What I Learned in London When I Close My Eyes and Try to Think About
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What I Learned in London When I close my eyes and try to think about what happened in London all I see is a blur. Four years ago after China I was very disappointed in the outcome of my match. I lost it all in the last few seconds and my dream of becoming an Olympic Champion disappeared in the blink of an eye. I was 28 years old and I had committed myself to being an Olympic Champion since the second I graduated college. I wrestled everywhere I could and I trained with anyone I could to try and become the best I can be. Training from 2002-2008 will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. It was hard work and it took a lot of dedication to be able to travel that much and train at that high a level. I was not ready to retire after 2008, but I was never able to get back to where I was before 2008. I do not look at the last four years of my life as a failure; it was during this time that I learned the most about the sport. I have not made much money over the last four years, but the experiences and knowledge I have will be with me for the rest of my life. I believe 100% in my heart what I have learned in the last four years will help me become one of the best coaches in the nation. There are not many coaches in this country that have coached an Olympic Champion, and even though I was not one myself, I know someday I will coach an athlete to become one. So here is what I have learned in the last four years and at my time in London. Preparation Preparation is the key to becoming an Olympic Champion. You cannot do this sport part time and think you will become a champion. We are competing against professionals who are state funded and have full time coaches making sure they are on the right path, and that they are prepared to win when the whistle blows. This takes a lot of effort from the athlete, coach, and support staff. One of the keys to our recent international success has been the addition of the Regional Training Centers (RTCs). The RTCs have been instrumental in fundraising for the senior level athletes so they can live on a small salary and focus solely on training. As an athlete with goals of winning world and Olympic titles you should have no worries other than training. Training occupies your whole day when you are doing it right. You have to live like an Olympic champion from the time you wake up for breakfast to the moment you fall asleep. I have seen some of the best coaches and athletes prepare for world level competitions and each aspect is a commitment that occupies your life for the moment. As a coach you have to know everything about your athlete, and you must have a relationship that is built on trust. I saw this when I lived in Russia, and I saw this in London with the personal coaches of the US athletes. The problem we have in the US is that there are not enough coaches that are able to take the time it reQuires to develop a world class wrestler. I understand why this is a problem, for almost all of the coaches that helped with the freestyle team this summer they have full time jobs coaching at universities. Their ability to retain their job relies on winning and losing at the NCAA level not the international level. That’s what makes the coaches that can help special; they sacrifice their time away from their families to help an athlete whose performance has no impact on job security. If it were not for these coaches we would not have had the success we had at the Olympics. The more senior level athletes we can have training in a full time freestyle environment with a coach they believe in will increase our medal chances. This is the exact same model that has been making the eastern European countries successful for decades. It seems like simple logic, having more athletes that are properly trained will create more depth which is the key to having success year in and year out. From an athlete’s point of the view the easiest way (if you can call anything in this sport easy) to win is to train full time and be consistent in your training. What the RTCs do is put together a group of athletes training for the same cause, and they provide a coach who has a plan for them to follow. As I know from personal experiences as an athlete and as a coach this still does not mean you will have success. That’s what makes sports so great, they are not easy and we have to fight tooth and nail just to win. There will never be any guarantees in athletics, but it is a choice to put yourself in the right situation to win. There is a lot of sacrifice involved when trying to become the best, but having others go through the same regiment will increase your chance of success. This is what makes the RTCs the future of our freestyle program. Now I have to congratulate Zeke Jones on the job he has done with the freestyle program over the last four years. It is not easy managing 21 athletes on the national team every year. He has to make sure that they are getting everything they need to progress as a wrestler. He also has to have a relationship with the coaches at the RTCs where the national team members are training. On top of managing all these people and their individual schedules, he puts in more time studying film than I have ever seen. As I am sitting in front of the computer, I guarantee Zeke is in front of his computer screen breaking down all the film from the Olympics. He will have stats for the entire tournament before a week goes by. This type of information is extremely useful as we get ready to set our plans as a national team gearing up towards Rio. When Zeke first came to USA wrestling he and I butted heads once in awhile. We talked a lot and he knew I was one of the senior leaders of the team so we never let little things get between us. He has always asked me my opinions on things, and has even liked some of my ideas. I remember sitting in his office when I was a resident of the OTC and I really had concerns regarding my training. I trained at the University of Michigan for 11 years before moving to the OTC and it was not what I expected once I got there. On top of not liking the training as a resident athlete, I thought the team’s training was very bad leading up to Denmark in 2009. This was my opinion coming from a person who had made a world and Olympic team already. Zeke saw it as a coach of the whole national team who after the Olympics in 2008 became a very young team. 2009 might have been the first time in the history of USA Wrestling where every world team member was on their first team. We talked in his office and he expressed to me that he understands that my needs as a 29 year old veteran were very different than the young kids we had on the national team. He laid out his four year plan and asked me to help him since I was a leader on the team and people did look up to me. He told me that day and many times after that I will make a great coach because I have an understanding of the sport most athletes do not have. These past two summers I have had the opportunity to help our team prepare for the worlds and Olympics. When Zeke asked me how the training went before Turkey and London, I told him they were the best training camps I have been around. Part of the reason was the guys on the team were sold on the training and they believed in it, and everything we did was consistent throughout camp and the whole year. We had a great group of young kids attend the camps and we have a great group of leaders coming back, so I see no reason why we will not have the same success next year. It should be our countries goal to win the team title next year as well as the World Cup. One of the most important parts of being the national team coach is making sure you are finding the future and letting them learn the system so when it is their time to make a team they are ready for the grueling training that comes with it. Embrace the Olympic Movement The day before I headed over to London, the wrestling room at the University of Michigan had an addition put on. At the far end of the room the Olympic rings now hang for everyone to see, and they are big! I am not stupid and I know here in America the NCAA tournament is king, but it should not be the end of the road. We as a sport have to sell the idea of becoming an Olympic Champion to our young wrestlers; this doesn’t mean they should abandon their goals of winning NCAAs.