Pat Pecora- Great Father, Great Husband, Great Friend, Great Wrestling Coach and Great Ambassador of Wrestling in Pennsylvania…has been called to Heaven
Pat Pecora, the Athletic Director (since 2008) and Head Wrestling Coach at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown for the last 48 years passed away on 9/8/2024. I believe God needed his leadership in Heaven. I had the privilege to be able to call him a friend. Pat epitomized leadership and would have made a superb general in the military.
I had the opportunity to work his wrestling camps for nearly 10 years each summer, and competed against him while coaching at St. Andrews University. Many of us who worked his camps were able to bring our sons to camp and witness a great leader at work. Pat was inspired by the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, and Pat certainly did it his way. And boy did his system work? He earned more wins than any other coach in college wrestling history (661-154-5) at any level! An amazing record to go along with his two NCAA Team Championships in 1996 and 1999. He produced 170 All-Americans, 15 individual NCAA champions who combined for 23 titles. Coach Pecora also won 25 NCAA Regional titles and had a streak of eight consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships. Pecora was 70 years old.
Former wrestler Isaac Greeley, who was on both of Pecor’s NCAA Div. II National Championship Teams, told Mike Mastovich of The Tribune Democrat “It’s hard to articulate when someone basically dedicates their life to helping others.” “The remarkable thing about coach is once he considered you a ‘made man,’ he was with you for life.” “He held on to your rope and helped you as a man. He made it easy to talk to him. He always said the right things. His wisdom was really special. He taught us how to live. He showed us how to die, how to fight. He loved us all.”
Shane Valko, a Forest Hills High School graduate who won a national title under Pecora in 2010 and was named Wrestler of the Year, told Mastovich of the Tribune “he was the closest thing to Superman for me. There are two people in my life that I consider on the heels of Superman-Coach Pecora and my father. He has been a person in my life I could turn to when I needed life advice. He’s a person I wish I can be.” Valko, was an assistant at Pitt-Johnstown from 2010 to 1018 and recently rejoined the staff.
Coach Pecora also is the only coach to produce a 6x NCAA Champion in Carlton Haselrig who won three titles in Div. II and three in Div. I. Haselrig went on to become a starting lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers and make the Pro Bowl.
UPJ President Jem Spectar said “the school was mourning a great coach, teacher, colleague-a titan of a man and a champion of Olympic proportions. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and loved ones. Spectar added, “Coach P guided, shaped and transformed the lives of legions of UPJ athletes, turning boys into successful men, advising and guiding students to become successful, impactful citizens and leaders in all walks of life across the country.” “We were honored to have this extraordinarily great man as part of our community for nearly five decades, and our campus, community and world are better because of Pat Pecora.”
Thank you Mrs. Tracy Percora for sharing your husband with the wrestling fraternity and may God Bless you and your Family. As Pat would often say-Stay Strong
Joe Baranik
September 10, 2024
First Week of College Football Saw 23 Schools with Wrestling defeat non-Wrestling Schools:
Missouri over Murray State
NC State over Western Carolina
Purdue over Indiana St.
Rutgers over Howard
Buffalo over Lafayette
Oklahoma over Temple
Duke over Elon
Michigan St. over Florida Atlantic
Wisconsin over Western Michigan
Ohio State over Akron
Michigan over Fresno State
Iowa over Illinois State
Maryland over U. Connecticut
Air Force over Merrimack
Appalachian State over ETSU
Indiana over Florida International U.
Iowa St. over North Dakota
Nebraska over UTEP
Northwestern over Miami of Ohio
Virginia over Richmond
Oregon State over Idaho State
Northern Illinois over Western Illinois
Illinois over Eastern Illinois
Central Michigan over Cent. Conn. State
*The starting QB for Vanderbilt, Diego Pavia, who led the Commodores to victory over Virginia Tech, wrestled in high school which was mentioned on TV.
*Luke Fickell, the head football coach at Wisconsin, starts the year 1-0. Fickell was a 3x Ohio State champion in wrestling and wrestled a bit at Ohio State where he was a stand-out football player.
