wrestling personnel contributes to their system by NCAA rule. This community contributions should belong to the community and not to one single organization or media group (intermat).

For the NWCA to open up stats is a crucial "little" thing right now for wrestling. By opening up stats you are allowing every and any media organization to become creative with wrestling. It allows the media companies to begin to help brand wrestling in new and creative ways. Furthermore just as I learned about the little things from a wide variety of sources it is much more powerful for people to see stats in many variations and forms. It makes an impact quicker and more powerful. This means we shouldn't only have stats on intermat but all sorts of mediums.

Wrestling absolutely needs to become more visible. People need to know that wrestling exists and that it is important. This begs the question is one organization (intermat, which is the only site to present stats and is owned by the NWCA) better than having 10 organizations pumping stats out to the public? Use common sense. What better way to promote the communication of wrestling by allowing 10 organizations to do it. Not only would wrestling get more exposure for people but it would also open the gates for new types of creativity with stats. There could be different leaders boards and different ranking methods with many different algorithms making for good arguments, discussion and ultimately more interest.

Something needs to change in wrestling and it isn't bringing up more Division II school to Division I. Im glad schools like Southern Illinois Edwardsville can participate in Wrestling on the Divison I level in the coming years, but that does not replace a school like Oregon. If we are not careful the Division I wrestling will deteriorate into a few schools like Gymnastics or it will be filled with wrestling institutions where you ask "Where is that?"

The NWCA needs to do the little thing of opening up stats because it has a potential to make a huge difference just like John Smith's development to his wrestlers technique and mental mind frame, and brian smith to his development of the supporting roles and J Robinson's commitment to his core beliefs on the smallest of levels. All these things are small in nature but add up to a world of difference.

It is the right thing to open up stats for both wrestling and thus the long term benefit of the NWCA.

PS By August 19th the NWCA should have confronted this situation. The NWCA listens to the community of coaches for guidance. If you want to voice your opinion the best way is to find a coach to contact the head of the NWCA Mike Moyer or simply call their office 717-653-8009 and respectfully ask the proper channel to voice your opinion.