Since I haven’t been putting a newsletter out on a regular basis, I think I’ll try a new approach. I love this sport and I have so much to talk about that I need to share my thoughts more often. I’m not sure if there will be any pattern or just what’s on my mind while I’m thinking about the past, the future and the current. What’s next? Tune in…Thoughts to the Coaches
This goes along with the last Blog concerning making progress in wrestling the last 6 years. A great deal of this credit goes to the College Sports Council and to Eric Pearson spearheading this council. Eric was a former wrestling coach at Princeton and also wrestled competitively there. This council has led to the push for Title IX reform in positive manners, basically not to hurt men or women. Its based in Washington DC (http://www.savingsports.org/).
Other major credit goes to Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling (http://www.themat.com/) in his tireless effort in staying on top of this issue. Of course remember the Bush Administration formed a Commission that had many suggestions for changes and until recently was tabled.
With this lead in and the last Blog I must say that times have changes from when college wrestling when 700 plus teams pretty much spread out all over the country. Sure Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas didn't have any college programs but either did their public high schools. Texas has now changed and pretty soon will need to offer some opportunities to their boys and girls graduating and wanting to continue wrestling. Yes, I said girls because Texas has many high school girls participating against other girls in wrestling and so does Hawaii. We now have women's wrestling in the World and Olympic Championships. In Athens we had two Women's Olympic medals in Sara McMann.
But back to my point in this writing. When I was college coaching, especially during the eighties, I was not aware of the programs being eliminated all around me. Sure, communication was not the same then but my focus (then) was on my team and all the details for it to be successful. My team was bigger than the sport. Because of this, and I'm assuming others felt the same, our sport was not organized and went backward in their numbers and progress. Finally in 1999 full time employees started working on just college wrestling and the dividends are starting to trickle in. Today every wrestling coach must participate in the sport, not just their program and do what's best (in most cases) for the sport and not just their own unique situation. Until we turn this thought process to this channel we will continue to waiver somewhat instead of moving ahead and flourishing.
Coaches need to look at the future not just this year and next year. Of course this thinking goes back to my last writing of doing things correctly. Because, remember, when this happens, a short time later the current will be good. The current (present) is where we live our lives daily and when its good we enjoy it more. Get on board! What's going on in Olympic Wrestling?! Stay tuned...
Other major credit goes to Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling (http://www.themat.com/) in his tireless effort in staying on top of this issue. Of course remember the Bush Administration formed a Commission that had many suggestions for changes and until recently was tabled.
With this lead in and the last Blog I must say that times have changes from when college wrestling when 700 plus teams pretty much spread out all over the country. Sure Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas didn't have any college programs but either did their public high schools. Texas has now changed and pretty soon will need to offer some opportunities to their boys and girls graduating and wanting to continue wrestling. Yes, I said girls because Texas has many high school girls participating against other girls in wrestling and so does Hawaii. We now have women's wrestling in the World and Olympic Championships. In Athens we had two Women's Olympic medals in Sara McMann.
But back to my point in this writing. When I was college coaching, especially during the eighties, I was not aware of the programs being eliminated all around me. Sure, communication was not the same then but my focus (then) was on my team and all the details for it to be successful. My team was bigger than the sport. Because of this, and I'm assuming others felt the same, our sport was not organized and went backward in their numbers and progress. Finally in 1999 full time employees started working on just college wrestling and the dividends are starting to trickle in. Today every wrestling coach must participate in the sport, not just their program and do what's best (in most cases) for the sport and not just their own unique situation. Until we turn this thought process to this channel we will continue to waiver somewhat instead of moving ahead and flourishing.
Coaches need to look at the future not just this year and next year. Of course this thinking goes back to my last writing of doing things correctly. Because, remember, when this happens, a short time later the current will be good. The current (present) is where we live our lives daily and when its good we enjoy it more. Get on board! What's going on in Olympic Wrestling?! Stay tuned...
posted by DanGable.com at 11:17 AM
4 Comments:
I'm female. I do not wrestle, however, wrestling is very important to my family . . .and was a large part of my growing up. I struggly however, to find ways in which i can be of use to the wrestling community to fight for a sport that i've seen influence so many lives, and positively reinforce values in student athletes. As a wrestling fan, supporter, and lover . . .what can i do to keep wrestling around for when I have my own children, and they have their children?
Y'know, the first thing people can do is maintain kids programs. Go to the YMCA or the rec department, ask about it, if they have it get involved and make donations, help at tournaments, help organize matches with other teams. That kind of foundation is critical for high school wrestling, and when the competition and skill is there in high school, that leads to a strong support base in a state. And when there's a strong state support base, people in that state want to see it at the college level.
That doesn't guarantee it'll be there, but it helps create the interest.
Otherwise, I'd say the international style rules need to be stabilized, simplified, and designed to promote as much wide-open action as possible. The rules have gotten increasingly byzantine in my lifetime, and I've gone from seeing shoot-outs with the Smiths and the Brands' and the late 80's teams to seeing wrestlers on the mat not even sure how the scoring went as the ref blows the whistle yet again. Let 'em loose, or you're going to get less conditioned athletes just doing what they need to win the match, and not really showing great wrestling technique.
my son has loved wrestling since he joined in 9th grade. He is now in the USAF. Unfortunately they do not have a wrestling program where he is stationed. He would love to continue wrestling. They have tried to organize a group but it fell through because of lack of interest. There are many good athletes in the military who don't attend the academies; where are their opportunities? My younger son is still in high school and also wrestles. I have been very active in promoting our team in our community. During the season, Alumni night has become very important to me. I have struggled to put together a history of our team from missing records. In my oppinion it is very important to acknowledge all alumni. It has been great fun to meet some of the founding memebers of our schools wrestling team. The reations recieved from alumni have been wonderful. I just hope we can continue this tradition and keep it growing.
I am associated with a school that is not in compliance with Title IX, and in this case the girls volleyball and girls basketball gets scheudling, facility, and finacial assistance not nearly equitable to what the boys wrestling team gets. I know, ironic, huh? What should we do? We've already rallied the parents to contact the news and Superintendant. The season is almost on us, and the school seems to be trying to kill the sport.
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