Ask Cael: I have two boys who love to wrestle, what do you think is the best way to bring them up the ranks, without “burning them out?” And what would be some good motivational ideas?

Story Published Thursday, December 9th, 2010

name:                  matthew

question:               I have two boys who love to wrestle, what do you think is the best way to bring them up the ranks, without “burning them out”? And what would be some good motivational ideas? Thankyou!

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If I were you I would make sure that you treat wrestling as a reward.  Only let them go to practice or a tournament if they are doing well in school or something like that.  I wouldn’t worry about them falling behind if you aren’t pushing them hard enough. That’s a common mistake among parents. 

 It’s a marathon and the kids who end up finishing and finishing strong are the ones who love the sport.  If you need a way to punish your kids, do it by not letting them participate in wrestling.  It’s the old reverse-psychology trick.  If your kids think they are wrestling because there dad wants them to, it will be more difficult for them to learn to love the sport. 

Be creative.  My dad wrote a great answer to a similar question that is somewhere in the archives on my site.  It’s at least a few years old but you should be able to find it.  Also I just posted an excellent interview from Neil Alton and how he raised his boys in wrestling.

Nico Megaludis, a really tough senior in high school that just signed with us, was raised in the sport like I’m suggesting.  Nico loves to train and compete. Why?  Nico’s dad, Dan, told me that he used to treat the sport as a reward.  If Nico didn’t earn the reward of being able to participate in wrestling, he didn’t let him participate.  I believe Dan even said he would punish Nico by not letting him do his push-ups before bed and things like that.  That’s pretty funny but effective.  He said Nico caught on after several years but it was too late.  Nico was hooked and loved wrestling and training.  Now Nico just needs to work on his air hockey skills, they are suspect and so is his score keeping.

It’s important to remember that all kids are different and one method might work with one kid but not work with the other.  Be flexible, patient, positive and supportive.  Make sure your kids are having fun.  Put them in several sports.  Don’t get too excited when they win or upset when they lose.  Let it be their sport and their career.   Good luck.

Cael

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