In sports typically it is said that coaches use a “system”
to tech there players and get the best out of there players. This is an
interesting way to view coaching but through past experiences I understand how
this is true. I have been fortunate to see both successful and unsuccessful systems.
As a high school wrestler I wrestled on both sides of the
spectrum. When I was a freshman, sophomore, and Junior the system that was run
lead my school to a city title as well as the first undefeated season in our
programs history. In addition to that we had two people qualify for state in
the state of Ohio, which is extremely difficult to do. Due to a variety of reasons
the core of team’s head coaches were removed my senior of high school. My senior
year a new head coach came and due to two major reason’s the program has gone
down since then.
The first major reason was the environment and mentality
that was established when the new coach came in. The coach that I originally established
a mentality that made wrestlers want to wrestle and give their best for the
coach. Also he established a mentality that was positive for wrestling. When
the new coach came in he focused on new things and established a “softer”
culture, in my opinion. The coach tried to focus on strength and less on
conditioning and technique. When I talked to my friends and watched them
wrestle it was completely different. In the past the team may not have the best
wrestlers but they were the most in shape and could compete. Once the new coach
came in the team looked flat and tired because of the “system.” The second
major factor was the personnel. The people in the new coaching system as well
as the talent in the “system” decreased dramatically. The wrestlers that left
after my sophomore year left many gaps in the roster and caused the team to
lose. In addition to that the new head coach didn't have a good ability to
recruit good athletes as my first coach did. This is important because it was
easy to teach technique in wrestling. Both of these things cause the team and
in a sense the program to go downhill.
From my playing prospective the second “system” seemed to be
a failure. This happened because the wrestlers who remained had a huge lack of
talent. The people that were acquired by the new head coach were not the athletes
that were established and brought in by my original head coach. In addition to
that trying to change the culture to a “softer” mentality didn't help the
wrestlers that remained from the previous “system” and didn't seem to help the
new wrestlers coming into the system. Wrestling is one sport that requires a hard nosed
mentality, great instruction, and talent. This change in environment and personnel seems like a big reason in my personal
opinion this new "system" failed.
-MG
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