Author: Britney
Conquer or Collapse
Branded Suede Label Beanies
Rosie the Wrestler
Our new American Wrestler tee is made especially for all the female wrestlers out there, with Rosie the Riveter from the famous WWII posters re-purposed as Rosie the Wrestler, this ultra soft 100% ring spun cotton tee is a must have for any wrestling fanatics who identify.
New Adidas Are Here
All new Adidas colors this season! All available at americanwrestling.com
Staying in Shape Over the Holidays
This is a wonderful, comprehensive article originally written by Matt Krumrie for USA Wrestling in 2013. It’s an informative and applicable read with Christmas coming up in a few days, followed by another week off before New Year’s. It’s not easy to be a dedicated wrestler during this time of year, Krumrie offers some insight for those who are trying to be good.
“The holiday season is here and what can be a joyous time of year for many Americans can also be a tough time for the wrestler in the family. Just when they may be hitting their stride on the mat they must now deal with the temptation of an overabundance of food at family gatherings and disruption in their training routine.
It doesn’t mean wrestlers can’t enjoy this time of year, they just need to be smart about it, says Nick Spatola, a former wrestler at Indiana University who now runs Spatola Wrestling at a Fort Thomas, KY gym that provides individual and group training, wrestling camps, and clinics in the Cincinnati metro area.
“I always held a chip on my shoulder and felt special at holiday gatherings,” recalls Spatola. “While everyone else was indulging, I was still in training mode which meant eating healthy and still working out. My whole family knew what was going on and I could feel the respect. This gave me mental confidence and made me feel like I was a warrior in training.”
This is the time of the year for coaches to discuss with the team the goals set forth at the start of the year, says Ian Assael, director of the Bison Legend Wrestling Club and Bison System Wrestling Camps in Lewisburg, PA. It’s also a time of year for parents to provide support for the wrestler and for wrestling teammates to come together to keep one another motivated.
One way to do that is to write out a holiday meal plan and to schedule added workouts outside regularly scheduled practices. “Stay in a training routine,” says Assael. “Scheduling some sort of activity for first thing in the morning will make you wake up and get your day going. This could be wrestling, lifting, or running/cardio. If there are clubs in your area where you can get some extra workouts in, that is also beneficial.”
Mike DeRoehn, head coach at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, WI, and the head wrestling coach of World Class Wrestling School in Fond du Lac, WI, says the best athletes he’s coached buy into the concept that wrestling is about more than just participating in a sport and that mindset can help guide wrestlers through this time of year.
“Is your daily lifestyle — training, nutrition, hydration, sleep habits, friends you hang out with — more conducive to success than your opponents? Remember, there are two pains in life. The pain of discipline and the pain of regret,” says DeRoehn. Sometimes getting out of the wrestling room for a day or two while training over a holiday break can also be mentally refreshing, he adds: “Coaches, your athletes will thank you for breaking it up.”
Brandon Paulson, a 1996 Greco-Roman Olympic Silver Medalist and co-director of PINnacle Wrestling in Shoreview, MN, agrees. If a break from the sport is needed, try incorporating other activities into your routine. “This is a great time of year to get a little cross-training in. An hour-long soccer, football, or even dodge ball game will keep you active and rest your mind as well,” explains Paulson.
Mike Krause, Director of the NXT LVL Wrestling Academy and the Team Shamrock School of Wrestling in Hartland, MI, says this a great time of year for wrestlers to continue to challenge themselves. Want to eat a little more? Run three extra miles in the morning. Want to take the day off? Put in a two-a-day workout the next day.
“Do the extra things and eat sensibly,” says Krause, a former wrestler at Michigan State University. “If your break is long and you have no practices scheduled, make one up yourself.”
That’s what Spatola did over holiday breaks when he was competing, going for runs outside and focusing on the physical and mental aspect of the sport. “I used to visualize my opponents and see myself getting my hand raised in the big match,” says Spatola.
Spatola’s gym features a quote on the wall that says “it’s the hard days that really count.” And this time of year, when it seems like everyone around you is taking it easy, definitely fall into that category.”If you can manage to drag yourself to practice and make it through it, you just got better,” he says. “Everyone can train when they feel good, it’s training on those hard days that create results.”
No matter how dedicated one is to the sport, Spatola says this is still a time of year to remember who and what is important. Train hard, remain focused, but rest the mind and body when you can and enjoy family time at every opportunity.
“No matter how hard you are training, you can always make time for these special people during the holiday season,” explains Spatola. “Although you are a warrior in training, it’s important for your mind and body to relax and just spend time with the people you care most about.”
