Philosophy and Coaching

• NEW Interview Questions - Here are some questions you might ask when selecting a youth wrestling coach.
• Coaching 101 - This slide presentation features tips on philosophy, ethics, effective communication, teaching strategies, recruiting, fund raising, managing a club, tournament organization and more!
• Rules for Wrestling Coaches - Here's nine rules you may want to coach by for a happier, healthier and improving wrestling program.
• Be a Great Wrestling Coach - Here's a list of 70 characteristics and habits of a great wrestling coach.
• Top 10 Mistakes of a Young Coach - The title tells it all!
• Fixing Kid's Sports - This US News and World Report article is a must read for parents, recreation and youth wrestling coaches.
• How to Grow a Super-Athlete - This NY Times article, which every wrestling coach should read, suggests that technique development at the youth level is vital.

Practice and Technique

• NEW Resources for Planning and Conducting Practices - This is a list of resources for planning and conducting practices - a vital task for every coach.
• Sport Safety - This slide presentation features tips on supervision, injury preventation, emergency action, dealing with various types of injuries and injured wrestlers and more!
• Practice and Training - This slide presentation describes the various components of effective practices and training sessions.
• Agility Drills - This slide presentation from with video describes various agility drills that can be used to enhance wrestling skills.
• Wrestling Drills - This slide presentation with video and audio describes various wrestling drills.
• Wrestling Games video - This is a great slide presentation from with video and audio describing various wrestling games.
• Wrestling Games article - Fourteen "fun" games with which to lighten up intense practices.
• Running Productive Kids Programs - This article addresses some concepts and suggestions that can help keep youth age practices on track and focussed on successful learning environments.
• Skill-based Teams - One of the major problems of coaching young wrestlers is getting them to learn and execute good technique. A system of skill-based teams or levels might be the solution for recreation and youth programs.
• Team Alpha checklist - A checklist of skills for a beginner's level team.
• Terms and Movements - Teach these terms and movements early as they can often be used to expedite the teaching of a wide variety of technique.
• "M3-75" Practice Terminology - Here's a tip that can make your practices more efficient.
• Drill: Boring, but Vital (pdf and cwk) - This article tells why drill is important and why it's so boring and what to do about it!
• Clean Wrestling Room - If a wrestling mat is not cleaned properly athletes may catch skin diseases. Here's how.

Motivation

• The Science of Motivation Series includes: Challenge - Achievement - Recognition - Off-season Program
• Printable Posters - This section includes nearly 30 printable posters - some humorous, many motivational, all free!
• Motivational Sayings - This massive list of motivational sayings can be accessed by category such as Attitude, Adversity, Character, etc. Click on the category you're interested in and you'll immediately get a list of related sayings.
• Team Book - This is usually given to the wrestlers at the start of the season, but you could create one for the off-season as well. It contains lots of motivational material.
• Participation Cards - Do you like to collect things? Well, most people do, including wrestlers. Here's a motivational aid they'll like!
• Tournament Cards - You take a bunch of kids to a tournament and at your next practice you want to encourage and motivate them about good technique, conditioning, creating the upset, etc. Give out these motivational cards which your wrestlers can keep in clear plastic, baseball card holders. The cards here are available in three versions: AppleWorks, MS Word and PDF. The first two versions can be changed to meet your needs, but the PDF file cannot be altered; only viewed or printed.
• Cavalcade of Champions - This motivational tool is a list of all the wrestlers that have taken First Place in a Tournament while or after being a part of your program.

Communication

• Newsletter Example1, Example2 and Example3 - A newsletter is a great way to communicate with your wrestlers and fans especially in the off-season.
• Using E-mail - With more and more people having access to the Internet, now is the time for coaches to incorporate e-mail as one of their lines of communication. Here's some tips.
•  E-mail Club Example - E-mail is fast, easy and much cheaper than the post office. Here is an example of how one club uses it.

