Takedown Report

Klessinger Coaching Notes

TDR Editor’s Notes ; John Klessinger started his head coaching experience at SouthWest Edgecombe High School. We had the pleasure of working with him running some tournaments before he moved back to Maryland.
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21 things I’ve learned in 21 years as a head wrestling coach: Part 1
The list of 21 things I’ve learned could be 51 or 101. I have learned so much over the years about coaching and working with people that it easily could consume an entire book (which I am working on). Below are 11 of the 21 most impactful concepts, ideas, and practices I have learned in my 23-year coaching career, the last 21 being as a head high school coach.
1. Actions speak louder than words
My dad would say this to me often. In the context of coaching, it means your actions will make more of an impact than what you say. If you want your team disciplined, you have to be the first to demonstrate discipline. Your actions have to reflect your words. Young men and women respond well to visual models. If you talk too often without a concrete backing, eventually your team will not listen. I want my wrestlers to be at every practice on time and ready. Therefore, I am at every practice on time and prepared. It is a simple philosophy that has paid significant dividends over the years.
2. Rapport is a better motivator than yelling
I learned this from some of my high school and college coaches. Later the idea was cemented by a fellow coach and teacher I had the opportunity to talk at length about coaching, athletes, and teaching. Your team “will run through brick walls for you” (her comment) if you develop a relationship with them and show them that you care about them. Building rapport is not a difficult task but does require conscious effort. Sometimes we “live” in our agendas and practice plans, and we neglect to talk to our athletes about their life, school, and family. By the time they are juniors and seniors, I usually know much about their hobbies, interests, family, and goals. It takes time for you and them to open up about matters, not about wrestling. Each of us has our “story” and background unique to us. The more you learn about each of them, the more you will be able to push them later on.
3. Lead from the front
Set the example for your team. Be the first to get “in the fight.” Like actions speak louder than words, your team will come to expect from what you consistently demonstrate to them. If you routinely model what you want from your athletes, your team will fall in line. Setting the examples entails doing first what you want from others and then helping them do the same.
4. Focus on developing people first
This concept has changed my belief and love for coaching. For too long, early in my career, I focused on winning. More accurately, not losing. Admittedly, I probably dislike losing more than I like winning. As a competitor, the exhilaration from winning fades more rapidly than the feelings you have when you lose. Losing kind of haunts you and leaves you with the dialogue of “what if, why didn’t I, or I should have.” Once I changed my belief or focus, it became much easier to try to make “Jimmy” better than winning or losing a wrestling match. I can control making Jimmy or Sally better. I cannot always control the outcome of a wrestling match. More interesting though, once I changed my goal of coaching from winning to developing young men and women, it became much more fun, and ironically we won more. Go figure.
5. Enthusiasm is contagious, and so is negativity
You can practically change the perspective of any situation (wrestling or non-wrestling) with having an enthusiastic attitude. … rest of story at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/23698?mc_cid=19bf6bc4f5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

June 30, 2020 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment