wrestling

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. I have to be in certain moods to put together a blog and this one is rather lengthy. I can say the season has been rough waters and I have experienced new, unwelcome and both familiar unfamiliar thoughts and emotions. I am going to just skim over some of our competitions but elaborate in depth on what needs doing and some ideas and reminders as the post season qualifiers quickly approach.

Northwestern: This was a home dual that followed the national duals. I was speechless during and after the dual. I still have not found words to articulate our performance. I even heard one of our athletes say “I don’t even want to come and watch us wrestle anymore” I will simply congratulate Coach Petty and his team for having more emotion and heart. Coach Petty is really making a difference in a hurry over in Orange city.

Coe: This was a dual that I knew would have several close matches. It did and we lost them all. Again congrats to Coach O, and his team. Coach O, is a great coach and is doing an exceptional job. He always puts out tough guys who know how to battle.

Conference duals: First off the Iowa Conference in Wrestling is premier. I refer to it as the Big Ten of D3. The bar continues to rise each year with most schools now having full time assts, and the quality of recruits that some of the schools are pulling in are phenomenal. Obviously some schools in the conference have better locations and more resources than with longer reach than others others. But over all this conference is extremely competitive. I know most of the coaches in the conference fairly well, and I can tell you that every one of them is very capable. They may have different styles. But as long as I coach in this conference I will never underestimate anyone of them be it recruiting or competition. I am at some point going to write my opinion on D3 vs. D1. In wrestling. I have read many posts on this subject thru the yrs and have my own, what I believe as qualified, opinion. From what I have seen written several factors have not been taking into consideration when comparing the two. What I will say is there are many great wrestlers out there regardless if it NAIA, JUCO, D1, D2, D3 period. And anything beyond that is pure speculation and opinion. I am also tempted to write about my own experience with adversity that happened my sophomore year in college. It is all wrestling related so could fit nicely into a blog.  I think it could be of benefit to many in our sport as it would cover battling back from injury, shattered dreams, how extreme staff infection can be and dealing with loss and unplanned adversity both in healthy and unhealthy ways, My soul reason for writing about this would be because maybe it would help others, to let them know anything impossible when your mind is made up and also how dealing with emotional pain in unhealthy manners are not the answer. I have never really talked much about it and certainly never written about it but if I can get some feed back one way or the other if it would be of interest.  I would certainly appreciate it

We went 3-1 on Saturday Jan 27^th in the conference duals. The previous 2 yrs we were 1-3. Again I am not going to go match by match. But I will give a very detailed and in-depth account on what’s been happening, lacking and what I feel are paramount to get favorable and consistent results. I know that most coaches regardless of the sport can relate to a high degree on the trouble spots and frustrations we are dealing with. I am not suggesting for a minute that these are excuses, or poor me’s just realities of coaching a tough sport or any sport for that matter. The differences between programs and coaches are how these obstacles are dealt with. I would think that the few fans BV has, parents, alum, or who ever even remotely follows BV wrestling, would naturally be thinking “what the hell is going on there?” “What’s going on with the inconsistency”? Well here’s what’s going on, you have a coaching staff, program, and young athletes that are struggling to get a system into place.  I am extremely confident in the actual wrestling and other multitude of components that are being taught. I am confident what we are exposing these young men to will win at the highest level. That is one of the advantages of coming from a D1 National Championship program. But the wrestling part of it is only a piece of the pie. It also requires extreme organization and management of people.

One of The biggest problem we are having are most of what is being taught is taking time for the athletes to turn in to behavior. Change is tough and one will often stay or go back to what he knows or has always done. Even when he continues to get poor results or hinder his advancement. It’s my experience that’s it’s not about teaching moves. As a coach I could come in and show different moves or holds every day. It’s more about basic core skills and strong functional positions. I would compare it to a big oak tree, the trunk being (stance, basic skills, good position) is mammoth, sturdy, powerful, and can endure all the elements of nature. The branches (moves) are only as strong at the trunk itself.