May 2024 Issue Below
2024 Schalles PA Pinner Award-Sponsored by Pittsburgh Trophy Company and Presented by the Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine
Dillon Bechtold, Owen Roberts HS 90% 36 pins out of 40 bouts wrestled
(Above, L-R: Head Coach Stephen DeRafelo, Dillon Bechtold, Assistant Coach Mike Brilla)
Violette Lasure of Chestnut Ridge becomes the first girl to win the Schalles PA Pinner
Award. Lasure (33-0), only a freshman, pinned 31 foes out of 32 bouts for a 97% pin percentage! She
becomes Ridge’s first ever girls State Champion, and she did it without a loss. “It feels great accomplishing my goal of becoming the first-ever girls 142 lb. PA State champion,” She told PWN women’s columnist Deborah Lynch. “I’m hoping my win inspires young girls to come out for the sport to continue the growth.”
Violette has been wrestling for five years, mostly with the boys. She is very quiet, so her coaches jokingly call her “Silent Assassin.” She said she pins most of her opponents from the top position by using the “bundle” where you take the opposite wrist and rap their own arm around their head and collect both elbows for the fall. Her Coach, Josh Deputy, coaches the boys and girls team at Chestnut Ridge.
Lasure is an honor student and a member of the FAA, and she likes to fly fish for bass and trout.
Top 3 Schalles PA Pinners for Girl Wrestlers
Violette Lasure, Chestnut Ridge: 31 pins for 32 bouts (97%)
Jael Miller, Punxsutawney: 26 pins for 27 bouts(96%)
Aubree Krazer, Easton: 22 pins for 23 bouts(95.6%)
*held in Altoona, PA in July
Ken Chertow Super Gold Medal Training Camp
Ken Chertow has been studying the fine details of the sport of wrestling for nearly 40 years and it shows. His camp uncovers a wide range of technique in both freestyle and folkstyle wrestling. For 16 days in Altoona, PA, he demonstrated why it is a five star camp. Over 500 girls and boys of all ages attended for the entire camp or four to six day segments. 100 girls were in attendance which was a record for Chertow’s Camp. These future champions came from over 30 states and five countries! Chertow, himself, a 2x All-American out of Penn State and a 1988 Olympian, was joined by numerous NCAA champions. Some of the champions included Patrick Glory of Princeton (who now works on Wall Street), Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt, 3x NCAA champion Ricky Bonomo of Bloomsburg and former PSU head coach and NCAA champion John Fritz. Also included were many All-Americans and successful high school coaches throughout the country. A staff of 40 people, made it great for each camper to get individual attention.
In addition, the camp was a huge boost for the economy in Blair County and Central Pennsylvania. Coach Chertow bought over 1500 hotel rooms in the area and provided airport shuttles at three local airports. If you include the food, housing for campers and parents, gasoline, and laundry services for 500 kids and some of their families, it definitely was a big bonus for businesses in Central PA.
John Fritz with Ken Chertow above
All-American Patrick Glory of Princeton below
2024 SUMMER WRESTLING NEWS
*Aaron Brooks is Penn State’s Male Athlete of the Year. (Last year, it was Carter Starocci)
*Hayden Hidlay (Mifflin County High School) NC State, is the new assistant coach at Stanford. Hidlay was a 4x ACC Champion and placed (2, 4, 5, 3) at the NCAA’s.
*Nick Lee, a 4x All-American at Penn State and a 2x NCAA champ is now on the staff at his alma mater as an assistant coach.
**more summer news continued here at link at top of page: https://www.pawrestling.net/pwn-summer-news
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*Altoona Junior High Completes Terrific Season
Altoona Junior High won every tournament they entered this season. Those included the Huntingdon Tournament, Big 7 League Tournament, Juniata Tournament, Shikellamy Duals, and the Connellsville Duals. The only loss they suffered this season was the last match of the Connellsville Duals (which they finished as the first-place team) to Chestnut Ridge by a score of 40-37. Two of their starters got hurt earlier in the day and were not able to wrestle in that match. In fact at the Connellsville Duals they had convincing wins over North Allegheny (54-13), Connellsville (who hadn’t been defeated in 2 years) (42-23), and Cathedral Prep (45-29). Other impressive dual victories for Altoona were over Clearfield, Dubois, and Miffllinburg. In the 3 individually bracketed tournaments they entered they won all by a wide margin. At Big 7 they won by nearly 80 points over 2nd place State College. They won Juniata by over 100 points and Huntingdon by nearly 45 points, both over 2nd place Mifflin County. They finished the season with 16 wins and 1 loss.
