One Week away.

With one week from the start to our season.  I thought this would be a great video to watch.  I hope you are as excited for this season as I am.  We will have some new and old faces on the mat.  This year will be the most seniors I have had.  The question will be if they can lead us where we can go.  It all starts with them.  This is their team and how they will be remembered.

Matt Roth on Wrestling

"Some of Matt Roth’s  intensity  can also be attributed to his successful run as a state­ 
champion wrestler in high school. Many coaches, scouts and wrestlers ­turned­ football­ 
players will  laud wrestling for the leverage and quick hands it provides for football. Roth 
credits wrestling for the never­ say ­die attitude it gave him. 
"It’s the attitude. (Wrestling) helps  you with  your hips,  your hands and  your balance, but 
more than anything  it helps  you with  your attitude," he said. "A  lot of these kids that are 
basketball players, we eat those kids up. It’s  just our mentality ­ you’re going to get the 
job done and  you’re going to punish them." 
Roth said  his dream partner on the wrestling  mat would be Ravens LB Ray  Lewis, 
himself  an accomplished high school wrestler." 
­­ By Chris Neubauer, Pro Football  Weekly

Why Wrestle

Summer

With the upcoming summer everyone is busy and deserves a little break.  Time for family, friends and preparing for the upcoming seasons.  I know it is hard to juggle work friends and training.  It is hard to put one above the other, but it has to be done.  If you manage your time and resources all can be accomplished.  We will have open gyms on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  It is an hour that you can put in to get better.  I know you don't think it is much but if you add it up it is only 21 hours out of your summer.  It is two T.V shows a night that you can come and get better.  I have heard a lot of people say isn't wrestling a winter sport.  Yes, it is if you want it to be.  If you want it to be a winter sport it will show.  If you don't think it is a winter sport but a year round approach it will show as well.  Which one do you think will show better results?  I know the answer and have yet to be proven wrong.  Are their athletes that can just show up and perform at a high success rate?  Yep,  but I don't know any of them on our team. 
High school athletics need to be fun.  That is why we participate in them.  I get that, but why not put yourself in the best possible place to have fun.  I have talked to many wrestlers that are winning and have asked them if they are having fun.  Surprisingly their answer is yes.  I have asked wrestlers that are struggling and not winning the matches that they should or losing close matches.  Their answer is usually no.  So I am not saying winning is everything, because it is not.  But performing at the highest level you can is.  Putting yourself in the best possible position to be the best you can is.  That is life, heck we all get beat once in awhile, but dusting ourselves off and getting back after it what wrestlers and competitors do.  Make life fun, make training fun, make competing fun.  Push yourself to point of excellence.  That is a challenge,  never giving up.  Having people say you can't and then showing them you can and did.

UNI Panther

With success and hard work there comes rewards.  Rewards come in a variety of ways; trophies, championships, medals, honors and today a scholarship.  Congratulations to Taylor and his family on earning a scholarship from the University of Northern Iowa.  As of April 18, 2011 Taylor will be wrestling for UNI and Mark Schwab.  Taylor is the first CHS wrestler to wrestle for a division 1 school.  This is a tremendous honor and reflection of the hard work that Taylor has put into his wrestling skills.  Taylor will fit in very well with the UNI program.   The Panthers are going to get a great student and wrestler.  Taylor had a a hard choice in which school he wanted to go to.  In the hunt was Morningside, Grandview, Iowa State and UNI.  Taylor chose UNI because of the staff and where the program was going.  On behalf of the Carroll Wrestling Program we would like to say congrats and thank you to Taylor and his family.  We wish you the best of luck and Go Panthers!!

State!!!!

State wrestling is officially over.  We had the opportunity and pleasure to take two young men down to the state tournament this year.  Cam Knobbe and Taylor Berger.  Cam competed at HWT and Taylor at 160.  We went down Wednesday to get used to the scenery.  Thursday morning we weighed in at 7:00 AM.  Taylor won his first match by tech fall.  Cam lost his first match by decision.  Cam then had to wrestle again.  Cam then lost his second match by fall.  Not the type of tournament that Cam wanted to have.  But a great experience and feeling for Cam and his family.  Cam will return next year and I will bet he will be hungry to repeat as a state qualifier.  Taylor then had to wrestle Friday morning.  Again Taylor came out on top by decision.  Leading up to another match Friday night.  Taylor again became victorious. Setting Taylor up for the Finals.  Taylor wrestled again Saturday night for the State Championship for the second year in row.  Taylor came out a state champion at 160 in Class 3A.  Becoming Carroll's first state champion since 1932.  Congratulations to Taylor and his family. 

