Wrestling Update

I’ve coached for six seasons now (currently in my seventh) and this seems like the most difficult and draining season I’ve ever been a part of. I’m guessing one reason is because I’m the head coach this year and my assistant coaches haven’t made it easy on me. They both are very opinionated (what I call bull-headed) and they want to practice in very different ways. Both sides of the fence have their pros but I find myself riding the fence and every once in a while I get a splinter in my behind from being pulled in both directions. I’m torn so much because I have relatively very little experience (well at least less than my assistant coaches) in the sport of wrestling. I wrestled as a little kid (like many of you play little league or pee-wee football). It was just something that a lot of kids around me were a part of and my dad was a coach in the junior high (7th-9th grade). My assistants have had success as athletes and as coaches. I was out of the sport from 6th grade-age 22. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the season, but it is very taxing.

We just placed 5th in a local tournament with some pretty good schools. We racked up 116 points. 4th place had 134 pts. 3rd place had 137 pts. We really weren’t that far behind placing third at the tournament and I’m hoping we can have some success at the other tournaments we will be wrestling in this season. The biggest drawback for me with the sport is all the weekends I am away from my family. Tournaments are great for the wrestlers but not so great for the families. We had four wrestlers place in the top three in their weight class. My 119 lbs wrestler (a captain) brought home the gold for his weight class. Three others placed third (bronze medals); 103, 112 and 140 lbs. Every wrestler on the team (14 weight classes of which we had 12 wrestle because of injuries and such) won at least one match and scored points for our team. Wrestling is not only an individual sport but also and team sport. So we had guys bring home medals but our team did not bring home a trophy. There might be one tournament this season that we have a chance to bring home a trophy, it’ll be right before our “playoffs”.

I got to thinking about being a coach and I realized I really have no idea what I’m doing. I never went to school or even took a class in college on coaching. I was asked by my brother (the head coach at the time) to help him out and I thought it’d be a great way to spend time with him. We were never really close because of age difference (5.5 years older than me). Now that he’s left the coaching bit things are different. I got to thinking about my coaches in the different sports I participated in and none of them were what I would call “good” coaches. I never felt inspired or challenged to take it to the next level but then again I was never a member of a sport that was that competitive. Wrestling, soccer, basketball, track and tennis. Wrestling came first. I loved it; for a while. That lasted until 5th or 6th grade and I remember the night I didn’t want to wrestle any more. It wasn’t a big loss to a great wrestler or a coach chewing me out for being late or something. My brother and sister got in a car accident and my dad made me go to practice that night any ways. They weren’t hurt or anything but I just felt like I was tired of wrestling. I’m so sad now that I didn’t stick with it longer (although I wrestled for 5 or 6 years). I next fell in love with soccer. I started when I was 9 years old and my sister soon followed me (she’s 3 years older) and we played fall and spring soccer and I even played a few seasons of indoor soccer (after I stopped wrestling) where I fractured several bones in my foot (8th grade). I played soccer until 9th grade (still junior high where I went to school). Basketball lasted the shortest amount of time; one season (6th grade). It was a league on Saturdays and I soon found out how terrible I was handling the ball. I tried track in 7th grade and I loved it. My coaches were not demanding in any way. They just wanted their athletes to try the sport and do their best. I was not pushed to lift weights or anything (which I’m sad about now). I was not a runner; and am still not today. I threw the shot put and discus in junior high and high school where I added javelin. We could not throw the javelin until then; I’m guessing some sort of hazard for a junior high kid to throw a sharp pointy spear. Tennis came in high school and even though it was a spring sport like track I did both. I showed up at tennis practice when I wanted to. That was probably one of the reasons I never got a singles spot. I was a doubles player the whole time I played. I’m not even in any of the pictures in my yearbooks because I guess he didn’t really see me as one of the team members. I did play in a lot of matches though on those doubles teams. I like tennis so much because it was something my dad and I played a lot in the summer especially when we visited my granddad who lived in Daytona Beach.

I can remember a few faces and names but none of my coaches ever really coached me to greatness. Maybe it’s because of who I am and other athletes where coached better because they had more talent or something. I was on some pretty good teams. My soccer team didn’t lose for several years straight and I have (had) several trophies for undefeated seasons. Even those coaches weren’t good. We just had some good athletes on our teams. I do remember being pushed in high school track by one of the throwing coaches. He was also a football coach and most of the throwers played football as well. We had to run what he called pyramids to get our legs more in shape for the shot put. Most people think of putting a shot as an upper body event but it very much comes from the legs. Very cool thing to watch when it’s done properly.

I write all this because I’m really trying consciously to be a good coach. I don’t aim to be great because I love my family and I when I’m home (which isn’t very much) I want to forget about wrestling and just spend time with them. I sometimes get detached and distant while my season is going on and can’t wait until it’s over. I don’t want to coach if it tears me and my family apart. I don’t see how being a great coach and being there for your family can happen simultaneously. I’m trying my best on both fronts though.

Lord, bless this season. Give me wisdom and patience with my athletes and coaches and give me peace. Help me to remember my priorities. Lord, thank you for your graciousness towards me and my team. Give us safety and protect my team from injury this year. Help me to see the opportunities I have to share You with them this year. Thank you for having me work at a school that puts You first in all things.