Program "recovering" post Covid

93 red ls

93 red ls

Well-known member
OK , so I wanted to get some insight/thoughts/ideas (please leave your stupid/unhelpful comments at the door)

I'm the HC at Aiken a small inner city High school in SW we are D2. When I took over 6 years ago I walked in with 1 kid in the wrestling program.
At the time I was coaching Football as well and was able to pull in a few kids here and there from there had a few middle school kids coming 2-3 days a week (that group is now seniors!)

Flash forward to the start of this season (Last year I graduated 6 seniors which was my largest class I have brought through the program and we filled 12+ weights the 2 seasons prior) I cert'd 12 kids and the first 2 duals of the season I filled 9 weights. We were planning on having a short "shut down" period at the holidays as its usually very tough for me to get a full practice room over the break anyway and with Coaches classic being canceled we weren't going to have any competitions anyway.
2 days prior to our holiday "shutdown" we received word we had a positive case and our team needed to quarantine. In my head I wasn't thinking this would have a negative impact on my numbers moving forward boy was I wrong. Once our quarantine period ended (kids NOT back in class in person) we had 4-5 guys that came back (all 3 of my MS guys continued to come) So in a little over 2 weeks I went from filling 9 weights and having 10+ HS kids in the room to 4-5 HS guys total. In years past I'm tracking kids down, calling parents, making trips to talk to parents basically "selling" wrestling to them. this year was just so different and I get the reasoning behind why some kids chose not to come back.

My question is moving forward what are some tips/ideas to build this back up. I did it once and I am bound and determined to do it again. I just think post covid sports are going to look/feel a little different in how you pull in and retain kids. This season with all the covid protocols I wasn't able to be as active with the football team (I no longer coach FB but have a pretty good relationship with the HC) and with the kids not physically being in the building I wasn't able to walk the halls and pull kids in that way!
 
 
Lionattack said:
Maybe host a summer camp for elementary ms and hs. Show up to summer football to recruit. Run a summer lifting program for wrestlers interested in wrestling but not in a fall sport
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3 years ago we did a camp and Charles from MSJ helped run it! We are looking into this again! It helped us get our first ever youth team!!
 
Gotta have a good biddy program. When my kids started, 2nd grade, we had 40-50 kids on our biddy team. Yes, most will fade away as they get older but you end up with 20ish dedicated kids each year. As our biddy team has diminished so has our MS and HS numbers. Our goal now is to build back our biddy program.
 
VB3 said:
Gotta have a good biddy program. When my kids started, 2nd grade, we had 40-50 kids on our biddy team. Yes, most will fade away as they get older but you end up with 20ish dedicated kids each year. As our biddy team has diminished so has our MS and HS numbers. Our goal now is to build back our biddy program.
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2 seasons ago was our first year ever offering youth! We had 5 kids they got to compete in a few local events. this year the youth was canceled b/c of covid, intentions are to bring it back next season!
 
Those are great ideas above. It is hard to try to do everything yourself.
Although there is still uncertainty with Covid, perhaps plan a spring or summer outing for your wrestlers at all levels like a picnic at a park, have a tentative agenda, each wrestler bring parents, siblings, at least 1 friend, invite the football coaching staff and football players. Have a disc golf tournament. Have the wrestlers do a community clean-up to get positive community service recognition in the local newspaper- perhaps get a business to sponsor your team. Work with a solid core group of parents for a booster club formed during your picnic. Keep it fun and flexible (due to Covid). It doesn't always have to be a "Wrestling" camp in the offseason. Heck, if it is nice out, you could even throw down a 10x10 mat at the park at a picnic for demonstrations. Keep the Faith!
 
Open mats, off season lifting, team activities.
Host a middle school skills camp, led by the kids you do have.
Host some youth camps involving your high school and middle school kids.
If you get 4 or 5 in each grade you will build a big base.
It is super hard with Covid, but building your little wrestling family will make it easier to grow.
 
Our high school coach goes to the elementary schools (we have five, and two middle schools), gets up in front of the school and talks about the k-6th youth club. They meet twice a week for 1.5 hours during the season. He passes out flyers. He usually does this around Oct/Nov as we head into the fall season. He must be doing it during school assemblies. Talk to the principals about how you can get time in front of the kids. Find a good youth coach that is not a dad if you can. Dads are important and especially ones that have some wrestling background. You will need them. In Columbus we have a youth league that is not national or elite level competition. Just right for new and young kids to get their feet wet. Anything like that in Cincy?

If you are a teacher, walk the halls and always be recruiting. Any football coach that doesnt want his kids to wrestle is not very smart imo. I'm not talking about you obviously. I know many kids who started wrestling because they got cut from the basketball team. And ended up fantastic wrestlers.
 
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Our school has been pretty good the last 7 years. All of our kids started in the biddy program. As they got older and better most of them went to Miron, Palmer, Jordan, Simpson, Burnett, Edwards, OSU, Steiber, somewhere. In Cincy you have what Prodigy, Ward, Team Jones, etc. There were many options. However, they all stayed in the youth program as well. As you get better and build your program, you may lose a couple to Moe or LaSalle, who knows. But if you can keep the core together they will bring others along. I have always said the 4th place league kid is just as important as the state champ to a team. If there is no money for the club coaches. Look for what is available. In Columbus, during the summer, high schools rotate open mats. Fantastic opportunity to get some great mat time against top notch kids.

