63 comments
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3 years ago
im with ya bro |
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3 years ago
I really think that when Im done showing the technique and I ask "whos got this?!!" Some kids get so excited to get up in front of everyone and show it, its crazy! Then they get the big clap from the team when they're done. I have a new drill Im doing for attitude.. I yell out "what did you call me??" and all the kids yell "PUNK!!" they love it and I think its building their attitudes. I have another one we are doing during pushups i yell "Down" and they yell "LOVE IT!" after about 8 or so I yell "How many is that!!!?" and they yell back "WHO CARES!!!" it gets pretty crazy. When I yell "Whos tired" The kids all yell back "NOT ME!" so I think the whole talking back concept is working on even the most timid kid. During a clinic once a new kid realizes im being funny they really like it. Its priceless when some little kid calls me a punk. Walks in the room timid the first day...walks in with a little swagger the second!Hay Mike. Ive been watching your vids on flow luv it. We are doing the same type of things in our practices.My opinion veryone needs a mountain to climb. Its all about drawing out the hero majic in the kids |
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3 years ago
Its a tricky thing to get the most out of a wrestler or yourself. Some questions to ask are "is it for the wrestler"? "What really motivates" "Why do we wrestle"? I personally belive its my job to train conflict resolution artists. I am after the heart. If we can cause life skills to become ingrained in our athletes then it was worth it. Character will increase your winning percentage and give meaning to the sport. To produce an attitude that faces problems with an agressive can do mindset is an asset coach and wrestler should strive for. |
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3 years ago
Great topic and good information guys. I have only three yrs coaching experience but will offer just a few suggestions, a couple of which I gleaned from a HOF coach(not wrestler) from NY, who I'm lucky enough to know through one of his sons : 1) As a coach, display your own enthusiasm for the sport during practice...enthusiasm is infectious 2) Greet each/every wrestler at the door every day as he walks into practice(e.g. "glad to see you today Billy") 3) Give internal team awards after every match/tourny (e.g quick pin, outstanding wrestler, best comeback, best homerun move) & print them out w/wrestler's name & picture and post on wall of wrestling room and/or school hallway for one week of 'face time'. 4) Use positive reinforcement 90% of the time if possible; treat the kids with respect & as adults as much as possible 5) show as large a variety of technique as possible, from each of the three basic positions (top,bottom,neutal). I was a student of the sport and was fascinated with slick techniques growing up (still am).good advice |
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3 years ago
I think its simple. Make sure your child wants to be there. Every week dad should ask youth wrestlers, do you want to go this weekend? If your son says no or is uncertain, you need to step back and ask yourself if he is burning out. Your son needs to wrestle for himself not you. On the other hand if your son leaves practice wanting more, he will be excited to come back. Challenge your son at a level that is appropriate for his age. If you can't control your emotions stay away. |
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3 years ago
I find my wrestlers desires by asking. they set goals i help them achieve. life needs to be way bigger then wrestling our self worth needs to come from things besides sport. that being said the great value of wrestling is it makes boys into men when coaced the right way. Much damage is done by parents who drive children to sucess making love conditional according to win loss. |
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3 years ago
Couldn't agree more. My son is a standout football and baseball player and one of the top kids in his weight class. He loved the sport until he got into high school where he lasted 3/4 of his freshman year. He's not a quiter, although you can lable him as such if you'd like. Having a group of young coaches treating the entire team as state champions is not the answer. There was a lack of motivation based on an expectatioin that each kid should maintain their own motivation at a very high level although this sport was not his number one sport. Too bad...you lost a good kid who wanted to stay in shape and push himself. He now spends his time in the weight room pushing hard in between football and baseball seasons. |
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3 years ago
