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