Wrestler of the week: Zach DeFraine

Zach has had a great start to his freshman year. Zach is now 13-3 heading into the MIT this weekend, including going 3-1 this past week in four dual meets.

Gilmore's Take: Cuyahoga fFa.ls & Westerville North

Two short days after a team mental melt down, we were faced with two big challenges in Falls and North. The big question on my mind was, which Medina team was going to show up. To my pleasant surprise we were fairly aggressive. We still have a long way to go, but it was nice to see so many of our wrestlers step up to the challenge. Even though we did not win the duals we were a lot more competitive in them. Several wrestlers are recognizing that they are more successful when they set the pace. I can tell them all day long, but until they believe, they will never fully commit to the aggressive style. Sometime we are too anxious to score, if we worry about setting the tone of the match, points will come. Force your opponent to wrestle hard for the entire six minutes. Most people are not willing attack for 6 straight minutes. When your opponent relaxes or makes a mistake, that is when the points will be put on the board.

Gilmore's Take: Brunswick & Lakewood

        Wrestling is a sport that gives you constant challenges, and if you are not prepared to meet those challenges then it is very obvious in a match.  Last night we were not ready for the challenge that was set before us.  we pride ourselves on being the more physical team and having the better endurance.  Instead of pushing the pace of the match and working to get our opponent out of position we waited to see what he was going to do to us.  When you wait and see what happens you are always one step behind and trying to play catch up. 
        Wrestling is a very mental sport.  You have to go into every match expecting to win.  It might not always workout in that way, but if you go into a match just hoping to win, chances are you are not going to be the one with your hand raised at the end.  If you have lost mentally before the match has even began, it is very easy to give up on your self during the match.  We gave up 9 pins yesterday in one dual, that is a lot of people giving up on themselves.  There is no shame in losing a match to someone who is better than you, but you should never just give someone a win.  Win or lose, you and your opponent should walk off the mat exhausted because you battled for 6 minutes.  The individual fight is what makes wrestling such a great sport.  There is a reason why wrestlers come across to be arrogant.  People often mistake confidence for arrogance.  To be a good wrestler you have to be confident in yourself
       

Gilmore's Take: Kilted Klassic

    At the completion of the this weekends wrestling, I find myself in the same place I was on Thursday; a little surprised and pleased.  It is hard not to be pleased when you walk away with a team title and 11 out of 12 wrestlers have winning records, but beyond that I am very happy with how our young team is becoming a true team.  This foundation of helping each other out, cheering each other on in the tough match, and teaching after matches is how we will continue to grow for the future. 
     As far as wrestling goes, I truly believe we out wrestled everyone there.  That doesn't mean we were the best wrestlers there, but we out worked everyone.  There were a lot of matches were we were losing at some point in the match or even for most of the match.  With our constant pressure and non-stop movement we were able to pull out victories or even pins.  I see us not panicking when we get scored on.  I see us continuing to wrestle and making things happen.  In this sport it is about who is willing to grind it out for 6 full minutes.  Most people are not willing to put the work in to be able to accomplish this.  This is where we are winning a lot of our close matches. 
      With that being said, we did make a lot of mistakes with our technique.  This is expected for a young team.  We need to focus hard on our technique this week and correct the mistakes that we are making.  We are now entering the tough part of our schedule.  We have a bunch of tough duals coming up and some tournaments where we will see some of the best kids in the state.  We can't be satisfied with a good week of wrestling.  We need to use this success as motivation to work even harder and continue having the goal of getting better every day.  We have a lot of the puzzle pieces in place, but we are a long way from having it completed.  Having the right attitude and mind set everyday will allow you to continue building on your progress.  Never be satisfied with what you have done, always look to improve and prepare for the next challenge that is set in front of you. 

Gilmore's Take: Battle of 18

    Last nights match was a roller coaster of a match.  It started off with a very young team wrestling like a young team.  We were wrestling a fairly experienced North Royalton team.  We let them control us, and put us into situations that we knew they were going to try to do.  We became a reactive team instead of an aggressive team.  At the end of the dual the all of the mistakes added up to a pretty bad loss.

