Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion Kids Folkstyle ? for the wrestling world

how do you get your son ready to wrestle on the day of tournements my son sits in the stands colors plays game boy and doesnt have a care in the world about wrestling he is a second year kid and i wonder if he is taking wrestling serious or not. how do you get your kids ready to wrestle

Dear Golden Dad,

I'm afraid in this age of small handheld games and thigns like that, this is the way that kids tourneys have gone. Back in my kids days we had the first generation game boys the 8-bit greenish black screen type. We also had the first models of portable cd players (the kind without skip protection). In reference to your question its really a matter how how serious he wants to be. You can start by asking him if he'd rather play games or wrestle, if the answer is the former you should comtemplate asking him if he wants to continue wrestling. Now obviously a kid that age can't be serious all the time but when it comes down to 10 matches before hes up he should be getting somewhere to the point that hes ready to go. Thats just my own personal opinion. To be honest many succesful kids are messing around just moments before their match.

It would depend what age your kid is! If he is 8 and under (I assume) I wouldn't worry about it.

My 8 year old has had some success in wrestling and when he was in his first couple of years he would sit with his Dad until his match came up. His opponents would be moving around, warming up. This is his 4th year and he has his own routine on when he gets down to the mat, how he warms up etc...but before then he is playing gameboy, cards, eating junk and having as much fun as you can sitting in a gym all day!

For all parents kind of new to wrestling or even not, I would recommend the book, Winning State Wrestling, it is one of the best books I have seen offered and offers a great deal of information on all types of topics including this.

The key thought to remember ... is that all kids are different. A couple of questions to consider are: does your kid wrestle well and does he know how to prepare himself for a match?

A lot of guys in my clinics have heard my analogy before but if I may, I will share it.

There are two brothers; same mother, same father. One, was an absolute “train wreck” before he competed. 45 minutes before a match he would run 15 to 20 winds sprints in the halls. 30 minutes before a match his routine was, (for lack of a better analogy) “beat himself up.” 15 minutes before a match, he was “head banging” and started bouncing. When it was “go-time” he was ready. He was a 3-time State champ and only lost 2 matches, both to Doug Speer of Effingham. He also had 125 takedowns his senior year and had a 90% pin percentage.

His brother was different. 45 minutes before a match he would be doing his Calculus homework. 30 minutes before competition he was doing his Physics worksheets. 15 minutes before a match has routine was to get out his GameBoy and play Tetris (an early 90’s game). About 3 minutes before a match, he would saunter out of the bleaches; do a couple of ballerina stretches, bounce a bit, and go wrestle. As a senior, this brother was a State champ and scored 250+ takedowns in one season. (the Kansas record)

I would be hard pressed to say that either brother was wrong in his approach to a match. I would have a tough time watching the younger but that is placing MY ideas to HIS preparation.

Pre-match preparation is a matter of coaching. If a coach hasn’t talked to a wrestler about what he/she should do, then my feelings are that the coach is not doing his/her job! A wrestler needs to find a routine that works form him and one that works without direct input from a coach.

Yes, a great post Randy. All are good advice for golden dad.

Ditto Randy.

I wasn't the greatest wrestler, but I held my own. It didn't matter if it was high school or college, I didn't prepare like the Brands brothers before a match because that wasn't me. Usually I got warmed up while talking NFL football.

I remember talking to this psychologist (name escapes me) from Georgia while at the world team trials in Cincy a few years back. I was watching someone get ready and I made the comment that he didn't look like he was getting prepared. The psychologist told me that each person is different. Take Rulon. He told me that Rulon likes to crack bad jokes while getting warmed up for a match. Is there anyone that would dismiss his mental preparation for a match? He did pretty good for himself I think.

What we see in movies or what we envision as correct is not often the case.