Ways for Parents/Staff to support high school wrestling programs

slewguy · August 09, 2015, 11:51:22 AM

What are some ways for parents and school staff to help support and grow the sport of wrestling in your high school? (K-12 program)

ramjet · August 09, 2015, 12:42:10 PM

Find examples of successful programs.

For most of them have a culture of wrestling and community support strong family foundations as well.

Think of those prgrams I love to use Coleman, Oconto Falls, Most recently W-B. They are a few fine examples of how community support wrestling and get after it.

Always impressed at Oshkosh on the Water little ole D3 Coleman fills a section of the stands.

Edgar my goodness the Sectional they are in they take up an entire section. They bring it man. Big time following and they support thier team. Granmdmas, grandpas ,aunts and uncles and parents and cousins and so on. They all show up to support family members. Family is most important to them.

Many many more examples and it takes allot of work and generations of success to make that happen.

Poor example would be our school my son was a favorite to qualify for State most people talked down about him said he was phsyco how hard he worked and they have better things to do than watch wrestling on Saturday. That's the other side of the coin. He had friends and class mates who stuck around to support him at sectionals but his teammates left and some did not even come. Those programs are defined for failure year after year. Not sure you can change that cultural of failure to be in favor of wrestling. But dual meets why would a person travel for an hour one way for two or three matches?

Social media is one heck of good outlet now I say start using it.

Next time you here a school or a UW wanting to cut program get on Social media and support those programs reign down the hammer of Thor upon those who look to cut this great sport. Support it by showing up at meets and tournaments. Heck write articles in the paper for the paper and submit them.

MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT WRESTLING.

MarkK · August 09, 2015, 02:42:28 PM

In this discussion I would also ask for ways for the WIAA to support parents who want to support their child's sports program. One way not to do that is to make conferences that stretch into two hour drives. It is ridiculous that they broke up conferences that were within 45 minutes and now make some teams drive up to 2 hours for a dual meet and they might get lucky if there are 8 matches. They have made it nearly impossible to engender parental let alone school support for athletic events that will take up to two hours driving time for a dual meet. One way to support high school programs is to dump the stupidity that reigns in assigning conferences and athletic programs. We have 3 conferences that our high school kids participate in depending on the sport. The community aspect of the athletic program is losing it's luster. And it may not all be the parents fault or the communities fault. School athletics has been given over to people who have over thought the process and in the process have created conferences that are not natural or even engender rivalry. I can't blame a parent who can't afford to drive 4 hours in a day to support their athletic team on a meet that their child may or may not get a match.

ramjet · August 09, 2015, 05:04:58 PM

that's precisely why I said in another thread drop the ridiculous rule of no contact in the off season.

Realignment to do triple duals will help with Attendence and consolidation of matches.

slewguy · August 09, 2015, 06:38:18 PM

The biggest negative to any sports program can be parents that speak negatively about the coach or other kids in the program. I have seen this ruin football and basketball programs in our school. Speak positively or remain quiet. If you really have an issue, talk to the coach in person-- don't blab your mouth in the community or at the dinner table in front of kids or parents!

]If you really want to be a coach-- fill out an application with the school district. Volunteer your time and find out what all goes into building a top level program.
Dedicate yourself to help coach and mentor the least skilled wrestlers on the high school team. Do all the little things for a coach, roll up mats, wash mats, put away equipment, etc.
RECRUIT! RECRUIT RECRUIT! Wrestling is a numbers game today-- you need to have your studs but you still need to have quality kids in all of the weight classes.
Speak positively in regards to the program!
Be a great role model in the community
Don't coach your kid from the stands]
If they attend a club--make sure that club coach knows his place during the high school season

ramjet · August 09, 2015, 08:20:30 PM

Quote from: slewguy on August 09, 2015, 06:38:18 PM
The biggest negative to any sports program can be parents that speak negatively about the coach or other kids in the program. I have seen this ruin football and basketball programs in our school. Speak positively or remain quiet. If you really have an issue, talk to the coach in person-- don't blab your mouth in the community or at the dinner table in front of kids or parents!

]If you really want to be a coach-- fill out an application with the school district. Volunteer your time and find out what all goes into building a top level program.
Dedicate yourself to help coach and mentor the least skilled wrestlers on the high school team. Do all the little things for a coach, roll up mats, wash mats, put away equipment, etc.
RECRUIT! RECRUIT RECRUIT! Wrestling is a numbers game today-- you need to have your studs but you still need to have quality kids in all of the weight classes.
Speak positively in regards to the program!
Be a great role model in the community
Don't coach your kid from the stands]
If they attend a club--make sure that club coach knows his place during the high school season

Interesting Slewguy is this what and why you feel numbers are down? Do you see this first hand or is this from coaches perspective? Just wondering.

littleguy301 · August 09, 2015, 08:55:42 PM

Actually I have seen what Slew is saying. Teams losing games at the dinner table rather than on the field, court or mat.

Having a coach that is bi-polaring can destroy a program and fast.

For parents it takes time, show your support over several years, be at off-season training, in season meets, willing to help out at all times, get to know the athletes, communicate with the athletes. Over time those athletes will see that you love the sport or are as supportive as one can be.

Also, I had a high school coach that I respected to the 10th degree. He didnt preach fitness he lived fitness. He would be in the weight room at 5 am working out. We would see him running on his lunch break. He ate right, went to bed early and was a physical marvel.

By the way this former coach is now 75 and still bikes 20 to 80 miles a DAY. Lifts weight 3 days a week and has a better body that most any high school kid I have seen in the past 5 years. I think in my hay day I never looked as good as he does now. Just incredible!

I call that lead by example, you preach it than you do it. As a coach I can tell the kids to lift weights but if I dont go in there and show what they need to do and actually do it, well those kids just are not going to by in.

If you tell the kids to wrestle hard and not let the ref make the bad call but as a coach you sit on the side and continuely bark at the ref about poor calls, guess what your going to get the wrestlers to do the same.

Hillbilly · August 10, 2015, 12:40:01 AM

You have to end the negative talk. Too often kids can get psyched out before an event even begins. I call it the culture of losing. Had never experienced it firsthand before moving here. Everyone talks about why kids from here can't be as good as kids from anywhere else. Instead of pursuing excellence and finding good things happening and building on them, they have an infinity of excuses as to why the other guys should be better.

Parents need to learn and understand how the pursuit of excellence works. Then they need to be supportive of their kids. Yelling at them isn't all that supportive. Cheering them on is nice. Talking up the positive things that happen in a match is great. Stay positive. Congratulate them on the moves they used to score points.

I've seen more negativity and not enough encouragement at the youth level. Too much tearing down and not enough building up of the kids. Just need more positive reinforcement on the good things kids do on the mat would help. Even the kid who finished last place scores some points in matches. Parents need to help that kid feel good about the points that were scored so the kid has some hope for next time. The kid can think I'm doing some things right if I learn a little more I can do a little better next time.