His Father Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I am sure that there are several successfull Pro and College football players that wrestled in High school. I say if you know of a high school football coach that thinks the idea of a football player wrestling is wrong, his name and High school should be public. Then maybe more parents can ask these coaches to restate there position and maybe promote wrestling!!! ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 thats a good idea plaster someones information so they can inevitably be harrassed by wrestling fans that will change thier opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Father Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 The same coaches that restrict ones athletic growth by their own ignorance surely deserves some type of prodding. Although I would not use as strong a word as harrassing. If that is your approach then so be it. ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdrodd1 Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I'm not sure what the do in gym class at the Middle School level these days but they ought to have wrestling a part of it. If nothing else let all the kids roll around on the mat for an hour even if the gym teacher doesn't know anything about wrestling. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Gard Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 My two cents...coaches have to work together. There is a big push at Rochester High School to get our coaches sharing more athletes. Not just kids but the athletes. Our football coach (Mike Zehner) and I have had a lot of discussions about how we can work together to get more of his athletes to wrestle. The nice thing about Mike is that he wrestled and sees a huge value in it. He also wants to win and he wants to win state titles. He knows I can (and I want to) help him achieve his goals. Honestly, I think he wants to help me achieve mine as well. I did about a 30 minute presentation to the football team using a power point presentation that was given to me by Coach Struck at Jeffersonville. I modified it to fit our program and Mike gave me the time to present. Mike and I have also come to the agreement that during football season, I will not hold wrestling workouts, and during wrestling season there will be no football workouts. He has told his kids that their winter workouts will be a winter sport. For wrestling, I have 32 kids committed to coming out. Last year, we started with 16 and finished with 14. Our basketball and swimming programs have also benefitted. Coaches have to communicate and they have to see the value in helping other sports succeed. At Rochester, we are headed in that direction. At a school our size it is vital that we work together and not just encourage, but teach our athletes the value in competing in multiple sports. Clint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1oldwrestler Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 His Father has hit on a timely subject that is always a hot button for me. Sounds like his experience with his kids h.s. football coach is similar to my experience. The football coach not only doesnt encourage kids to wrestle but he actively discourages it. For those of you that are ready to respond to this thread with "my football coach loves the wrestling team" please stop yourself. There are plenty of h.s.'s where that isnt the case. I like Clint Gards post as it describes how a wrestling coach can work with a football coach (he does have it a little easier as his coach wrestled and sees the value) to introduce wrestling to football players. However, to "out" the Indiana football coaches who actively work against wrestling (tho I would personally love it) probably isnt the best idea. As an aside, my kids h.s. did their typical 9-0 run thru the regular season and then lost in the first round again. Hey coach, make sure youve got the football players out tomorrow hitting tractor tires with sledge hammers instead hitting the mats working on hand fighting and foot speed which might make your "d" a little less seive like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muckman_1999 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 If you want a simple reason why some football coaches discourage wrestling check out the thread before this called how much weight to drop where one of the posters brags about dropping 40 pounds from 158 to 118 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeandBreighton Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 If you want a simple reason why some football coaches discourage wrestling check out the thread before this called how much weight to drop where one of the posters brags about dropping 40 pounds from 158 to 118 what does it matter what you weigh 9 months before football starts? I love the post above, we have a bunch of kids that like to"just lift" for football, and most of them lose their spot to a smaller wrestler, that wrestled all winter, and lifted all summer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1oldwrestler Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 If you want a simple reason why some football coaches discourage wrestling check out the thread before this called how much weight to drop where one of the posters brags about dropping 40 pounds from 158 to 118 I understand what you are saying and some football coaches do "freak out" if one of their athletes loses a pound. I get that. But the guy posting was in college at the time when he went thru that major cut. Most h.s. kids dont do that and frankly, the guys the wretling coaches want to get their hands on are the guys that weigh 170 lbs and above, tbe most difficult weights for a wrestling team to fill with good athletes. Most guys at 170the and above could stand to lose 5 pounds but God forbid a football player isnt contantly working on in reasing his bench in the off season. I tbink a meeting of the minds could be met between football coaches and the wrestling coaches but the guy holdi g all the cards is the football coach because of the profile of his sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muckman_1999 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I agree with those of you that open communication between coaches or as you say a meeting of the minds benefits all involved. Many football coaches if they really think about it see the benefit of kids wrestling. Also, many wrestling coaches need the higher weight guys to wrestle. I really think in general any coach in any sport these days want their athletes in their own off-season workouts. This is true for all sports, girls and boys. Guys quit football all the time to focus on basketball, baseball, wrestling etc. Many times there is a coach there telling them if you want to be a college athlete you have to do this all year round. The way to promote the sport of wrestling is not to point fingers and blame other sports, but to build the program the old fashioned way, from the ground up. Starts with a solid youth program, good middle school coaches, supportive parents, and dedicated and fun high school program. This is not easy and there are so many factors that can derail a program. But there is no other way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1oldwrestler Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I agree with those of you that open communication between coaches or as you say a meeting of the minds benefits all involved. Many football coaches if they really think about it see the benefit of kids wrestling. Also, many wrestling coaches need the higher weight guys to wrestle. I really think in general any coach in any sport these days want their athletes in their own off-season workouts. This is true for all sports, girls and boys. Guys quit football all the time to focus on basketball, baseball, wrestling etc. Many times there is a coach there telling them if you want to be a college athlete you have to do this all year round. The way to promote the sport of