Clint Gard

Ryan Finney-Huntington Nick Primozic-Richmond Charles Strunk-Ben Davis Randy Hooley-Triton Aaron Buzbee-Eaton, Ohio...can't remember the name

I can't remember who is in charge this year but I'm hoping that person will read this and be able to answer my question. Had a dad ask me this yesterday... My 119 pounder, Garth Simpson, was the only senior in the 119 pound class at state. Since he is technically the highest "placing" senior will he be on this team? My initial answer was yes, based on what I have seen in the past but I wanted to ask and make sure. Feel free to email me at clint.gard@zebras.net or clintgard@rtcol.com. Clint

Indiana should have been working on classing the team state and the individual a long time ago. I wish I could go 8-10 years back and find the Tim Spray rants and a few of mine to remind people of all the arguments they were against...and now, all of the sudden, those same arguments sound pretty darn good. I said 10 years ago that a 2-3x state champ in a class system will be given scholly money before a 4x placer in our system. A lot of us said more kids would get involved and more communities would get involved in a class system and now, holy cow, those arguments hold water. It still burns my butt that when John Smith came to our coaches clinic and said it was ridiculous we didn't class our system, a lot of coaches turned their noses up and said just because John Smith said it doesn't make it right. Well, he was right then, and he still is. 2x Olympic Champ tells us how to make our system better and we refused to listen. He probably knew a little about building a program, but hey, nobody's gonna tell us how to do it. I swore I'd never talk about it again because I get all worked up at the myopic nature of our way of thinking but Y2 and Tim are right. Every year we talk about why Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, etc, etc. out perform us or have more placers out at Fargo or blah, blah, blah and we refuse to recognize their systems. I'll turn it around on everyone who thinks class is bad...Just because the majorityof you think it is a bad idea, doesn't mean it is, in fact, a bad idea. What it really means is that the majority...in this case, are wrong and have been for quite some time!

Anyone in north central Indiana in need of a dual? Contact Mark Miller at mark.miller@zebras.net. Rochester HS is looking to Make up a dual lost to snow.

Rochester 30 - North Miami 36

www.rtcol.com/RochesterWrestling

Just a quick thanks to all coaches and wrestlers who attended this past Saturday. I felt like the tournament ran pretty well once we got the changes put in. We had very good officiating and table help! We had 49 brackets block paired and I think only one kid did not get a match. Again, thanks to everyone who attended, officiated, and helped run the tournament! It was a good day of competition!

Congrats to my good friend! Mikey Ester will do a great job! Another Manchester Alum in the coaching ranks! Very happy for him and Tami and the kids. He can spend a little more time at home and build a good program!

Coaches and Wrestlers, Rochester will be hosting a HYWAY tournament on Saturday, November 13th, 2010. My AD and I have contacted Bobby Cox at the IHSAA and received approval to host the tournament even though it is during the "practice season". The only stipulation on your wrestlers is that they cannot wear a school singlet. This tournament will NOT have any bearing on your wrestlers eligibility for the 2010-2011 Season. I have attached a tournament flyer and entry form link. Feel free to make copies and get the word out to your wrestlers of all age groups. All registration and weigh-ins will be done at host satellites. We will block or round robin pair all weights. If we have to split a weight, we will. We want to run an efficient tournament and get your kids plenty of matches. I think this can be a great tournament in that it gives you a gauge of where your HS kids are before you start the competition portion of the HS season and it gives your inexperienced kids a chance at some mat time. I hope all of you can bring your wrestlers! Feel free to contact me if you have questions. http://www.hywaywrestling.com/userfiles/HYWAY%20Rochester%20Open%202010.pdf See you in November! Clint Gard Rochester High School

Need you to call me when you get a chance...# should be on your phone from a message I left you. Clint Gard Rochester HS

I've been doing this program for about 12 years here at Rochester HS. Got the idea from my old coach! It has worked well and I've never had any problems.

From Richmond HS - Ben Wissel no doubt about it. After that you can open a nice debate. From Rochester HS - Damon Hummel hands down...never saw him wrestle but his accomplishments speak for themselves. After Damon, Rochester has had some pretty good ones.

Just a suggestion but I would think the ISWA could meet sooner. Purely for selfish reasons, but I'd like to see this done in July or August so we can get our schedule together for our kids.

Matt was/is a good coach...too bad for Whitko and the TRC. Mike Zehner of Rochester resigned as well. Two good coaches leaving in our conference...ouch!

Andy, I remember many a time being on the wrong side of a good butt chewing after I had won a match or tournament. I remember being at Ohio Northern my junior year and being 1 point from a tech fall and not getting it. He was not happy. I learned very early that competing for Tom was not always about the win or the loss but about the performance. Early on in my coaching career, kids would always seem perplexed that I was chewing them after a win or praising them after a loss. The looks on their faces were always funny to see. Clint

Many of mine come from wrestling at good ole Manchester College for the "profound" Coach Jarman. I have a ton but my favorites are: "Put on your iron clad jock strap and be ready to go!" "You only need three things to be a great wrestler, big arms, a big heart, and big balls!" "You're just a stupid s*&( little freshman." "On the line"...that one always sucked. "This isn't punishment. I have to purge the disease!" (This one always came after a bad tourney or dual...usually about 1 or 2 in the morning right before practice.) Over the cb's in the vans..."When we get back, put your stuff in the locker room, get your workout gear on and head over to the gym for a team meeting." (Again, after a bad tourney...LATE at night.) I always wondered if my wrestlers were actually listening to me and in 2004 I found out. At our awards banquet, one of my seniors, Brett Miller, handed me a little booklet. On the front it was titled the Wrestling Bible. I got a little chuckle out of it because I had no clue what he had cooked up. When I opened it, it was a collection of my "famous quotes"...over 100 of them. Since his freshman year, he had been keeping track of the things I had said. It is one of my favorite things I have ever received from a group of kids.

