Muscle over technique
- Thread starter DCHawkeye51
- Start date
You forgot the wink emoji.
Lots of different tools can make a great (or elite) wrestler. Balance, flexibility, strength, length (leverage, and the knowledge/ability to use it), mat sense, endurance, set-ups, etc., etc. Most elite wrestlers have several of these things. But, the one thing all great and elite wrestlers have is confidence.
In my opinion, wrestling is 83% (or more) mental. If you step on the mat doubting yourself in any way, or are in awe of your opponent, you've lost already. You have to believe that you're the best, and can do anything. If you're worried about your sore knee, or how hard your cut was, or the hostile crowd, or your opponent's great duck-under, you're not focused on what you need to be. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will believe in you. If you're worried about not giving up points instead of scoring your own, your mind is in the wrong place. Great scramblers never panic. They work themselves into places where they are comfortable, and they don't give up. That is a mindset as well.
I think Gable was a master of understanding where his athletes' heads were, and in most circumstances, getting the most out of them. That is rare in a coach, and why few (in any sport) have achieved that level of success.
A lot of athletes in all sports are graduating H.S. at 19, or even 20 years of age these days. I know some of them were intentionally held back, or started late for athletic reasons, but I think most were probably more benign reasons. My youngest son was the smallest kid in his preschool at 4 years old. His teachers said he needed to socialize more; he was a loner who kept to himself and did his own thing. When I went to Kindergarten Round-up, and expressed that to the lady there, she said maybe he needed a year to mature socially because he hadn't been around enough different kids. She said to think of it as a Redshirt year. At age four, he hadn't shown any interest in any sport yet, and showed no signs he ever would. We made the decision to hold him back based solely on his size and emotional maturity. I'm sure many others made similar decisions. My son ended up physically maturing pretty early and was way ahead of most kids academically. He was offered multiple times to skip a grade, but once he had a lot of friends, he wanted to stay with them. He started in sports in 7th or 8th grade (we were sure he was destined to be a band nerd), and he worked hard at them, but never really excelled at any. He turned into a very well-rounded man whom we never regretted starting late.
I don’t have all the inside knowledge on who’s a better option between Dake, JB, Nolf, etc.; I’m just ready for the next chapter and getting the Hawks back to the top.
Not sure what I was looking at. You and @CradleKing26 are correct. I just looked at the scores and rankings before posting too. Lol
Scary, I'm not that freaking old.