Does Cincy public schools have wrestling? Columbus does not. If you have middle school wrestling, get a good relationship with the coach. If you don't, find someway to keep your guys wrestling. So much effort and work but no monetary reward, that is for sure.
 
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MitSulHer said:
Our high school coach goes to the elementary schools (we have five, and two middle schools), gets up in front of the school and talks about the k-6th youth club. They meet twice a week for 1.5 hours during the season. He passes out flyers. He usually does this around Oct/Nov as we head into the fall season. He must be doing it during school assemblies. Talk to the principals about how you can get time in front of the kids. Find a good youth coach that is not a dad if you can. Dads are important and especially ones that have some wrestling background. You will need them. In Columbus we have a youth league that is not national or elite level competition. Just right for new and young kids to get their feet wet. Anything like that in Cincy?

If you are a teacher, walk the halls and always be recruiting. Any football coach that doesnt want his kids to wrestle is not very smart imo. I'm not talking about you obviously. I know many kids who started wrestling because they got cut from the basketball team. And ended up fantastic wrestlers.
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unfortunately I am not in the building. But the past 5+ years we have made everything work. I keep in close contact with teachers via text and email (and help from my AD) w/grades kids in the building how they are doing/acting ect ect. I am VERY lucky that next year I am hiring a MS coach that has previously been a HS head coach! So that will help ALOT!

I know it sounds funny BUT 5 of the 6 years I have been there I have coached both HS and MS and made it work! My asst coach is AWESOME! and I have been able to help keep MS kids and bring them up. In my first couple years CPS wrestled MS as a "club" and they would go to one central location for practice 2-3 days a week. I put the brakes on that for my kids and we started doing our own practices and taking them to events ourselves.
 
MitSulHer said:
Our school has been pretty good the last 7 years. All of our kids started in the biddy program. As they got older and better most of them went to Miron, Palmer, Jordan, Simpson, Burnett, Edwards, OSU, Steiber, somewhere. In Cincy you have what Prodigy, Ward, Team Jones, etc. There were many options. However, they all stayed in the youth program as well. As you get better and build your program, you may lose a couple to Moe or LaSalle, who knows. But if you can keep the core together they will bring others along. I have always said the 4th place league kid is just as important as the state champ to a team. If there is no money for the club coaches. Look for what is available. In Columbus, during the summer, high schools rotate open mats. Fantastic opportunity to get some great mat time against top notch kids.

Does Cincy public schools have wrestling? Columbus does not. If you have middle school wrestling, get a good relationship with the coach. If you don't, find someway to keep your guys wrestling. So much effort and work but no monetary reward, that is for sure.
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CPS does have wrestling we have a few schools that have programs (west hi , aiken, hughes , shroder) all have kids that compete. Taft has had a few wrestlers here and there. Woodward is one school that for whatever reason hasn't been able to get kids to come out.

All but one year as HS HC I have also coached the MS so I have a good relationship with those kids. I had 3 MS kids compete most of this year, which may not sound like a lot , but in fact for me that's the 2ns most kids I have had on a MS team!
 
Congrats to you for pulling double coaching assignments. That is never easy. A MS coach def helps. Having a great assistant is also extremely helpful. Seems like you know the right things, just gotta let it play out some. Best of luck.
 
The fact that you come on here asking for advice is just too amazing for words. Most people would not humble themselves like that, which shows you truly care. The world needs a lot more people like you. The impact you have on these kids has got to be pretty special. Wrestling is a struggle in many schools because it is not high profile and it is hard to do. Now you add on a public school and pandemic and it is really an uphill battle. Kudos to you! I do think if you reached out and explained your situation that some of the summer teams FS/Greco clubs would allow you to bring your kids possibly for free. If you cannot and money is an issue then I would be happy to contribute a donation to sponsor a couple of kids for you. Especially if it is a program and coach that I know of. If you decide to go down that road pm me please or if you need some contact information for these clubs. I think Moeller would be your closest club team and Coach Lindsay is awesome.
 
Biddy program is important to introduce wrestling. Not to make them all stars, just a fun time. End every short practice with a fun game. Repeat the goal to the wrestlers that youth is just for you to come out for 7th grade wrestling.
Another thing that can introduce wrestling is wrestling in PE class. Not easy, but has been done.
 
