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Coaches Corner

Not all coaches have 10 years worth of experience, having college D1 experience, wrestled in college or even wrestled in states during their high school experience. The thing about coaching is not about being the best wrestler, technician-- it's about implementing a system to create and inovate your wrestlers to be the best them. So what if you won D1 national championships if you can not figure out how to teach someone else how to elevate their game. Sure it is good to be in relative good if not great condition to be able to show moves and to keep up with your team but its much more then just being in shape. Being a good coach is being able to manage your assistant coaches, volunteers, teaching game winning mat strategy and coming up with practice game plans to create a smooth cohesive competitive learning enviroment for your team.

Some of the best players can not some how figure out how to transition their skills into coaching skills for whatever reason. Some of the average 50/50 wrestlers become better coaches then the ones who were 95/5(95%) winning percentage for multiple reasons. One thing allot of wrestlers who are up in the upper half tend to forget is the learning process that is invovled in training wrestlers who have never wrestled a day in their life or the fact that the ones you are leading are not even a quarter as thrilled to get on the mat as you were. Being able to motivate the wrestlers to proform, captivate the attention and create a overall winning wrestler takes time, dedication and commitment from the coaching staff.

5 factors concerning coaching

  1. Having a well rounded coaching staff- The same reason the Bulls won the championships they won were due to having a well rounded team and a high spirited leader who believed in doing whatever it takes to successed in the sport. For wrestling the knowledge that is needed with the coaching staff is strength and conditioning, lower weight experience, atleast 1 or both middle weight or heavy weight experience, nutritional knowledge and if possible a strong technician.
  2. Implementing a system for practice that works and have the team captians be the main ones who could help run the practice warm up and conditioning portion almost to the point they know what to do without you being present up until the actual wrestling portion is to begin. The main reason for this is that wrestlers are more motivated when their team captian is running the warm ups and stretches then the coach is. In the beginning it is good for you to run it through so they have an ideal of what to do, but yu are looking for the leader of the bunch to come out and take over the spirit of the beginning session which gives you more time to focus on the wrestling portion of the practice.
  3. Building a good repor with your wrestlers and coaches- self explantionary in a sense that the stronger your ties and bonds are with your team the more they will put into making the program a success which means less work and stress for you because you will be able to rely on them to fufill.
  4. Testing, keeping records and awarding good work- When your team has records that are up for them to break or make- it motivates them to want to do better. Think about it at work do the hourly employees try to make the most money for the company or do the ones who may have a hourly wage plus commission make more revenue for the company. With this being said your team will be more motivated knowing at the end of the year awards will be given, a merit in a sense where they feel they have accomplished something and acknowledgement for it. With no award to be given or end of the year celebration motivation to do better is not there for allot.
  5. know your teams strengths and weakness. It may take a full year maybe even 2 to know certian weaknesses and holes in ones wrestling skills to really work on them to better them. Its easy to know the strengths of a wrestlers skills but knowing their weaknesses will help even more so. Because with this knowledge you can make their weakness thier strength rather then only know what they are strong in... A good example of this is when I was coaching in MD, a wrestler who was good technicially just was not aggressive and he wrestled 6 years prior to wrestling for me his jr year he had a winning season due to no one knowing him, made it to region and didnt make it to states. The next year we knew his senior year would have a winning percentage but he kept getting over powered, out muscled but never out skilled and was 50/50 less then the previous year. What was missing in his game was discovered after many heartbreaking close matches were he had more experience, more skill, physically fit and smarter then his opponents- he was missing the aggressiveness which was known the year before- it was his throwing game which was found out during a match were we had him try to throw someone who had a losing record not worth mentioning. True he won the match but the fact he could not throw even a fish- taught us to focus on that 1 missing piece of his wrestling game. I worked with him personall for a week or so just on throws and aggressiveness. With doing so- he later came back to beat the kids who beat him and placed 2nd in region and made it to states losing to very tough sophmore who placed 2nd and a very close match by a 1 point. Many would say he didnt have a successful season- but to us he made the season worth it seeing the improvement from last year to the next year. I mention this kid because not all gaps in your wrestlers game you will be able to notice quick and easy- some take time and heart break to realize missing components in our wrestlers game or even your own.

Coaching Youth Wrestling

From Ken Chertow Camp

I have been working with young wrestlers throughout my competitive and coaching career. During high school, I would stay after practice to work with our kids program. I encourage youth coaches to invite varsity wrestlers to work with your local kids program. When training young wrestlers, the more feedback they receive the better off they will be. The varsity wrestlers serve as role models for the younger wrestlers and can also benefit from helping the kids, too. Also, encourage the youth wrestlers to attend varsity matches and vice-versa; perhaps even develop a big brother program.

Every summer during college, I ran my own day camps, worked at overnight camps, and took a team to Junior Nationals. I worked with kids in all different age groups, and these summers proved to be very beneficial and rewarding experiences for me. I enjoyed my work with the kids tremendously and saw how much the wrestlers benefited from their time on the mats. Summer is an excellent time for skill development. The kids are not busy with school and preparing for competition. The emphasis is on skill development, learning new techniques and having fun.

