What Wrestling Coaches Say to Wrestlers During a Match Matters
A good friend who happens to be a wrestling coach shared a tweet with me this morning so juicy I had to write about it today. It was a video of Olympic bronze medalist and current wrestling coach Tervel Dlagnev talking to an audience about what wrestling coaches say to wrestlers during a match.
Dlagnev drops a truth bomb in this clip that will make all wrestling coaches question their corner coaching going forward. In short, Dlagnev suggest corner coaching must focus more on the wrestler’s mindset than it does on their technique.
He states the following:
The most valuable thing you can do from the coach’s corner is not yell moves [“post high-crotch”] come on. What are you going to do yell moves and they are going to say [“oh my gosh didn’t see that“]…
The most valuable thing you can do from the coach’s corner is 1) lower their stress level… and 2) remind them to be a tough person.
Dlagnev drops a few more nuggets in addition to the above. So, I suggest you watch the short clip for yourself if you are a coach who corners a wrestler often. Without doubt, Dlagnev is suggesting a dramatic shift in what most high school and youth coaches traditionally say during a match.
In summary, Dlagnev’s overall message is simple. Technical coaching is for the practice room and mindset coaching is for the corner. To connect these two, coaches must be proactive by:
- Reserving time to review match video with individual wrestlers.
- Building rapport with individual wrestlers on key words and phrases that bring the technical and the mental together.
It almost goes without saying, but I fully endorse this approach. Unquestionably, coaches who heed this advice will get the most out of the performance of their wrestlers on match day.