bearcatrunner said:
The fact that you come on here asking for advice is just too amazing for words. Most people would not humble themselves like that, which shows you truly care. The world needs a lot more people like you. The impact you have on these kids has got to be pretty special. Wrestling is a struggle in many schools because it is not high profile and it is hard to do. Now you add on a public school and pandemic and it is really an uphill battle. Kudos to you! I do think if you reached out and explained your situation that some of the summer teams FS/Greco clubs would allow you to bring your kids possibly for free. If you cannot and money is an issue then I would be happy to contribute a donation to sponsor a couple of kids for you. Especially if it is a program and coach that I know of. If you decide to go down that road pm me please or if you need some contact information for these clubs. I think Moeller would be your closest club team and Coach Lindsay is awesome.
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TRUST ME I needed Aiken WAY more than they needed me. And I appreciate the kind words. We all know coaches don't do this for money or anything. I do truly love what I do where I do it! I just want to continue to have a positive impact on these kids and show them they can be successful at something if they work hard at it. For a lot of these kids we are the only ones holding them to a higher standard, only one giving them structure and stability in their lives. Trust me when I say I have some kids that have seen/been through things in their short lives that A LOT of us could never imagine! I feel showing/teaching them the sport of wrestling gives them an avenue to escape all that , feel wanted/part of a team and gives them a chance to represent their school/community in a positive manner. B/C we ALL know you typically hear of the bad/negative situations from the school district I am with you rarely here of the positive. so again I TRULY do appreciate the kind words I am just a guy looking for advice to help these kids become better people and ways to pull in more kids and be able to keep this ball rolling!!

I am going to be looking into summer camps/clubs. I have had kids in the past do barbarian camp and the camps coach beard runs at Harrison. with multi sport kids sometimes its tough (as it can be for anyone) I did send one of my freshman to Jordans back in 2016 he was a DQ who wrestled Ramero LOL. any connections you may have please feel free to share! I dont ask for a hand out, we run some fundraisers and what not but we are on a limited budget even more so this season with covid.
 
Speaking of programs trying to recover, how does a D1 program like Princeton only have 2 kids entered into the Sectional tourney? I know their old Head Varsity Coach, Ty Robbins stepped down a couple of years ago along with their Jr. High Coach Sean Geers and It's hard to replace a couple of Legends like them, but how did this program (which used to be one of the best in SW Ohio) fall so quickly. Did they get hit hard by Covid or what this year????
 
VTJGball said:
Biddy program is important to introduce wrestling. Not to make them all stars, just a fun time. End every short practice with a fun game. Repeat the goal to the wrestlers that youth is just for you to come out for 7th grade wrestling.
Another thing that can introduce wrestling is wrestling in PE class. Not easy, but has been done.
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PE classes should teach wrestling...and other sports. Teach the rules, and the mechanics of the play. Too many schools lose the "education" part of PE.

You don't need a youth program to make a good HS team, the fact is over the past 20-25 years youth programs have flourished, but participation in HS wrestling has declined. That's counter-intuitive, but the reality.

I think 93 Red's efforts in the MS probably paid off, and hats off to him for the extra work. A solid HS team needs good MS teaching. Solid fundamentals, some introduction to chain wrestling, good conditioning, and LOTS of encouragement. Get them that as 7-8 graders, and you have a good team. Get that for some 6th graders, and you have potential stars.
 
93 red ls said:
OK , so I wanted to get some insight/thoughts/ideas (please leave your stupid/unhelpful comments at the door)

I'm the HC at Aiken a small inner city High school in SW we are D2. When I took over 6 years ago I walked in with 1 kid in the wrestling program.
At the time I was coaching Football as well and was able to pull in a few kids here and there from there had a few middle school kids coming 2-3 days a week (that group is now seniors!)

Flash forward to the start of this season (Last year I graduated 6 seniors which was my largest class I have brought through the program and we filled 12+ weights the 2 seasons prior) I cert'd 12 kids and the first 2 duals of the season I filled 9 weights. We were planning on having a short "shut down" period at the holidays as its usually very tough for me to get a full practice room over the break anyway and with Coaches classic being canceled we weren't going to have any competitions anyway.
2 days prior to our holiday "shutdown" we received word we had a positive case and our team needed to quarantine. In my head I wasn't thinking this would have a negative impact on my numbers moving forward boy was I wrong. Once our quarantine period ended (kids NOT back in class in person) we had 4-5 guys that came back (all 3 of my MS guys continued to come) So in a little over 2 weeks I went from filling 9 weights and having 10+ HS kids in the room to 4-5 HS guys total. In years past I'm tracking kids down, calling parents, making trips to talk to parents basically "selling" wrestling to them. this year was just so different and I get the reasoning behind why some kids chose not to come back.

My question is moving forward what are some tips/ideas to build this back up. I did it once and I am bound and determined to do it again. I just think post covid sports are going to look/feel a little different in how you pull in and retain kids. This season with all the covid protocols I wasn't able to be as active with the football team (I no longer coach FB but have a pretty good relationship with the HC) and with the kids not physically being in the building I wasn't able to walk the halls and pull kids in that way!
Click to expand...

Similar boat. The last 5 season were very good to us. We started out this season with roughly 30 kids. Got quarantined once, came back after a week had maybe 25 kids left. Got quarantined right before Jan 1 and had to cancel 2-3 matches the week we came back from break plus no practice that week. Came back from Q2 with 18 kids left.

Season ended for us this weekend and my head coach and I are now trying to forget this season and look to basically start at the bottom and re-build back up.
 
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