Individually Altoona Area had a total of 9 wrestlers with 20 or more wins and 9 wrestlers with 13 or more pins:
Deklan Barr 28-0, 21 pins, Keystone State runner up, PJW State Qualifier
Dominic Verticelli 26-2, 22 pins, PJW State 7th place, Keystone State Qualifier
Reese Hite 25-3, 18 pins, Keystone State Qualifier
Dominic Picciotti 24-2, 14 pins, Keystone State 7th, PJW State Qualifier
Mike Colyer 23-2, 20 pins, PJW State 5th place, Keystone State 7th place
Brandt Hite 23-5, 14 pins, Keystone State and PJW State Qualifier
Brayden Wible 23-5, 16 pins, PJW State Qualifier
Caleb Darpino 22-6, 20 pins,
Liam Chirdon 20-8, 13 pins, Keystone State Qualifier
Altoona Area junior high is led by head coach Ryan Barr. Barr wrestled for Penn Cambria from 1992-96 and compiled a career record of 99 wins with just 18 losses. He was ranked #2 in PIAA going into the regional tournament his senior year before a shoulder injury ended his season prematurely. He then went on to wrestle under Hall of Fame Coach Pat Pecora at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown (UPJ). He was a member of the 1999 Division II National Championship team at UPJ. He started coaching directly after college. He began at Richland High School from 2001-2005, then onto Penn Cambria from 2005-2009.
From 2015-2021 Barr coached the Altoona youth program and also was an assistant coach at Young Guns in Altoona (John and Jody Strittmatter were college teammates of Barr’s). He began coaching Altoona Area Junior high in 2021. His teams have finished with records of 16-7, 21-6, and 16-1 in the past 3 seasons. Coach Barr was awarded the District 6 AAA Junior High Coach of the Year in both 2022-23 and 2023-24. He was also recently named 2023-24 Pennsylvania AAA Junior High Coach of the Year. “The last 3 seasons have been so memorable due to the drive and toughness of the kids in the room. They were eager to learn and totally bought into the idea of being champions both on the mat and in life.”
Altoona Junior High Wrestling has been trending in the right direction over the past 3 seasons under Head Coach Ryan Barr. This past season was their pinnacle of success, winning every tournament they entered and having 13 State Qualifiers, 5 medalists, and 1 finalist. It will be interesting to see how this group does as they move to the varsity level. If this year was any indication, they should be very successful. It would also appear that the framework has been laid for the entire Altoona wrestling program to be successful in the years to come.
82 lbs: Kooper Deputy (Chestnut Ridge)
89 lbs: Chase Karenbauer (Grove City)
96 lbs: Max Dinges (Penns Valley)
103 lbs: Mateo Gallagos (Dubois)
110 lbs: Brayden Wenrich (Northampton)
117 lbs: Austin Carfley (Bishop McCort)
124 lbs: Kamdyn Borrero (Diocese of Erie)
132 lbs: Jason Dube (General McLane)
140 lbs: Geno Orlandi (Beth Center)
147 lbs: Alek Palko (Jefferson Morgan)
157 lbs: Samuel Almedina (Mid Valley)
172 lbs: Mario Hutcherson (Kiski)
192 lbs: Kendahl Hoare (Dubois)
212 lbs: Jackson Mickens (Albert Gallatin)
252 lbs: Khalil Ellerbee (Central Valley)
Pennsylvania Junior High Team Rankings
- Trinity
- Altoona
- Bishop McCort
- Norwin
- Kiski Area
- Canon McMillan
- Cathedral Prep
- Connellsville
- Northampton
- Dubois
- Easton
- Franklin Regional
- Central Dauphin
- Warrior Run
- Greater Latrobe
- Nazareth
- Jersey Shore
- Wilkes-Barre
- West Allegheny
- Chestnut Ridge
- North Allegheny
- Mifflin County
- State College
- Hollidaysburg
- Clearfield
Girls finally seize Mats in Pennsylvania
By Deborah Lynch
This past spring, the PIAA formally sanctioned girls wrestling as a sport that includes a state tournament to conclude the season, joining 43 other states to sanction one of the fastest growing high school sports in the country. Some states were quick to sanction the sport, but as Mark Byers, Chief Operating Officer of the PIAA explained, the PIAA has set 100 teams as the required number for any emerging sport to gain full PIAA status. The most recent sport to gain that status was girls flag football this past July. That bar was reached for girls wrestling in February, the PIAA board made it official in May, and to date 184 schools will offer girls wrestling for the 2023-24 season.
“I think this is a great thing for high school athletics,” Byers said. “There was an outcry for girls to be able to participate for their school in wrestling because it has a great deal of prestige, which is one of the things that solidifies the need to have community-based athletics because it’s open to everybody. [PIAA sanctioning] will provide the opportunity for more girls to participate.”
