Coaches Blog

How I turn a match I love into a game kids can’t win without doing it right

I was a damn good driller. My coaches told me my doubles and high crotches looked great in practice. Then I'd get to a tournament and couldn't finish a shot to save my life. The problem wasn't that I didn't know the technique. It was that I'd never learned to solve the problem the drill was meant to address. Clean drilling rehearses choreography, not wrestling. Here's what to do instead.

I used to be a college coach. I contacted 2,407 kids in two years to enroll 16 on campus. It broke me. I quit. Now I run demo days for Beat the Streets Chicago and it's one of my favorite things I do. Here's the full framework for how I do it, and why it works for any sport trying to grow.

Most athletes think their problem is technique. It’s not. What actually breaks down in matches is position. The small details underneath the move that decide whether it works or not. Shrug before you clear a collar tie. Keep your elbows tight or you don’t own the tie. Get your shoulder behind the hamstring on single legs. These aren’t new techniques, they’re the rules those techniques depend on. Once you start seeing those rules, everything gets simpler.

If your CLA games aren’t working, it’s probably not the kids. It’s the rules. Youth wrestlers don’t automatically understand what matters in a position. If your win condition rewards bad wrestling, they’ll do bad wrestling. That’s not a discipline problem. That’s a design problem. Here’s how to tighten your games so they actually build wrestling literacy.

After I shared my last article about using games to teach technique, a familiar response showed up almost immediately.

For a long time, I thought drilling was king.

Since November, I've been coaching practices with 50+ beginner kids at a time. 2nd graders mixed with 8th graders, all in the same room. You want high standards. You want kids learning real wrestling. And you don't want to spend 90 minutes yelling reminders just to keep the room from devolving into chaos. Here's what's actually worked.

If your scouting starts with “he hits a high crotch,” you’re missing the point. This article breaks down how to read a wrestler’s takedown game by identifying archetypes and ties before the shot ever happens.

One of the most common complaints I hear from wrestlers is about partners.

Pushups don't work as a consequence but I hate the arguments people put up against them

Hand fighting is the “meta game” that sets up every scoring opportunity: read to nail the details!

Banged up, broken, but still rolling? After two decades of grappling, I’ve learned the hard way that recovery isn’t optional. In this article, I break down the ‘slow work’ system that got me from constant pain to training 5 days a week—plus a bonus ChatGPT PT hack to build your own custom recovery plan.

Differentiate between "Fun" and "Enjoyment" is essential. "Fun" relates to excitement or laughter in the moment. “Enjoyment” is about appreciation of doing something hard after the fact.

Struggle isn’t everything. Aiming for a constant grind leads to frustration, not a team culture. To keep athletes happy and motivated, coaches should make sure that the joy is at the forefront of all activities

Wrestling rooms have come a long way. Find out what makes the best rooms in the country and how you can improve yours.

Trying to compete after many years of exclusively coaching is intense, nostalgic, and fun. Hear my thoughts on this unique experience.

College Coaches are quitting in droves, here’s my reasoning.

Good wrestling content is difficult to find. I’ve done the hard work for you.

Airdynes are hell- let me teach you how to bring the heat to your athletes efficiently.

Master the tournament environment

J’den Cox has multiple interests, so should you.

My assistant, Coach Nick Drendel and I, have put a lot of time and thought into the practices we’ve run. We think about them on multiple levels and I want to talk you through how we formulate our plans.

Recently, this has all changed. Some events and reading took place and in turn, my staff and I have shifted tactics. So far, it feels like it’s working. The stats have backed it up too.

Growing up, I was never an organized person. In fact, I was recklessly and proudly unclean and unorganized.

Every college program I’ve ever been a part of has had the same blanket solution for helping their athletes’ academics. The dreaded study hall . Now ask any athlete what they feel about this practice and you will…

A) “You’re not quitting”

At Lakeland Wrestling, we talk a lot about our core values. I believe they are the chief reason we have developed Culture (Capital C). This idea is by no means unique but we believe our purposeful nature makes our…

It’s taken me many years to admit this, but here it is…

To design any workout, you must first have guiding principles. Those principles must then create goals which you use to tell a story. The point is, it’s an easy mistake to make to just jump into writing. This is a…

Here’s a scenario: You just started a program and you just had a good fundraiser. You have around $750 that you wish to spend on strength equipment that can train your entire team at once. What do you buy though? And…

Creating rules for writing a practice plan is difficult. There are many different things to consider when writing a wrestling practice on a given day. No workout is the same. A summer clinic for middle schoolers is…

Despite all the college programs out there and all the services created to help kids get recruited I still see a lot of great athletes not getting noticed. As a college coach, I feel like I am in a unique position to…

Photo: Harvey Levine-FOS/247

I have heard arguments about music in the wrestling room from across the spectrum. Gable once said, “A wrestling room without music is a wrestling room without life” yet if you walk into the Iowa wrestling room…