Many of these young men have to change, adjust, relearn and in some cases even forget some of their past exposure and instruction. And like most of us in our own lives we often offer resistance both knowingly and unknowingly. Change is always difficult, but it’s necessary if you want success and advancement at the next level. What are some of these skills and changes I am talking about? I will list below but want to interject that what we teach are skills that will work at the highest level. They are often boring, tedious, and lack flare, but it’s what wins. I am not a coach who teaches big moves (home runs) I stress basics that I refer to as Jabs in a boxing match meaning “jabs by themselves do not appear to do much damage but over the course of the entire bout they can and often make all the difference” or base hits in a baseball game.” You win the game a little at a time, plugging away, staying in good position, aggressive, sound, solid and this over the course of the competition base hits will often be what wins. Maybe even a little of the turtle vs. the rabbit tale. As a competitor you never want to sacrifice a good position. You want to stay where your strong and force your style, make my your opponent adapt to you. There are certainly some creative wrestlers out there who can consistently hit these home runs form various positions. But the masses, and that’s who the basic skills cater to, need the fundamentals to get their hand raised.

Here are some basic skills we work to convey to our athletes. I strive to teach what I know will work at the highest level. By focusing on solid lessons we believe our returns at some point will render returns of ultimate success. I see so many athletes continue to use junk, funk, and punk moves to win and even lose matches. Well that’s fine if you have the basics skills also in your lunch box. They might have the peanut butter but where’s the jelly? If they cannot execute there “roll of the dice holds”, then when they come up against a solid competitor they are out of luck. As a competitor I never want to be in a place where luck plays a major factor in my results. Here are some areas we continue to hammer home. The path is well worn. Some people may be thinking of guys like Ben Askern right now. And yes he is very unconventional, very rare but it would be very difficult to transfer what he does as he has very uncanny balance and such a feel that most athletes would only embarrass themselves trying to copy his circus style of wrestling, he is certainly fun to watch but nearly impossible to duplicate. No I am afraid that most of us need to rely on the core basics to reach our potential.

Basic skill #1

-Square hips when opponent’s attacks your legs. You see so many athletes not even use readily available tools to defend themselves such as, head, hands, or elbows. Most do not begin to react until their opponent is already on their legs. Than they reach over the top, grab the head, or most commonly go to there butt and just hold on. This drives me nuts and athletes continue time and time again to give up points in this position. Sometimes these insane tactics may hold an opponent off. But not for long and surely not against your better competition. We continue to drive this skill and reaction home; I have even added begging to my instruction. But some guys continue to reinforce this bad habit again and again “The only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success and bad habits are the unlocked door to failure” This I also want to add about habits either good or bad. “In the beginning stages of a habit it is much like a thread, further reinforcement develops a string, rope, cable. At this point you got yourself a very, shall we say, sturdy habit. That’s great if it’s a habit that is constructive and beneficial. But if it’s a defect or hinders you, than it has to be taken apart the same way it was built, thread by thread”. Now some may argue and profess that at anytime you can lance it clean like a guillotine, maybe, but not likely. So my advice is to seek proper instruction early on and when something proves to be faulty, than challenge this obstacle, cut thru it like your chopping wood, for those who manned an ax you can relate that sometimes you take out a big chunk and the progression is crystal clear. But other times you swing the ax and it looks as if nothing at all is happening. But if you only looked every 20 swings you would and will certainly see the difference. If you cannot get arms around these descriptions than go get an ax, log, and start swinging. Further more this is a skill you can work on all by yourself, practice reacting, anticipating, on your toes, ready to beat your opponent to the draw. I tell our guys if this was the Wild West and sprawling or squaring hips was used in place of drawing pistols. you would have been eliminated long ago. The ultimate idea is to not even let your opponent get his fingers to your leg. It all starts from having a low and mobile stance, knees bent so you have motion and power, getting your legs/knees back, hips down and away, and chest off your opponents back and shoulders. Than turning this into a scoring opportunity for yourself. You don’t just want to hold your opponent off but capitalize and turn it into your score. This does a double number on your opponent both on the scoreboard and mentally. You want to compound the damage when and wherever possible.

