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?