YOUTH WRESTLING
If you're involved in youth wrestling or are thinking of getting into it, you might enjoy knowing something of my experience with it -- what's its benefits are, practicalities of getting through tournaments, and how to improve your wrestling record in these tournaments.
THE VALUE OF YOUTH WRESTLING
I started wrestling when I was in fifth grade. My dad asked someone early on if my brother (fourth grade) and I were a little young for getting involved, but what we quickly found is that we were late to the game. In fact, some kids on our team since they were as young as three!
Granted, if a kid starts wrestling when he's too young, he's not going to understand the subtleties of many moves. His technique will not be good. And I have some concern that this instills bad habits. But from what I saw: the kids who started wrestling early on became quite good. Some, however, also burned out before reaching high school wrestling.
(Also a problem where fathers push their chidren too hard, I believe.)
Anyway, having started "late," I had a challenging entry into amateur wrestling. In short, the other kids were beating up on me.
Tournaments were set up in such a way that you could start out against other new wrestlers, notching a few wins before moving up against other experienced wrestlers. I did that for a while, and even had a hard time winning wrestling matches there -- mainly because I had a problem a lot of kids have: my wrestling shot was way too short, and I ended up with my nose in the mat (or with a harsh cross-face).
After a few tournaments, though, I eventually made my way up, and at that point I started getting really thrashed. For two years, I lost almost every match and I was ready to quit. But my dad -- who saw the long-term value of keeping me involved, and knowing that success involves time and practice -- asked me to try it for one more year.
I did, and that third year, I finally started to enjoy the benefits of being a "veteran wrestler." I started to win more often than not.
I believe that the primary benefits of youth wrestling are that it teaches you the values of hard work and follow-through. It helps you to become more self-reliant and self-confident. It helps you to endure and to succeed.
GETTING THROUGH
WRESTLING TOURNAMENTS
Through our tournament days, I learned a few things that can benefit especially those who are just thinking about getting involved:
First: keep a pair of nail clippers in your wrestling bag. The tournaments are long enough already, and don't need to get held up by refs sending kids to the side to get their nails clipped before the first match.
Second: keep one pillow in the wrestling bag for every butt that's going to be in those bleachers all day.
Third: get your name on all of your wrestling equipment. There's so much floating around, you don't need to risk losing yours.
Fourth: bring healthy, energy snacks. Most tournaments sell junk food, and you hardly want to encourage surges and drops of energy during the day, which is what injections of sugar do for you. And you don't want to feel lethargic because of greasy burgers and fries.
Fifth: bring something to pass the time. There's a lot of time between matches. Books, homework, even Gameboys (with earphones) are good ways to enjoy yourself or to be productive along the way. (Mom or Dad might be able to even get some work done.)
IMPROVING YOUR WRESTLING RECORD
As I mentioned above, one of my biggest challenges early on is that my wrestling shot was terrible. What's worse is that the wrestling shot is the FOUNDATION of all wrestling (except perhaps in Greco-Roman wrestling).
By my third year, I started winning more matches, but not consistently. I won because experience could get me through many mistakes when wrestling against those without much experience.
In my fifth year of wrestling, though, I entered high school wrestling ... and here's where the story started to change. Miraculously, we got Pat Milkovich as our coach. Pat is recognized by "Wrestling USA" as one of the Top 10 wrestlers of all time.
In fact, Pat's family is full of wrestling talent, and luckily for me, Pat passed along the magic. The whole story is on this site's main web page, but suffice it to say that they take a subtle but different approach to wrestling shots that is critical to achieving a deep shot every time.
My first year in high school wrestling gave me plenty of new losses and few new wins because I was wrestling varsity as a freshman ... and was several weight classes above my actual weight. But with Pat teaching me his shooting technique, I turned my record around to 12-3 the next year. I then headed off to a private school in Pennsylvania as a junior, but because I had that technique behind me, I took second in Pennsylvania state finals as a senior.
Because of my success and the success of Pat's entire wrestling team (after he showed up) I've put together an e-book showing exactly how his family wrestling shot is done. I went through wrestling camps and watched wrestling videos and even had a wrestling mat in our basement to practice on when I was a kid. But none of that was as important as understanding what Pat taught me, and what is in that book.
So I strongly encourage you to check out the book if you (or your wrestler) need to improve your wrestling shot. Just click here for all the details.