.You want to destroy this mans position, get his head in the mat, arms extended, on his elbows, and make sure he never forgets what you put him thru for attempting to score on you. Defense turned into an attack position. Always making situations scoring opportunities. I also often see guys stop their opponent but than just hold on, allowing the opponent to get an angle, improve his position and you often giving up the take down. Always keep square, knees back, use your hands and hips to beat them up; do not even allow a finger to remain on your leg. You have to stay steady, focused, firm and have no mental lapse. Its like keeping your hands on the steering wheel of a car while your going around a sharp curb, you best have your hands on the wheel and the situation best have all your attention, enough said.

Its simple defense turned into offense. Is this fancy? No! Does it win? YES. Make up your mind. Choices are Fancy? Or Win?  And yes it’s snowing sarcasm.

Basic skill #2

Underneath in a front headlock position or down on the mat in on a leg: This position we have worked on a lot. But I continue to be baffled by what I see occurs with most teams. So much of wrestling is a ‘feel”, you have to be able to feel what’s going on. If wrestlers spent as much time working on some of these positions to get the feel as much as they do gelling their hair or playing halo and gears of war, they would be ahead of most of their competition How do you improve the feel part of wrestling? Some of it is instinct. But mostly spending time in the position, roll around, spar, drill to insure becoming familiar. Also getting the proper instruction, an intelligent plan, and setting a high standard in keeping impeccable position will also aid in you becoming a more complete and confident wrestler. Any time you can spend on the mat is to your benefit. Wrestling freestyle is a pure benefit or just getting in and wrestling in unconventional and boundryless positions.

We tell our guys to stay in a strong position, a position they can flow from, liquid man. What I mean by that is always stay where you are mobile. If you allow you’re self to get in a position where your opponent can move and you can’t. Then you likely will be giving up points. The other way I phrase it is to always work to improve your position. Holding positions rarely work. This is survival mode. I don’t like my chances here. So be it on your feet, in on a leg, on bottom, top, whatever. Always continue to progress and improve your position and when you learn this and actually incorporate this I will guarantee your winning percentage goes up. What I see a lot in this position is that athletes just hold on, often times their head is in the mat, they are extended and on their knees. Again Extension is a loss of power; head down is a loss of power unless you are green and your name is Lou feregno it’s probably not going to work out.

When your head and knees are on the mat your mobility is severely restricted. So what do you do? Maybe abort the leg mission all together, maybe pull one hand back and post your other hand, (attack hand-post hand) work to for better alacrity, get your elbows back so you can stay condensed, get one foot on the mat so you can move, always head up in your opponents chest, circle to your feet like a winding stair case and re-attack. With this you are improving my position and that’s exactly what I want. Sometimes you can actually hold on to long. You have to feel this, anticipate it, because at some point all you can do is hold on. You missed your opportunity. Do not paint yourself in the corner; render yourself choice less, unarmed, and open to be attacked.

Basic Skill #3

Bottom: This flat out is the weak link in a chain of wrestling positions. For many on bottom they are defective in quality. First off it’s my opinion that the way this position is approached and the knowledge imparted needs to be reframed from the technical aspect. But even of more significance from the mental aspect. This is more productively approached when viewed as an OFEENSIVE position, an ATTACK position, a HUSTLE position, change speeds and EXPLODE. Zero to 1hundred in a blink of an eye. I can tell by the way an athlete gets set if hes going to the moon or to his belly. Now those are two entirely different places

