wolfpackwrestling Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 being the coach of a small school that just started a wrestling program last year, ive found it fairly hard to keep kids out this season so far. i think for one the junior high program we are starting this year will help but i wanted to see some other suggestions. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midwest Wrestling Fanpage Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 being the coach of a small school that just started a wrestling program last year, ive found it fairly hard to keep kids out this season so far. i think for one the junior high program we are starting this year will help but i wanted to see some other suggestions. thanks As soon as the High school season ends get things in place to advertise for youth wrestling get them started young, have some fun with it. Stay on your middle school coaches to coach your style and make it rewarding for all involved ,Best of luck in building your program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachM Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Wrestling has always been an easy sport for kids to quit; it?s demanding and requires more discipline than any other. Keep a positive emphasis on the kids you do keep out and use awards to positively reinforce their efforts. We use practice athlete of the week and OW for each event. This shows the kids we are watching and that we recognize their efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justadadnow Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 make practice FUN and dont worry about weight for the beginners, nothing will drive away young kids and parents as much as weight issues. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrecoCoach Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 CoachM is correct that wrestling is an easy sport to quit. The two things I've found that keep kids in the sport are success and/or a good relationship with the coach & teammates. Success can be very different for any of the wrestlers. For some, it's making it to state or having a winning record or making varsity or even winning 1 JV match. For others, it's simply the kind of recognition that CoachM explained. Every kid is different, so you need to focus on what it will take to keep each individual kid out. That can be very tough if it's a large group, but fairly easy when it's just a few. Even without much success on the mat, kids will keep wrestling if they have a good relationship with one of the coaches. If a kid thinks all the coaches are jerks who don't care about him, then they will quit. If a kid gets along well with any of the coaches or at least respects the coach, they will be much more likely to keep at it. A good relationship with teammates is equally as important. Having a good friend who is also wrestling will keep a kid on the team. On the other side, though, having a good friend who quits will drag a kid off the team with him. As a coach, you need to be aware of who your wrestlers are friends with and what their influence is. It's a challenge all of us face every year, but it is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesternCat Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Well said GC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlevito Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 This topic really caught my eye tonight. I'm in my second year at Bluffton, and it is rough to get kids to do this sport. I have had like 5 kids quit already this season, and that was through conditioning and the first week on the mat. But tonight something special happened. Yesterday during practice I had one of my seniors just walk out of practice and quit on me. So I go chasing after him down the hallway and we stood there for a good amount of time talking, but by the end of the conversation he decided to keep walking. It was just total shock to see him do this, specially the day before our dual meet with our intra-county rival. It is already hard to compete with a total of 11 guys on the team, so even trying to win with 10 was going to be near impossible. It took a few hours but what I said to him finally set in, and he contacted me and said he thought about what I had said and he didn't want to be like every other kid in the school that just gives up and he wanted to prove to everyone that he could work hard and could win matches. So of course I said he could be back on the team, I can't afford to keep giving up forfeits. Well tonight in our dual meet it was a barnburner. It was 36-27 heading into his match at 189. He went out there and right away was on his back. He fought off his back and came back from being down 5-0 to pin his kid and seal the win for us. The meet ended 42-39 in victory for us. It's getting these kids to believe in themselves and letting them know that you have the faith in them to compete. Confidence is such a big part of this sport, so supporting your wrestlers win or lose is huge to these kids. Let them know they are just as big of a part of the team as that state qualifier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammer Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 This topic really caught my eye tonight. I'm in my second year at Bluffton, and it is rough to get kids to do this sport. I have had like 5 kids quit already this season, and that was through conditioning and the first week on the mat. But tonight something special happened. Yesterday during practice I had one of my seniors just walk out of practice and quit on me. So I go chasing after him down the hallway and we stood there for a good amount of time talking, but by the end of the conversation he decided to keep walking. It was just total shock to see him do this, specially the day before our dual meet with our intra-county rival. It is already hard to compete with a total of 11 guys on the team, so even trying to win with 10 was going to be near impossible. It took a few hours but what I said to him finally set in, and he contacted me and said he thought about what I had said and he didn't want to be like every other kid in the school that just gives up and he wanted to prove to everyone that he could work hard and could win matches. So of course I said he could be back on the team, I can't afford to keep giving up forfeits. Well tonight in our dual meet it was a barnburner. It was 36-27 heading into his match at 189. He went out there and right away was on his back. He fought off his back and came back from being down 5-0 to pin his kid and seal the win for us. The meet ended 42-39 in victory for us. It's getting these kids to believe in themselves and letting them know that you have the faith in them to compete. Confidence is such a big part of this sport, so supporting your wrestlers win or lose is huge to these kids. Let them know they are just as big of a part of the team as that state qualifier. Good story. I agree that you have to make everyone feel that they are as big of a part of the team as the best wrestler that you have. This is also a topic that you have to have coached at a small, public school to fully understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker1 Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I would high recommend that inexperienced coaches take the NWCA online coaches course. One of the main areas of concentration is retaining wrestlers in your program. Go to nwcaonline.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Guru Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 You really need to focus on the elementary and middle school as well as the club when you start. I mean focus hard on developing a system that gets kids winning early and often and get your elementary kids to the 50 match mark as quickly as possible. Do that, and the HS program will take care of itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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