Averill Park Wrestling Club: Varsity Wrestlers

Averill Park 2010-2011 Varsity Wrestling Team

Bottom Row:

Tyler Moses, Nate Chin, Cody Mosley, Cody Meissner, Allen McNeil, Joe Toth, Gary Goodermote and Jimmy Pasquariello

Top Row:

Coach Polsinello, Coach Bondi, Alec Sharpe, John Carroll, Zack Hug, Sam Weatherwax, Joe Donnelly, Nick White, Brian Hardy, Sid Sharpe, Adam Chamberlin and Coach Malenfant

Wrestling is one of the most difficult and challenging activities anyone could do during the course of their lives. I am sure most wrestlers would agree that wrestling is extremely physically and mentally demanding. The sport of wrestling truly prepares you for the rest of your life, because our sport teaches you the "lessons of life".

So what are these lessons of life that our great sport teaches you? I suppose they are infinite, but allow me to pinpoint a few: intensity, focus, discipline, goal-setting, determination and perseverance. To be successful on the mats, in school, or in the work place, you must possess these characteristics. I feel wrestling can teach you these better than any other sport.

I conduct camps for kids throughout the year. At every camp I make t-shirts with different slogans. The slogans reinforce valuable lessons that wrestling teaches you. Over the years I have used an array of slogans, incorporating some of the attributes mentioned above. The slogan for one of my Winter Break Training Camps was Wrestling - Training for the Rest of Your Life.

I chose this slogan a few months ago when I was talking to a friend of mine, Jeff Levitetz. Jeff is founder and coach of Boca Raton Wrestling Club Inc. He told me he painted this slogan on his wrestling room wall. I thought it would be a perfect slogan for camp. Jeff is a great example of someone who used wrestling as "training for the rest of his life". He wrestled in high school and college, and then started his own business, Purity Wholesale Grocers. Jeff has developed Purity into an ultra successful business, and is trying to pass his message on to his young wrestlers.

This slogan Wrestling - Training for the Rest of Your Life is one of my favorite camp slogans to date. It covered all the lessons of life and it is what I am trying to accomplish as a coach. I am striving not only to develop champions on the mats, but to also help my students understand what it will take to excel in life when their wrestling career is behind them.

At my Olympian Camps I ask my clinicians to talk about much more than doubles and high crotches. I asked them to share their insight into what it takes to be successful in all aspects of life. Two great examples of this is Bruce Baumgartner and John Fritz. They were both guests at one of my Winter Break Training Camps. As most of you may know, Bruce and John are retired from coaching and are now athletic directors. They applied the skills wrestling has taught them to their current jobs on a daily basis. These great men and my other Olympian Camp instructors offered some valuable information to my campers.

Bruce talked about his constantly changing goals as he went through different stages of life. One of his critical messages was that it is important to change and adjust both your wrestling and career goals over time. The key thing is that you always have concrete, have meaningful goals, and stay focused on them over time. Bruce also showed great combinations from the under hook series. Crippling turns and a sweet cross wrist roll were some that my team is already using very effectively.

John Fritz spoke on an array of topics. He entertained the kids with some anecdotal stories about my obsessive work habits as a college athlete. John was my college mentor. He spent many early morning and late night hours with me in the gym. This helped me perfect my skills. John shared with the kids how much improvement I made during my college years. Intense work ethic and determination contributed to my success. John has been an instructor at my camps many times over the years. His duck unders and set-up drills are always very well received.

There were numerous other guests at Winter Camp who had unique and valuable messages. Penn State Head Coach, Troy Sunderland, spoke to the campers about the importance of doing being a good person and conducting yourself in a positive fashion. Harvard graduate and Olympic alternate, Paul Widerman, spoke to the kids about the importance of doing well in school and having a creative, open mind. Paul owns his own fitness company and recently invented and patented "smart bells". They are a new and unique piece of strength training equipment that I believe has great value. Two clinicians you may not know by name, Donn Ernst and Dale Bonsall, are two of the annual favorites at my Olympian Camp. Donn and Dale are both teachers and coaches. They shared their messages with such unique presentations that they mesmerized the young wrestlers. Their enthusiasm and passion for our sport and helping kids rubbed off on everyone. There is no substitute for these important characteristics if you wish to excel on or off the mats.

The International Food Information Council (IFIC) believes a wide variety of foods rich in essential nutrients are necessary for healthy, growing bodies. Many of these foods can be seen in the "Food Guide Pyramid". The IFIC went on to say such foods include carbohydrate-rich grains and fruits and vegetables necessary to supply vitamins, minerals, fiber and energy vital to good health. Adequate amounts of dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, dry beans and nuts also provide nutrients that contribute to proper growth and development. Following this prescription and exercising increases your health while adding life to your years.

Motivation and Commitment: Pre-Season Training

I always encourage my athletes to rise to the occasion so they will have a peak performance in their biggest contests. Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno wrote the foreword to my book, Commitment to Excellence, and his career, lifestyle, and mentality epitomizes what a commitment to excellence entails.

Many outstanding coaches join us throughout the year for the camps we host at our Home Training Center in, State College, PA. We have well-established camps on Thanksgiving weekend and during the year. In addition we have our Winter Break Training Camp which will be conducted at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Philadelphia, PA. Dedicated wrestlers and coaches travel from throughout the nation to attend these camps. You do not have to be from Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, or other wrestling hot beds to succeed in our sport. It simply requires a commitment to excellence and sustained motivation for many years, perhaps a decade or more to reach the top of the mountain.