TWO Bottom wrestling Commandments: 1) You have to have a first move  2) it has to be on the whistle. Your attitude plays the biggest role, in that you explode and simply put 1,2,3,4 moves together to get out, hell just move intelligently until you have gained an advantage or neutralized position. But day after day I see athletes get set like a rock, have no first move, and lay on their belly in practice. Than wonder why on game day the neighbors 6 year old exchange student from Laos can keep them down you. Your practice room habits are once again exposed. I see athletes getting taking down and than actually put themselves on their belly in an extended, weak, and feeble position.  This is insane. If this is how you prepare in practice then your are preparing for defeat. You are sabotaging yourself. This is your responsibility to challenge, address and work on this position. Remember your confidence and results will not be in your talent, it’s in YOUR PREPERATION. Aside from keeping off your belly, keep your wrist free You do not, I repeat you do not need to bring your wrist in and expose them to build a base. There is a clever little drill dubbed base building and it will keep your wrist free. So many athletes give their wrist up and in college when you get controlled in a cross wrist position its trouble as not only are you controlled, your giving up riding time but the near fall count is so quick now in college that its difficult to keep from being exposed. You need to stay low/ wide, and get your other elbow inside to break the grip of your opponent. Stop blaming others and weakening yourself with excuses, face it, fix it and take the high road. I am so sick of athletes and even parents blaming other people for lack of progress and victories.

I remember my brother Doug who lost about 16 matches his freshman year at Iowa, mostly because he could not get away, or to be blunt he had not made the decision that he would not be ridden. Well that following spring, summer, and fall was spent working on converting that position into a position of effectiveness. The next 3 yrs he was an NCAA Champion, Runner up, and third place finisher at the NCAA Championships and a total of 5 losses in a combined 3yrs. So the annals of the sport prove you can turn this around. But you have to work at it. If your season to work on your skills is only from October 15^th until the first week of March than don’t expect much. As I have said many times before when excellence and victory are the goal, than there is no season, answer the question YES or NO?, wanting to be good and willing to do the leg work are different planets, pay the price up front get the pay off later, delayed gratification can and is often a lonely pursuit. Stop making excuses, blaming everybody else, be a competitor and get active. You don’t need ideal circumstances to improve your situation. The Cubans spent 3 weeks on a fishing boat traveling to Japan for the world championships in the early 90’s and came away with 3 world champions and 5 medalist in 10 weight classes. How ideal was that for a training situation?

Also Change your language from “I Cant” to “I will” you must be aware of your self talk: first thing is to employ a general language “I will”, “I’ll find a way”, I’ll adjust” all language should be in terms of “what to do” not “what not to do” this is true in both mental rehearsals and goals. Remember the field of consciousness is tiny, it will only accept one thought at a time, so get into a fist fight, put your mind on the strategy of the fight and you will never feel the other fellow’s punches. You have total control over your self talk; you don’t have total control over out comes only influencing them. A big key is awareness of the dialogue that is always going on, than a plan to reprogram where self defeating thoughts and words are most prevalent. Remember thinking is inevitable but right thinking is invaluable, and that thinking cannot be stopped, it can however be changed. The trade off is remarkable, “Change a little to gain a lot”

I am fed up with this victim mentality. Hold yourself accountable and responsible. Stop making excuses and blaming. Get into the solution, get a plan and commit to persistence, Take the bull by the horn and make whatever effort is necessary.  A lot of this is nothing more than A) better attitude, B) making a decision and C) proper instruction.

I know bottom position is often taught where the athlete works to get away for top man. We implore our athletes to ATTACK the top man, turn it around and give him a fist fight, belt him in the chin and stand toe to toe. Not literally but with this type of vigor.

 I promise if the ceiling was falling in, and big heavy chunks of concrete were raining down you would at least make an effort to get out from underneath it. Well maybe that’s how you have to approach it. A few other things I think are crucial are when you get set, ---arch you back like a cat, ---and get as much weight as possible on your hips and off your hands. There also needs to be a degree of ---anticipation in the whistle, ---explode off the whistle. I believe that most will find getting to your feet to get away is highest percentage. But the concern is more just getting out or to a position where you can score points. We tell our guys to stay condense, in an explosive position and mentality, always just 1 step away from getting out by only allowing nothing but hands and knee caps on the mat,(weight on hips, off hands) if you get brought back to the mat, than you be a bouncing ball, right back up again. When ever you feel yourself being lifted bring your knees to your chest, stay condense and bounce right back up again and again.

