Coming Out of Retirement

[Bearhugger]

Just how wrestlers have been retired since middle school only to be on the mat this year for their senior season?

We got Oak Hill's Wykle and Parts Unknown's Masked Man.

Who else????

[Gator]

I don't know if he has wrestled in the past, but Indy's Sam Heath came out to wrestle his Senior year. I had the pleasure to meet Sam and he's an outstanding young man. Doing very well for his team also.

[Bearhugger]

I don't know if he has wrestled in the past, but Indy's Sam Heath came out to wrestle his Senior year. I had the pleasure to meet Sam and he's an outstanding young man. Doing very well for his team also.

The word is that he never wrestled before and came out for the sport. He is a senior.

One could take away from this story that maybe he wanted to be part of the good thing they have going one.

Some programs are a joke. You have schools with over 1,200 students and they cannot even get 5 wrestlers. I blame the adults.

You got football coaches discouraging kids from wrestling, despite West Virginia colleges and universities are not recruiting WV kids.

You got principals that do not push the success of sports and clubs in their schools.

You got parents that are doing whatever they are doing.

[reversal2nf3]

Hey Bearhugger, do you have any kids? You are trying to figure out why numbers are down.It has a lot to do with the sport of wrestling. Wrestling is a time consuming sport for parents and participants. Most parents don't have the time to sit for hours in a gym for a few matches. It can also be quite costly to be successful at this sport. Wrestling has to be learned with expierence and hours of repetition. Most kids nowadays and parents won't put the necessary time and effort required to be good at this sport.

[Truesouthfaninhunt]

" it can be quite costly to be successful in this sport"..." Wrestling has to be learned with experience"...
Huh???

[hurrmat1]

The reason numbers are down is due to the sport being too hard for today's kids. Mommy and Daddy cannot buy your way to the podium, it actually takes hard work and dedication to be good. The politics of the sport don't mean squat in a wrestle off, so even the poorest kid had the same shot at glory that the rich kid does. To be good requires a spine, it requires fighting through some things and facing your own demons.......kids don't want to do that today, and parents think it's mean to make them. That's why the numbers are down. It's sad. This sport has been great for my sons, both of them. It has been great to me, as a parent, watching my sons grow into men. Watching them deal with disappointment, loss, pain, sacrifice, and pushing on anyway. Then watching them with the victories they get, and seeing them learn the lesson that anything worth having is not free. I have seen parents throw good money after bad with every other sport under the sun, thinking their kid is the next NFL or NBA phenom. So I refuse to believe money is the issue. The issue is that the gratification is not instant, it requires work. Something that unfortunately many parents today (NOT ALL), are not willing to make their kids go through. Just my opinion.

[Bearhugger]

Hey Bearhugger, do you have any kids? You are trying to figure out why numbers are down.It has a lot to do with the sport of wrestling. Wrestling is a time consuming sport for parents and participants. Most parents don't have the time to sit for hours in a gym for a few matches. It can also be quite costly to be successful at this sport. Wrestling has to be learned with expierence and hours of repetition. Most kids nowadays and parents won't put the necessary time and effort required to be good at this sport.

No, I do not have kids. However, I was once a kid and I had parents. I recall what my parents did good and I recall where they fell short. I know why the numbers are down and you and some others have hit the nail on the head. Lack of effort and many of the kids today are a bunch of do nothings.

The irony is that the world is tougher now and kids are being raised to be weak.

I understand parents might not be able to sit for hours. The solution is for the parents not to go. It is better for a kid to wrestle without parents watching (many do) as opposed to parents keeping their kids out of wrestling because the parents don't want to sit in a gym.

It doesn't take a bunch of money to become good at wrestling. There is a misconception that kids need to go to camps and half a$$ learn 1,000 holds and then they never use them. I know! That was my problem back in my day.

Kids today have Youtube. They can learn techniques via the Internet. There are also training tips for wrestling regarding strength and conditioning.

