Building a Winning Wrestling Program from Scratch

by Victor Lorenzano
Originally printed in the September 1996 issue of Coach and Athletic
Director Reprinted here with permission Most of what I know about building a wrestling program has been gleaned from talented coaches of various sports. The very first thing I learned is that the single most important building block is administrative support. Yes, I know how important it is to have money, facilities, and equipment. But you must have administrative approval and support to launch the program and then continue enhancing its growth. In your relationship with the administration, you should understand that while wrestling may be the greatest passion in your life, it is just one of the 20 or more responsibilities of the A.D. and just one of the thousands of concerns of the principal. I am convinced that the happiest and most successful coaches are those who enjoy a positive relationship with their administration -- who avoid negativism and selfrighteousness. I speak from personal experience. As a beginning coach at Waldron (IN) H.S., I used to complain about the lack of money, the lack of administrative support, and the lack of fan support. I regularly criticized the principal for not knowing anything about wrestling, without understanding that I had never given him a chance to learn anything about it. I needed a mentor, and I found one in Athletic Director John Jamieson. I asked John to evaluate me, to let me know what I had to do to improve as a coach. He told me that I had to give my principal a chance and that I had to educate him on my sport. It hurt me to realize that I had been undermining the program instead of helping it. After some soul-searching, I decided to change a few attitudes. First, I stopped speaking negatively about other teams and overinflating my own team. I began actively supporting the other teams and promoting the accomplishments of my own kids. I did this through school announcements, the school newspaper, the yearbook, repeated chats with the local press, and turning out more posters, signs, banners, T-shirts, hats, bags, etc. In short, I made a greater effort to give the program visibility and recognition. Good things started to happen. I began meeting with the principal regularly just to talk about the kids and discuss the philosophy of athletics. I soon noticed that the parents had become more interested and that everyone had begun noticing how hard our kids worked. The principal was amazed at their work ethic both in our early morning workouts and at practice after school. I also made a point of attending our other coaches' contests and helping out by taking tickets, etc. As success took shape, the newspapers began publishing articles on the kids. Though our school had only 262 students in four grades, we developed a following. By the time I

left Waldron in 1987, I had fallen in love with the community and I revered the principal, Max Beeson. NEXT STOP I arrived at Gateway H.S. in Kissimmee, FL, a moderately large school of 1,800 students, with the clear-cut determination to forge a positive relationship with the administration. Though the principal and his three assistants were basketball and football oriented, I never asked them to love wrestling the way I did. Neither did I think of waltzing into their offices and asking for solutions to my fiscal or community concerns. I was pleased when they attended a match or two, or demonstrated a concern for wrestling by asking questions. It told me that they respected and appreciated my staff, the kids, and the program. To their credit, they demonstrated these things regularly. I always smile when I remember my principal, an avid Tennessee fan, telling me "That thar boy was tryin' to tar that other boy's arm off! I liked it when ole David tossed that boy down!" Maybe it wasn't basketball or Tennessee football to him, but he showed he could enjoy wrestling and support it, and that was important. I realize I have spent a lot of ink on the subject of administrative support, but I believe it is of paramount importance in the development of any kind of sport program. LAUNCHING THE PROGRAM As long as you have a mat and a place to practice, you can start building a wrestling program. Perhaps the first essential is to forge a positive relationship with the other coaches and to always encourage your kids to participate in other sports. Avoid any claims of superiority. Don't even whisper such foolishness as "My sport is better than your sport." That is both immature and unprofessional. It is also self-defeating to criticize big kids for not coming out for the sport, to criticize parents for not being more involved, and to complain about other sports getting more money. Far more can be accomplished by forging strong relationships, promoting the fun and benefits of wrestling, encouraging your kids to be ambassadors of their sport, and educating your administration and community. It is also essential to seek out a conscientious assistant. He doesn't necessarily need a strong wrestling background, though it would be a great asset, of course. He just has to be motivated and willing to learn. Good assistants will rarely fall into your lap. You may have to search hard for one or you may have to think of converting a football assistant. Another early order of business is the formation of long-range goals. When my assistant, Andy Dyer, and I first started working together in 1989, we met in a restaurant and wrote up a set of 12 goals covering a seven-year period. By the time Andy left to become a head coach five years later, we were right on target with all of them! Next to each goal, we inserted a time-line and a set of strategies to achieve it. Note: It is essential to write these down and review them every year.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY In launching any kind of program, you must establish some independence and become as self-sufficient as possible. But you must have a sensibility about spending the budget money. Sure, everyone loves great-looking, expensive uniforms. But you cannot blow the budget on them. You must save a share for all the important little necessities such as mat tape, mat cleaner, head gear, water bottles, towels, and team T-shirts. If the school boosters club or athletic department sponsor some kind of special winter-sport program, you should make every effort to get included in the project, but not as a hitchhiker. Nothing is more irritating than to invite yourself to a "party" and then let everyone else do all the work. In short, you should do your own legwork in the program, such as furnishing copy-ready preview articles on your team plus a list (and photographs) of your senior or returning lettermen. If there is no winter sport program, you can think of developing your own wrestling booklet, including a season preview, a schedule, brief bios of the entire squad or just the returning lettermen, and a photo of the coaching staff. You may use a regular copying machine for your first effort, and try to improve the publication a little every year. FUND-RAISING IDEAS 1. Candy sales. 2. Sponsored dance. 3. Pizza sale. 4. Wrestle-a-thon (take pledges). S. Car washes (depends on climate). 6. Concessions at local civic events such as exotic bird shows, festivals, etc. 7. A raffle on donated items (side of beef, a television set, etc.). 8. A USA wrestling tournament. PROMOTION IDEAS 1. School announcements, win or lose; don't be lazy. 2. Signs around school. Takes a little effort. Get matmaids to help. 3. Always call our scores in to the press. A must, win or lose! 4. Place homemade signs in the wrestlers' front-yard the night before the state tournament trip. ("Go Get 'Em!..." Go For It!", etc.) 5. Video promos. We did a humorous TV video with six-year-old kids. (Theme: "You don't have to be big to wrestle.") We did a second video with three high schoolers imitating the three brothers (Larry, Daryl, and Daryl) from the Bob Newhart Show. We did a third one with my assistant and I imitating Hans and Frans from "Saturday Night Live:" "We want to pump you up with Gateway Wrestling." They were all big hits and a lot of fun to do! It took some work, but it was well worth it. 6. Large color poster. (It cost us about $1,000, but was very well received in the community and sparked a lot of excitement.) 7. Visit to elementary and middle schools. (Take a couple of great kids with you.) We once placed a 9 x 16 picture plaque of our state champ in the front office of his middle school.