I put much thought into the overall design of my camp complex and have inscribed "Commitment to Excellence" on the wall padding. Although I considered having “Intensity - Discipline – Perseverance” — all parts of what a commitment to excellence entails, I instead decided to paint the words "Commitment to Excellence" because they encapsulate what it takes to be successful in school, wrestling, and life.

On a general note, wrestling is an extremely demanding sport that does not always seem to offer many rewards. Our sport is a grueling battle during both training and competition. You often leave a wrestling practice exhausted, both physically and mentally. This is how you are supposed to feel if you are going to be fully prepared for the heat of battle. So you may ask yourself — why go through all this?

Not only is wrestling physically demanding, but you must also spend many hours learning and drilling a wide array of techniques. Whether you are a beginner or an elite high school or college athlete, you must continuously work hard to develop and perfect a repertoire of techniques that will make you a champion.

In addition to the daily grind of training and the endless hours of drilling that are required to master the sport, you must also eat healthy foods throughout the year and typically follow a strict diet during the season. Many athletes "cut" additional water weight prior to competition to make weight. Wrestling is an intense sport that does not always seem to offer many rewards, yet so many athletes are driven to excel. Why this paradox?

I will examine the motivating forces that drive us to excel, while providing you with suggestions and training tips that will help you stay motivated as you pursue your highest goals in our incredibly demanding and challenging sport. Let me start you with some pre-season training tips.

·          The season will be here soon, so it is time to get focused on your goals for the upcoming season and get busy preparing to reach them. Decide what you want to achieve and make a commitment to doing everything necessary to reach your goals.

·          Do not wait until November to start training regularly. Design a pre-season training plan and stick with it. It does not need to be complex. Your pre-season program should consist of at least 3 days per week in the weight room and 3 days per week of cardiovascular conditioning. You may spread this over six days of the week or you may combine strength training and conditioning into one workout. For example a 2-mile run followed by a strength training workout would kill two birds with one stone.

·          Do not just put in time in the weight room. Have a plan when you walk in the door and get busy! Your cardiovascular training may consist of any combination of running, biking, swimming, and wrestling. It should combine both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. For example, some days go for a 2-4 mile run or wrestle for 10-20 minutes straight (aerobic training), and other days do an interval/sprint workout or wrestle short matches (anaerobic training). I encourage you to get on the mats whenever possible. Find a way to get some mat time this fall. If there is a will there is a way. If you are going to participate in a physically demanding sport like wrestling, you must be fully prepared for battle. Do not let another day slip by without getting ready.

EAT TO PIN

Kim Gorman, MS, RD, LD
Registered Dietitian/Exercise Physiologist

Athletes strive for victory. In the absence of genetic heritage, peak performance is the alignment of proper training regimens with optimal nutrition yielding the athlete’s best chance at victory. But what is proper nutrition and hydration? This is a double-edged question for a competitive wrestler. It is the position of the American College of Sports Medicine to educate coaches and wrestlers toward safe weight control behaviors and to curtail “weight cutting”. Simply put, weight class changes should be made during the off-season. This article discloses a healthy approach to proper nutrition and hydration with sensitivity to the wrestler’s customary weight-making practice.

It is well documented that in a state of energy balance (stable weight), an athlete needs 0.5-0.8 grams of protein per pound of weight (15% of total daily calories) and 1-2 cups of water per pound of weight lost through sweat to prevent compromising strength. The carbohydrate recommendation is 2-2.5 grams per pound of body weight (60-65% of total daily calories).

Table 1 is a closer look at your protein needs.

Each day, the above meat allowances should be accompanied by a minimum of:
· 1 1/2 cups cooked or 3 cups raw vegetables,
· 3 cups (8 oz each) skim or 1% milk, and
· 4 cups of grain or starch foods (bread, pasta, rice, cereal, potato, peas/corn).

The recommended minimums outlined will provide you with an additional 60 grams of protein. Combining the minimums with the ounces of meat recommended you’ll reach the “max proteins” listed in Table 1.

Last but certainly not least, carbohydrate and water are crucially important following workouts or long practices for restoring energy banks. Although the recommendations can appear confusing, in terms of food, it’s quite the opposite. My best advice is to remember proportion at each meal. When going back for seconds, take 1/2 portions of each item offered!

A typical day’s menu for a wrestler in season might look like this:

The dietary guidelines disclosed above get even easier. The “blueprint” for proportional eating is tangible by reviewing the site www.perfectportions.net. The Perfect Portions Diet Dish provides a single deck-of-cards sized protein, 1/2 cup cooked vegetable, 1/2 cup fruit, a little over 1 cup of grain or starch food and an 8 ounce glass of skim or 1% milk.

The Perfect Portions Diet Dish is the blueprint for proportional eating:

·          60% carbohydrate for quick energy and speedy recovery times

·          15-20% protein for strength and power

·          20-25% fat for satiety and duration between meals

Now look back at the sample one-day menu. Each food item goes into a compartment so you don’t have to weigh or measure anything. All you need to know is how many plates of food to eat per day. If you need 3 decks-of-cards sized proteins, then you should be eating 3 full plates per day; if you need 5 decks-of-cards then you should be eating 5 full plates and so on.

The best trick of the dish is for off-season weight class changing. By adding an extra plate full over your usual intake, expect a 1-2 pound gain per week. Likewise, by omitting one plate full per day, expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week. The secret to maintaining strength with saturated energy stores is proportional eating whether it be before practices, after practices or any meal of the day. Learn what 60% carbohydrate, 15% protein and 25% fat looks like and then you can EAT TO PIN!