Wrestling is not an easy sport, but it comes with a tremendous number of benefits for those who practice it. Wrestling news show constant growth in interest when it comes to wrestling in schools. Not only is it physically beneficial, but it also builds various mental skills, therefore providing its true practitioners with amazing benefits.
But, this doesn’t make it any easier, especially for children who have to understand and accept the pressure that comes with this sport. They can experience the glory when they win, but also have to learn from their failures and mistakes. All this requires and builds a strong confidence and character.
If you want to help your child get in his youth wrestling shoes and get the best out of this activity, here are the top 10 tips you should be practicing.
Focus on Effort, Not Winning
Your child’s focus should be on getting better at wrestling, not on winning. They’ll be facing some big obstacles but, in order to enjoy the benefits of the sport, they should be taught to make effort and use their skills to the best of their abilities, regardless of the outcome. To do this, a child’s brain requires discipline and confidence, while it’s the job of the adults to help them overcome the doubts and fears and develop a stronger mind. Therefore, pushing a child to win doesn’t make him better or tougher.
Make the Practice Fun
Children don’t really understand the benefits of exercise and sport. One of the main reasons why they’d go for youth wrestling is to have some fun. So, if you’re teaching or helping a child, one of the best wrestling tips you can get is to make practice fun. Thanks to many available activities and challenges like tug of war, dodge ball, sumo out, and more, this can be turned from a strict sport into an entertainment with a great set of benefits.
Avoid Burn Out
Young wrestlers can often be too optimistic and eager to learn very fast. If you push them to do so, they’ll experience burn out. Yes, you should be persuasive to motivate them to practice, but not so much as to make them push themselves over their limits. If you want to learn more about persuasive, go through these interesting persuasive speech topics to get some ideas.
Teach the Fundamentals First
Before a young wrestler starts to compete, he should learn the fundamentals, the base of coordination and stance. Otherwise, they’ll have a bad stance and suffer more losses, as well as slowly lose the confidence because they lack the basics. With a lot of warm ups and some basic athleticism exercises, the body of a young wrestler can be shaped and ready to actually start doing the sport.
Don’t Promote Weight Loss
When they tackle wrestling at a young age, young people can easily be misled to believe that they should cut weight to get better. Cutting weight by starving yourself is not fun, and it is definitely not good for a wrestler. This makes the child lose his athletic ability and strength, therefore increasing burnout and pain.
Teach them Several Techniques
The task isn’t to go overboard and teach the child 50 different moves all at once. Yes, if the child shows interest and keeps working, he will learn more and more with time. This is the same as at school. When a child is overwhelmed with coursework and homework, he’s more likely to pay for essay online instead of doing his tasks on his own. This is bad for his progress and learning. The same applies to wrestling.
Get to Know Them
Regardless of if you are a coach or a parent, sports are a great method to build a strong relationship with a child. This is crucial for teaching them in the most effective way. The job of a coach isn’t just to teach wrestling moves. It’s also to give 100% and get to know each student in order to connect with them.
Teach the Importance of Culture
When it comes to a practice room, the culture that exists there is extremely important. This includes promoting things like positivity, fun, creativity, as well as build a foundation of trust in the learning environment. With the right culture, everyone in a wrestling class can learn better.
Ask the Child How Serious He Is
A child can easily lose interest and choose something else. That’s his right. Many children explore different options before they can decide what fits them best. Therefore, before you start pushing a child to do wrestling, ask them how they feel about it. Are they having fun? Do they like the sport? Or, would they like to move onto something else instead?
If a child is not interested, he won’t learn efficiently.
Try to Build Confidence
Confidence is an important skill that will guide a child throughout his life. It’s also necessary to excel in the world of wrestling. Therefore, don’t pump the children before the big match and push them too hard. They should have the confidence to wrestle even if they lose. Your job is to fill them with inner belief and confidence.
Conclusion
Teaching a child to wrestle is a responsible and hard job. But, if you learn how to make it fun and make the child interested in it, this can be an amazing experience to the child, both mentally and in terms of his health.
Author’s Bio
Nicholas Walker is a wrestling trainer who works primarily with high school students. He spent five years training the youngest wrestlers, after which he moved onto teaching older students. Thanks to his vast scope of experience, Walker has become an amazing and insightful trainer and advisor.
