brodygrant Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 I'm having difficulty trying to get my son to balance football and wrestling, it seems after wrestling season ended, he wants to be in full football mode (lifting weights & football camps) and all I want him to do is more wrestling tournaments during the weekend to help him improve for next year. It is difficult for me cause I feel he had such a great sophomore wrestling season, winning county and making it to state and all I want him to do is focus a little more on wrestling after the season is over so he can possibly win State his junior or senior year. Just wondering if any other members have this issue and their feelings on this topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrestling119 Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Give him the option to wrestle in the off season. Then let him decide if he wants to do that or football prep. He will thank you in the long run. brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Let your kid do what he wants. If he doesn't want to go and would rather play football he will just resent you if you try and force the issue. As stated above say hey I'm willing to pay to do events XYZ if you want. If not no harm no foul brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brodygrant Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 I have always given him the option, would never force him to do anything that he doesn't want to do. I just feel he is missing out on a great opportunity to get better in wrestling, this past year was only his 3rd year ever wrestling and to make it to State is a great accomplishment. Just don't want him to miss any opportunity to get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrestling119 Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 You can explain to him why you think he should wrestle: He has high potential, possibly give him a better opportunity for a scholarship, etc. You can even explain to him how it makes you proud to watch him wrestle. However, at the end of the day, you have to let him make his mind up. Even if you know it is the wrong decision. Like Fabio said, if you push him he will just want to wrestle less and less. brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleJimmy Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 That's the parental conundrum. You are correct, he is missing out on a great opportunity and it is a fantastic accomplishment for him in such a small amount of time in the sport, but if you nudge/nag/push then he could retaliate by sabotaging his effort/performance if he's doing something for you instead of himself. Not knowing, I assume Indian Creek is a smaller school so he probably is an instrumental part of the football team so he wouldn't want to let them down either? Tough spot...Good luck. brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 As long as its his decision to focus on football, rather than a coach telling him he has to drop doing everything in the spring for football, then its what he is interested in doing now. Sure you could make him do all the extra wrestling stuff, but then you risk him being upset with you and burned out on wrestling when next season comes. I would say the best you can hope for is he agrees to attend some of the wrestling practices or even a few events on the days when football isn't happening right now. brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrydjr Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 My son graduates this year, and has balanced football, wrestling, and baseball all through high school. After his freshman season of wrestling, a coach said he had the potential to be a great wrestler if he concentrated on wrestling throughout the year. I tried to push him to do this, but luckily he resisted and I left it alone. He still wrestled in summer tournaments, only about 10 pounds heavier than during the season. The next year the football coach told me the same thing. I actually said that if they began telling the athletes which sports to play, they may not like which ones they choose. I think it is a little easier at the larger schools to concentrate on one sport through the year, but at the smaller schools, sometimes there are just not enough athletes to go around. He went on to have a great high school career in football and wrestling, and now has turned it on in baseball, and I am glad I was able to follow him around through all three sports. On a side note, I have two boys, and they are two years apart. I bought an old wrestling mat from Craigslist and set up a small area in the basement. My boys go down there and beat the he** out of each other all through the year. Best $50 I ever spent.... brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brodygrant Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 Thank you all for the comments. Reading these comments make me feel that maybe I'm trying to push him too much to do as much as possible, just don't want him to look back on his high school athletic career and wish he had done more, like myself. I will definitely sit down with him and have a discussion tonight. Justin Ratliff and barrydjr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleB Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Hey man I commend you for reaching out for opinions. That's solid, I hope others read this and it helps them also. brodygrant, Justin Ratliff and barrydjr 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpunkyPotato Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Football and Wrestling are very tough to balance, and the amount of kids that do it are at a relatively high number as well. A lot of times, the coaches have an issue with either sport and dislike it completely making the claim that "their sport is more important." This especially occurs in the summer when even the top kids are trying to balance offseason, and summer workouts including team camps, practices, etc. Its a tough decision to make. brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warsawwrestling Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Great awareness and topic. My son does both during the summer, but he didn't start back playing football until last year. The coach is very supportive of him missing summer practices for meets. It's a busy schedule for him but he picks and chooses what he goes to for the most part. Most of the time it is me trying to slow him down. brodygrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brodygrant Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 Update: We had a sit down discussion last night between the two of us and felt a lot of good came from the talk. He mentioned one of the biggest reasons he doesn't want to focus on wrestling too much after the season is he doesn't want to worry about trying to control his weight. He wrestled 182lb during the season, but currently is up to 197lbs, my response to this was to just wrestle up in weight and use these tournaments as getting better, which he agreed. The second reason, is that football is his main sport and one that he would like to play at the next level if given the chance, he mentioned that wrestling is his "fun" sport and doesn't ever want it to be anything other than that. Great feedback from the board. This is the reason I love wrestling so much, is the "family" feel you get from the majority of the people you come across in this sport. Y2CJ41, Bash513, UncleJimmy and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Phase 1 complete now you ground him until he agrees to wrestle 170 as football is stupid.... brodygrant and backtothemat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No One Famous Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 ^^^ THAT is freakin hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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