“Demand was all over the place for girls wrestling,” Franklin said. “Back in March of 2020 when JP McCaskey approved the first public high school girls wrestling team, it was viewed as a huge step for those of us working with SanctionPA.”
While teams exist mostly at the NAIA, NCAA Division II and III, and Junior College levels, a handful of D1 universities, including Iowa, have also added women’s teams.
Cumberland Valley wrestler Eliana White-Vega wrestled at the nationals in Fargo, SD, where she placed fifth. Because her mother is from Puerto Rico, White-Vega had the opportunity to try out for and make the Puerto Rican women’s team and to represent her mother’s country in the Pan American Championships, where she took the silver in women’s freestyle and the gold in beach wrestling, a sport she had only ever tried once.
After the Pan Am Championships, she got worldwide experience wrestling in the Junior Women’s Freestyle World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, White-Vega hopes to win nationals at Fargo, win the Pan Am Championships, and wrestle with the 20-under girls and place at worlds as a stepping stone to the 2028 Olympics.
Coach Rob Waller surprises Pizza Joe at Halloween school parade
Grey hair dye $20
Red Adidas pants $30
Red All-American hoodie $20
Glasses: $25
Whistle: $10
Dressing up as your wrestling coach and having him show up at your school parade: PRICELESS
*Joe James (age 8, 2nd grade) from Acme, PA dressed up as legendary Coach Rob Waller for Halloween. Pizza Joe, as he is known, is the son of the owners of “The Village” Italian Restaurant in Mt. Pleasant, PA. His parents had Coach Waller as a gym teacher in elementary school.
2023 NWCA All-Star Classic (@ Rec Hall)
125 lbs: #1 Matt Ramos (Purdue) vs. #2 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven)
133 lbs: #4 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech). #8 Connor McGonagle (Lehigh)
141 lbs: #3 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) vs. #9 Clay Carlson (South Dakota State)
149 lbs: #2 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. #3 Kyle Parco (Arizona State)
157 lbs: #1 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. #4 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State)
165 lbs: #4 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) vs. #6 Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State)
174 lbs: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #3 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
184 lbs: #1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) vs. #2 Bernie Truax (Penn State)
197 lbs: #1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) vs. #2 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State)
285 lbs: #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #2 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force)
Attention Wrestling Fans!
There is a new wrestling book available that tells the story of our great sport in a unique way. Mat Return has over 150 stories about wrestling, and all fifty states are represented. From youth wrestling to Hall of Fame wrestlers, you’ll read how wrestling changes its participants’ lives for the better. There is ample coverage of female wrestling, including its own stand-alone chapter. There is a resource guide and a few surprises sprinkled throughout. You might even find a story about me.
Mat Return: The Resurgence of Amateur Wrestling in the USA is as entertaining and transformative as our great sport. It is a fantastic addition to any wrestling library and a terrific gift idea for anyone interested or involved with amateur wrestling. I have been afforded the opportunity to share this advanced notice with you. It is available right now on Amazon. All you have to do is search Mat Return in Amazon’s book section or just click on the book title in this message. All I ask is, once you have received it and read a good portion, that you leave an honest review for the book on Amazon. I am sure you will enjoy it. Have fun and let’s continue to grow wrestling!
Ron Lang, Author
Zain the “Freight Train” Retherford won his first senior wrestling title in 2023, at the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Retherford, a three-time NCAA champion at Penn State, went 4-0 at the event at 70kg, and reached the world final for the second year in a row.
Retherford won two PIAA titles in high school — one at Line Mountain and one at Benton — before a standout career at Penn State. He was a three-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American. He won the Hodge Trophy — awarded to the nation’s top wrestler — twice, in 2017 and 2018. After losing 3 bouts his freshman year and placing 5th at the NCAA’s, The “Freight Train” won his last 93 matches!
Retherford became only the third World Champ who did his high school wrestling in Pennsylvania, joining Stan Dziedzic (William Allen High School in Bethlehem and Slippery Rock University) and Kurt Angle (Mount Lebanon High School and Clarion University). Dziedzic won the World Championships in 1977 after winning Olympic Bronze in 1976. Angle won the World Championships in 1995 and followed it up with a Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Olympic champion David Taylor won his third world title and second in a row at 86 kg with a pin. Taylor was a 4x NCAA finalist and a 2x champion at Penn State and also won the Hodge Trophy twice.
