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| Coach Nogle
December 13, 2011
2:23:28 PM
Entry #: 3849881
| Philosophy of Burtonsville Wrestling Club Rec Program
While I had a few minutes, I wanted to post about what I believe the philosophy of coaching a Recreational/intramural program should be all about.
First and foremost, I think the first priority of the program is promoting a safe and fun practice environment for the kids that keeps them wanting to come back. At this level, the kids are not in an elite/select program, and we are not trying to weed kids out so that the only kids who remain are the ones who might (and I stress might) have the most potential. The great thing about wrestling is that any kid who works hard can achieve success, and the worst mistake a coach can make is discounting a kid early in his career, because he may appear to lack natural athletic ability. At this age, the most important skill is learning proper technique. Sure, conditioning plays a role, but it’s a distant second to building muscle memory through drilling proper technique.
The second priority is to prepare the kids for their next level of wrestling, whether that be a beltway/travel program or a high school program. In order to do this, I believe it is most important for the kids to learn and master the basic fundamentals, which puts a precedence of understanding body positioning rather than actual maneuvers/holds. Additionally, I feel that it is important to master basic, high percentage techniques over what I consider to be desperation/low percentage “junk” techniques that are rarely successful against high level competition. This is one reason why Coach Munsey and I are reluctant to cover techniques like a head and arm, a cement job/chin and wing, and merkle to mention a few until basic fundamentals such as the level change, penetration step, and hip position are understood. I know for a fact that when Coach Smith (Paint Branch HS head coach) and Coach Wendel (Springbrook HS head coach) observe our wrestlers, they are not excited to see us executing head and arms and cement jobs, but love to see a strong double leg or sprawl and go behind.
Now I don’t want to say that our last priority is winning, because our coaching staff are all highly competitive guys, but at this level, it should be a byproduct of the first two priorities and not the main objective of the program. That being said, it is still very nice to see the kids experience success, and many of our second year wrestlers are starting to get their hand raised for the first time, but we feel that this is a result of them starting to grasp the basics, which will allow them to achieve long term success rather than a result of executing low percentage “junk” moves that will not work in the future against high level competition.
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