Regional, section and state tournament action is heating up at the high school level. With that in mind, it’s time for coaches – and fans – to remember while winning is important, proper sportsmanship is a key component of a successful coach, wrestler or team.
By Jeremy O’Kasick — TWM Freelance Writer
Earlier this season at a high school dual meet, I witnessed something that should have brought shame to everyone in the crowd. A head coach hovered over one of his wrestlers screaming, absolutely irate.
The young athlete had dropped a close decision in a highly competitive team contest. Even while the next wrestler hustled onto the mat and strapped on his ankle band, the coach continued to holler and flap his jowls in a fit, making his 130-pound wrestler looked distressed – almost in a panic.
“Jeez, he’s going a little overboard, don’t you think?” remarked a nearby fan.
“You should have seen him last match,” replied another. “He made another kid cry.”
I don’t know what concerned me more: how this coach was taking it too far, nearly to the point of verbal abuse, or how nobody, not one fan, assistant coach, or referee (or this sportswriter), said anything directly to him about it. We’re always so eager to yell at the referee when we believe that the wrestler on the opposing side is stalling or behaving poorly. Why shouldn’t we be just as critical of the coaches?
Coaches Set Sportsmanship Example
At all athletic levels, there has been a steady campaign to boost sportsmanship over the past decade or so. The focus often falls on the athletes and fans, and, in wrestling, it has had some positive effect even in an age when egos and fan protest both run amok. But let’s never forget: sportsmanship starts with the coaches.
The legendary Notre Dame football coach, Knute Rockne, once said, “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it.” It is the coach who leads his wrestlers and sets the examples that they will follow. The NCAA and high school leagues can preach sportsmanship and enforce its rules, but without the examples and discipline set by coaches, their efforts mean little. And it still seems that winning coaches and athletes who cross the line and act in hotheaded, childish ways ultimately get let off the hook no matter the fines, ejections, or point deductions.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those overprotective parents or fans who cries foul if a coach raises his voice or uses an in-your-face motivational technique from time to time. Wrestling is an intense and demanding sport, and it requires intensity not only of body but also of mind and spirit. Sometimes, a fiery coach can spark that intensity, and wrestlers may ultimately learn a lesson that they can use throughout life. If anything, the majority of American kids need a little old-fashioned discipline these days.
At the college level, the media is also all too quick to sensationalize any emotional outburst or seemingly over-the-top reactions by coaches. (Some of the well-circulated clips of the most notorious of hothead coaches, Texas Tech basketball coach, Bobby Knight, come to mind.)
But there is a definite line between focused intensity and irrational anger and behavior. One motivates; the other damages. Especially for high school students, so-called “negative feedback” often does more harm than good, and that goes for how it affects young men both in life and in sport. I can’t tell you how many young wrestlers I have seen crack under pressure in key matches, in part, because of overbearing coaches and parents – or completely fall apart and mess their lives up after their wrestling career is over. Almost every high school program also has a story of an extremely gifted grappler who gets burnt out by his senior year and ends his amateur career early. More importantly, off the mat, those tirades take their toll.
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