Ken Chertow was recently named the first Women’s Coach at Misericordia University in Dallas, PA. Chertow was a 3x All-American at Penn State and a 3x Academic All-American, as a Pre-Med Major. He was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team.
The school also named Rocky Bonomo as the new men’s wrestling coach at the Div. III School.
- Rob Koll, was recently named the new head coach at the University of North Carolina, where he was an NCAA champion and UNC’s first 4x AA in the mid 80’s for the Tar Heels. Koll was a PIAA State Champion for State College High School.
Koll was a highly successful coach at Cornell for 28 years where he took the Big Red to as high as the #2 team in the country and recruited and coached two 4x NCAA champions in Kyle Dake and Yianni Diakomihalis. Rob Koll spent the past two years at Stanford University. His Father, Bill Koll, was a 3x NCAA champion (72-0) for Iowa State Teachers College, now known as the University of Northern Iowa. He was also the first college wrestler to win two Outstanding Wrestler awards at the NCAA tournament. He was a member of the 1948 Olympic Wrestling Team. Finally, he was the head coach at Penn State for 13 years.
**Golden Opportunity for Athletic Departments**
Two dark clouds hang over colleges and their athletic departments, but they combine to create a silver lining. Athletic departments can exploit that silver lining to help deal with the scarier of the dark clouds – the sharp decline in the college age population. Beginning in 2025, the number of 18-year-olds will decrease by 15%. Over the following four years, colleges will lose approximately 576,000 students.
The other dark cloud is the continuing reduction in the number of college wrestling programs. Since the 1988-89 season, 41 Division I programs have been discontinued; data is not readily available for Divisions II and III separately, but nationwide, only 436 colleges offer varsity wrestling for men. The reasons are understandable – funding had to be found for Title IX programs. Yet the sport retains a lot of fan interest and participation, especially at the high school level where 11,000 high schools offer the sport for approximately 240,000 boys. In fact, high school wrestling is the sixth most participated sport across the country. Moreover, and this is key, women’s wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports around. Since 1994, the number of women who wrestle in high school has grown from 804 to more than 50,000; more recently, it increased by 46% from 2022 to 2023. There are about 150 colleges that offer a women’s team. Most rosters average 20 to 25 girls, however, Southern Oregon University has a team of 37 girls, while East Stroudsburg (PA) and Life University in Georgia have roster sizes of 27. The University of Iowa will become the first large university to offer women’s wrestling this fall and just recently, Frostburg State in Maryland, Penn State/Altoona in PA and Bethany College in WV have added or plan to add women’s wrestling. Allen University in Columbia, SC became the first HBCU School to add a women’s team.
It is fair to say that high school students who wrestle are enthusiastic about their sport – why else put up with the grueling demands? One does not wrestle because it makes one popular with one’s classmates of the opposite sex. It is simply a challenge, and the opportunity to prevail over oneself and over the opponent. Wrestling an elemental sport-it was a big part of the original Olympics for a reason-and it appeals strongly to a certain element of the school age population.
And therein lies the silver lining in this tale of woe. A wrestling program for both men and women can attract students to a campus. And because program costs are very small compared to other sports, establishing a wrestling program is a financial investment that yields a measurable return. It is a chance to do well (putting heads in beds) by doing good (adding a student sport to the campus).
Wrestling, like other sports, attracts students who don’t require a scholarship as long as they can continue in a chosen sport they love and have done for years. Men’s teams’ average about 30 and women’s about 20 to 25. The NCAA allows 10 scholarships at any one time. Assuming max scholarships are awarded, that means 20 men and 10-15 women are paying students the college would not otherwise have.
The marginal cost of each scholarship student depends on the college, of course, but since enrollment will be declining and fixed costs are, well, fixed, here is an example; if a college cost $40,000 per year and 30 student/athletes are paying out of pocket (20 men and 10 women), that comes out to $1,200,000 per year. One credible study found that each college student cost the university about $5,000 per year. Adding in the 20 scholarship athletes, that’s $100,000, leaving $1,100,000 to cover program costs. At, say, $400,000 annual expenses including coaching salaries, travel and equipment, that leaves $800,000 net profit for the venture. And on top of that, the school now has 50 additional student athletes on campus.
Every college is different, of course, and this analysis could be affected by other factors it does not consider. But, the case for adding both men’s and women’s wrestling to the athletic program could be compelling. Athletic directors owe it to their schools to evaluate whether it makes sense for their institutions.
