Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Tonight I had a moment of clarity about youth wrestling when my oldest son made an unexpected decision. I will circle back to this decision after I give you the backstory. Feel free to skip to the end for the conclusion if you are short on time…

I’m a pretty big football fan. Although I wrestled from 8 yrs old through high school, I played football in college and have always loved NFL football. When I found out I was becoming a father, I daydreamed about my little guy sitting next to me and watching the football game just like me and my dad did. When my son first started watching football, he would never get through more than a few plays before he lost interest. As he got older, he followed in his dad’s footsteps and started to watch more and more of the game. I bought him a football and the jersey of my favorite player. He slowly started becoming a fan just like me.

In 2016, my son’s fandom went a different direction.

I took him and his little brother to their first NCCA wrestling tournament watch party. This party was amazing for all of us. All of their little buddies from their youth wrestling team were there along with the dads and a few moms. We had a blast. Not only was the party fun for the kids and adults, the quality of the wrestling matches that year was off the charts.

This is the day my oldest son and I both became fans of college wrestling.

As a matter of fact, it was so good that the next year I invested in a family trip to St. Louis to attend the NCAA wrestling tournament in person. All season long leading up to March my son watched every wrestling match I would show him. He started watching both college and freestyle wrestling on a regular basis. We also started listening to wrestling podcast in the car during our morning and afternoon commutes together.

By the time March 2017 came around, the whole family was hooked on college wrestling. We went to St. Louis and had one of the best family trips ever. I now make it a point to help my sons build upon this experience and develop their love of wrestling every chance I get.

The Battle Between Wrestling Fandom and Football Fandom Begins

Typically, there’s not a whole lot of overlap between professional football and college wrestling. It’s fairly easy to be a fan of both without having to choose one over the other. So over the last few years, my two sons have learned to enjoy both.

Then, in 2017-18 our favorite team made an unexpected run to the Superbowl. Yes, that team was the Philadelphia Eagles. I’ve been an Eagles fan since I was 6 years old. At that time I lived in Philadelphia, but later finished middle and high school in the Philadelphia suburbs of South Jersey. After more than 30 years of being exiled into football fan purgatory from the Cunningham through the McNabb years, a backup quarterback named Nick Foles brought a Superbowl to Philadelphia.

As a result of this completely unexpected turn of events, my two sons went Eagles crazy. I started to notice they weren’t as interested in college wrestling like they were before. They cared more about the quarterback controversy brewing between Nick Foles and Carson Wentz along with the NFL draft than they did about any college wrestling match. It was all Eagles all the time.

My Oldest Son’s Unexpected Decision

Circling back to the start of this long story. Tonight the Eagles played the Bears to start yet another unexpected playoff run. However, at the same time on ESPN the #2 ranked college wrestling team Ohio State was taking on #6 NC State.

It just so happened that last week I took my two son’s up to Chattanooga, TN to watch a college wrestling tournament featuring #1 ranked Penn State and #4 Oklahoma State (among others) in the Southern Scuffle. Up until tonight, I didn’t realize how much of an impact a trip to watch a college wrestling match has.

When it came time for my son to decide which sporting event he wanted to watch, there was no hesitation. My son picked college wrestling over the Eagles-Bears playoff game. Based on his recent love of the Eagles, this was a huge surprise to me.

When I asked him why, he told me that after watching the Southern Scuffle in person last week, he was just more interested in watching college wrestling tonight.

Every Youth Wrestling Parent Should Invest in Their Child’s Wrestling Fandom

This served as a moment of clarity for me. My son is not only a wrestler, he is a wrestling fan. What’s more, his fandom will be key to his growth and development as he transitions from youth to high school wrestling and beyond.

The reality is that no matter how motivated a parent is to help their child reach their potential in a sport, a parent’s motivation is not enough. The child must be self-motivated.

If a child is to reach their potential, that child must have the intrinsic motivation and passion to continue to invest in their talents without parental involvement. This is why it’s so important to realize that fandom is a proven way to develop this intrinsic motivation.

With that said, the best investment a parent can make in youth wrestling is to help their child become a fan of wrestling. Unlike football, basketball and other “ball” sports, popular culture is not going to help. There is no peer pressure to become a fan of college or freestyle wrestling. Youth wrestling parents must be very intentional to help their kids develop the love to watch wrestling.

In practical terms, this means:

• Taking your kid to watch college and freestyle wrestlers perform on the biggest and best stages in person
• Hosting watch parties and inviting friends and teammates over to experience live wrestling around other excited fans
• Finding wrestling role models for your child to admire, cheer for, and learn from
• Redefine March Madness. Ditch the NCAA basketball bracket and instead build a NCAA wrestling bracket within your family as well as with your child’s wrestling teammates and coaches.

When it comes to youth wrestling, my conclusion is that it’s better to invest in your child becoming a fan of wrestling than it is to invest in traveling to compete all over the country. I firmly believe that a youth wrestler who loves watching wrestling will ultimately go farther with the sport than a wrestler who doesn’t.