    Things didn't look like they were going to get easier with the Highland match, after we watched Highland beat North Royalton.  To my surprise we came out looking like a new team.  We were still making mistakes, but we were aggressive and had a non-stop attack in every match.  Even matches we lost we fought hard.  We had several matches where our wrestlers stuck to the game plan and pulled out victories in the 3rd period.  My biggest surprise was how our freshman stepped up in this match.  We had 6 freshman in the line-up and won 4 of those 6 matches and 3 by pins.  This was a complete team win, and shows that what we are doing in the room is paying off.  We have to get to the point where we can do that in every match.  I saw a lot of growth in this team last night.  As long as we keep improving day by day and week by week, this team will be an exciting team to watch this year. 

Wrestler of the Week

Austin Provost

Austin had an oustanding week this week going 7-0 and being crowned champion of the Jeremy Ammons Kilted Klassic.  Along with being crowned champion his pin against Highland tied the dual meet and allowed us to secure the win.

Gilmore's Take: Bison Kick-Off Classic

     The Wrestling Bees opened up their season this past weekend at Beachwood High School.  Going into this event I was not sure what to expect, as I reflect now I am very pleased with the effort and results that we accomplished this weekend.  A lot of the technique and wrestling philosophy that we have been teaching was put into action.  With that being said, we are not anywhere near where we need, or want to be.  We did make mistakes and we will continue working on correcting those mistakes to become better wrestlers.
      This was a great tournament to get our feet wet and experience some of the situations that have been discussed in practice.  Now each wrestler can relate to these situations that we have been practicing.  They will have a better understanding on how to improve it in the room.  Our goal this year is to be a relentless wrestler.  When we did this we were very successful.  When we relaxed we were put into situations that we did not want to be in.  James Duke did a great job of this during his Revere match.  James wrestled the Revere heavyweight twice this weekend.  The 1st time they wrestled James kept constant pressure on this head, and made him so tired that he started making mistakes.  James was then able to capitalize on those mistakes and won in overtime.  They then wrestled again for 5th place.  This time the Revere wrestler tried to change his style of wrestling because he did not want to go through another match like the 1st one.  This time the Revere wrestler was more aggressive, but not under control and James was able to secure a pin.
     Over all I am very pleased with our performance this weekend, we wrestled well, we supported each other through every match, and we became better wrestlers as the day went on.

Technique of the Week

What Time of Wrestler Are You?

With the wrestling season just a couple days away, I thought it would be a great time to look within and decide what type of wrestler you are going to be this year. Are you going to be "a wrestler", or are you going to be "someone who wrestles"?  Even though they sound similar, they are very different and have different expectations. 

 

 The guy that "Wrestles"  hopes to win,  but is not going to do a lot extra to get there.  The "Wrestler"  will expect to win and is going to do what it takes to get to that point, no matter what the starting skill level is.  Everyone wants to win, but few are willing to put in the work in that it takes to be successful. 

 

You can walk into any wrestling room in the nation and see both types of wrestlers.  They are very easy to spot out.  The one who "wrestles" tries to just get through practice, and the "wrestler" tries to own the practice. The athlete who just wrestles tries to blend into the practice and doesn't want to be noticed, he is just going through the motions.  The "wrestler" is always pushing himself to the limits and is always trying to make corrections to become better.  The wrestler is willing to listen to critique and will make the little changes necessary to become better. 

 

 Not every "Wrestler"  will become a state qualifier, state placer, or state champion, but the "Wrestler" will walk away from this sport with a whole lot more than the athlete who just "Wrestles".  The discipline, work ethic, and determination that the "Wrestler"  develops throughout his wrestling career will stick with him for the rest of his life. 

 

 No matter which wrestler you choose to be, know that the two do not cross over.  Wrestling is the truest sport.  You truly get out of it what you put in.  The athlete that just "wrestles" can and will win matches, but they can not be too disappointed if they lose because they have not put in the the time and effort it take to be a successful wrestler.  The "Wrestler" can and will lose, but they can walk away knowing they are doing what it takes to get better.  They will learn form the mistakes made in that match and will be become a better wrestler because of it.

