Summer Camps for your athletes (from June 2007)

When it comes to camps, there are many options out there. I am going to give a run-down on some of these options:

Team camps. Advantages: Take the entire team. Team bonding experience, technique all taught to team at once. Disadvantage: these often are very big camps with numerous instructors - athletes can't learn a system, or get any technique down in the short amount of time to drill it. University sponsored camps are notorious for this.

Competition camps. Can take the entire team. Get matches and mat time. Disadvantage: Athletes only improve so much from competition, often continuing to make the same mistakes, and lose the same way as before. Not ideal for developing skill.

Smaller Camps put on by an individual. Advantage of learning from the actual instructor. Learn a system, get to know a coach personally, get time to work and learn the system. Note: I would never recommend one of these camps if the "instructor" is not going to actually coach at the camp, rather use his name and reputation to bring in athletes.

A final note on camps: It is my belief that camp time is the time to improve technique and learn new things. Competition is good, too - in my own camps, we wrestle live in the evenings after learning technique and drilling it hard the first two sessions. But if a camp is only concentrating on competition, and your wrestlers have flaws, they are not likely to fix them simply by going live. Regardless, if you are looking to improve your skills at camp, then look at those camps that drill you on the skills taught. This doesn't happen if there are numerous technicians there, each teaching their own thing every session, and you never go back to earlier techniques. How many skills have you ever learned by drilling them 2 or 3 times? The answer is "none." Camps that do this are just moneymakers for the ones putting them on.

Summer Training: Choosing the right camp (from May 2008)

First, a word about summer wrestling. There are many different training methods utilized during summer, ranging from open mats and tournaments, to lifting and summer camps. I believe that a mix of all of those, is important for the development of an athlete. There are numerous live wrestling opportunities to choose from, including open mats, tournaments, and various camps that stress live wrestling over instruction. While live wrestling is an important part of the equation, I believe it is always important to work on improving skill and learning new technique as well. This is where your wrestler can really stretch himself and improve.

When you are evaluating camp options for your athletes, there some factors to consider, and disturbing trends I see in many camps today.

Trend #1: Name camps where the name coach isn't training the athlete. If you are attending Jeff Jones' camp, Jeff Jones should be the guy coaching you, rather than just making an appearance now and then.

Trend #2: Bringing in Star Attractions - big name athletes or coaches, to draw in a lot of athletes, then they teach a session or two, and leave. You never really get to learn their technique, or drill it enough to get it down - but you got a nice autograph.

Trend #3: Big Camp Factories (usually University camps) with lots of numbers - too many for a staff to work with. These camps are big money-makers for those running them, but athletes don't tend to learn much, and the coach-athlete ratio is very poor.

I've always favored camps that will actually train athletes in a system. Camps that emphasize core techniques and continue to go over these techniques, do a lot more for your kids than camps that throw tons of moves at them and never go back to those techniques.

Whatever camp you choose for your athletes, you should strongly encourage them to drill the technique when they get back home. Set up an open mat for the athletes to come in, and drill and compare techniques learned recently in camp. Then try to get them to stick with it and review at least once a week. Even athletes in a fall sport can do this. They don't have to wrestle live but drill what they've learned so they don't lose it over the 4 months that the other sport may be in session.

What to do now? Plan your Spring Training regimen (from March 2008)

Wrestlers Newsletter:
For some of you, the State Tournament is upon you. For others, your regular season may be done. Regardless, it is time to plan your spring training regimen - after all, the season never totally ends, does it?

If you want to take a week or two off, that's fine (I always found it hard to take 2 weeks off though). Soon, though, you need to get back to a workout routine. Now - it doesn't have to be an every day wrestling routine, and for many, it just isn't feasible. But you can at least join a spring club that meets twice a week, and go to some weekend tournaments.

For those playing a spring sport, you can still get on the mats. Most spring clubs meet in the evening, after a baseball or track practice.

For the serious wrestler, freestyle and greco needs to be part of your routine. The best wrestlers in the state are out there wrestling these styles in the spring. Many serious wrestlers may be on the mat as much as 4-5 times a week. My Club Simpson Elite provides a similar opportunity for the dedicated athletes.

Coaches' Newsletter:
Now is the time that wrestlers are divided into two groups: the Casual wrestler and the Hardcore wrestler. For your program to reach its highest level of success, you need as many of the Hardcore type as you can get. Simply said, the best wrestlers in the state are training in the spring.

Some athletes play a spring sport. They need to understand that they can still get on the mats. Most spring clubs meet in the evening, after a baseball or track practice. Now don't get me wrong: I know that you coaches are sometimes in a precarious position. You don't want to be telling a kid "don't play baseball", any more than we'd want a football coach to tell athletes "don't wrestle" when football is done. Plus - we don't want to step on toes. We want to respect other programs at our school. We have to understand that if our star wrestler is also playing baseball, then the in-season sport is the first priority. However - they can still get on the mats as they are able to. And if they are multi-sport athletes and want to excel in wrestling, they need to find a way to put in time on the mats in the spring. Now - for those athletes not playing a spring sport - hopefully they are hardcore athletes. For the serious wrestler, freestyle and greco needs to be part of the routine. The best wrestlers in the state are wrestling these styles in the spring. Many serious wrestlers may be on the mat as much as 4-5 times a week. My Club Simpson Elite provides a similar opportunity for the dedicated athletes, and there are other opportunities out there as well.

Getting athletes to understand what it takes to be successful, is a big part of growing your program. Finding a way to motivate them to do so is equally important.

Encouraging your athletes to be The Tough Guys (from June 2008)

In the athletes' newsletter for June, I wrote about what the elite athletes do. The following is a section of that article:

I can always tell the athletes that 'have it', from those who aren't quite on that level. When attending my Intensive Training Camp, those that 'have it', embrace the tough training and the mental and physical test that goes with it. This camp has been said to be the toughest camp in the nation - and many athletes don't want that kind of challenge. But those who do, recognize what it does for them and how it trains them for the future.

As coaches, these athletes are the most enjoyable to coach. So the trick is, how do we motivate more kids to take up the challenge?

First off, they need to see what is expected of them, and be motivated and encouraged to work at that level.

Next - Talk to your athletes about their goals. If they expect to do well, they need to understand what it means to do so. It means pushing when you're tired. Doing the extra things, such as clubs, morning running, and lifting. It means never being completely out of shape, in season or out of season. Athletes need to understand this: When they are the most tired, this is the best opportunity to improve. If they push through it and go hard, stay in their stance, stay disciplined with their position, they just made themselves better. When they get tired and back off, they just lost that opportunity.

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