wrestling is not to point fingers and blame other sports, but to build the program the old fashioned way, from the ground up. Starts with a solid youth program, good middle school coaches, supportive parents, and dedicated and fun high school program. This is not easy and there are so many factors that can derail a program. But there is no other way You wont get any disagreement from me as to getting youth programs going as the way to build a successful program. Anyone on this board understands this and you are obviously a football coach. Football is so imbeddded in the psyche of youth sports that evrry kid wants to be an nfl star. But you know as well as iI do that football coaches are guilty, probably more than in any other sport, of filling a kids head with visions of gtandeur and playing at "the next level" when he knows that kid has no shot in he!! of achieving that, at least at a D1 level. I know personally of a kid that had smoke blown up his a$$ by his h.s. coaches because they knew theyd get every ounce of effort out of him by dangling that carrot in front of him. "Youre D1 material, son." He plays on special teams on at a tiny school and he's a junior in college now. That kid could have been a contributor on his h.s. wrestling team but he quit after his freshman year because he had go football 24/7 365. Im not pointing fingers at football coaches that undermine h.s. wrestling programs as the primary culprit regarding the difficulties faced by the sport but they certainly dont help the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muckman_1999 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I know this happens and in some schools there is a war over athletes and that is unfortunate, especially for the kids. There is nothing more frustrating than a kid who could really be good or help a team not going out because he has decided to do something else. The kids are the ones who are in the middle of this tug of war. It is so difficult for kids to compete in multiple sports these days. I like Clint Gard's post and how they worked together on a common goal to make their kids better athletes and all around competitors. Most of the time, though, imo, the football players who quit wrestling use football and weightlifting as an excuse to quit a sport they really don't want to do anyway. I have seen it both ways. In my experience, even if football coaches really encourage their kids to go out for wrestling, many of the fb players will quit because they don't like it. I had a freshman last year who was a conference champ as an 8th grader quit wrestling to lift weights. When i encouraged him to wrestle he told me his parents wanted him to quit. Lifting weights is a lot easier than wrestling! For the most part, the kids that stick with it have developed a love for it through the years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1oldwrestler Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 MM - everything you post makes sense. I guess ive just never before heard of a h.s. coach of one sport actively sabotaging another sport like happens with the football coach at my kids h.s. towards the wrestling team. Im not saying he sits the team down and says "look boys dont any of you go out for wrestling." But when he finds out one of them is considering wrestling he will take, what i believe to be the extraordinary step, of telling them to not go out for the team. All i want for the coach to do is keep his mouth shut. Dont promote wrestling but dont tear it down either. I believe every h.s. coach should do that, keep your mouth shut regarding what other sport a kid plays and i feel most other coaches do but because football is such a popular sport amongst kids, some football coaches get away with telling their kids "if you want to he considered first string you better not miss an off season workout unless one of your legs has been cut off." Football coaches, dont go out of your way to help wrestling but dont go out of your way to hurt it either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galagore Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Wow, I am really proud of the message boarders today. Seems we may have actually found a way to come to an agreement on what was previously disagreed upon. Nice that things can be talked out and a common ground can be reached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Father Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 I wish these sabotaging Football coaches would understand, without the Kids your job doesn't exist. I once heard a coach say to another adult; Yes the adult was a coach, It is not about you, as he pointed to the kids wrestling around it's about them. You had your chance now it is their turn. So lets open the lines of communication check the Egos at the door. For if the football coaches really want their precious records to reach new heights take a seat and look at what college coaches of football teams are looking for in players and help these kids reach new heights. Encourage them to participate in each others sports they will help build a better person, athelete, and somebody who will respect you for a very long time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCKAJC Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I'm not sure what the do in gym class at the Middle School level these days but they ought to have wrestling a part of it. If nothing else let all the kids roll around on the mat for an hour even if the gym teacher doesn't know anything about wrestling. Just a thought. This is a great idea... We always had a wrestling segment in gym during my middle school years in the middle 70's. I know the MS wrestling coach who was not the gym teacher at the time always got a few kids out for wrestling from the gym class activity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Ehh...coaches want the best athletes out for their team its their job no reason to discourage it....hell i was told i could be a help to our football team....all 5'2 125 of me...but i have a functioning brain and decided to stick with cross country...but we have got to give our kids some credit here, they need to be able to wade throught the bull crap and understand their true potential. I knew i would never be a Football star (my dad killed those dreams early..."you better pray you can kick!" he would tell me, I love him ) So i focused on wrestling and XC to boost my endurance for wrestling... just my 2 worthless cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppem215 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 if you're a upper weight wrestler you really should play football as well and football coaches should encourage their linemen to wrestle since it teaches footwork and hand fighting. i was lucky my jv football coach was also the wrestling coach. when I was on varsity the coach did resent the wrestling team's success. he also really hated the fact myself and others took the month of july off from off season workouts to go to J Robinsons 28 day camp. all of this led to me not really caring about football. if my football coach would have been more supportive of wrestling, I'm sure my teammates and myself would have been more motivated playing football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatChick76 Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I've always thought that football and wrestling actually compliment each other very well. I think the discipline, drive and pure mental toughness you learn from wrestling can really be an asset in any other sport you might play. I'm curious many other schools around the state have or have had the same coach for both sports? I always suspected there would be quite a few, that if not the head coach, would be involved in the team in some way, it surprises me to hear that with so many multi-sport athletes these days the coaches of the different teams aren't more supportive of each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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