BigApple:
I have read some good posts over the years on this forum and that post is one of the best that I have read. It is giving what I consider to be the perfect message to our young Kansas wrestlers. The message that it gives is it is possible to reach your full potential as a wrestler and as a student at the same time. The message also expresses the importance of reaching that full potential as a student. I was hoping that your message would not be missed here because I have seen some very good athletes in my life who did not understand or chose to ignore the importance of academics in their lifes. I played college football one year at KSU in 1969 (I ended up graduating the same year as you in 1973 at KU). I saw a lot of athletes including myself at that time who did not apply themselves in their studies. I think some of us thought that football was going to be our ticket in life and decided to just get by in class. I think that is a decision that young athletes including wrestlers at times still make today and it is a costly decision to make.
Parents and educators have to be proactive in helping athletes understand that they need to work as hard if not harder in the classroom as they do on the mat or the playing field. What a wonderful award that you set up in your role as a volunteer coach.
At each school I've worked with since the early 1990s I have introduced and paid for with my own money the following award.
Outstanding Scholar & Wrestling Award. It is based 50 percent on the 1st semester's GPA (I don't use the cumulative GPA because I want kids who may not have started out being good students, but wind up becoming good students to have a chance), 25 percent on the team points scored during the regular season, and 25 percent on the team points scored at the state tournament.
I've always had a permanent plaque for the name of each year's winner each year, the winner each year gets a large plaque, plus dinner for two at an expensive restaurant, which is usually $100 to $150, this allows them to get an appetizer, most expensive, entree, dessert, pay the taxes and a 20 percent tip. I've been pleased that over the years previous winners would call me to find out who the winner was that year.
After I read that, I started wishing I was a wrestler on one of your teams. I think this would be a great award on all high school teams.
I have always told wrestlers I've coached you will not make a living wrestling, but you will learn two things in wrestling that will allow you to make a very good living as an adult: a strong work ethic and self-discipline.
That is the exact message that I hope our young Kansas wrestlers including my son are receiving.
It has been my experience that the best wrestlers on a team both high school and college were also some of the best students on the team. As an example I tell them about the 1974 NCAA championship team at OU. We had two 1st and one 2nd place wrestler. Gary Breece won at 118 pounds, he got a post graduate scholarship for from the NCAA and today is an orthodontist. Rod Kilgore won at 158, he was a finalist for a post graduate scholarship (at that time only 5 were awarded each year). Jeff Callard was 2nd at 167, he won a post graduate scholarship, and today is an engineering professor at OU in petroleum engineering.
Here and with the below quote the message is you can become a great wrestler but you can also become a great student. Also realize it is your work as a student that will lead you to your life career. And the work ethic and discipline that you learned in wrestling will be a major factor in getting there.
Every kid who has won the award I've given has gone onto having a successful career. The only one who didn't attend college was dyslexic, but has a higly trained position in a hospital.
I've always viewed my job as a coach as to help them develop into becoming a successful adult. Wrestling separates the wheat from the chaff. You find out who has the necessary work ethic and self-discipline needed to become an outstanding wrestler, and hopefully student.
That was just great stuff. Bravo!