I'm from Michigan and I've wrestled since I was 12 and it seems like your taking the words right out of my mouth. When I first started I was really bad I got picked on a lot by my older and better team mates, they thought that I would never be good, or that every body I beat was really bad so that win means nothing. But I always thought that I was good or that I could beat them if i only got a little bit better. When ever some one would show me a move I wanted to use it the next time I wrestled. Then once I won some matches I would brag and talk a lot of trash( only because I wasn't a mature wrestler yet). But their was always some one in the wrestling room who could teach me a good lesson in humility. Then the cycle would start all over again. I get beat up in the room, train harder, learn some more moves and then try to shut some one else up. For me I always had some thing to prove, someone to beat, and a new move to learn. And now im one of the most dangerous wrestler in my area and the younger kids at the schools i went to look up to me. Now the wrestlers who picked on me never did any of the thing that I did as a wrestler and cant beat me no more. So if I was to say what makes a wrestler train harder it would be constant competition, a believe that they can be better, and a goal outside the wrestling room. |
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4 years ago
i began wrestling at five but i quit at 7 because pal only had two matches and my dad didnt want to pay the money ffor parties. Then i began wresling at MHS as a freshman and won 2 but i had more fun just enjoying the season and all the great friendly coaches and wrestlers who waited for me to catch up. i began wrestling at boise kids wrestling in idaho that after half the season i went to arrowrock freestyle and competid in one of idahos biggest tourneys the minico tournament in rupert idaho. Arrow rock was my favorite team to be on it was fun and intense now i try to get my cousin and brother to wrestle |
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4 years ago
I just completed my first year of running the practices in my youth program. I've been coaching in this program for 7 years. Our head coach stepped aside in 2007, so a couple of my friends and I got together and decided to keep our sucessful program going. I took the challenge with some doubt, but mostly realistic goals. What I found out is, this is what I was born to do!! I found myself in tears praying to god and thanking him for giving me the courage and desire to lead these young boys. I'm always struggling to find balance in my coaching technique! What is too much? How hard should I push a youth wrestler? What I found was tremendous positive feedback from the parents and wrestlers. We ended up with our most sucessful season ever. Taking 6 youth to state. What I personally got out of it was the desire, and drive, to be the best person I can be for my wrestlers. Wrestling teaches us to deal with extreme circumstance with desire and heart. I've always considered wrestling a "One percenter sport" !! 99% Of the rest of the world cannot handle wrestling. It takes a specific character to endure the physical, and mental struggles of our sport!! As an Infantry Marine, and Wrestler, I consider myself blessed with the ability to adapt, and overcome all situations;-) !! I hope this letter is helpful to other coaches. God bless wrestling !!! I love it!!!!!!!!!! |
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4 years ago
Wrestling more than any other sport you have to get the kids while there young and you have to make it fun. They also need encouragment. Sports like football, basketball, and track you can be good quickly. If your a great athlete, you fast, or tall you can step on a football feild and be good right away. Track, if you got it you got it. I think alot of potential great wrestlers are pulled away by the flash and instant sucsess that can be obtained by good athletes in other sports. No matter how good an athlete you are to be a great wrestler takes time and work. The first couple years can be very wrough. I think also in todays prep sports age kids are forced to specialize more, to be able to compete. Sports seasons overlap, and kids play there sports year round now. Its hard for kids who pick up the sport late to catch the kids who have bean in for a while and go to tounaments year round. So basically you need to get the kids young and they need to see how great wrestling is and wrestling needs to be there #1 sport, not football, track, soccer, or LAX. I think it is easier to keep lightweights around because other sports really are not an option for a 5'6-5'10 135lb kid. Its unfortunate, but wrestling is fighting an uphill battle against the bigger more flashy sport. GET THE KIDS YOUNG. |
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4 years ago
my dad never went to practices. he let the coaches coach me. i also had three older brothers that were stand out wrestlers, on a small island. I won a lot when I was younger b/c I wrestled the same four chubby kids every year but I couldn't beat my brothers so I always pushed to catch them. |
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4 years ago
Champion By Design at Beat the Streets! |
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4 years ago
I just completely my first year Head Coaching a HS team in northern Cali. Not the hotbed of wrestling, so there's a need to introduce this sport first, but I'm already thinking about this aspect of my coaching future: keeping the kids interested. I'm doing all I can to promote freestlye/greco with limited success at best, but I continue to work and give them the opportunity. But I noticed some of my kids hitting the proverbial wall.i'm not sure if this is an option for you. but, there are folkstyle tournaments throughout the spring and summer in my neck of the woods. the beauty of this is that my sons wrestle folkstyle all year round. they don't like switching to freestyle and have no aspirations of wrestling in the olympics. they just want to improve their folkstyle technique for next year. maybe your wrestlers would be more interested in continuing in folkstyle during the offseason. if they hadn't performed to competitively during the folkstyle season - attempting to learn a whole new set of rules may not be that appealing. |
