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Accept the Challenge...Promote Our
Special Sport (Part 2)
by Peggy Durant
in collaboration with Ken Chertow
Our favorite part of the season is upon us with the District
and State Duals and season ending tournaments coming soon.
In keeping with the theme of this promotion of wrestling
series, plan to attend and invite many friends and media
to these exciting events. Urge your local newspaper and
also TV News Media to consistently cover wrestling.
Make a point of it to watch wrestling whenever it is televised
and let your team know when a match is going to be on TV.
PCN will be broadcasting the State Duals as well as their
match of the week and Individual State Championships. You
can let PCN know you appreciate their coverage and are looking
forward to more. E-mail them at billbova@pcntv.com.
Ken will be broadcasting two more Penn State Matches this
season. The Penn State vs. Iowa Dual Meet will be broadcast
on CSTV Saturday, February 5 at 1:30PM, while Penn State
vs. Ohio State will be broadcast on FSN Pittsburgh live
Friday, February 18 at 7pm. Ken will do the analysis for
both matches and will be working hard to educate and entertain
everyone who watches, whether they know anything about wrestling
or not. Encourage your friends to check it out.
In our fist article about promotion of wrestling we presented
ideas to promote our sport that could be implemented for
immediate in-season impact on the development of interest
and participation in wrestling. In this article we are presenting
ideas that require longer-range vision or planning and implementation
during the off-season and/or pre-season.
1. Every successful high school program must have a feeder
program - "Wrestle for Fun" Programs are geared
for 5 to 8 year olds, moving to more formal programs as
the wrestlers progress in skill and interest. High School
Coaches need to sell their vision to their youth and junior
high coaches and make sure everyone is on the same page
to some degree. Head Coaches who are actively involved with
these programs on at least an occasional basis and begin
to form relationships with the kids participating are ahead
of the game as these young wrestlers approach junior high
and high school level wrestling.
2. Wrestling events for elementary kids that are 2-3 hours
long instead of 10-12 hour tournaments. Match young wrestlers
up by experience and skill. One of our area leagues structures
their scrimmages so that each wrestler gets a minimum of
3 to 4 matches in which a pin does not end the match (though
a 2nd pin by the same wrestler does). This provides inexperienced
kids vital mat time, while getting them and their parents
in and out of the gym as quickly as possible. Short &
sweet is definitely best for elementary school wrestling
families. Our culture of long events, with most inexperienced
wrestlers going 0-2, hurts our sport. We need to change
this. Coaches and Team Leaders must work to keep wrestling
fun and kids and parents interested and involved.
3. Plan to build and field a full JV squad. Long-time wrestling
fans remember when it was the norm for every varsity dual
meet to be preceded by a full JV meet from which the excitement
leading into the varsity match built to a crescendo. Until
every team has a full JV team again and there are JV meets
prior to varsity meets, it is necessary to provide as much
mat time as possible for the JV members of the team. Having
a designated JV coach is vital. Enter JV tournaments and/or
hold a JV tournament in order to get the JV kids used to
competing outside the wrestling room. If the coaches are
able to help the kids understand how valuable they are to
success of the entire program, it is quite possible to develop
a JV team with kids that care, work together, and stick
with the program. Counting on a core of accomplished varsity
letter winners without strong JV back up can prove disastrous
when injury or discipline issues disrupt or deplete the
varsity line-up. In addition, the future strength of a team
depends upon the quality of the JV contingent. Get working
to schedule JV matches and JV Tournaments ASAP.
4. An active Booster Club is a must. Boosters provide moral
support and encouragement as well as raise funds to provide
extras as incentives for all levels of wrestlers from the
"Wrestle for Fun" crowd on up. For elementary
wrestlers, our local booster club provides team t-shirts,
jackets for second year wrestlers, and pays entry fees for
4 tournaments a year. The booster club pays for extra coaches
for all levels in addition to those the school hires; provides
charter buses and helps pay for motel rooms for long distance
and post-season tournaments for HS kids. The booster club
also encourages every junior high and high school wrestler
to attend summer wrestling camp by providing $150 towards
the cost of tuition. Using a little imagination, the possibilities
for enhancing already existing wrestling programs are endless.
5. Develop a community wrestling facility for use during
the off-season and supplemental practice time during the
season for those that want it. This will take a coordinated
effort on the part of the booster club, coaches and parents,
but it can be done if there is a desire. If space and materials
can be found, affiliating with PAWF/USA Wrestling as a charter
club takes care of insurance issues. Staffing can be done
on a volunteer basis until participation has grown sufficiently
to hire regular coaching staff. In addition to folkstyle,
spice things up by providing freestyle and Greco-Roman instruction.
Encourage kids to participate in the PAWF freestyle-Greco
season for a change of pace.
Our local wrestling club, the Power Plant Mat Club, has
been in existence for 4 years but it was just this year
that we were able to hire coaches and consistently provide
twice-weekly training sessions starting after states last
spring through mid-November. The Power Plant attracted quite
a number of area kids who had not participated in year-round
training prior to this year in addition to a significant
number of district, regional, state champs and placewinners
for whom extra training is routine.
6. Conduct 1 or 2 day clinics this spring in which an outside
"name" wrestler or coach comes in to work with
your wrestlers. Publicize the event with local coaches and
invite other area wrestlers. This can be done at an independent
wrestling club or in conjunction with a tournament held
at a middle or high school in the off-season. The "name"
draws interest from wrestlers and parents alike and provides
a high level expertise to which your wrestlers might not
otherwise have access. A special guest clinician usually
has an inspirational story and can often motivate kids to
see the big picture, set higher goals for themselves and
to begin to think of wrestling in college and beyond. Invite
parents to sit in on these sessions. Motivated wrestlers
are one thing; motivated wrestlers with their parents on
board are an awesome force to get and keep momentum going
in your wrestling program.
7. Provide opportunities for cross-training - running, weight
lifting, etc. Encourage kids to get strong rather than cut
weight severely. Wrestlers who don't wrestle year round
can be directed to other activities that will enhance their
wrestling season. Those athletes who have an aptitude for
it can run cross-country in the fall and participate in
track and field in the spring. Weight lifting clubs and
YMCA's are great resources for strength training. Year-round
wrestlers also benefit from cross-training. For example,
current Clearfield varsity wrestlers Brad Pataky, Matt Kyler
and Chris Bloom set national weight lifting records for
their age and weight groups this past summer training with
a drug-free weight lifting organization. Encourage serious
wrestlers to participate in extra world-class training opportunities
that Central PA is blessed to have in abundance. Ken Chertow's
Home Training Center and Gold Medal Camp System are just
a couple of the many options available for kids wanting
to improve their skills and compete at the highest levels
of PA high school wrestling.
No one
can do all of these things, but everyone can do something.
We encourage you to pick some of these ideas and implement
the ones that make the most sense for your program. Do not
wait around and do not try to do it all yourself. Get your
coaching staff, wrestlers, parents, and entire community
involved. Raise the awareness of wrestling in your community.
You can do it. Youth and Jr/Sr High Wrestling should play
a vital role in the development of young people in every
community in Pennsylvania. Together we can make it happen!
Editors
Notes: Peggy Durant is a
co-founder of the Power Plant Mat Club in Clearfield, active
with the Clearfield Wrestling Booster Club, and an avid
wrestling fan.
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