Competition

• NEW Elementary Wrestling Program - Here's some great ideas from the Greensburg Elementary Wrestling Program located in Greensburg, IN.
• Better Competition Concept - Here are some ideas that can energize and revolutionize your wrestling program! Especially if you believe that the most important statistic for a wrestling coach isn't how many dual meets the team wins nor the number of state champs they produced, but rather the number of wrestlers they have in the room on the last day of practice.
• Grapevine Wrestling League - This youth wrestling league does it right! Find out why.
• Madison System - Don't like kids cutting weight? They don't have to if you use this procedure!
• Creative Competition Bracket - Are you running a tournament, but dread seeding? Well, don't! Here's how.
• Bracket Sheets - This section contains a wide variety of bracket sheets

Fund Raising

• Top Ten Ideas
• Corporate Sponsor - Sales - Auctions - Donations - Carwash-a-thon

DVDs and Videotapes

• Nunamaker's Videotape Series - Although this is a videotape of high school wrestling, youth coaches will find many ideas beneficial to their program. If you want to learn how to coach from a legend you need see him in action in the practice room. This outstanding, five-tape video series brings you inside the Nazareth High School (PA) wrestling room and covers sessions from the first day of practice until the week before the States. Each tape contains at least two hours of valuable information including practices, promotion tips, fund-raising activities, weight control, conditioning and many other aspects of coaching. Great for wrestling coaches at all levels! More details. Purchase here.
• Ken Chertow's Kids Wrestling DVD #6 -This DVD is a must buy for coaches and parents of wrestlers ages 14 & under, as well as the wrestlers themselves.  Ken has two 10-year olds demonstrate and drill the techniques that every youth wrestler must master, while also pointing out the many mistakes young wrestlers tend to make. This DVD is an essential tool for everyone involved in youth wrestling, with a strong emphasis on takedowns, bottom moves, drills, and training philosophies. Purchase here.
• Ken Chertow's Coaches Clinic DVD #28 - Get a first hand look at the key teaching points and many finer details of the highest percentage techniques in wrestling. In addition to covering a highly successful system of wrestling techniques, Coach Chertow also shares extensive details on many of the essential ingredients necessary to build a championship program. The information on this 2 DVD set details the training methods, techniques, and key points that are essential to success in the sport of wrestling plus how to teach them to your students. Ken provides a detailed look at program building, practice structure, drilling and conditioning methods, and many other crucial areas such as mental preparation and strength training. Purchase here.

Books

• Youth Wrestling Parents Guide - This free, recently revised guide in pdf format is great not only for parents but can be used as a recruiting tool and shared with business sponsors as well.
• 101 Wrestling Drills and Games - This new book by Keith Mantos focuses on fundamental drills every coach can use with his wrestlers so they avoid position mistakes, improve their strength and stamina, and enhance their athleticism. The 100+ drills and games are thoroughly explained with locations, descriptions, and coaching points, and cover: warm-up and flexibility, agility, neutral position-offense, neutral position-defense, top position, bottom position, endurance, stamina, and strength, resistance training, competitive wrestling drills, and more. Contains nearly 80 photographs.
• Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way: Ensuring the Best Experience for Your Kids in Any Sport by Cal Ripken, Jr.. Since he retired from baseball in 2001, Cal Ripken, Jr., has devoted his time to coaching kids, including his own son and daughter, who play baseball and basketball, among other sports. With a baseball league of nearly 700,000 kids, ages 5-12, named for him, he has also had a chance to meet and work with countless young athletes. Cal Ripken's simple yet effective philosophy for helping kids get the most out of playing sports is to keep it simple, explain the "why," celebrate the individual, and make it fun! But Ripken is troubled by what he sees in youth sports: a competitive intensity that removes the element of fun from playing. Now, drawing on his experiences as a father, a player, and a coach to his charges at his youth baseball based organization, Ripken Baseball, the legend offers his insights and advice on how to approach organized sports with your kids to ensure they have the best experience possible, stay fit, and enjoy themselves.