Quote:
Originally Posted by rico
Yep... one of the cool things about wrestling is that it appeals to some of the kids who firmly believe that they have been overlooked for whatever reason in other sports, and wrestling works for them for they have more control over their destiny.
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Other than the GT fans on their blog not getting Gabe's point after winning, Gabe really said it well, wrestling is a sport where you're in control. It's one of the first things you learn when you get into it, and it's what drives any number of self-proclaimed "great" athletes away from wrestling.
There might be some wiggle room for those who say "the room" and "practice partners" can make a huge difference, and I'll buy that to a point, but in the end it's on the wrestler and ONLY the wrestler to control the outcome and his future. Well, aside from some of the "crap calls" you'll here all too often, but you can't fix that.
I stressed a saying with my wrestlers and especially son, "when you're out there, you have no team mates, no timeouts, and no excuses. (If you need them you need to try baseball, football, basketball, or soccer)" Once they grasp that concept, have their first ass-kicking from a kid who out-everything'ed them, they make a choice - work harder and get better, or quit.
The first time I saw my son fight through a loss with two tampons shoved up his nose, only to lose, I knew he was in it to win it. All he said after that loss, and I let him lead in with the post-match debrief, was that he tried his best and will stick him next time. Other than hiding the tear that was welling-up in my eye, I knew there was no coaching point that could be made at that moment because he did the #1 most important thing, he tried his hardest, stayed calm, worked the moves he knew, and left it all on the mat (and some blood) - so what if that's more than one!!!! Later we broke-down the film, he noted some opportunities he missed, and we moved on (swollen nose and all - yeah, broken!). That was the day I realized he was better than me at this sport too (more athletic in every way, and mentally in a really good place).
And he didn't stick the kid the next time, but he won by 8 points and most of the points were back points (both ways to be honest!). They are still friends today.
Oddly enough, when he gave-up wrestling for robotics, he did pickup tennis, and one of the reasons he loves tennis so much is because he doesn't have to worry about whiny team mates, there are no excuses, and he kind of likes the time-outs...