I had the pleasure of attending the NUWAY nationals in Battle Creek last year with two of our very own Hartland Eagles. Both who happened to crush their competition and come home National Champions!!!!! During this tournament I watched many of the up and coming young stars in the country display high levels of technical skill, conditioning, and strength. I was definitely struck by how good so many of these "young kids" were.
Later, I watched a few high school matches on-line of nationally ranked wrestlers from St Johns and St Eds, prestigious wrestling schools from Michigan and Ohio respectively. While watching these matches I saw of course a high level of
technical skill, conditioning, and strength again. While this seems like it would be expected I was again struck by something. But this time it was about the differences in the four athletes I was watching.
My revelation was that these athletes all had very different styles and techniques in which they were proficient. I then realized that the same was true of the youth athletes I watched compete over the weekend. If their skill sets and proficiency's were so different then why were they all so successful. Are some athletes just physically gifted with super human abilities? There are one or two athletes in the country that meet that criteria. They are not the ones however that are always successful. The key commonality between them all, that separated them from a seemingly equally talented and also human competitors, was their confidence.
I am not talking about arrogance or unrealistic belief that they can not lose. I am talking about confidence in their skill set and abilities. I am talking about applying those skills in a bold application, resulting in a total onslaught of technically crafted and crisply executed techniques. These athletes hit every move hard and immediately when they saw an opening. They showed complete trust in what they had learned and that it would work on everyone they wrestled. The belief that you must change your style or use different moves when in tough matches can derail even the best athlete.
There are many axioms I think speak to the truth about success in wrestling. One is that a half-hearted attempt at a technique won't work on a wrestler that you are truly more skilled than, let alone a wrestler that is equal or superior to you. The second, speaks to the same ideal but is for me more to the point. "Don't Be Afraid To Be Great". Being afraid of losing will cause athletes to not try or build in excuses for failure. "I cut a lot of weight" or "His dad was a state champ so what do you expect". Being afraid of pain or getting tired will cause athletes to coast in practice or even a match. Athletes become afraid of winning because than people will expect them to practice harder or more often. You can be afraid that you won't be able to do other fun things if you "have to practice all of the time" to be able to beat that kid. There can be fear of setting a goal because then you can truly "fail" if you admitted to yourself that you wanted something hard to achieve. There will always be reasons to give up or to be o.k. with failure. Other people will line up to console you and tell you that your "excuse" is legitimate and that you shouldn't feel bad.
I have had success in my life and failure. I can tell you that you will never reach a goal that you do not set. Failure to meet a goal is not shameful in my book. Failing to meet a goal will hurt. That is OK. Disappointment is part of life. When ever a goal is meet or missed is the time to re-evaluate your goal and set a new one. It may take you on a new path or continue on the same one but choosing a path is crucial. You will go somewhere. Were you end up depends on where you try and go.
To bend a phrase a little. "The gate of success is narrow, but reach for it, because wide is the gate and broad the path of failure. Many will enter through it. Take the narrow path of success and enter through the narrow gate. There are only two gates. If you don't strive for success failure will find you anyway." The key is to be clear on what is important to you and set you goals wisely.
To all of our athletes going to the MYWA Regional and maybe State then Nationals, BELIEVE in what you know. What you have learned IS what you need to win. There are no secret moves that you need to learn. Hit every move with the CONFIDENCE that it is going to work. This gives you the best chance to win and do your best.
Good luck Hartland, "DONT BE AFRAID TO BE GREAT" Coach Trim.