WCS145...I have Bobby Cox's email as do the majority of the posters on this site. Most of the "experienced" posters will tell you that there is no reason to email him for two reasons...1. You get a politically correct response or 2. He frequents this site often. Trust me, Mr. Cox has read everything on this site, especially in the last 2 weeks. twinwrestlersmom...thanks. I miss him everyday, but there isn't a day that goes by that something he said or a lesson he taught me doesn't pop up that gets me through a tough situation.

Kudos to Trent McCormick and Cale Hoover for getting the Randolph County Wrestlers back in it. Not the best solution but some people (Bobby Cox) are taking their heads out and doing the right thing...even when it is hard. Here's hoping that those wrestlers make the most of the second chance and here is hoping that coaches around the state will follow suit and make good decisions based on what is morally correct and ethical...not based on winning at all cost.

To all Coaches, Athletes, Administrators, and Fans: For those that don't know me, my name is Clint Gard. I have been involved in wrestling since I was 14 and fell in love with it from day one. I wrestled at Richmond HS and was a state qualifier. I wrestled at Manchester College with much success, and now I am coaching our little kids program at Rochester HS. I was the head coach at Rochester for 12 years and spent 2 years coaching at Manchester as well. I don't have great credentials but I am not some half-brained fan either. I think I have a pretty good grasp of this sport and what it takes to be successful at it. I think those that know me would agree. So here is my challenge...I challenge all of us to respect this sport and love it enough to do the right thing. Love it and respect it because of what it does for our kids, inside and out. People, our society depends on us, and now more than ever, our country needs wrestling. It needs everything it teaches and stands for. Our society needs us, as coaches and stewards of this great sport, to use wrestling as a means of teaching kids right from wrong, good from bad, hard work, dedication, morals, ethics, and just being a damn good person. You know what, I'm pissed off because there are some out there that are killing our sport and I take it pretty personal when you do that. You are killing it because some of you don't have the integrity to man up and do it the right way. Why? Because winning and losing are that important?? You wanna know where winning and losing become pretty damn important...winning the war on drugs, the war against terrorism, or winning the war on cancer for 14 years and then losing it in 6 months. That's when it matters. Winning is never more important than teaching right from wrong. It is never more important than doing the right thing, even when it is hard to do the right thing. If we do not get our heads out of our collective butts and starting representing our sport with integrity, then we will lose it. We will lose it because school systems will cut it...look around people, the cuts are coming because schools are poor. If you give them a reason to cut your program, it will happen. In the past week, we've given them at least 5 reasons to cut it. I want my boys to grow up in this sport because I know what wrestling can and will do for them. If we continue to do what we are doing, I'm afraid that might not happen. That would be a shame for a lot of young men that need wrestling. Yesterday, I was able to teach my 8 year old son two great lessons. #1 - If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said. #2 - Doing the right thing is always the right thing...even when you will be ridiculed or it is unpopular. Both lessons I learned from two great men, my father who loved wrestling and what it did for me and who lost that battle with cancer, and Tom Jarman, my coach at Manchester College. I think it is time that a few of you, in this wrestling fraternity that we all belong to, man up and learn those lessons. Clint Gard "I love this freakin' sport" PS - Bobby Cox...you might want to read this as well!

Just heard the same news...from what I understand of the situation U of Indy has made a very big mistake in letting him go. When you have 4 coaches in six months maybe it is time to start questioning what the heck the administration is doing down there. Sounds like the AD needs to get a clue!!!

I have two little guys attending the Chertow camp at Manchester College on June 8th. Ken always has a ton of clinicians at his different sites...anyone know who the clinicians for this camp will be? Ken did tell me he would be doing one day.

Everybody's a comedian!

We are running our Rochester elementary program from late October to Christmas Break. We currently go to the Northwood for their Super Dual in December but are looking for some other dates we can bring kids to. They can be individual tourneys, super duals, etc. This is not our club program. We run that in January. If you have anything within 1-2 hours drive, we would look hard at it. Email me at clintgard@rtcol.com or clint.gard@zebras.nthls.com. Clint Gard

Rochester...bump

We are running our Rochester elementary program from late October to Christmas Break. We currently go to the Northwood for their Super Dual in December but are looking for some other dates we can bring kids to. They can be individual tourneys, super duals, etc. This is not our club program. We run that in January. If you have anything within 1-2 hours drive, we would look hard at it. Email me at clintgard@rtcol.com or clint.gard@zebras.nthls.com. Clint Gard