Coaching Development Blog

Where Are the Wrestlers?

11/5/2009 11:48:28 AM

The wrestlers are in every school in America. We must recruit them, train them and retain them. The quality of experience must be such that the majority will always want to move on to the next level. As wrestling coaches we can no longer wait to let students come to us. We must aggressively present the sport of wrestling to the students and their families.

I would like every coach out there who has had success recruiting students into wrestling to please share their ideas with the rest of us. I will share one approach that has been successful.

I know of one junior high school coach in Pennsylvania who has designed a combative sport for middle school students. He had this course approved by the head of the physical education department and then this fall put it into action before wrestling sign ups. The good news is the students love it and it has had an impact on the number of students signing up to join the junior high school wrestling team.

I can’t wait to hear what some of you have done to increase your numbers. I personally believe the greatest emphasis should be on grades 6, 7 and 8.

Remember, the theme of NWCA Coaching Development: Let’s Grow Wrestling Together!

Coaching Development

retention recruiting

Comments 4

Jim Harshaw 10 Nov
We have not employed anything specific in our club. However, I have two thoughts:
1) Maslov told us that we all have a need to feel acceptance, belonging and part of a community. To feel important. When we market our high school programs we get more attendance and media coverage. That makes current athletes feel accepted, part of something and important. Younger athletes will have something and someone to which they can aspire. It works for our football, basketball and baseball "heroes".
2) That leads into the next point: A recent study showed that wrestlers wrestle because they feel part of a community and because they make and have friends on the team. As coaches, that should guide our coaching and decision-making.
Trent Turner 10 Nov
The school that Coach Turner is referring to in his blog is our middle school here at Conestoga Valley School District in Lancaster, PA. Wrestling has always been a tough sell in our district and we've struggled to get good numbers out for years. Our middle school PE teacher and my head Jr. High coach, Dave Outland, designed a combative sports unit for the boys in grades 7 & 8 and he received approval from our department chair to implement it. For about 2 weeks, he introduced different types of combative drills, skills, and games during PE class that were not all wrestling specific per se, but they got the boys engaged in some wrestling related activity. It was an instant hit. During the course of the unit, he was able to dispel many of the misconceptions kids had about "real" wrestling and he was also able to identify many prospective wrestlers for our junior high team. The PE activity combined with personal letters home with our wrestling newsletter and an invitation to join our jr. high team, his pre-season sign-ups were around 70 kids. This is more than double last year's numbers. I'm sure we'll experience some attrition, but we're still excited about the potential impact on our program.
Forrest Wheeler 12 Nov
I coach at a 1A school in Florida that just started the program 3 yrs ago. We have enjoyed some success at the district level with several qualifiers to the regional. We have had some district champions but as yet we have not had our first state qualifier.
This year I have 40 athletes on the team with half of them being freshmen and only 2 seniors so the prospects of building a large team is there. If you can get the support of the football community you can build anything!
Dave 25 Nov
1. Be sure to get as many results in the media as possible. Kids want to compete in front of a crowd. You have to generate interest.
2. It's a faster world. Put enough mats on the floor when you host a tournament so that your event doesn't last the whole weekend. Families have a lot to do.
3. Coaches are the advocate for their wrestlers. Overprotective Moms need to look into their son's corner and see a coach with a professional appearance acting in a professional manner.