I don’t teach hand control.  We stress Elbows back or elbow control if you will, working to keep opponent from being underneath your arms. This was a skill / drill (cup and cover) that I became familiar with at the University of Minnesota and coach Marty Morgan.

Also the progression to get to your feet is head up, chest follows, elbows in, (putting weight and pinching my opponents hands & attempted lock with my elbows) knees slide forward until I can get one foot on the mat than, than both feet, stagger stance, squat, pressure into opponent, walk legs away (hip heist), get your 1 point than back on the guy. Too many athletes have neglected to prepare for this position and in college you will flat out not beat good opponents unless you can get away. Period. Watch bull riding / rodeo. The bull does not sit and wait for the rancid odor of cowboy to permeate his space or pull out a hill billy dip or skoal bandit first. The bull is going to get rid of cowboy guaranteed just like a mafia hit man, the only question is will it be 5 or 10 seconds?

Stance, Set ups, and finishes to leg attacks. Your stance is the most basic of positions but one that is often over looked and neglected after an initial introduction from your uncle who could have been a state champion but the coach screwed him over and kicked him off the team for drinking during the season “dam coaches fault”

Much like the foundation of a home, if not solid, you will have multiple problems and suffer the consequence. So many athletes refuse to even acknowledge that a big hole in their game stems from an inability to hold and function successfully from their stance. They almost consider it an insult; they feel they know this position already. The fact is THEY DON’T. This is a position you need to be able to battle from, change levels, score, defend, hand fight, and finish take downs from. The stance is possibly the most significant cog in the wrestling wheel. Many important aspects of this position are often violated. What I see as being crucial is that you stay bent at the knees; your level lowers at the knees & not the waist, Why? Because when legs are straight you have neither motion or power .head stays up regardless of your level of leg attack, elbows in to insure you have power and body is much more difficult to attack. Also you should be comfortable, relaxed, loose, fluid, ready to react, change speeds, control body movements, and strike like a cobra when you create an opening.

. Now you may laugh and say “yea I already know this”. But you have to be able to enforce this, function, and adjust, while in the heat of the battle. That’s the key. Just because you have seen it does not mean you know how to operate, execute, and maneuver in a position of strength. Are you still keeping impeccable position when you’re mixing it up? Are you still employing these disciplines when your opponent is in your face and on your head? When you attack? When you’re fatigued?

A big thing I see lacking with wrestlers is that they do not move their feet when their hands are on their opponent, they hold, shake, squeeze. But if you really want to create an opening, get your man off balance & take it out of him, feet. And you need to move your feet hands together I am sorry but the 300# bench press club does not help much in this situation. Your hands and arms holding your opponent is not enough. You brought a Philips screw driver when what you really need is a standard.

With out the movement of your feet you will often be too tight, lack the liquid to create space, level change, clear the head and open your man up for scoring potential. Athletes often look mechanical, tight, unorthodox, lacking the all important feel, and basically look like a typical guy trying to dance. and an ugly site it is. Ideally you don’t want just forward / push and back ward / pull motion, but (circles, lateral motion, side to side). Most wrestlers lack these motions it’s a small adjustment that makes a big differences.

Snapping, getting your opponent off balance, a reaction to you, setting the tone, will have little to no success until you learn to move your feet. This is what moves your opponent. When you are able to get your hands and feet working as a partner ship. So many athletes feel they don’t have a set up or opening. Well if all you are doing is slapping his hair, and just standing square with him, than what do you expect. It’s not about you dancing around, you can be moving like a kangaroo and still there is no opening. You need to move you’re opponent. Get him off balance, work an angle, lower your level, make a commitment, (that may last longer than some marriages) take your body to the shot, elbow deep on your attacks, and have a conviction to stay in position and finish the attack until points are secured Too many athletes straddle the fence on this, they half/heart it, dip just their foot in the pool, peer thru the window instead of walking thru the door. Submerge and soak there entire body in the shot. This is a total commitment position, this is a yes position. If you are going to score than you have to say yes. You do not need a complicated formula to set an opponent up. Often it’s about conviction, confidence, decision, position, mobility, and mentality. We tell our guys to simply change levels, bang, push, club, pass, fake, touch get a reaction and pull the trigger while still maintain the key positions of head up, condense body, dog on a bone and quick finish. When you go underneath you want to stay in a mobile and strong position. If you miss the attack, than get out. Circle to your feet and back in your opponents face. Many guys stay down underneath in this disadvantage position, head in the mat, extended, non mobile. They hold vs. improve and often end up giving up points.