Holiday Training Tips:
Coaches and parents, provide knowledge: Don’t assume all kids know how getting out of their routine can affect them on and off the mat. Don’t be overbearing, but if you see them slip, gently nudge them in the right direction or try to get them to refocus.
Moderation is key: If one does indulge some holiday cookies or a larger than usual meal, schedule an extra workout, practice a little longer or add an extra running/cardio or weightlifting session.
Mental edge: This is the time of year one can work on honing the mental aspect of the sport. By keeping motivated while others may be taking time off, you can gain an important psychological edge knowing you did the right things and made the right choices.
Get the whole family on board: Inform all family members so they understand what the wrestler is going through. If no practices are available, schedule a fun activity that keeps kids active, like sledding, ice skating, or a family walk. It will create memories and help maintain the wrestler’s fitness level.
Rest: Eating right is important, but so is rest and sleep. This is also a time to heal up and get focused for the home stretch of the season. Don’t feel bad if you occasionally miss a workout or overindulge a little.
Holiday Cross-Training Exercises:
Lakeland College wrestling coach Mike DeRoehn recommends incorporating these winter cross-training opportunities into your holiday routine:
- Run outside in deep snow where you need to really get those knees up and high step while lifting your boots.
- Grab a teammate and push/pull each other in a sled to work on your leg drive
- Find a hill to sled down and then get a workout in going back up, doing these exercises in intervals of three:
- Sled down/bear crawl up
- Sled down/bear crawl up
- Sled down/bear crawl backwards up
- Sled down/carry a partner upNote: This archived feature first appeared in USA Wrestling’s newsletter in December 2013.“
Collegiate Wrestling Watch Guide
Unfortunately Wrestling is a tough sport to nail down on TV. But we’ve provided a guide to make things easier this wrestling season. Originally posted by United World Wrestling, this comprehensive guide will help you plan your activities around your favorite college wrestling matches so that you don’t miss out.
Diet Suggestions for High School Wrestlers
The controversy over cutting weight is possibly the biggest issue facing wrestlers today. Often times weight cutting is done using extreme and unhealthy methods which can involve long periods of not eating, the worst way to handle cutting and maintaining weight. We found some really concise bits of information from author
Complex Carbohydrates
A teen athlete’s diet plan should be composed of 60 to 70 percent carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are a wrestler’s friend. Unlike the simple carbs found in starchy and sugary foods like white bread and pastries, the complex carbs found in whole grains, beans and legumes are digested slowly, which means your body is fueled with energy for longer stretches of time. This can help a wrestler stave off fatigue, and cut down on the need to eat as much while trying to maintain minimum weight.
Low-Fat Foods
Wrestlers, like everyone else, need fat in order to fuel their bodies. But they shouldn’t exceed the FDA’s daily suggested intake of 60 to 65 grams, or no more than 25 to 35 percent of their daily calorie intake, while avoiding saturated fats. Such fats, which usually come in highly processed items like fast food and chocolate, stay in your body longer and contribute to a variety of illnesses. Egg whites and tuna are low-fat options that also have muscle-supporting qualities.
Antioxidants
Wrestlers are highly prone to a variety of bacteria and skin infections because of the dank, sweaty mats with which they come into contact over and over again, as well as the skin-to-skin contact involved in the sport. In addition to proper hygienic habits, it’s advisable to eat foods high in antioxidants, which help the body fend off infection. Some examples of foods and spices high in antioxidants include berries, oranges, plums, nuts, seeds, ginger and oregano.
Calorie Requirements
All teen athletes need to incorporate a balanced eating plan in their daily routine. Keeping the body healthy by giving it the fuel it needs for the teen to participate in his chosen sport is essential. Most teens should take in between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day, depending on their height, size, sex and activity level. Even when trying to lose weight, a teen should take in a minimum of 1,700 to 2,000 calories daily.
Q&A with Randall Balch, TX/USA Wrestling’s New Chairman
Randall Balch is the newly elected Texas/USA Wrestling Chairman and he graciously allowed American Wrestler to pick his brain on a few topics. Balch’s wrestling background started as a competitor in South Carolina, where he was a 4 year letterman who competed at the State level each year.
Randall also spent an impressive 27 years as a teacher and Wrestling coach at the High School & Junior College level in South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and finally Texas. He started 2 High School programs from scratch. His career record is 253-142 at the High School level. And that’s not all, in addition to coaching he also officiated for 25 years as a High School referee and has held several Tournament Director positions, most currently Tournament Director for Women’s UWW Cadet and Junior World Team Trials and a past Tournament Director for the Pan American Continental Championships and Olympic Qualifier.