In any case, congratulations on your interest in or involvement with youth wrestling. Wrestling is a hard sport, but the independent nature of it teaches some really powerful life skills and, with the right technique and plenty of practice, you'll learn those skills while winning and having fun!
THE VALUE OF YOUTH WRESTLING
I started wrestling when I was in fifth grade. My dad asked someone early on if my brother (fourth grade) and I were a little young for getting involved, but what we quickly found is that we were late to the game. In fact, some kids on our team since they were as young as three!
Granted, if a kid starts wrestling when he's too young, he's not going to understand the subtleties of many moves. His technique will not be good. And I have some concern that this instills bad habits. But from what I saw: the kids who started wrestling early on became quite good. Some, however, also burned out before reaching high school wrestling.
(Also a problem where fathers push their chidren too hard, I believe.)
Anyway, having started "late," I had a challenging entry into amateur wrestling. In short, the other kids were beating up on me.
Tournaments were set up in such a way that you could start out against other new wrestlers, notching a few wins before moving up against other experienced wrestlers. I did that for a while, and even had a hard time winning wrestling matches there -- mainly because I had a problem a lot of kids have: my wrestling shot was way too short, and I ended up with my nose in the mat (or with a harsh cross-face).
After a few tournaments, though, I eventually made my way up, and at that point I started getting really thrashed. For two years, I lost almost every match and I was ready to quit. But my dad -- who saw the long-term value of keeping me involved, and knowing that success involves time and practice -- asked me to try it for one more year.
I did, and that third year, I finally started to enjoy the benefits of being a "veteran wrestler." I started to win more often than not.
I believe that the primary benefits of youth wrestling are that it teaches you the values of hard work and follow-through. It helps you to become more self-reliant and self-confident. It helps you to endure and to succeed.
GETTING THROUGH
WRESTLING TOURNAMENTS
Through our tournament days, I learned a few things that can benefit especially those who are just thinking about getting involved:
First: keep a pair of nail clippers in your wrestling bag. The tournaments are long enough already, and don't need to get held up by refs sending kids to the side to get their nails clipped before the first match.
Second: keep one pillow in the wrestling bag for every butt that's going to be in those bleachers all day.
Third: get your name on all of your wrestling equipment. There's so much floating around, you don't need to risk losing yours.
Fourth: bring healthy, energy snacks. Most tournaments sell junk food, and you hardly want to encourage surges and drops of energy during the day, which is what injections of sugar do for you. And you don't want to feel lethargic because of greasy burgers and fries.
Fifth: bring something to pass the time. There's a lot of time between matches. Books, homework, even Gameboys (with earphones) are good ways to enjoy yourself or to be productive along the way. (Mom or Dad might be able to even get some work done.)
IMPROVING YOUR WRESTLING RECORD
As I mentioned above, one of my biggest challenges early on is that my wrestling shot was terrible. What's worse is that the wrestling shot is the FOUNDATION of all wrestling (except perhaps in Greco-Roman wrestling).
By my third year, I started winning more matches, but not consistently. I won because experience could get me through many mistakes when wrestling against those without much experience.
In my fifth year of wrestling, though, I entered high school wrestling ... and here's where the story started to change. Miraculously, we got Pat Milkovich as our coach. Pat is recognized by "Wrestling USA" as one of the Top 10 wrestlers of all time.
In fact, Pat's family is full of wrestling talent, and luckily for me, Pat passed along the magic. The whole story is on this site's main web page, but suffice it to say that they take a subtle but different approach to wrestling shots that is critical to achieving a deep shot every time.
My first year in high school wrestling gave me plenty of new losses and few new wins because I was wrestling varsity as a freshman ... and was several weight classes above my actual weight. But with Pat teaching me his shooting technique, I turned my record around to 12-3 the next year. I then headed off to a private school in Pennsylvania as a junior, but because I had that technique behind me, I took second in Pennsylvania state finals as a senior.
Because of my success and the success of Pat's entire wrestling team (after he showed up) I've put together an e-book showing exactly how his family wrestling shot is done. I went through wrestling camps and watched wrestling videos and even had a wrestling mat in our basement to practice on when I was a kid. But none of that was as important as understanding what Pat taught me, and what is in that book.
So I strongly encourage you to check out the book if you (or your wrestler) need to improve your wrestling shot. Just click here for all the details.
In any case, congratulations on your interest in or involvement with youth wrestling. Wrestling is a hard sport, but the independent nature of it teaches some really powerful life skills and, with the right technique and plenty of practice, you'll learn those skills while winning and having fun!