Head position: (on the feet) this is crucial in many areas of wrestling. On your feet your head needs to be up, never let an opponent get his hands or weight on your head. Like a catcher in baseball when that fast ball comes like a rocket he does not have to think about putting that mitt up in front of him. He just does it, its instinct. If I walked up to anybody and acted as if I was going to throw something in their face, or attempt to mess up their new frosted hair do with blond high lights, they would instinctively raise their hands to protect. Well wrestlers need to also employ this reaction. Abort trying to get them off your head, instill prevention and never let them get there in the first place. Many athletes waste lots of energy because when the opponent does get on their head, they allow too much weight to rest and be applied, and they naturally offer resistance and allow fatigue to play a part later in the match. Its effectiveness is clearly visible. Their head is subject to being pulled down, turned, snapped or they retreat. This wears on a guy. If you watch the best. Their head never really moves independently, it’s like it’s welded on the shoulders, they never allow it to drop. They absorb the pressure with their entire body and if the hands do get on their head they move forward never allowing the full pressure to be applied. One of the best I ever seen keep his head in exquisite position was a light heavyweight we had at Minnesota named Garret Lowney, since he only weighed about 215 this was a great asset because he gave up so much weight. It apparently worked well because he was 3^rd in the NCAA tournament as a freshman, and bronze medalist in the Olympics in 2000, than got out due to injuries.

Head Position (offensive Leg attacks): I continue to see athletes on their feet give up head position to their opponent and than attempt to score or wonder why they remain unsuccessful. You have to clear your head, allow space to attack, change levels. Often you will see the attacking athletes head drop as he is attacking the leg or when he gets to the leg. This is a violation of position. There ought to be a monetary fine imposed for those what I deem as a wrestling felony

Regardless of where you’re at on the leg, the head needs to be up. When the head goes down, your arms become extended; you lose power and often get scored upon. Also when the head goes down you become inert. I hope you can see how all this is interchangeable and related.

Head position, (Bottom position): here you will often see an athletes head on the mat, when you see this you might as well take your trumpet out of the attic, you know the one grandpa bought you so you could go on the 7^th grade band trip to South Dakota, take it from its case and begin to play dust in the wind because the mourning of a loss is in the works. In general we often tell others who’s body language tells us they are down, suffered hardship, loss, whatever, to do what? KEEP YOUR HEAD UP. This body language is a strong message. When you see a head down it’s usually a signal that the individual is not at their best. There is correlation. Keep your head up. This is a language your still in it, still battling, refusing to surrender. Head down is a language of defeat and hopelessness.

This next scenario is very bothersome to me. Turning away when your opponent is attacking your legs or is in on your leg, especially on the edge of the mat This is another wrestling felony. You stay in and fight the position, fight the hands, destroy opponents position, get legs back, battle, scrape, rough house, quarrel,  but turning away is a major error. I see this occur on the edge of the mat much too often. If you look at what happens to the body (legs) mechanically when you turn away as if trying to recede, they straighten which take away power and mobility making 2 points permissible for the opposition.

I know there are more positions than what I mentioned above. And some may not agree with what I wrote. But there are certainly many truths, experiences and laws that I have described above. I focused on the above because wrestling wise these have been major stumbling blocks for us.

