What Are You Going to Do?

The beauty of wrestling and one of the reasons some find it a bit tough to consider participating in is that each match is an extremely intense one-on-one battle. It’s a, sometimes brutal, relentless, back and forth, physically demanding, seemingly life or death struggle. While lasting only minutes it demands all you have. One wrong decision or faltering might lead to disaster. Pinned…counting ceiling tiles! No points for your team, SIX for theirs! Total devastation! Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide! Hours of practice culminating in failure. There is no one to point the finger at. No one dropped your perfectly thrown pass or made the error on the throw to home plate. It was you…score or scored on, won or lost. What are you going to do? Blame your coach? (He should have taken Top!) Blame the ref? (That was 2!!) Call your mom? Complain about needing better partners in the wrestling room? In the end it’s all on YOU! So, what are you gonna do? Cry about it or get to work?

The smart wrestler who has learned to take the right lessons from each practice, drill, match, coach’s or parent’s sermon always should come to the conclusion that there is no one to blame…even himself. Blame is beside the point. Blame has nothing to do with it. The answer must be found though. The question is what needs to be changed and how will I do it? Figure that out, get to work and improve. Very simple. This is what can be learned from wrestling, incremental improvement through practice. The smart wrestler, win or lose, walks off the mat wiser and better for the experience. Continuous improvement…there’s always more to learn.

A focused and coachable wrestler will also learn that a coach, parent, teammate or even a videotape can be the key objective view needed to help analyze and find that next area to work on. The thing about wrestling is there will always be something more to improve, some aspect of the sport to understand better, a strategy or tactic to master. One thing for sure is there will be plenty of people to help but at the match when you hit the mat, it is all on you.

So, what are you going to do?

What Can We Learn From Wrestling?

Is it possible that a sport with armbars, cradles and double legs can teach us anything about life? Is there anything to be learned counting down the seconds in a neck bridge while your opponent is trying to capture the pin in the last seconds? Some might use the thought of a neck bridge as a reason to avoid the sport of wrestling, others know that there are valuable life lessons to be learned on the mat.

Mike Riordan, an ex-college wrestler, HS coach and sports writer for the Bloody Elbow and Intermat, recently wrote about how wrestling teaches us perseverance. Here is an excerpt:

The beauty of wrestling lies in the precious lessons it teaches us about life. In wrestling we learn to deal with extreme pain and heartbreak, and to keep on going. When I was coaching, I remember a conversation I had with an athlete I coached after he quit at the end of a match to get eliminated at a big tournament. I asked him why he gave up.  He said, "I didn't want to give up Coach, but he kept punching me in the nuts, you and the ref couldn't see."

I responded, "I understand, and he shouldn't have done that, but remember, one day life is going to punch you in the nuts a million times harder than that kid, and you won't have the option of lying there on the mat."

Using this moment to impart one of wrestling’s greatest lessons was pure coaching genius!

While no one likes to see their favorite wrestler loose a match, everyone wants them to succeed off the mat, where it really counts. Surviving a cradle or holding off a pin in the final seconds can help prepare us for real life trials and challenges.

Why Wrestle? Part 1

When the sport of wrestling was put in “wrestling purgatory” last February, many former and current wrestlers and coaches attempted to articulate why the sport should be saved by the International Olympic Committee. Some of these posts were humorous, others more introspective. All of them have been thought provoking. Regardless of your own experience with the sport, these pieces provide a good framework to introduce our sport to others, including the parents of potential wrestlers.

There is a piece on the FILA website written by Alexander Karelin. The name was not a familiar one but his picture next to his piece showed that he must have been one beast of a wrestler. Some of you might know Alexander better by his nickname “the Russian Bear.” Come to find out, the Russian Bear does have a few credentials…he went undefeated in international competitions for thirteen years, winning twelve European, nine World Championships, and three Olympic Games. The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles named Karelin the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of the 20th century. Pretty tough guy, right?

