by Greg DeMarco |
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The shift from in-season to off-season is dramatic; like shutting off a light! The level of motivation, which is high during the season, drops to almost 0 during the off-season. Except for some of your outstanding wrestlers, the average or beginning wrestler has little motivation in terms of C.A.R. to continue wrestling.
Let's apply a 4-step process in order to find a solution to this problem:
Step 1 - Make a List
Meet with your coaches and make a list of all the
activities you would want the "perfect" wrestler to
do in the off-season. In making this list be specific and reasonable.
For example, you may want your wrestlers to compete in two, out-of-state
tournaments, attend 28 club practices, wrestle four greco matches
and attend your state's summer training camp. Base the achievements
on PARTICIPATION, not PERFORMANCE! For instance,
you want them to wrestle four greco matches, not win four matches
and you want them to attend a national tournament, not win one,
although that would be good! By putting the emphasis on participation
rather than results, it takes the pressure off your wrestlers
and permits even a beginning grappler a chance to enjoy a sense
of achievement. You'll also need to establish starting and ending
dates for the program.
Step 2 - Make an Achievement Sheet
Print out Figure 1 as
the grid is difficult to see on the computer screen. Use a spreadsheet
to create your own program. Here you break up the larger goals
into smaller chunks. For example, the 28 club practices are covered
by seven achievements of four practices each. When a wrestlers
attends four practices he gets the achievement checked off. Each
wrestler gets a sheet to keep track of his progress. In addition,
the coach or his designee keeps an "official" copy
in a loose-leaf binder. The "Keeper of the Book" must
maintain an accurate, up-to-date record of each and every wrestlers'
achievements. Formalize how the information is to be transmitted
to the record keeper. This will prevent phone calls at 1 a.m.
that go like this: "Hey, coach! It's Matt Burn. I just got
back from a tournament in Pennsylvania. I wrestled three matches
and ...".
Step 3 - Create Levels
Create a "level" system that would include
rewards as shown in the bottom of Figure 1.
These rewards should be given out at predetermined, designated
dates so the wrestlers don't drive the coaches crazy! On the
other hand, coaches must adhere to the schedule and be sure to
have the awards available at the proper time. The awards in Figure 1 are intended to provide wrestlers
with equipment needed for competition. Many other types of awards
may be presented and much of it depends on your budget. Digital
cameras, for instance, enable you to provide photographs, both
action and posed, that can be used as inexpensive incentives.
Items that promote your program or sport, such as patches,
bumper stickers, sweat shirts, etc. could also be used.
Step 4 - Rock and Roll
Coaches could explain the program to their wrestlers
at the last practice of the regular season in which everyone
is present or mail the information directly to potential participants.
Create a monthly
newsletter and a website
that gives recognition to the active participants. Periodically
send e-mails (Club example
and Team example) to keep the wrestlers
advised of upcoming events and progress. When your kids attend
a tournament or clinic, take a group picture
and get it published in the local newspaper and post it on the
website.
The sheet shown in Figure 1 was created for a club thus the orientation and permission slip achievement at the top. Once those two things are accomplished they are immediately at Level 1 and receive a team book. This is a loose-leaf binder that contains the achievement sheet and a wide variety of information including practice and tournament schedules, training programs, nutritional information, wrestling articles, technique tips, etc.
Recording Information. Print out Example as the grid is difficult to see on the computer screen. In the Example achievements 2-8 refer to attendance at Wrestling Club practices. If a wrestler attends a practice on April 13, we write 4/13 in the first of the four boxes to the far-right of achievement #2. The next practice he attends, say April 15, we write 4/15 in the second box and so on. When he attends four practices we put a check mark in the far right column of achievement #2. If he attends 28 club practices he'll have completed seven achievements. The same concept is applied for achievements 11-15 which are for matches WRESTLED (no forfeits, nor byes) in tournaments. We don't distinguish between wins and losses, just matches wrestled. When our wrestlers compete in a tournament we assign it a number. The first tournmaent is 1, the second is 2, etc. In the Example, Matt Burn wrestled two matches in Tournament #3, so we wrote "3" in the first two boxes of achievement #11. In Tournament #6 he wrestled four matches, thus "6" appears in four boxes.
Each season the program is named after some outstanding wrestler or coach. The program in Figure 1 was named after Milo of Croton, a six-time Olympic wrestling champion, who was the most famous of ancient Greek athletes. Legend has it that he would train by carrying a newborn calf on his back around the track every day until the Olympics took place. By time the competition was held, he was carrying a four-year old cow on his back! As such, Milo is known as the father of progressive weight training. If your school has a rich wrestling tradition, you may want to name the programs after former, successful wrestlers such as your school's first State Champion. Other people including outstanding Olympic and collegiate wrestlers would also be appropriate.
This program will provide your wrestlers with challenges, a sense of direction, a feeling of accomplishment and recognition for their achievements during the off-season regardless of their skill level. It will take the time and efforts of a number of people, but the results will be significant. To understand WHY this program works you need to read in order the following four articles: Challenge, Achievement, Recognition and Milo Program.
Last Suggestion. All too often coaches who want their wrestlers to participate in the off-season resort to the "nag" method of motivation. The result: the kids mysteriously disappear! The wrestling coaches in our community took an entirely different approach. They had a rule in the off-season that, upon meeting a team member, they could NOT bring up the subject of wrestling! They could talk about grades, social life, parents, anything but wrestling. If the kid brought up the subject then it was OK to talk about it, however, coaches were prohibited from initiating the subject. A strange and wonderful thing happened. Try it and find out for yourself what it is!
Last Thought. While the above-mentioned program is ideal for clubs and teams, what would happen if a national organization created this type of program for its members? Hmmmmmm.