A few other things I will talk about have also been lacking. None has been more apparent than a lack of emotion. How important is emotion? I would say its blood to the heart, sun in the sky, gas in the engine, lights in the dark, Lavern to Shirley, Lenny to squiggy, and fonzie to his leather jacket, in other words it’s crucial. Emotion is something an athlete may even need to learn how to fake. Hey! it’s not going to be there all the time. It’s a long and trying season. There are lots of demands. But you choose a tough sport. Sometimes you may just have to throw yourself in deep water and know that by doing this you will bring to life whatever is necessary to get yourself back on solid ground. Emotion is not something that some have and others don’t. We all have equal access. You have it, it’s in you, you may have to wake it up, but its there. Stop making excuses, stop blaming others. You may even have to compete on occasion without any emotion. So does everybody else. But this is never a reason to roll over, an excuse to cease effort, behave passively, and not even try just because your situation is not ideal. Remember excuses weaken you. I told our guys the other night that the worst thing in my mind to be known as would be a coward. Most dictionaries give “lack of courage” as the definition for coward. And Courage as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, with firmness and without fear” I disagree with the “without fear” as I see it more noble to have the fear and do it in spite. This has nothing to do with winning or losing. This is a choice to relinquish effort, cease application of at least swinging the bat vs. at being bold, meeting a challenge and in some cases being a warrior. This is a choice and to choose to not even try is a pitiful day indeed. This is in many respects an individual sport that collectively has both individual and team results. But the team results are compiled by what each athlete contributes individually. It’s my firm belief that you are expected, obligated, and committing to an all out effort when you choose to be part of any program. This is what’s talked about and driven home most everyday. To neglect this responsibility is a disservice to your teammates, program, and yourself. You find out a lot about people when a little adversity sets in.

I feel a bit guilty myself fully knowing I have lacked consistent emotion and all out effort often this year myself. This is my fault, its bull shit on my part and if I cannot separate things and be the coach I am capable of being than I need to get out. Trust me I am very disappointed in myself. People say I should not write stuff like this in my blogs but it’s the truth whether I write it or not. I need to be hard on myself, I need others to be hard on me, I work better from this plat form.

This is still an individual obligation among each athlete and needs to be addressed. The team has been all over the place this year. Lots of break downs that take the life out of programs. I am not suggesting for a second that all other programs do not have the same obstacles because they certainly do. Some can afford a few more than others and still be successful. But we are not in that place yet. Some of the adversities could have been avoided with a firm system and staff in place and some others are just part of road. As a coach I have made lots of mistakes, that’s expected. A quality coach will makes adjustments and reevaluate. I guess time will tell if I am a good coach or not. I do believe if the annals of history will often tell us that sometimes things get worse before they get better. And it may be a case where you had a steel worker put in a foundation that requires a concrete specialist. Maybe have to rework some of the foundation and that not all bad as you just figured out that the job requires something else before you have gotten to far along. So much of what it requires to have a successful program has little to do with the actual wrestling part of it. I believe its being able to manage the athletes both in and out of the room, organization, and lots and lots of help. If you look at top programs in our sport or any sport they always have many people involved. Many are former athletes who love the sport, want to see the program thrive, love the coaching aspect, want to give back, be involved, whatever. I will say this that BVU is a great institution and the leadership of President Fred Moore is second to none. I have a hard time believing that there are too many presidents of universities that have been the kind of man that President Moore has been to me. I would say I am very very lucky.

(After Coe meet)

