WrestlingGear.com Want to Win State & Gable's Thoughts on Coaching
June 29, 2003
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Photos from the World Team Trials
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"Coaching Wrestling Sucessfully" by Dan Gable
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From Chapter 3: Motivating Wrestlers Coaching Wrestling Successfully, by Dan Gable
Motivation is the driving force behind great achievements in wrestling, sports, academics, professional careers, or any pursuit where work is required. Motivation is often the deciding factor in matches between two equally skilled opponents. Given a choice, all coaches would take the athlete who has the self-motivation to do off-season workouts, show up ready for practice every day, work tirelessly on improving his technique until he's mastered it, and squeeze out every ounce of his talent. Those kind of wrestlers are rare. More common are the kids who want to win badly but lack the drive to do what's necessary to develop the skills and conditioning that's required to win on a consistent basis. They're motivated more by external factors, such as awards and media attention, than they are by their own inner drive to excel.
Motivational Leadership
I've always thought of motivation as the energy source that sustains successful wrestling programs. That energy flows from the coach and through each athlete on the team. Making athletes excited about what they are doing and providing them opportunities to fulfill their wrestling ambitions is extremely rewarding. A coach enhances or diminishes the motivation of wrestlers depending on the type of leadership he provides.
The Motivation Challenge
Staying motivated when you have success is relatively easy. Your wrestlers can see that the training and techniques you are teaching them are paying off, which motivates them to work harder. But everyone can't always win, nor will performances always meet expectations. These situations can challenge an athlete's, and a coach's, motivation. In those cases, you and your athletes better have well-established sources of motivation you can rely on until the breaks start going your way.
Personal Motivation
Great motivators are themselves very highly motivated. Once you reach that high level of motivation, you need to maintain it to stay on top. If you lose it, regaining it may be difficult. My motivation for coaching has several sources. First, I love the sport. Wrestling excellence is the ultimate in individual and team achievement in athletics. It takes a complete commitment to attain it. Second, I love helping athletes seeking wrestling excellence to achieve it.
Athlete Motivation
Now that I've put all the emphasis on the coach's motivation, let me say that no one can motivate a wrestler who does not like the sport, is not receptive to teaching, and has no desire to compete. It's impossible. Hopefully, all your wrestlers will at least begin their careers with great enthusiasm.
A whole team of supercommitted individuals is rare, however. Some wrestlers just never seem to reach the high level of motivation necessary to be champions. Some have social, academic, or athletic interests that take away from their wrestling motivation. Still others who were once motivated--perhaps even champions at one time--lose their motivation for the sport.
Talking One-on-One
The easiest and most basic motivational approach is to meet with each of your wrestlers individually and to do so frequently. Don't just wait until something bad happens. If you can't always arrange face-to-face talks, call them on the phone. Listen to them. Make sure that they know you have a special care for them as people. Just letting your athletes share with you the many things affecting them can be a tremendous boost to their motivation.
Setting Goals
Motivation is closely related to establishing, monitoring, and adjusting goals. In your one-on-one and team meetings with your wrestlers, help them set goals that are measurable, challenging but realistic, performance-based, specific, and important to them and the program. Include subgoals that will serve as motivators toward the big goals. Don't just limit the goals to wrestling; also address academic objectives and identify desirable social behaviors for athletes. Then, as they meet or come close to the targets, look for ways to broaden or extend your wrestlers' goals. Through this process, athletes and teams not only improve their level of achievement, they also have a performance standard that is independent of the competition. That standard is crucial for achieving consistency and excellence.
Publicizing for Motivation
Everyone likes to have their accomplishments recognized. I'm sure your wrestlers and your coaching staff (not to mention you and me) get a little more pumped up when they get positive public recognition. Make sure it gets to the public. One very effective promotion that motivates Iowa wrestlers is the annual poster schedule. The design is attractive and meaningful for each season.
The athletes know that if they become All-Americans before their senior year they will appear on the poster. This fact motivates them to excel as undergraduates and gives the seniors the recognition they deserve. Even the fans look forward to each year's poster; they appreciate the design and look for a clue to that season's mission. Some fans even frame the posters and save them as collector's items.
Your own statements transmitted through newspaper, radio, and television outlets can also serve as motivators. Mostly, take the positive approach without putting too much pressure on the team or any individual wrestler. If you have good kids and respect the things that should be kept between you and them, they'll get inspired by watching or reading your comments about them.