 

 

2012-2013 Practice Schedule

Why My Kids Will Wrestle by Cael Sanderson

1. Foundation sport. Wrestling is the perfect foundation for all other sports. Wrestling is balance, agility, hand –eye coordination, flexibility, positioning, strength, speed, explosiveness, footwork, hustle, mental focus, mental toughness, core strength, concentration, competition, endurance and fun!! Wrestling will make our youth better at all other sports.
2. Fun. Wrestling is a game. It is the most basic and instinctual game. Toddlers wrestle. The sport of wrestling is the ultimate competition where two individual take their individual strengths and match them up against each other. Wrestling is a battle of wits, technique, speed, agility, flexibility, and toughness. No two wrestlers are alike. Fun stuff!!
3. Exercise. Wrestling is one the world’s most premier physical fitness sports. Wrestling develops strength and endurance. Wrestling is physical fitness. Poor health is a major issue in our society today and wrestling will help develop a love of exercise and physical fitness in our youth.
4. Self-confidence. Very little is accomplished without self-confidence. Wrestling teaches self-confidence like nothing else I know outside of religion and knowing that you are a child of God. The most insecure people have the most difficult time learning from others. The confidence comes from everything that it takes to be an active wrestler: hard work, self-improvement, sense of accomplishment, camaraderie of team, 1 on 1 aspect, and self-defense to name a few.
5. Self-defense. Although wrestling is not commonly considered a “martial art,” it is the #1 base discipline in the world of MMA. Wrestlers know how to defend themselves and neutralize threats quickly. Wrestling is controlling an opponent. If you want your kids to know how to defend themselves, put them in wrestling.
6. Humility. Nothing teaches humility better than a 1-on-1 sport. Winning and losing in a 1-on-1 setting brings humility. There is nowhere to hide and no one to blame but yourself. All wrestlers will lose at some point and doing so in these conditions teaches humility. Hard work and discipline are two keys to success in wrestling and both teach humility.
“…I learned a lot about taking responsibility for my actions when I wrestled for 4 years…All professional athletes ought to spend a year wrestling. It teaches you something, You get pinned; you can’t blame the coach. You can’t blame your teammates. The guy you are looking for is staring back at you in the mirror” –former Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams
7. Respect. The challenges of being a wrestler teach you to respect yourself. After you learn to respect yourself you will learn to respect others. You learn to respect your team mates as well as your opponents. You learn to listen to and respect your coach. After you learn to respect others you are able to learn from them, a life lesson.
8. Self-discipline. Wrestling is discipline. Repetition of drills, hard work, weight management, and continually doing the best thing instead of the easiest thing is discipline. Wrestling requires postponing instant “wants” to gain something more valuable long term. It takes discipline and focus to reach goals.
9. Roadmap to success. Wrestling is the perfect example of what it takes to be successful in life. Goal setting, hard work, determination, focus, love of challenges, love of competition, confidence, being coachable, mental toughness, discipline, creativity, team work and accountability.
10. Toughness. Wrestling is a physical, contact sport. You learn that sometimes you just get poked in the eye. Physical and mental toughness go hand in hand. You learn that a little pain or struggle is part of the process of doing great things.

Two New Coaches look to Build on Tradition

We would like to welcome two new coaches to our program this year; Matt Meuer and Kenny Hatcher.

Matt is a 2010 graduate of Medina, where he earned State Qualifier Honors.  He then went on to wrestle at Ashland University for two seasons.  Matt will now be coaching with Tim Flanagan at A.I. Root. 

Kenny Hatcher wrested at John Carroll University and then coached at Twinsburg for several seasons.  Kenny played a huge role in Twinsburg's upper weight success in the last couple of years.  He recently moved to Medina and we are lucky to have in join our high school staff. 

Both Matt and Kenny have a lot to offer our wrestlers, and will help our program to continue building champions on and off the mat. 

