It Takes a Little More to be a Champion

     As we enter into the week of districts I find it very difficult to make the transition from a competitive coach to a spectator.   As I have had a couple days to reflect on the events that happened during sectionals and the rest of the season it became clear to me that it is not what we did during the season, but rather what we did not do during the off-season that  left us wanting more.  Not that we deserved more, but left us wanting more.  Now, this lack of off-season work was not due to the lack of opportunity, but rather a lack of participation.  There were open mat opportunities 2-3 days a week, lifting 4 days a week, with tournaments and camps throughout.  Unfortunately, these opportunities were not taken advantage of.  I would see the the same 2-3 people at open mats, lifting, or tournaments and get the same excuses from everyone else. 
     If you look at the Wadsworth's and the Brecksville's, where everyone on there team is competitive, it  is no secret how they got that way.  They put in a lot of dedication and time.  I would see them at the camps I worked and at the tournaments, along with the various open mats I would attend.  They are out there as a team getting better.  You can not expect to beat the competition that is working 11 months a year to get better when you are only working during the season.  It takes a little more to be a champion.  Not only does working in the off-season prepare you technically for the next wrestling season, it prepares you physically and mentally.  The wrestling season is a long hard grind.  If you have not prepared your body physically through weight training and wrestling it will not hold up through the season.  This is part of the reason why we had so many injuries this year.  Our bodies were not prepared to make it through the grind of the season. 
     This is where the excuses have to stop.  If you want to get to that next level and be successful at this great sport, you have to make a commitment to reach your goals.  Being a champion does not happen by chance, it happens by sacrifice and hard work. This off-season will determine what kind of team we will have next season.  I need to see a commitment from now to next November.  This is the time to be self motivated to evolve into the best competitor you can be.  There is no secret to success.  Success is earned it is never given.  To have success you must have Desire, Dedication and Determination.  Most people have the desire, they lack the dedication and determination.  Don't be like most people.  Your success story starts now!

Wrestler of the Week: Danny Gannon

Danny went 6-0 this week with 5 pins and did not have a point scored on him.  Danny started his week off with a pin at the Hudson dual and continued his winning ways throught he Bedford Pool Tournament where he pinned his way into the finals.  Danny then took the Title with a 7-0 victory.  Danny's record is now 17-5 on the season. 

Gilmore's Take: Bedford Tournament

With 5 starters out of the line-up this weekend for the Bedford Pool Tournament, we knew that this tournament was going to be about individual accomplishments and not so much about where we end up as a team.  As individuals we wrestled pretty well.  6 of our 9 wrestlers placed, and we had 3 finalist with 2 champions.   The bright spot for me was us winning the close matches.  As inexperienced wrestlers many times the match is pin or be pinned.  This weekend we won several 1 point matches, a couple come from behind matches, and 2 over time matches.  Those are the matches you want to win, and the ones that are fun to watch.  The more tough matches you win, the greater confidence you have.  This sport is a very mental sport.  A wrestler with confidence is a hard wrestler to beat.  On the other hand a wrestler that doubts himself is easy to beat.  As soon as 1 thing doesn't go their way, they have mentally been beat.  Then it is only a matter of time until they are beat on the mat as well.  A few wrestlers took losses or did not finish where they wanted to finish.  The key to improving from this experience is remembering that feeling and bringing it into the room to motivate you improve on your weaknesses.  Sometimes wrestlers have too short of a memory.  You don't want to focus on that loss and have it bring you down, but you need to remember that feeling and truly not want to feel that way again.  That is motivation to bring yourself to a new level.  When you hate losing more that you like winning, then huge changes can be made.

     We know have 10 days until our next competition.  We are going to take these 10 days and focus on improving our technique and improving on our mental toughness.  We have made huge improvement from day 1 this season.  We are now looking to polish everything up and mentally prepare for the last part of our season. 

Gilmore's Take: Hudson

It is hard to have an inexperienced team and not get caught up in the whole picture.  If you do get caught up in the whole picture and you just look at our record it might look as though we are not doing very well.  We have been stressing to our guys that they need to wrestle in the moment, we need to focus on individual performances.  If we succeed in the individual performances then the whole picture will be a little more pleasant to look at.  We have also stressed that they need to expect to win, not just hope that it happens.  I felt that we did a pretty good job of this last night at Hudson.  If you look at the score 49-22, it looks like we did not perform very well.  On the other hand, if you look at the individual performances we went out and fought for 6 straight minutes.  For the most part, I saw our wrestlers fighting hard for positions, and trying to attack.  Yes we made mistakes and our technique was not perfect, but we had attacked for the whole match.  Now that we have the mentality of not backing down, technique will start to fall into place.  We have come a long way this year.  We have a long way still to go, but there is a lot of progress being made.  We now get back into the practice room and continue the grind, and continue moving forward.  To be a champion it doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down.  It matters how many times you get back up and step onto the line.

Gilmore's Take: Mid-Season Review

     Over the winter break I fell off a little bit with updating our web page and writing my blog.  Therefore, I am going to evaluate the 1st half of our season, and talk about what we need to improve on for the 2nd half. 
     As I look back over the 1st month of competition we have had our ups and downs.  The beginning of December our young team saw some success, and felt a sense of satisfaction for the hard work that they have put in.  As winter break came and our competition was increase our lack of experience really began to show.  As it became more difficult to to accomplish the little things like heavy hands, moving our feet and hand control our frustration level began to rise.  Just like everything in life, when things begin to get tough old habits come out.  We saw this throughout our competitions these last two weeks.  Many of our wrestlers started looking at matches and hoping they could win, or hoping their opponent would make a mistake.  We turned into a team that started using bad technique in hopes that it would work, instead of using our constant pressure philosophy and making things happen.  With that being said, this is expected with a young team.  We have pointed out our mistakes and we are working on improving them.
      I think Rocky said it best: "It ain't about how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.  It's how much you can take, and keep moving forward.  That's how winning is done."  For us to be successful the remainder of the season we need to keep this quote in mind.  We are not going to win every match, but we need to be hard nosed and stick to our game plan in every match.  If you are willing to wrestle the full 6 minutes of a match, and your opponent is not, you will have opportunities to score and take control of the match.  By doing the little things, and competing for 6 full minutes, you give yourself a chance to win.  Our goal is to be "in" every match.  If you are "in" the match, and you are the more aggressive wrestler your chances to win increase dramatically.  As the season wears on you will start to see wrestlers looking for excuses not to compete, or just wanting their season to be over.  By being the wrestler who is willing to "keep moving forward" you will start beating those wrestlers who are suppose to be better than you.  Mental toughness is a very important part of this sport.  We have to win the mental game.  When we can start winning the mental game, we will see our potential turn into success. 

Wrestler of the Week- Austin Peak

Austin earned a very hard fought victory against Stow this past Thursday.  Trailing the match going into the 3rd period, Austin scored an escape and a takedown with back points to win 6-3.  Austin increased his record to 7-11

Wrestler of the week- Brandon Gandolf

Brandon earned 8th place at the M.I.T. over break.  On his route to the podium he had a very exciting pin in his placement match.  Brandon has increased his record to 6-4