I recall going to wrestling camp that was owned and ran by a 1960 Olympic champion. He was also the coach for Indiana University. He had IU wrestlers there helping teach. One was a NCAA champion.

I recall vividly that all of these college wrestlers said they use a single leg for takedowns, a stand up off the bottom and arm bars on top. For the average kid (whatever that is these days), they need to get good at a single leg, good at defending a shot (single/double), get good with a standup and develop something good to turn or at least grind their opponent with while on top. Nobody needs to waste time on a lateral drop. If a technique won't work on your toughest opponent, then you should not waste your time practicing it.

Schools these days seem to have open mat times in the off season. Kids can get together with team mates and wrestle. HIT THE WEIGHTS!!!!!!!!!
Too many kids these days are getting manhandled or hauled off on stretchers.

Perfect recent example. BJ Haynes/Ripley beating Mills/Huntington at the MSAC.

Haynes took Mills down a few times with either a single leg or stuffing Mills' shot and then spinning around. Regardless, Haynes had an answer while he was on his feet. Off the bottom, Haynes escaped with a stand up. On top, Haynes worked some arm bars. He never came close to turning Mills, but he grinded on him which ate up time and wore on Mills some. Haynes is a tank! He looks like a human bulldozer. The kid lifts weights and I am taking upon myself, he plays football. Haynes never got tired, he didn't make any mistakes and he kept moving. This strategy will win most kids all of their matches.

I think Mills might have traveled in the off season wrestling at tournaments out of state. I think he might have placed at some of the big well known tournaments.

Both Haynes and Mills are good wrestlers and I am sure they are good kids. I have respect for both.

Also at the MSAC, one match was lost at the very end. Wrestler A was trying to hold on to a 2 point lead. He then got a stalling point against him. The match continued in the same manner and his opponent hit him with a 4 point move in the final 30ish seconds of the match. Knowing 1,000 techniques, spending thousands of dollars on camps/clinics/super duper off season tournaments didn't play a role in this match. One kid wanted to win while the other kid was trying to hold onto the lead.

I also have become friends with a dad of one of WV's best wrestlers. He doesn't go to all of his son's matches. He has other responsibilities. He has other children. His son still goes and wrestles all over and kicks tail and takes names. However, this same dad goes every Sunday and opens the weight room for his son and whatever other wrestling team mates who want to come and better themselves.

Watch closely at the next wrestling event you attend. Are the close (keyword close) matches won because the winner uses a "flying lizard" or a "lateral snapmare"..........no! It comes down to who keeps moving, who is the aggressor, who makes fewer mistakes. All wrestlers have the resources in their own community to get better.

[SuperCracker]

Preach Bearhugger Preach!!!!!

[Bearhugger]

Preach Bearhugger Preach!!!!!

I shall and you go get "our" wrestler ready for championship combat!

[Bearhugger]

Another good example is Trapper Hays of Parkersburg.

He obviously hit the weights and had a very physical style. He would punish his opponents with armbars on top. His takedowns were either a single or double and he used an "alligatorish" roll a lot his senior year. Basic style, determined to win, never quit. He might have known 1,000,000 holds but he never used them. He didn't need them.

[Bearhugger]

Parents don't go sit in the classroom with their kids but they still send them to school.

Parents don't go off in the army with their kids, but they still join the service.

Parents don't go to the dorms and live with their kids while they attend college.

I have a good friend who has three kids. He didn't push them into any specific sport or hobby. He did tell them they HAD to always be doing something. This same friend/father made his oldest son run 30 minutes a day on the treadmill so he would not get fat and out of shape.

When my friend's kids would be given trophies for "participating", they would just throw them away. He said they didn't have room to save them and he raised his kids in a manner to where trophies for participating were not worth saving.

His oldest son went off to WVU (alone without mom and dad) and made a 4.0 in his first semester.

His other two kids are star athletes.

You reap what you sew is what they say.

[SuperCracker]

he will be ready Bearhugger I can promise you that.