The Secret of Wrestling Practice that Applies to Life
There is a dirty little secret in youth and high school wrestling practice that’s uncomfortable for parents to talk about. Unfortunately, wrestling coaches have their favorites. Moreover, most teams don’t have the resources to have enough coaches to monitor every athlete on the team.
So, when one of a coach’s favorites makes a mistake in practice like shooting a single leg with their head down over and over, the coach will quickly make corrections. The coach may even come up with a practice plan just for that athlete to break that bad habit. On the other hand, the other athletes who don’t get regular looks from the coach can make the same mistake repeatedly and never get any feedback that they’re doing something wrong.
In a perfect world, every athlete would get coaching when they make a mistake. But the world isn’t perfect and that’s why the cliché “practice makes perfect” is a flat out lie. Practice does not make perfect. Indeed, only perfect practice makes perfect.
Therefore, in life just as in shooting single legs in wrestling practice, more practice is not always better. Making the same mistakes repeatedly will do nothing more than make those mistakes habits. Simply stated, the feedback from a good coach is the only way to improve with practice. Without that, practice may be doing more harm than good.