Gilmore's Take: Pre-Season Training

        With the summer ending so is the wrestling off-season. Everyone is back in school and we are now full speed into the wrestling pre-season.  This is the time of the season where you need to start setting your goals and working towards those goals.  There is only five weeks until the 1st day of season.  That is not a lot of time, but a lot can be accomplished in that short time.  This is the time of the season where you should be excited and very motivated to get better.  The pre-season is for getting into shape, getting into the weight room and getting back on the mat.
          Every wrestler knows that there is a huge difference between wrestling shape and running shape, but we need to start running to get our lungs prepared for some very difficult mat time.  wrestling is all about pushing your body to the limits and then pushing some more.  We need to spend the 1st couple weeks of season working on becoming better wrestlers.  If you enter the season out of shape you will be focusing your energy trying to get your wind instead of focusing on wrestling skills. 
          Just as important as conditioning is lifting weights.  I can't count how many times I have had a wrestler walk of the mat after losing and talk about how strong their opponent was, but yet when we are in the weight room they are no where to be found.  You don't have to have special skills, or be naturally gifted to be a strong athlete.  You just have to be willing to dedicate yourself to working at it.  When you have two wrestlers that are equal, the wrestler who is in better shape and is stronger will always win the match.  These are two advantages that only you can gain for yourself.  No one can give it you, these are parts of the sport that you earn, but once they are earned they will take you a long way.
      The 3rd and final stage of pre-season is mat time.  This is the time where you have to go to open mats, open tournament and hit those last minute camps.  lacing up the wrestling shoes now and getting your body's timing back will allow you to hit your moves more naturally once season starts, instead of having to think about them be for you attempt it.  That split second difference is the difference between hitting the move successfully and being stopped. 
      Now many of you might hit the mats and lift, but leave out the conditioning. Some of you might lift and run, but find an excuse not to go to open mats or to miss a pre-season tournament.  The one that you sacrifice now will be very obvious come regular season.  The best part of wrestling is that you don't have anyone to rely on during the match.  Win or lose it is on your, and how much you have prepared.  Wrestling is not a sport you do because it is fun.  Wrestling is a sport that you do because it challenges you every day, and after 6 minutes when your hand gets raised you realize all of that hard work, dedication, and extra time spent was all worth it.  Everyone goes to practice, to be a champion you have to do the extra.  The pre-season is here, and now is the time to put in the extra time. 



2012 Medina Wrestling Spirtwear

Letter From Alumni Ryan Hornack

Everybody has the thoughts of what if this happened or what if that happened, it is possibly the most mind numbing thing to have going on in your brain. The first reason that it is horrible to think about what if this happened is because in reality you are still living in the past and cant think of a way to move forward because you regret things that now wont change. Second of all thinking in this mentality causes you to suffer in the “now” and hinders you to meet new people because you still want to be with that certain person. Also day dreaming about how close you were to getting your goal or dream but actually not accomplishing it is just as bad because you are dwelling on the negatives and wishing you would have done stuff differently to succeed. We all know this as experience and we can learn from it, which is what we should do about it. But yet we desperately want what we cant have and regardless if we had it or lost it or was so close to getting it nothing is going to change the end result in the present day and therefore you have to strive past that mentality and go for bigger and better things. The hardest part about this situation is moving on, because we were so accomplished in high school or in college that we tend to get scared and simply not take risks. We simply do not take risks because we are scared of failure, but the hell with it. We all have failed once or twice and many of us several times. What makes the human mentality so cool is that failure drives us to make it better and get what we want, or somewhere down the road, capture our goal or dream.  Don’t feel as if you are unmotivated because that is not the case youre just scared to take the chance to challenge yourself again to accomplish another goal god has place in front of you,  and don’t want to retake the steps to do the hard work and sacrifice it takes.. it is all worth it in the end if you just take that first risky step.

 

 

2012-2013 Schedule

Stinger Wrestling Club order form

Stinger Wrestling Club

Off-Season Workout Schedule

Lifting

Ø  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Open Mats

Ø  Tuesdays & Thursdays 6-8 (Samsons)

Ø  Sundays 6:00-7:30 (Stinger Wrestling Club)

Tournaments-

Ø   May 20^th – Ohio Duals ( New Albany HS) $25

Ø  June 2^nd- BW Duals (Baldwin-Wallace College) $25

Ø  June 20-23- Kent State Dual Camp $140

Ø  July 14^th- BW Duals (Baldwin-Wallace College) $25

Ø  August 4^th-BW Duals (Baldwin-Wallace College) $25

Gilmore's Take:Districts

     I am very proud of all 5 wrestlers that competed this weekend at the district tournament.  Each wrestler was put into a situation where they could have quit, but they found the courage to fight through and advance to the next round.  It started off with JJ facing a number 1 seed in the opening round and defeating him.  Zach Getto was injured early in the week and could barely walk.  Despite all of his pain he fought through the tournament with a 2-2 record.  Mike Kopacz opened his district tournament with a loss and battled back to win 2 consecutive matches.  Ryan Hornack found his way to the semi-finals before a couple questionable calls sent him to the consi-semi's.  Ryan was quick to regroup and won his go to match.  Matt Hammer also made his way to the semi-finals were he lost a very tough 4 overtime match.  Things did not get easier for him in his to go match.  Matt found himself losing his consi-semi match by 3 with less than a minute left.  Matt fought to earn an escape, a takedown and back points all within the last 30 seconds to win his match and qualify for the state tournament.        
     Not everyone's goals were met this weekend, but everyone can hold their heads up high and say they left everything on the mat.  In both wins and losses each one of our wrestlers walked off the mat knowing they battled.  In life as well as wrestling it is not always the end result that is important.  The journey often defines us and makes us who we are.  The journey that these young men went through was a tough one, but it is also one that they will remember and hopefully look back on as a meaningful one.