Setting Up a Motivational Environment
I'm a big believer that the work environment has a big impact on performance. Be it the study areas for schoolwork or the training areas for wrestling, the setting should motivate the student or athlete to focus and excel. At this point, some of you may be saying "I don't have the financial
support to create a great wrestling room." To that I reply, "Make the best of what you have, and always look for ways to improve it." Even if you have the most spartan of workout facilities, keep it clean and well-organized. You must make the area and equipment conducive to training, especially in regard to health and safety standards.
An inspiring workout facility is important, but you shouldn't stop there. Also strive to make the sites of your team's competitions motivating to your wrestlers. The best way is to have your fans pack the house at each event. A facility full of supporters rooting your wrestlers on in each match will help bring out the maximum potential of your athletes and will give them something to look forward to while preparing for every competition.
Using Additional Motivational Tools
Wrestling publications are a great source of motivation. The more informed about and involved in the sport your wrestlers are, the more they'll want to achieve. Wrestling USA emphasizes high school wrestling. Amateur Wrestling News and W.I.N. focus on the college level. USA Wrestler centers around freestyle and Greco wrestling. In addition, several states have their own wrestling publications, typically covering all levels of competition. Iowa has the Predicament. Illinois has The Grappler. Wisconsin publishes Crossface, and Pennsylvania puts out the Roundup.
Videotapes can also serve to motivate wrestlers. Watching themselves perform can make them more positive about their abilities and inspire them to work harder. Watching other great wrestlers can drive them to achieve a higher level of performance.
Summary
You probably already use many of the motivational approaches I've cited. This was only a small sample; we all have special ways of motivating certain individuals in certain situations. If you take just one thing from this chapter, it should be this: the motivation of everyone in your program reflects your own motivation. You are the primary source of motivation. If your motivation drops, the athletes and fans who might need a boost aren't likely to be fully motivated. Talking one-on-one, setting goals, providing fun and success, using positive imagery, choosing good team captains, getting publicity for individuals and the team, creating a great environment, and all the other motivators mentioned in this chapter will help only if you have the personal motivation to implement them. Be the motivating leader that your athletes deserve.
From Coaching Wrestling Successfully by Dan Gable. Copyright 1999 by Dan Gable. Excerpted by permission of Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.
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"WinningSTATE" by Steve Knight
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The following is an excerpt from chapter 1: "WINNING"
You've wrestled for years, you've worked hard at practice, and your conditioning is excellent. Your offensive moves penetrate, and your defense is solid. So why can't you break through and win a tournament?
Answer: Most likely you haven't learned how to compete. Mentally you haven't drawn a clear line between practice and tournaments. Even though "the room" can be highly competitive, it's not a tournament.
Winning tournaments is a two-sided equation: it's physical and mental. Most athletes train their butts off physically, but mentally do very little to prepare for competition. As young athletes most of us don't realize that our mind is our most powerful weapon.
Think of all the sporting events you've watched, picture the top athletes, and who won. It doesn't matter what level you envision, kids to pros, technique or conditioning rarely decides a champion.
A Tournament Mindset
The desire to compete is what drives a champion. A champion not only knows the difference between practice and competition, a champion wants to compete.
Tournaments are where the battle for individuality takes place. For thousands of years mere peasants (most of us) have distinguished ourselves as Warriors, raising our position in society by competing at, and ultimately winning tournaments. Modern day primal sporting events are an extension of that basic drive to elevate our position in our communities.
Winning a championship for many of us is our first "title." As a "champion" we have distinguished ourselves from the average. People will point and say: "That guy's a champion;" they respect the accomplishment.
The Arena
Wow! I vividly remember my first state tournament; the arena was huge, and the distractions were numerous. I must have looked like a toddler stepping outdoors for the first time eyes big, trying to take in this huge new world. The noise, emotions, and visual distractions were overwhelming. I quickly realized that if I wanted to compete with the BIG Dogs, I had to learn how to deal with the gigantic, circus-like enviroment.
Chapter Two will teach you the technique of narrowing your thinking to just four physical places in the building-your Combat Posts-and will also teach you the seven primary Combat Routines. When combined, these techniques will dramatically alter the typically unpredictable, chaotic enviroment at state. Ultimately you're go to learn how to Conquer The Arena.
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IN CLOSING
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