In one of our recent talks I used a little more emotion than what many had seen this year. I used plain, strong, firm and words that were free from taking on any other meaning than the point I was trying to get across. You need to make a decision. When you go out to compete its either yes or no. If you come back here tomorrow than I take that as a yes. If you are going to put on our singlet and represent BVU wrestling. than I take that as a yes and nothing else is acceptable. There needs to be a high standard with actions and not just talk. Normal is an excuse, exceptional is the goal  The yes is that you are going to go out and compete hard, hustle, be brave, compete with emotion, sprint thru the finish line, that you are going to go out and battle, that you are going to give all out effort., win or lose we are going to at least swing the bat That is the YES you have committed to. Stop blaming others, making excuses, and doing it your way. Employ the skills we work on daily, pay attention to your self talk, and prepare to sprint thru the finish line as opposed to just going thru the motions. This is what I mean by saying yes. Nothing else will work or get results. The formula is simple but carrying it out will not be. The rewards are life long. The short term pain and discipline are well worth it; don’t trade it in for the instant relief, the paths most travel, for lack of better words the easy way out. I ask our guys “are you using every tool available to you to ensure you will get the best results possible?” and I already know the answer, its NO. One of the areas I have been stressing more lately is the mental aspect. This is crucial and as necessary to success as oxygen is for you to breath but most athletes neglect it. It is as crucial, if not more than all of the physical things we do. But again not enough effort is put into it. Why? Well it takes time, effort, and probably seems that it’s not that important. I will tell you for a fact it is important. We have several things to help them organize and put something into place but we cannot do it for them. Actually I don’t work well with people who want me to do the work for them. I am not a hand holder or spoon feeder, nor do I want to be. As a student athlete you need to take responsibility, care about your results, and give yourself the best opportunity for success. If it’s where the coach or educator cares’s more the individual, than it will likely not workout.

We are now done with the regular season. We have shown on occasion that we have true capabilities and there has been immense improvement just inconsistency

 If there is a time to get in tune its now. What matters most is conference. That day is a new season. And the man who is ready to compete and competes to win, can and will turn matches around that maybe weeks and months earlier were 5 or 10 point defeats.

Here are a few questions I want to expand on?

Are you doing everything you can do to give yourself the best opportunity for success? Answer this question honestly. If answered honestly you will find likely that you are not. Here are some things that come to mind that you can control and benefit yourself from doing. Eating breakfast, getting adequate rest, ice and treating injuries, watching film, having goals and a well written plan to reach them, written awareness of both your strengths and lesser strengths, proper weight management by moderation not starvation or gluttony, proper warm up and flexibility, holding yourself to a high standard when drilling, continue to strength train to ensure injury prevention and confidence, positive and encouraging attitude and words that benefit yourself and the entire program,  rehearse victory in the minds eye, pay attention to self talk its crucial, learn relaxation drills for night time as this is often a time where the mind can run rampant keeping you up and draining you if not controlled, make a decision YES or NO

These are just some things that come to mind and things you have control over to arm yourself with what’s necessary to have potential success. Always remember that everything counts, it all adds up

Sprint thru the finish line. What I mean here is lots of athletes begin or have begun to let up, they give in, they become willing to trade in dreams for a less demanding road. They trade in rewards that last a life time for a softer easier way that’s only give a few moments of relief. This can be a very cloudy place and were likely not using sound judgment. It never hurts to get away for a few days, back up so you can see the trees from the forest. Like they say pain weighs ounces, regret weighs tons. You owe it to yourself to sprint thru that finish line, letting up now makes it easier to let up later when life gets tough, and it will my friend. Stay the course, win or lose follow thru like a warrior. The world is full of people who come out of the gate firing, but short on those that follow thru when adversity sets in.

 Visualization: Physical training and competition is directly influenced by mental process, such as performing technique and skills correctly, perseverance in the midst of fatigue, walking off the mat with your arm raised. Visualization will help you program both your nervous system and muscles. I would strongly encourage you to incorporate mental rehearsal into a regular preparation program just like you train physically on a regular basis. Remember wanting without being willing is empty. You have to be willing to spend time on these mental techniques to get the benefit. Everybody wants to win but who’s willing??? Are you?

Giving attention to mental skills is a must. What is above the shoulders will be what makes the difference. Remember often it will not be a big difference between the gold and sliver, between the winner and loser, often it will be something like 98.7% instead of 98.6% remember EVERYTHI NG COUNTS.

Visualization, “the conscious creation of positive images in the mind” these techniques help you improve in any field faster than would otherwise be possible. Positi