aoberlin

Let's face it. Wrestling isn't fun when you truly try to take it seriously. If you push the serious part too fast then you lose the kid\athlete. But... if you are not serious you get your butt kicked at any tournament you try to enter so it hard to find the balance. Wrestling is going against the way society in general is headed, it is up to us to sell it to kids and parents on the benefits of it and unfortunately it needs to be spoon fed in small doses over years until they fully buy in and understand. Sorry but going out and hitting a golf ball, kicking a soccer ball, or dribbling a basketball can just plain out be easy and fun for kids and adults if they want it to be. Someone giving you a blast double or a good hard cross face while all you want to do is have fun usually doesn't go well with kids.

This!!! I told Ester on a few occasions that match was a game changer for me. I thought Aaron was untouchable and on that day I learned there are no immortals. I was also younger and it left an impression.

Awesome!!!

You will never see me bash another high school coach (maybe Joe) or a wrestler publicly on this forum. I have steered away from it since the beginning. With that said this is a little bit of a fair point. I have been critical of Goldman in the past. But.... Culver and other private schools that can openly recruit with tuition incentives may be another story since they are almost like colleges. I will have to ponder that one.

Joe is right. That dude is creepy.

Looks like my daycare bill.

Hate to be like my wife. But that would be the International level.

I think this is a great idea having these 2 programs team up. Thanks guys keep up the good work.

It is difficult to run a youth club the right way. After 20 years I am still trying to totally dial it in. I am closer now but it just takes so much time and you need the right parents and coaches. In my opinion you need at least 6 practices a week and a club to be broken up once it gets big enough. K-2nd beginner practices twice a week for an hour. 3rd - 5th beginner to intermediate twice a week for an hour. Then 2 practices a week for your tourney kids that want to take it to the next level. Those tourney kids can also come to the other practices because they will be a little more fun and still teach fundamentals. You just have to be the one that matches them up so they aren't throttling some new kids and they make them want to quit. Now you can have a smaller club and work them harder and focus more on competition but you will lose a bunch of kids that could turn the corner before they are ever able to. I have coached those clubs before and they are fun but I don't think it helps grow the sport much. Friendly duals are awesome for those beginners and some beginner tournaments are nice with round robin formats to get the kids used to it. I always tell my kids the goal is for you to learn fundamentals, to wrestle in middle school, and eventually wrestle in high school. Those programs can weed kids out that really aren't going to take it serious or maybe the sport just isn't meant for them. Until then we just need to focus on growing it. I have had quite few kids try to go to tournaments too soon and never come back to practice because they got throttled by some kid that thinks they are wrestling for a state title at the ripe old age of 8 and already has 100+ matches under their belt. I like the idea of beginner state. Definitely would need to be held on a different weekend since many of the same club coaches would be going. I say we have it in Fort Wayne since we are the ones that are really in need of getting things growing. Y2 that is a really interesting stat for USA wrestling only have about 50% retention. I will run that against my club for the last 3 years and see where I land.

Many of the tourneys we now go to do it that way mind you they are smaller. That and friendly duals with other clubs in the wrestling room and elementary school duals is where I think it is at now. At least for me as a coach it is more enjoyable.

This has been my vote also. IHSAA wins by putting more butts in seats.

I haven’t read any of this garbage but it is 5 pages long. They both suck.

Anyway we can get the numbers from IHSAA for purchased viewing?

My favorite subject. We down right suck right now. I really wish it wasn’t so. You are correct that the small schools do a great job. The pride and community in the Adams area alone helps. But in general we aren’t getting it done. SAC would produce at least 1 or 2 champs a year or at least get some the finals a couple decades ago. But there has been a big drought there for a while. I will not bag on the coaches of those schools they are fighting the good fight but it is a big up hill battle. No middle school programs is where it starts but there is also more issues at play. We all would love to get the area back in going. Even if we got some great Academy not sure that will change much. Warrior Elite does a pretty good job but the kids around here aren’t coming out in droves. You can hold a clinic that is free with good coaches and the interest still isn’t that big. Plus it isn’t like good coaches grow on trees. Everyone knows to run a successful program it pretty much fills up your whole life. So if you want to be a good family man it is a tough balance. Which is why you see so many coaches only coach when their kids are going through.

Give Angel some love in this one also. Plus the guy named Andrew Howe was decent.

Meaning he gets in position to make the call quickly. Not sure if he uses 1,2 pin or 1 one thousand 2 one thousand. He will tell you if don’t want to be called pin don’t go to your back.

That ref has been around forever and does a great job. Anyone that knows him knows you don’t go to your back when he refs. He calls it when he sees it and he is very consistent.

Fews years back? This has been a long topic before Indianamat existed and we used the ISWA forum.

Don’t worry Joe I edited your post for you. It was getting uncomfortable.

Are you really going to say you can hit a move with super in it?

He said wrestle backs! We talking about it yet or are we going to wait for the screw jobs to happen at semi state?

Round 2 goes to Lee. Good match.

Good stuff. Thanks coach. Just goes to show it isn’t about numbers or the size of the school. Every program has its unique obstacles. Keep up the good fight.

Pretty sure you are talking about our wrestler and no he isn’t ranked. Probably should be though. We don’t coach dirt. We coach intensity. Sorry your son was undefeated until he wrestled our kid but I saw absolutely nothing illegal. I never saw a choke. Now the punch your coach complained about was a cross face that didn’t work because your sons face was planted too hard on the mat. I can understand the complaint from your coach but he verbally berated the ref. You don’t get anywhere doing that. That was normal wrestling at that level.

We will take it to the streets of Wazooo!