8. Awards Night. Ron Jones of Sarasota invited me to his banquet one year and I wound up borrowing many of his ideas. We made an event out of our Awards Night (like the Academy Awards) -- suspenseful, exciting, and classy. 9. A Wall of Fame. Some schools use the walls of the area surrounding their gym, the foyers, hallways, and entryways. Other schools display pictures with accolades for specific levels of achievements, such as conference titles, all-state, etc. At Waldron we painted blocks on the concrete wall of our wrestling area and also started a Waldron Wall of Fame outside the gym area. Regardless of how you choose to honor your outstanding kids on a long-term basis, you must maintain a professionalism in your approach and make sure to stay up to date. The project may take some work and be a little tedious, but it is a relatively inexpensive and highly motivating project. 10. Pins. My wife and managers would purchase large safety pins and paint them in our school colors. We'd award them for outstanding performances during the season and make sure to reserve a lot of them for our end-of-the-year banquet. 11. Chenille letters and patches. 12. Banners for the gym. 13. Letters or cards to the parents of our seniors, thanking them for the opportunity to coach their kids and for their support during the year. 14. USA Wrestling: (1) offers opportunities to wrestle and travel; (2) enables collegebound wrestlers to enhance scholarship opportunities, (3) build youth program to help develop long-term independence and parent support -- especially important in areas which have no middle-school athletic programs. 15. Wrestling camps. Easily the most pivotal part of our program. Either I or my assistant (sometimes both of us) attended a camp with our team in each of the past nine years. The kids picked up a lot of great instruction and we built a great camaraderie. When people work, struggle, sacrifice, go through hardships and triumphs together, and support one another, they bond -- just like a family.

CONCLUSION Since we may be called upon to stand up for our sport in the wake of Title IX miscarriages, we must stay focused on the many positives that our sport has to offer. We must also try to get our promising young people to go into coaching. Programs are being dropped because of the lack of qualified coaches, and it's time to encourage our wrestlers to go into high school coaching and experience the joy of working with great young kids in building a program.

Make it FUN! Conduct two or three practices per week. Each practice should be no more than 1.5 hours. Practice should be fairly structured with time at the end for scrimmaging. Work on just a few techniques at each session and perfect them. Start the club season off in a big way by bringing in a top clinician, such as a former Olympian or National Champion. It is important ot begin with lots of wrestlers. Do everything you can to get as many kids to the first week of practice. 7. Create a program that will provide your wrestlers with challenges, a sense of direction, a feeling of accomplishment and recognition for their achievements during the off-season regardless of their skill level. Here's how. 8. Peak for a major tournament at the end of your club season.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Grapevine Youth Wrestling League

The Grapevine Wrestling League is located in southern New Jersey and is comprised of 33 teams with approximately 2,000 participants. Below are a number of things that make the league unique: 1 - Competitions are held on Saturdays or Sundays only. None are held Monday through Friday. 2 - The 8-week season consists of six competitions followed by two tournaments. Each competition involves three teams. 3 - Every wrestler on a team competes in each competition. Some get one match, most get two and on occasion a few get three matches. 4 - Wrestlers are paired up according to:
y y y y y

Weight - There are no predetermined weight classes Wrestlers that are paired up must be within 5-10% of each other. Age - Wrestlers must be within +/- one year of each other. Skill Level - Each wrestler is assigned a skill level rating ranging from 1 to 6 with 1 being a novice and 6 the most experienced and knowledgable wrestlers. For details about the procedure used for pairing up wrestlers look at Articles 10 and 11 of the Grapevine By-Laws. A computer program, called Matchman, is used to pair up the wrestlers.

The advantages of this league are:

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No cutting weight. Kids wrestle opponents who are the same age, weight and skill level. Everyone wrestles which in turn leads to the added benefit of eliminating the need for wrestle-offs.