I encourage you to organize open mats and day camps in your community during the summer. Send your serious wrestlers away to summer camps. Summer training camps were instrumental to my development and have played an integral role in the development of my top students. Upon graduation from Penn State, I expanded my local day camp into overnight camps. I spent my entire summer organizing workouts for kids. This was much different than being a counselor. As a counselor, you only have to supervise the kids and do some instruction. There is no planning involved. As the coach/camp director, you have to plan the workouts and technique curriculum so that it is both well-organized and interesting. This is a very important facet of coaching young people. I realized there is much more to coaching than just teaching moves. You must organize your instruction in a progressive fashion, not only during the course of a workout, but throughout the season. If you do not have a systematic game plan, kids will get lost. Incorporating periods of review into your practices and repetitively drilling what you have taught is of paramount importance.

During my 5 years coaching collegiate wrestlers at Ohio State and Penn State, I also organized and coached local clubs for wrestlers of all ages. I would work with my college age wrestlers throughout the day and my youth wrestlers in the evenings. Working with all age groups on a daily basis helped me learn the differences in the ways you should train and motivate wrestlers of varying ages. To run a successful youth (13 and under) program, you must treat the wrestlers differently than you would when running a college program or even a high school program. High school wrestlers fall somewhere in between depending on the program and the individuals. The following are some basic suggestions for how to get the most out of your kids program.

  1. Emphasize skill development. Do not rush to teach them more techniques than they need or can remember. Drill the "Basic Skills" on a daily basis; Not only the stance, motion, level changes, etc., but also the Back Arch, Back Step, Hip Lift, Hip Heist, building your base, and more. Use games periodically to incorporate the basic skills into your practice.
  2. Shadow drill frequently. Kids need to learn to control their own bodies before they can control someone else. Plus, everyone in the room is drilling intensely and simultaneously, instead of half of the kids just being someone’s partner. Shadow drilling is fun for kids and good conditioning. Kids use their imagination well which can help lead you into teaching visualization skills. Kids are never too young to dream about becoming a champion.
  3. Be enthusiastic and give positive feedback frequently. Young wrestlers thrive on positive feedback when they do something well. Also, give parents positive feedback if their child is doing well. They also need to stay motivated and hearing that their child is doing well gives them a big boost.
  4. Encourage parents to get involved. I welcome and encourage parents to watch my practices. I also welcome them to get on the mats and help. The more personal attention your students receive, the quicker they will improve. At tournaments, I invite the parents to sit in the corner with me. Sometimes I have many kids competing at one time, so the parents should understand they need to be an asset in the corner rather than a detriment.
  5. Run a tight ship, but let the kids have fun. Take your instructional phase of practice seriously but keep it entertaining, too. Good teachers and coaches make their instruction interesting for the kids, so they pay attention and have fun. Incorporate stories and interesting analogies into your instruction. Carefully structure the practice so the kids benefit as much as possible, and also make time for a couple of "games" every practice. I have made up a variety of fun games that incorporate wrestling skills and conditioning into them. If the kids get through a segment of practice and do really well, we often play a game for a couple minutes as a reward before moving on to next segment.
  6. Incorporate live wrestling throughout your practice. In a traditional practice most live wrestling is done at the end of practice, and some do not incorporate much live wrestling at all. Kids can only absorb so much instruction at once, so break up your practice with segments of live wrestling. I often let my students wrestle a live match after warming up and doing some basic skill drills. It seems to settle them down and tire them out a little. The result is that they pay better attention when I teach. Live situations are also an essential training tool. They allow you to teach important technique points between starts and the kids enjoy them because they get to wrestle.
  7. Utilize videotape for instruction and motivation. Beginners need to see what it looks like when a move is executed correctly in competition, and edited highlight tapes can prove to be very motivational.
  8. Teach more than just technique. Emphasize to your wrestlers the value of sportsmanship, poise, goal-setting, discipline, work ethic and the other important "lessons of life". My wrestling coaches had a greater impact on my character and life than my school teachers. Instill the “lessons of life” in your students because it will undoubtedly help them in everything they do throughout their lives. Kids look up to you more than you will ever realize.

I left full time college coaching in 1994 to devote more of my time to working with young wrestlers. I expanded my Gold Medal Training Camp System into a year-round camp program so I could coach kids full time. I still work with wrestlers of all ages regularly, but I enjoy working with young wrestlers the most. I believe a big reason that I have been successful in working with the little guys is that I truly enjoy being around them. I enjoy the challenge of getting kids to learn the game and develop a passion for our sport. Undoubtedly, the kids who excel when they grow up are the ones who love doing it. All work and no play at a young age is not a good formula for success later on. Don’t get me wrong, my students and I value winning. However, skill development and fun take on equal importance. The trick is to plan and conduct structured, reasonably intense practices, so that your students get good while still enjoying the training. Then they start to win and really enjoy the sport. Let’s face it, no matter what the activity or age group, winning is more fun than losing. Our Future Champions Youth Program motto for our youngest wrestlers is "Work Hard and Have Fun on your way to #1!”. Good Luck on you quest for success!

-Ken Chertow

Editor’s Note: To learn more about Coach Chertow's Gold Medal Training Camp System and Instructional DVDs, visit www.kenchertow.com, call 814-466-3466, or e-mail camps@kenchertow.com.

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