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4 years ago
I have great motivation for my kids, win and you get to come home at night to the nice warmth of the family in our warm humble abode, lose and you are OUT on the street with the hobos. That has worked pretty well over the years for my kids, 3 still live at home, 2 have added to the hobo total in our great country. Heck, if that's baseball, I am batting .600! |
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4 years ago
I just completely my first year Head Coaching a HS team in northern Cali. Not the hotbed of wrestling, so there's a need to introduce this sport first, but I'm already thinking about this aspect of my coaching future: keeping the kids interested. I'm doing all I can to promote freestlye/greco with limited success at best, but I continue to work and give them the opportunity. But I noticed some of my kids hitting the proverbial wall. |
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4 years ago
I could not agree more. Winning is fun! Yes, teach to be a good sport but from a young age you should not lie and say hey, you are going to work really, really hard and it's ok if you lose. No, it's not. There are times a wrestler will lose. Even a Metcalf. But it's not ok with him, I'm sure. Is the world going to end? No. The question is, "If you don't like that feeling, what are you going to do about it?" Answer: Work harder.....most kids simply aren't pushed to do that and it is human nature to look for the easy route. It is the rare kid who has a "burning desire to win". This personality quality CANNOT be taught and it CANNOT be coached. Some kids want to win more than anything. The only thing you can do to push them past a loss is simply say, we will work harder and get him next time. But ultimately, 98% of kids who quit call it burn out and we all know the truth: They were simply losing too much and it sucked. Parents and coaches who say have fun are kidding themselves. Everything about wrestling is hard! The practices, conditioning, weight loss, travel, etc. It is exhausting. Burn out is another word for quitting. I think there is a lot of value in playing games at times, letting your body rest at times, but a kid won't reach the top of the podium playing. And who said if a kid wants to quit, he or she should be allowed to. How many kids would become great champions if their parents would just say suck it up in the hard times because tomorrow is another day and can elicit a better result. What's wrong with saying, no, you can't quit! How many champions would our sport have never seen if every parent acquised to a whining kid in a down moment. Parents are there to guide kids, not pad every step on a silvery clouded lining. Parenting and coaching is hard. Saying no, you will go on and keep practicing, is hard. But it has to be done. This sport is hard. There is no easy way out. Champions know that and so do great coaches and parents.it seems like your suggesting that, in the long run, there is no place in this sport for losers. and you may be correct. as amateur youth wrestling is set up in america now - it's all about the competition...the sport of it. it's not valued as an art. as something to be pursued for the sake of it's practice alone. i believe that this will be the downfall of folkstyle wrestling. that it's value as an art (like, say...tai chi) is rarely recognized. |
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4 years ago
We were talking about this the other night at a CYO dinner. The guest speaker, who coached 5th-8th grade wrestlers for years, said something that stuck with me. "The goal ought to be to have all your kids come out again next year. Everything you do ought to be aimed at that." It's an interesting philosophy, because it puts the kids first. What do kids want? They want to be inspired, they want to learn and improve, they want to be a part of a great team atmosphere, they want to know that you care about them, and yes they want to win. That's what we mean when we say "make it fun." It's not easy, but more coaches and parents need to aim at this goal, particularly at the youth level. |
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4 years ago
Joe: |
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4 years ago
Mike, |
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4 years ago
Great topic and good information guys. I have only three yrs coaching experience but will offer just a few suggestions, a couple of which I gleaned from a HOF coach(not wrestler) from NY, who I'm lucky enough to know through one of his sons : 1) As a coach, display your own enthusiasm for the sport during practice...enthusiasm is infectious 2) Greet each/every wrestler at the door every day as he walks into practice(e.g. "glad to see you today Billy") 3) Give internal team awards after every match/tourny (e.g quick pin, outstanding wrestler, best comeback, best homerun move) & print them out w/wrestler's name & picture and post on wall of wrestling room and/or school hallway for one week of 'face time'. 4) Use positive reinforcement 90% of the time if possible; treat the kids with respect & as adults as much as possible 5) show as large a variety of technique as possible, from each of the three basic positions (top,bottom,neutal). I was a student of the sport and was fascinated with slick techniques growing up (still am). |