Looking at this monumental 6-feet-4-inches tall man, one might think he’s always been a wrestler, though he took up the sport relatively late – at the age of 13 – and didn’t enjoy it at first. At 15, when Alexander competed in a junior tournament in his native city of Novosibirsk, his right leg snapped. “My mother cried,” Karelin recalled. “She burned my wrestling uniform and insisted I quit. But as I recovered, I felt that I couldn’t leave the sport to which I’d ‘given’ my leg. Wrestling made me self-sufficient,” he said.

Wrestlers sometimes have unfairly gotten the reputation of being a bunch of thugs or knuckleheads, of being more brawn than brains.  Looking at Karelin’s profile picture the same might be said about him. But reading his piece, you definitely see another side of Karelin. He references classic literature and poetry. He is eloquent and articulate, albeit, brief. He talks about how wrestling give purpose and confidence to teen-agers, how it helps them set goals, teaches them to respect others and demand more of themselves. Character traits all parents hope their children will develop to carry them happily through life.

Mostly though, Karelin shows us that the wrestler cannot be gauged by his outward appearance. It’s what is in his heart and mind that make a true wrestling champion.

Please read his entire piece on the FILA website.

http://www.fila-official.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1059%3Aa-rhetorical-question--why-wrestling&catid=60%3Aactualite&Itemid=100235&lang=en

Note: This will be an on-going series. Email bulletmatclub@gmail.com if you would like to be a guest blogger and write a piece about the benefits of wrestling.

Ready To Go

The Bullet Mat Slap has awakened and is ready to go for the 2013-2014 Season.

Bullet Wrestling has had a lot to celebrate since the last post on March 6, 2013. Three days later Bullet Wrestling had its second state champ, Peter Renda and Adam Mackie, having lost a close semi-final match, brought home 3rd. These achievements had both the school and community beaming with pride. Following up his 500th win earlier in the season, Coach Sam Lovello was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in April, 2013. Bullet Wrestling, having added several more entries to its fine history, appears to have no interest in living on its laurels. As we head toward the start of the 2013-14 season we look forward to the accomplishments of present and future Bullet wrestlers.

On September 8, 2013 the wrestling community celebrated the IOC’s vote to keep wrestling in the Olympics through 2024. It was a bitter sweet victory but there is a bigger lesson here that the Bullet Wrestling community should reflect upon.

Much has been written about the arrogance of FILA and how it may have led to the February decision to eliminate wrestling as a core sport. The new FILA president, Nenad Lalovic said, “I don't blame the IOC. The guilt is only ours.” The Serb said it became clear that FILA had failed to modernize the sport and had fallen out of touch with the IOC. "That was the best shock therapy,'' Lalovic said. “When you fall into such a crisis, you either die or you recover. We recovered.''

In the end, wrestling not only recovered but is stronger than before. FILA revamped its structure, giving women and athletes a role in decision making. It added two weight classes for women. It adopted rule changes to make the sport easier to understand and more fun to watch, and to reward more aggressive wrestling. During this campaign FILA made a monumental effort to promote their sport through social media (Save Olympic Wrestling and Take A Stance campaigns). Join 100,000 FILA facebook fans and follow the newly created World Wrestling Rankings. You’ll be beaming with USA pride when you see Jordan Borroughs at the top.

Today, with only 64 days until the first day of high school wrestling, it is hard to imagine the Bullet Wrestling tradition not continuing. I am sure FILA thought the same prior to February. In an age of dwindling high school funds, let’s not assume all is well. We need constant and increased support for our high school wrestlers. More fans and more funds are needed to sustain our storied history. Everyone can help. Mark this website as a favorite. Be a guest sports writer here to help define what makes wrestling different than other sports. Like the Bullet Wrestling fan page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Come to Bullet Wrestling matches. Tell our school board how wrestling has made a difference in your life. Most of all, when you see a Bullet Wrestler, whether young or old, welcome them into the Bullet Wrestling Community.