WrestlingGear.com Newsletter - March 31, 2003 Combat Speeds for Next Year!
March 31, 2003
Welcome To The WrestlingGear.com Newsletter
In this newsletter we continue to go over the mental aspects of wrestling. We
added another excerpt from Beasey Hendrix's book - Wrestle to Win. He has
written two books that should be in any serious wrestler's library.
Make it a goal this year to continue to develop your freestyle and folkstyle and
greco skills AND your mental skills.
We are excited to announce the return of the Combat Speeds. If you are
interested, we are taking pre-orders for these shoes. If you have been looking
for them for the past three years or so, you know these are great shoes and will
be at a great price.
As always, please link to our site. If you add a link to all four of our sites,
we will send you a free t-shirt. If interested in exchanging links please email
us.
Finally, look to update your email information with us and tell us what you are
interested in. As we get more information about your interests, we will no
longer send you information you are not interested in. We will start sending you
targeted information about Mental skills, folkstyle, greco, etc. instead of
wasting your time sending you stuff you do not want.
Good luck in the "off season." One reader wrote me last month saying there
really is no more "off seasons" in wrestling...even if you are playing baseball
or running track you can still include exercises and drills that will help with
the wrestling season.
COMBAT SPEEDS ARE BACK
Do you want to wear Combat Speeds for next year? Don't know what they are? Click
the link below to see the Combat Speeds. They will have a lace guard system
similar to the Super Slay Wrestling shoes. We expect these shoes to sell out
with each delivery date.
Make sure you get them for next year by pre-ordering them now. We need to place
our order for October 15 delivery in the next week or so. We will save your size
if you pre-order.
There will be no charge to your credit card until October 1. We expect to
receive them from Adidas on October 15 and will ship them then.
Don't miss out. Order them NOW!
PRE-ORDER TODAY YOUR COMBAT SPEEDS
"Wrestle To Win" by Beasey Hendrix
Here is an excerpt from Beasey Hendrix's "Wrestle To Win" available
now on WrestlingGear.com!
This excerpt is an article from the section in the book on Mental
Skills in Wrestling, this article deals with sports psychology for
wrestling.
Focus: What is sports psychology? Is it needed? What are some of
its major concepts? How does it apply to wrestling?
If you were building the perfect wrestler, what skills would you
include? Solid fundamentals and great moves? Strength and
conditioning? What about drive and a burning desire to win?
When coaches and athletes discuss what it takes to make a sucessful
wrestler, they debate many ideas. But just how often are
psychological skills mentioned? And just where do mental skills fit
in the task of building champion wrestlers or championship teams?
Wrestling is a demanding sport. It has all the worries that are
present in other sports, plus the added pressure of being a martial
art that pits individuals against one another. Add the tensions of
weight control, and one has a sport that offers great opportunities
for stress.
Demands of Wrestling
Anyone who has ever been on the mat understands that there is much
more to wrestling than just shooting moves and being in shape. The
daily banging of practices and competition causes soreness, aches,
and pains. "Cutting Weight" can shorten tempers, and the constant
threat of personal failure or injury can cause negative thoughts to surface.
Sucessful wrestlers ignore or control these negative thoughts. For
some it appears almost natural, as if they don't notice the darker
side of competition. Others learn through experience and develop
appropriate coping skills. But many wrestlers allow the negative
side to become dominant in their thinking. This attitude can cause
a drop in performance, and also affect the enjoyment level for
those participants. But there is good news; we have the information
and skills that can be employed to help control negative pressures
and improve performances.
Mental Skills
Most coaches and athletes probably agree that mental skills are
important. But the idea of using sport psychology concepts to
organize mental skills practices may be a new or controversial idea
for some. There is resistance to the idea of sport psychology.
Thoughts of others "messing with their heads" often cause concern
for athletes, while another problem for them is the lack of
organized sport psychology programs. The basic information is
available, but is often presented in a complicated, fragmented, and
non-sport-specific fashion, or it may stay hidden deep within the
computer databases. If we can reach past these problems, we will
see that there are several important concepts that wrestlers can
use to develop better mental skills. Probably the most important
idea is that there are two major application methods for sport
psychology.
The first application method can be labeled an "educational" or
"developmental" method. Mental skills are learned as part of the
total wrestling skills package. Like stand-ups, double legs, and
bridges, these skills are included as fundamentals.
We can identify two groups of educational topics. One is
strategies; in which the wrestler learns the basic rules of playing. (No upper
body with a big lead. Keep your head up on
bottom. Take hand control on bottom. Work for set-ups when on your
feet.) The other educational application is performance
enhancement; in which the athlete is taught how to handle
psychological concerns that may arise during the course of the
season. In this process, wrestlers are taught how to concentrate,
how to control doubt, and how to avoid common mental errors that
might cuase problems in practice or a match. Both strategy and
performance enhancement techniques are easily applied to group
situations, and can be used with individuals, small groups, or the
whole team.
The second application method is called "intervention," or
"corrective" psychology. Unfortunately, this is the style most
often connected with performance psychology; an athlete is
diagnosed with a performance related problem and is "corrected by
therapy." This method tends to be individual-based, and is the
least time and cost effective.
No matter which method you feel is best, there are some basic
mental skills that should be included in any wrestler's training.
Motivation and goal setting are good introductory skills. Learning
theory and visualization can be used to improve practice time,
while focus and self-talk can be worked on daily to assist with
stress control. The amount of work, and the topics you want
emphasized can be tailored to meet any team's or individual's
needs.
Practicing Mental Skills
Mental skills can be learned, but they must be practiced to
improve. They appear to follow the same learning curve as physical
skills and can be practiced using the same techniques. To
sucessfully use a mental skill, you must: A) introduce the skill,
B) practice it, C) become so efficient that it is ingrained into
memory, becomes automatic, and is forgotten
With practice schedules already filled, when do wrestlers have time
to practice these additional tasks? There are ways to incorporate
these skills without demanding additional time from the athletes,
as much of the work can be performed during practice. Warm-ups,
cool-downs, skull sessions, or conditioning periods offer excellent
times to practice mental skills. The topics may be covered as
athletes perform other tasks.
So, whether you are a coach or an athlete, there are skills that you can use to
enhance performances and improve the enjoyment of
your sport. By understanding, then utilizing the concepts and ideas
behind sport psychology, you can learn the mental skills before you
actually need them. Just like learning to counter the half nelson
before you need it in a match!? Practice the skills until they
become so ingrained that you don't think about them. Then if
problems arise, redirect or correct them.
Remember-matches are won by hard work and solid preparation, but
they are often lost because of poor psychological skills, or mental
errors.
Key thoughts:
1. Mental skills are useful to every athelete.
2. Mental skills should be
learned as part of your training.
3. There are methods to correct mental errors
or problems.
4. You can use mental skills to improve your performances.
5. Sport
psychology is just the idea that we think during athletic performances.
Click here to buy Wrestle To Win
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