Gilmore's Take: Sectional Tournament

We have talked for many weeks about peaking at the right time, and about reaching goals.  I think that we did a good job of this at the Sectional Tournament.  I feel that for the most part, win or lose, that our guys fought hard the whole tournament.  Not everyone reached their goal, but that wasn't because of lack of effort.  Reflecting back on the season, and looking at the growth that we made this year is pretty remarkable.  I also feel that the Sectional Tournament was also a motivator to many of our underclassmen, that did not reach their goal of moving on.  I could see it in their eyes and in their actions that they were not satisfied.  This unsatisfying feeling will motivate them to work this off-season, so that they have the opportunity to reach their goals next year.   As for our 5 guys that qualified, I feel that they wrestled a great tournament, and have put themselves in a great spot to advance to the State Tournament.  Our goal has been to get better every week.  We will work on that again this week, and see how many wrestlers we can qualify for the State Tournament. 

Gilmore's Take: What Does Tournament Time Really Mean?

     With the conclusion of the NOC Tournament, we closed the door on the 2011-2012 regular season and opened the door to the 2012 tournament series.  Sectionals, Districts and States means something different to every wrestler.  To some it means an end to a long and grueling season.  For others it is a chance to make a name for themselves.  For a few, it is a chance to be mentioned in the talk of Ohio wrestling greats. 
     In the next three weeks there will be a lot of highs and lows.  It is not always the best technical wrestler who advances to the next round.  The wrestler that is able to block out injuries, pressures, nerves and can wrestle to his top ability will be the one who wins those tough close matches.  In the tough matches there is always a breaking point and a breaking out point.  The individuals that make names for themselves are the ones that come face to face with that breaking point and battle through it.  Wrestling is 90% mental, we work all year long to develop mental toughness.  Now is the time to show how mentally tough you are. 
     You should not look at Sectional, Districts, and States as a time to be nervous, and hope you win.  To excell through these three winner takes all tournaments you have to be excited, prepared to battle and most importantly have fun. Now it is time for you to take what you have learned all season, put it together, and enjoy competing.  These fianl three weeks are all about competition, those who step up to the challenge, win or lose, will be able to walk away with their heads held high. 

Gilmore's Take: NOC Tournament

     Tournaments are always an emotional roller coaster.  We knew going into the NOC Tournament that it was going to be close, but we were very capable of winning another NOC Title.  Through out the two days of competition we had some very exciting wins and some very disappointing losses.  It was a very tight race all the way through, and  at the end of the day we just didn't get the job done. We were 5 1/2 points away from our 4th straight conference crown.  Looking back over the tournament there are so many places we could have made up 5 1/2 points, it is literally the difference of one or two more wins in the tournament somewhere. 
     With the disappointment of losing the title we have to find the positive in this event.  We had several wrestlers greatly improve on specific areas of their style.  We also had two wrestlers avenge losses on state ranked opponents. The extra time spent in the room is starting to show for a few of our wrestlers, and they are setting themselves up to peak in the next few weeks. 
  

Gilmore's Take: Cuyahoga Falls

Great win last night!  Overall as a complete team this was the best dual meet that we have wrestled all year. We did a great job of losing small and winning big.  It was great to see that some of last nights biggest heroes were some of the guys who have not had the success and glory throughout the whole season.  That shows me we are growing as a team and as individuals.  Even though not everything went as planned, we did what we had to do to win.  We have corrected a lot of small mistakes that we have been making and our progress showed in each match last night.  We are now entering the part of the season where we have to start peaking.  It is now tournament time, starting next week with the NOC and then moving on to sectionals, districts, and states.  Each week the competition gets better and the pressure builds.  Just like the tournaments we need to get better and more confident each week.  The final stretch is here, we as coaches will help make your final preparations  for the journey and guide you to the path of your goal.  It is up to you to accept those preparation challenges and fight to accomplish those goals.