Joe Baranik, Founder/Owner
Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine
How To Be The Coach Your Wrestlers Want..
By Dr. Michael J. Hahesy, Pennwest Edinboro
Head Coach Erie Cathedral Prep
Be Professional.
When you commit to be a coach, be the BEST you can be. Develop a foundational philosophy on which you base all your decisions and choices (make sure that develop these philosophies before the season and not during the heat of the moment). Know why you are coaching—for the love of the game and the love of the athletes. Choose athletes above winning. Build trust by being an expert with the use of your words in practice, competitions, dealing with parents and media too. Constantly work to improve your knowledge and ability to teach the game and motivate players, I believe that this is very important. The sport of wrestling is constantly changing and evolving. Go watch and learn from the best people in wrestling.
Be A Master Teacher.
Teaching ability gives you credibility. Understand the sport, the wrestlers, and how to teach both. Understand that the basics are really what you concentrate on. I have noticed that many coaches put a lot of effort into some “junk” move that might work, but it will never work at the upper levels. When working with beginning wrestlers, teach them to love of wrestling first and then teach them how to wrestle. The best coach at every level is organized and prepared. Instructions are simple, clear, and cannot be misunderstood. Activity and attention to detail and technical skills are paramount. They understand and use proper practice organization concepts and the rules of motor learning (don’t teach kids above their skill/physical ability levels). I have a firm belief that when showing technique, you need to show the move and be finished in 3 minutes or less (after 3 minutes most if not all wrestlers will lose focus). It is also very beneficial to use former wrestlers to show technique, whenever they show up during the holidays put their expertise to use! A good coach can also motivate using both praise and confrontation, although in my opinion praise works much better than confrontation. Your success with athletes will be in direct proportion to your ability to plan, organize, teach and motivate. So be a good planner, have vision, and look past today- look to tomorrow!
Be An Example.
Your wrestlers will hear what you say but they will learn more from what you do and who you are. Use wrestling to intentionally teach lessons that can be used for the rest of your life—perseverance, mental toughness, discipline, accountability, confidence, and selflessness. Model the behaviors you want to see in your athletes – competitive poise, quiet confidence, etc. It is essential that you can do this in the most difficult times. Accept and abide by the judgment of the officials (I really feel that officials have a thankless job so don’t question too many calls- my advice is only when your athlete is in a position of danger or injury). Model and teach wrestlers to stay within the spirit of the game. I believe that you should work out with your athletes as much as possible, lifting with them, wrestling with them, running, etc (how many times do you look over in the opposite corner and wonder what that fat lazy coach could possibly have to offer- don’t be that person). Honor the profession by purposely, intentionally, and consistently teaching and modeling character.
Be A Confidence Builder.
A coach should believe in their wrestlers before they are successful. Believe in them as people and competitors regardless of their level of ability. Allow them to experience and be accountable for both their successes and failures. I have been around MANY successful wrestlers (Olympic champions, NCAA champions, State champions). The one underlining factor that ALL successful wrestlers have is that they believe in themselves- they think that they are going to win every time they step on the mat! See beyond today in their lives. Communicate value. Be the face your team needs to see to perform fearlessly.
Be A Team Builder.
Intentionally develop a team culture that includes behavioral expectations for all stakeholders (athletes, coaches, and parents). Create a climate that is safe for athletes—physically safe but also, safe to take healthy risks, safe from ridicule, safe from unnecessary outside pressure, and safe to learn and challenge themselves. Build your team using standards that athletes will rise to, not rules that they will test (don’t have too many rules because at some point you will be forced to follow a rule that was intended for another purpose-not the infraction in front of you). Be sure to include the younger wrestlers in your practice planning, go to work out with the junior high wrestlers, and the elementary wrestlers as well. Many connections are built with the younger wrestlers and parents, show they some love and attention when they are young and you will reap the rewards later! These are your future and they will be with you before you know it!
Stay In Communication When They Finish Wrestling For You.
Even though I have been out of high school for many years I’m still in contact with my former high school wrestling coach. We maintain a great relationship and I’m thankful for this! I still talk to most if not all of my former wrestlers, some more than others but I still communicate with them. This to me, is very rewarding. I know what they are doing, how many kids they have, what they do for a living, etc. You spend a lot of time with these wrestlers during the high school years so why stop it there? Keep it going and enjoy the wonderful relationship that you have built together!
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