Randall was nice enough to answer some of our questions and fill us in on some of his goals as Chairman.
AW: In your opinion what are the most important lessons that wrestling teaches? And how do you implement those values into your coaching?
RB: Discipline, work ethic, and humility
– Discipline – we set a goal, whether it be weight or academics, and don’t accept less than meeting that goal – and there are consequences for failing to meet them
– Work Ethic – We set a goal of pushing to improve every day – don’t settle for a specific number of repetitions, do 1 more!
– Humility – when you win, you’ve done your job/ met your goal/ achieved your expectation – no reason to celebrate for doing what is expected! Win with class, lose with dignity.
AW: Congratulations on being elected TX/USA State Chairman. What are your goals for TX/USA during your term as Chairman?
RB: The 2 chairmen before me have done a great job of putting the state on the right track after a few “bumps in the road”. I want to find a way to continue the journey and get the best wrestlers in Texas to national and international events so we can show the rest of the country what a special group we have in Texas! Years ago, when Texas went to tournaments, people would look at the bracket and see they had Texan and would think it was going to be an easy match- I want them to worry about stepping on the mat with us!
We have over 11,000 wrestlers in high schools across the state, but only 5,000 wrestlers from 6-18 years old wrestling as members of TX-USA Wrestling. We need to build on this number!
We are building a great relationship with USA Wrestling and the international organization UWW. But not everyone wants to wrestle Freestyle and Greco. We need to develop the mindset that regardless of styles; folkstyle, freestyle or greco, Texas is a state to be respected. The dream of an NCAA program in Texas is not as far off as many people think. We have to develop that relationship as well.
AW: Will you continue to officiate during your term as State Chairman?
RB: As much as possible… I will probably spend most of the spring trying to find ways to add to our numbers and building relationships throughout the state – there is too much region vs region and not enough combined efforts to improve wrestling. School or club vs school/ club instead of improving techniques and sharing ideas.
AW: How do we get existing Texas High schools to add wrestling?
RB: This doesn’t really fall under USA Wrestling and my role as Chairman, but the answer is relatively simple…
Now that we have a weight management system in place, the days of drastic weight cutting are gone. Highlighting to students the sensible maintenance of weight as opposed to “Old School” cutting is important.
There is also a national discussion on creating an optional uniform because many are turned away from our sport when they are told about wearing a singlet; a tight fitting shirt and “fight shorts” is being discussed.
The 3rd topic to discuss with schools is the role Football players can have in growing our middle to upper weights – I have long told football coaches I have worked with that a 250- 260 pound lineman that can MOVE is better for the team than a 300 pound lineman that can’t get in a stance! At 15-18 years old, being that large is often times not healthy for the young person and a DIET, not weight cut and a greater focus on healthy living will benefit both sports, but more importantly, benefit the young person!!
Once we get these messages across, I think the number of programs will grow – we have almost 200 programs just in the DFW Metroplex! The cost of starting a program is significant, but the ling term benefits far outweigh the price.
AW: This is your 2nd year as the Head Coach at Frisco Wakeland, what can we expect to see from this year’s team?
RB: We have a great group of young men and women that have been working hard to build off the success of last year. Our boys finished 4th in our District tournament, 11th in our Region, but failed to score a point at State. Our girls also finished 4th at District, but finished 8th at Region, and 20th at State. We are looking to move up to podium status at each of these tournaments with both teams!
AW: Would you like to see the USA scrap folkstyle in favor for freestyle & Greco?
RB: It will never happen – too much emphasis is placed on folkstyle. Every country has their own style that is competed in their country; we need to realize and embrace the similarities within the styles and not focus on the differences. A single leg takedown scores in both folkstyle and freestyle; a head and arm throw scores in both folkstyle and greco; a trapped arm gut scores in freestyle and greco just like a trapped arm tilt scores in folkstyle. Yes, there are differences, but let’s focus on how to transition between styles!!
AW: Do you think the wrestling singlet hurts your ability to recruit new wrestlers? Are you in favor of a two piece option?
RB: As I mentioned earlier, there is the discussion of a two piece uniform. I am not sold on the idea, being old school myself, a singlet is part of what makes our sport unique. It might bring in some newer wrestlers to the sport, but ultimately I don’t see it being that much a barrier.
AW: Favorite Quote?
RB: “Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”
AW: Anything you will like people to know about you?
RB: I am open to meeting and talking about ways to improve wrestling in Texas, but don’t come to the table with only criticisms; be ready to offer solutions and be ready to get involved! This is the final question I have for everyone a- Is your criticism/ question/ idea one that is for the good of the sport as a whole, or are you interested in helping YOUR cause?