Gilmore's Take: Josh Hephner Memorial Tournament

Last week we took a long look at our individual weaknesses, and focused on trying to make them our strengths.  It is easy to continue to work on what you are good at, or what comes easy for you, but champions are always trying to improve.  Even though we did not win every match and we still made some of the same mistakes, I saw an improvement in these areas.  I saw that in a lot of the matches that we lost, we are more competitive.  I also saw that we won more of the close matches.  This was a good building block for the last stretch of the season.  Many wrestlers saw some success and how little changes can make the difference.  We need to continue working on our weaknesses and build them into our strengths for the final stretch of the season. 

Gilmore's Take: Hudson

Going into this dual we knew it was going to be a tough match.  On paper it looked like it was going to be 7 wins for each team, with 3 of those matches being swing matches.  Bonus points were going to win this match.  Both teams earned 3 pins, and a tech.   Unfortunately, we lost the swing matches.  We are improving on our technique, but today when push came to shove when we got shoved we folded too many times.  We lost several matches that we were winning.  To truly be able to compete you need to be able to close out the win.   You can't slow down your pace and try to hold on.  If you just try to hold on you will always get beat.  On the opposite hand, we can't panic when we are losing or in a close match.  when you panic in a match you stop wrestling and just try to hold on.  Once again when you just hold, you lose position and it always ends bad.  Some of us are going into matches afraid to lose.  You can't go into matches worried about winning or losing.  You have to go into matches looking to just score points.  If you get scored on, who cares.  Build back into position and start working to score.  If you are always working to score points, you will never be out of a match.  If you are so worried to lose the match that you shut down, you will never win the close matches.  90% of wresting is mental.  If you can change your mindset to focus on the small picture instead of the large picture you will become a better wrestler. 

Gilmore's Take: Brunswick

     Last nights come from behind win was great!  What was even better for me, was the fact that after the match individual wrestlers were coming up to me and asking if they battled in their match.  That means it is on their mind, and they are focusing and trying to implement what we are teaching in the room.  Even though we gave up some pins by being out of position, now that we are "competing" in the matches the small mistakes will be easy to correct.  It was fantastic to see our more experienced wrestlers step up to the challenge that was set before them and conquer it.  Being down 36-12 with only 5 matches left is a huge deficit to overcome.  This is a match that would have slipped away from us a few weeks ago.  Mental toughness is a key component to being successful in wrestling.  Once you have confidence and a never give up attitude, techniques practiced in the room start to find their way into the matches.  This was a great step in the right direction. We now have to use this momentum to motivate us in the room to keep competing and perfecting technique. 

Gilmore's Take: M.I.T.

     With the M.I.T. in the books, it is now time to reflect on this fantastic event.  As expected there were many ups and downs throughout the tournament.  As a whole I believe that we made many improvments.  I also believe that this tournament was an eye opener for many, if not all of our wrestlers. We talk a lot about "battling" or "being competive in matches", until you see top quality competition that can be sometimes hard to understand.  Everyone had at least one match where they wrestled someone who was more physical or constantly in their face making it hard to wrestle their match.  These are the matches where we need to still improve.  Matt Hammer did a fantastic job of this in his semi-final match, against the state champ from Michigan.  The Michigan wrestler attacked Matt right away with double underhooks and tried to push Matt around to throw him.  Matt battled for position and took his opponents agressivness into his own takedown.  Sometimes, as in this match, winning that 1st battle can set the tone for the whole match, and you can start to mentally break your advesary.
    As competiton increases so does the difficulty of capitalizing on scoring opportunities. When you can frustrate your opponent and get them off balance, then scoring opportunities present themselves more often.  The best way to do this is to combine handfighting with foot movement.  Too often we get caught doing one or the other, but not both together.  This is a skill that can only be impoved on in the practice room, it won't just show up on match day.  We are getting better at it, but we are still not where we want to be.  Everyone is always motivated after a loss or a poor performance to improve on these skills, but what is more important is to still be motivated to improve on them the following days and weeks in the practice room.  By continuing to improve on these two skills we will be able to "battle" and be "competitive" in every match.  Once you learn how to compete, you can win any match you are in.