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Five summer training principles

This is the week that we really see what it takes to be the best in the country. The Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo are running full force now and you can see the power of summer wrestling. Almost every college coach in the country will be there and they will be taking notes looking at what prospects will meet their future needs.
If you ever want to wrestle in college this one tournament can get you a huge amount of exposure!
With that here are 5 important tips for summer training.
1. Do something - Running is better then just watching TV, running and lifting is even better, wrestling in local tournaments is better then not putting on your wrestling shoes for months. The key here is that you have to do something. You may not be able to go to Fargo but that doesn't mean you should do nothing.
2. Find the best coaching - Get into the rooms of the best wrestling coaches you can find. More then likely they are willing to help you so take advantage of it.
3. Camps are great but only if you bring what you learn back into your room and use it!
4. Don't just go through the motions - Be intense and work hard!
5. Hydrate - It is hot out there! Drink water to stay sharp.
OK Get out there and get at it!

I will update a few more times this week, now that we have a break from camp I will have some more free time!

Team Building

I had a great weekend in case any of you were wondering! I was very lucky to be able to be in one of my friends weddings. I flew out late Friday night and was in Columbus for less than 24 hours but I made the trip because as busy as things are here I know very well that he would do anything he could to be at my wedding and that is something that none of us should take for granted.
It was also an interesting event because I had the chance to spend some time catching up with some of my old teammates. These are guys that I spent hours and hours traveling around the country on a bus with and guys that I learned so much from. As a coach one of the things that I hope to achieve with our guys is that they are passionate about what we are doing. This passion means that they need to be passionate about the team and working with each other towards the team’s goals.
I know this is wrestling and you can never take a back seat to anyone and that is not what I am talking about. I want my guys to enjoy the wrestling experience so much that they find themselves coming into the wrestling room and hanging out.
I will be honest so much of what I have learned about wrestling comes from being a mat rat and just going to as many open mats as I could find. It was never easy to go alone or to call the coach and ask if I could come but having friends there always made it easier.
I really hope that over time I am helping the guys become better wrestlers but more importantly I hope they are becoming better men and building relationships that will serve them in the future.
So with that said... Here are five team building tips.

1. Set goals – The head coach is the one steering the team and almost always should be but letting the team have the chance to add or help shape the teams goals is a great way to get a buy in from many of your athletes.
If the head coach decides he wants the wrestlers to do 10 hours of community service as a team then letting the guys decide what charity to work with is a great way to allow them to express their interests and pick something that they will enjoy, not just go with the flow.

2. Goof off at the right time! - If you go over to the FlowCast site you can see a video of the Missouri wrestlers warming up. They are dancing and laughing and acting fairly goofy some coaches would not like this but if you ever are around the Mizzou guys they are very tight and being free to be themselves around each other is part of that. As soon as warm ups are over the guys are ready for business and get after it.

3. Include everyone – You are always going to have a number of personality types. Some will be extraverted, some introverted, and some will be different every five minutes. Don’t let your team develop outcasts. As a coach watch and when you see someone who is withdrawn find a way for the entire team to reach out to them. They may be doing a move particularly well or they may be great at something that you notice that no one else has. Whatever it is… Make sure they are sharing it.

4. Encourage Communications – This is a big one and good or bad communications can make or break a team. Make sure your guys have the ability to communicate with each other and you. Make sure they are not afraid to come and talk to you. If you put yourself up on such a pedestal that you cannot be reached then how will you know that one of your wrestlers is falling behind in school as his parents go through a divorce? If you are there to reach out to him and the team is there to support him you can be a steadying force in turbulence. But, you have to be able to communicate.

5. Encourage support – You should use your wrestlers as a resource off the mat. If one of your wrestlers is struggling in class and another is doing well in the same subject hook them up together and let them work together. This will foster mentorship and also keep grades up. I am a big fan of killing two birds with one stone.

Five Leadership Tips for Coaches

1. Don’t just train your wrestlers. Train your assistants - Some coaches may not think about this, some may not want to teach someone all their secrets but if you don’t train your assistants you will never be on the same page. If you are not all pulling in the same direction you will not get to your goals as quickly or you may have some dissention in the ranks.

You also are not helping the sport or your assistants grow. So many coaches guard their secrets tightly but in the end that is not helping share the knowledge that helps people achieve their dreams. Let go of the ego and train your assistants to be able to be a head coach.

As Tom Ryan says in elite wrestling “If something happens to me they may need to step in at a moments notice” You may not be able to have each assistant have his hand into everything you do but if you have three you could have one assistant helping with administration, one with practice, and one with academics or however you want to delegate it.

2.) Realize that it all begins and ends with the coach -. You are the leader and the guys look to you to lead. If you win chances are you wont get as much credit as you feel you deserve, if you lose you will think you are getting more blame then you deserve, No matter what the situation is it is your job to figure out how to improve there.

This is not to say that institutional and other factors cannot affect your win / lose record. Some D1 teams have 9.9 scholarships, some have only 2. I would never expect a 2 scholarship team to be able to do what Minnesota does but if you are working hard and bringing in good people your team will improve and your guys will be better people for being on the team. As the famous sign on Harry Truman’s desk said “The Buck Stops Here”.

3.) Be available and visible – In some circles this is called management by walking around. What this means to a coach is a great deal different then to a CEO. An executive can hide behind his office walls but as a leader a coach needs to get out of the gym. He needs to build relationships with people outside of the athletic complex and he needs to be involved in the campus community on the other side of that you need to be visible to your athletes. Standing in a corner and yelling at a wrestler for something in practice is not as effective of taking the time to work with him and break down what is going on. If you yell in practice at a kid for not focusing it could be for hundreds of reasons. Find out why, maybe he is dealing with something like the death of a family member, maybe he is sick, and maybe he just needs pushed.

4.) Hold yourself to a high standard of conduct - Always remember you are in a position of trust. Parents, administrators, the community and others are trusting you with their children. There will be times when you will in effect act as the athlete’s guardian, advisor, and mentor. This is a very heavy responsibility, it does not mean that coaching is all business or fun but it does mean that you will need to hold yourself to a higher level of accountability.

5.) Don’t ask your wrestlers to do something you haven’t done or wouldn’t do. Over time you will not be able to do everything in practice that the athletes do. We all slow down a step. I painfully coming to this reality as training is harder for me now than it was 10 years ago. Small injuries that took no time to heal before are taking more time and there are times that I need to watch practice not participate. That is the reality of it but I have done it and I will roll with the guys as much as I can.

Woody Hayes has said that one of the greatest lessons he learned from his mother was that you don’t tell people to go somewhere, you meet them there. If you have study tables, move mats, anything along those lines a coach needs to be part of this. He may not have to stay all the time but he needs to “meet the athletes there” If you have a space where you can work on recruiting while you supervise I have found this is a great tool. If you are struggling for what to talk to the recruit about you have part of your program to talk about in front of you. You can talk about the guy’s majors, the work they are doing, the exciting things going on in the program. The key is if you want them to take things seriously and be there then you need to take them seriously and be there as well.

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