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4 years ago
I get a kick out of the parents that tell their kids go out and have fun. These parents never push their kids. They dont always quit but they rarely never compete at that next level. They dont become a 2 time or 3 time state champion. What these parents dont understand its hard to have fun while youre getting your but handed to you. And a lot of these kids do quit because they get tired of losing.I could not agree more. Winning is fun! Yes, teach to be a good sport but from a young age you should not lie and say hey, you are going to work really, really hard and it's ok if you lose. No, it's not. There are times a wrestler will lose. Even a Metcalf. But it's not ok with him, I'm sure. Is the world going to end? No. The question is, "If you don't like that feeling, what are you going to do about it?" Answer: Work harder.....most kids simply aren't pushed to do that and it is human nature to look for the easy route. It is the rare kid who has a "burning desire to win". This personality quality CANNOT be taught and it CANNOT be coached. Some kids want to win more than anything. The only thing you can do to push them past a loss is simply say, we will work harder and get him next time. But ultimately, 98% of kids who quit call it burn out and we all know the truth: They were simply losing too much and it sucked. Parents and coaches who say have fun are kidding themselves. Everything about wrestling is hard! The practices, conditioning, weight loss, travel, etc. It is exhausting. Burn out is another word for quitting. I think there is a lot of value in playing games at times, letting your body rest at times, but a kid won't reach the top of the podium playing. And who said if a kid wants to quit, he or she should be allowed to. How many kids would become great champions if their parents would just say suck it up in the hard times because tomorrow is another day and can elicit a better result. What's wrong with saying, no, you can't quit! How many champions would our sport have never seen if every parent acquised to a whining kid in a down moment. Parents are there to guide kids, not pad every step on a silvery clouded lining. Parenting and coaching is hard. Saying no, you will go on and keep practicing, is hard. But it has to be done. This sport is hard. There is no easy way out. Champions know that and so do great coaches and parents. |
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4 years ago
Partners Partners Partners. Friends that love to compete. Been coaching youth for 13 years have seen kids come and go the ones who do well in HS & col. are the ones that take to the work. Wrestling can break your heart! If you can find enjoyment in the work and have LONG TERM Glasses and look at Development not winning and loosing you might find a wrestler. From FLOW "between age five and fifteen kids will wrestle 1000 matches that dont mean , dont care what the tournament or the opponent" . Have seen kids not win a little league match and become state champions in HS.. On the other hand have seen kids win everything National Tournaments and all and not stick it out. Funny things happen when they hit Puberty. Coaches, Moms, and Dads need to keep Long Term Glasses on and find enjoyment in the WORK! |
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4 years ago
To get a kid to train my big line is "only you can push yourself!" I say that at the end of every practice before we do our buddy sprints. I tell the kids Im done yelling and now its time to prove to yourself you want to be a High School State Champ, NCAA Champ and for some of you Olympic Champ. Im like a broken record! I also use Caels line about getting 1% better each practice. One kid every practice in the "Words of Wisdom" session we do says that he got 1% better today. Thanks for that one Cael!! |
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Joe Williamson 4 years ago
My brother and I began wrestling around the age of 5. For me, wrestling was my favorite activity. Practice, tournaments, and hanging out with my teammates was so fun. As I grew older, I noticed that many of the other familiar faces at tournaments were leaving the sport, or started to get worse. Many of the kids that thumped me early became worse and seemed to not care. I am sure that my love for the sport at an early age came because of the way my father trained me. This made me want to train myself and always want to get better because it was fun. Pressure always came internally and my dad never added to that pressure. It was not until I was ready that we began changing the approach. My point is that I never got tired of wrestling and the guys that beat me early were no longer good or no longer on the mat. In your eyes, what are important concepts to keep young wrestlers excited about wrestling? How do you get a wrestler to want to train?