I think the new style of tournaments have ruined this sport. In my day they were all 2 and out. This year I had a kid wrestle 9 matches in a 2 day tournament. That's great if you are the shark if you are the minnow you just lost 9 matches the first tournament of the season. So after 3 weeks of pool style tournaments that same kid is 2-23 headed into the break. As the minnow, 2-23 is very hard to swallow you have to be a certain type of kid to keep fighting. In my day that minnow would me 0-6 after 3 weeks. And they are worried the singlets have something to do with it. Good Luck Today!!!!
To me that would mean someone is making it too much about winning and not enough about the experience. We had a kid at SJA who lost his first 40 matches, AT LEAST, of his career (started as a FR). He went on to make the finals of state his senior year. Four years later he was a college graduate. Great achievements take great sacrifice and there isn't always an immediate reward. I would argue that the 0-23 kid is four times better now than the 0-6 kid of yesteryear. I understand millennials want instant gratification and there is some there it just has to be spun that way. There is a silver lining and it is called LEARNING, IMPROVING, and EXPERIENCE. The sport emulates life so much more than any other. With great sacrifice comes the opportunity for great achievement. Life is about opportunities and what each person chooses to make of their opportunities. As coaches and parents we have to cultivate an attitude and work ethic that prepares them for those moments when they have to "swim with the sharks!"
