some thoughts on how to compete - Thursday, January 14th, 2010

To be the best you can be you must focus on the process. Focusing on the process means that you break down what you are going to the bare essentials. What are you doing with your hands? What are you doing with your feet? Don’t focus on things like ” I need to score” or “I can’t make a mistake.” That’s great that you want to score, but how are you going to score? What exactly do you need to do to score? Those are the questions to answer as you figure out what you need to focus on.

Focus on the process, then be aggressive to enforce your will. Use every second. That is how you dominate. The more shots you take the better you become. The more mistakes you make the better you become.

Dominate the position, dominate the tie up, and dictate the pace of the match. If you do those things, the score will take care of its self. Then the results will come. This is an effort based strategy. You are 100% in control of your effort, so give your best.

You want to beat people worse every time you see them, not let the score get closer and closer. If you beat someone by one point that you could beat by 9 then they go home thinking they can beat you next time. If you beat them by 9 their goal isn’t to beat you next time. It is to keep score close. If you tech or pin your opponent, the chances are down deep the next time they just want to get majored. It is a mind game and an attitude game.

Make your opponent never want to wrestle you again.

The biggest mistake people make is that they try to be perfect, perfect meaning, not making any mistakes. As the saying goes.. “the person who is afraid to take risk, takes the biggest risk of all.”

Trying to avoid mistakes causes you to tighten up, to think (over think) and that slows you down. Wrestling is not a game of perfection. It is a game of imperfections, adjustments, and maneuver warfare. Two shots will rarely be the same. Scramble, hustle and wrestle. Give yourself a break from worrying about mistakes. It’s no fun, and it just doesn’t work.

Even at the highest levels, coaches encourage their athletes to try and be perfect. I didn’t wrestle a perfect match in my career. Progress is severely limited if you are hindered by the fear of making mistakes. My coach, Coach Douglas, always told me “hustle, will make up for a lot of mistakes.” I lived by that philosophy. This is the difference between wrestling to win and wrestling to not lose. The “to not lose” mind set is where you hope to make fewer mistakes then your opponet to win. I believe 100% in the mind set that you attack and overwhelm. If you aren’t making mistakes you aren’t trying hard enough. If you do make a mistake, big deal, make up for it with hustle.

By wrestling hard you force your opponent into a defensive position and that takes them out of their game. By wrestling hard and working multiple set ups to attacks you give yourself 30-40 looks at scoring opportunities. If you score just 10-20% of your shots you are going to be tough to beat. The harder you work, the more room for error you have and vice versa. Of course, when you shoot and miss you keep moving and start working for your next shot. Plus, all of those shot attempts all work to set up your future shots.

If you stand around and wait for a shot to open up and come to you, you may only get 1-3 looks at that shot. There is no room for error with those numbers. When you rely on only a few attempts to get your points, you have to be close to perfect. And, we already discussed how ineffective it is to try and be perfect. That mentality is not good for the brain (confidence,) makes you think and it slows your reflexes.

You wrestle hard and focus on wrestling hard because that is going to get you the best result. It is not the easiest thing to do, but it is the most effective. Being consistent in every match is going to give you the best result. If you take the same effort to every match, and every practice, then you don’t have to change when the big matches come around. You just be the same. That is confidence and peace of mind.

Finding some simple directions to get you into the zone and wrestling off instinct. Then repeat that process as necessary during match to continue to get back into “the zone.” The more time you spend in the zone the better chance you have of reaching your greatest potential. So do it.

Oh yeah, and come to Penn State, buy Undefeated Cookies, and wear Asics!! haha

Latest Blog Entries:

- to war - Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
- tournament time - Monday, March 1st, 2010
- got questions? - Thursday, February 18th, 2010
- Think like God wants us to think - Monday, February 15th, 2010
- Positive perfectionists - Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
- obstacles - Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
- some thoughts on how to compete - Thursday, January 14th, 2010
- Are you “all the way in!?” - Friday, January 1st, 2010
- Happy New Year! - Thursday, December 31st, 2009
- K.I.S.B. – Keep it simple, buddy - Monday, December 21st, 2009