I would like to thank my assistant coaches Keaton, Kevin and Brian.  Middle school coaches Marty and Mike.  They have worked very hard this year and are the greatest people to be around.  They say that to be successful you need to surround yourself with great people.  They are correct and I could not ask for a better group of coaches.  Congratulations to them as well as the Carroll Wrestling Program.  This is a victory for everyone that has been involved in this program.  Go Tigers!!!!

Districts

ONE WEEK AWAY!!!!!!!

John J Harris

We just got back from the the John J Harris Tournament held in Corning Iowa.  This was the first time we have been to this tournament.  Last year we went to the Herb Ingres tournament instead.
Here are a few of my thoughts about the tournament.  I thought the seating was better than the Herb Ingres, it was tight but better.  The format was something we were not used to.  First off if you were in a pigtail you had to win to make the tournament.  If you lost you were done.  Next if you lost the first round you may also be done you have to wait to see if the guy that beat you won.  If he did then you move on if he did not you were going home.  This took out four of our guys the first night.  So we came back on Saturday with 7 guys.  Out of our 7 guys we lost 4 the first round.  So three guys placed.  One champ, a 3rd place and 5th place finisher  for the weekend.  As a team we placed 11 out 22 teams.  Which is not to bad considering only 4 guys scored us any team points.
It is crucial for the time of year that we do what we can to move on, not just as an individual but as a team.  I think a few guys have decided to through in the towel on the season.  Which is sad and disturbing.  I hope we can get them back and ready to go and I hope it is not to far gone.  Right now the guys that are wrestling well are doing the right things with their training.  Some guys have some tough bumps to get through.  Conference Tournament is this weekend as well.  Some guys get to see if they have improved or stayed the same.  I think we have a good chance of placing in the top half of the conference but it is not going to be easy.  We got to get some upsets as well as get some guys in the lineup to win.  

4 Weeks left.

Well, we are 4 weeks away from the deciding factor, the State Districts.  With this being our first year in 3A this will be new for us.  Otherwise we would only have 3 weeks left.  I am happy with the way the season is going.  I was very disappointed at first with the numbers and the turn out of kids.  I thought that we would have bigger numbers as well as some returners.  But as it goes things and kids change their minds.  This is a good thing in some aspects.  As coaches we are always trying to teach our kids some life skills to make them better men when they leave us.  And there are some important decisions that effect them later on.  Now let's be real here, them deciding that they are not going to wrestle anymore is not a life altering decision, but it does hold some references to their future.  It is priorities.  As humans our priorities change.  This is true with athletes as well.  Some of these guys this was their life and identity for so many years that they thought they would die without wrestling in their life, well good news they are still alive.  Now I am betting that you are wondering what the heck this is wrestling we are talking about everything revolves around wrestling.  True, it does.  The point I am making here is that we are all on journey to reach a certain path.  In 4 weeks some paths will lead to the state tournament and others will be blocked or destroyed.  A lot of great kids will never see that goal come about.  That is why it is important that we do everything we can to get there.  Now will it feel like the end of the world? Yes.  Will the sun come up in the morning? Yes.  Will we always wonder what it?  Yes.  So the key for the next month will be making sure we are doing everything we can to make it to Vets.  Putting ourselves in the best possible scenario to reach that goal. 

Happy New Year.

What does this mean to you?  To me it means the reflection to a lot of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, success and failures.  I really enjoy this time of the year.  It is a nice way to look back on all the things you have accomplished and all the things that may have fallen short of your grasp.  The good thing about reflection is the opportunity to correct what may have gone wrong or may have slipped out of the grasp.  We did not end 2010 very well at all.  Placing 6th in the Tiger/Knight compared to champions a year ago.  The good news is that it is over and officially the start of a new wrestling year.  As competitors we have to look at this as fresh start.  If we are on track of reaching the goals we have set then great time to step up the pace.  IF we are not then perfect what better than a fresh start again time to step up the pace.  A lot of things can happen from now until the second week in February.  Now is the time to step up and reach for your goals.  YOU are the ones in control of this, YOU are the ones that have to test yourselves, YOU are the ones that have to measure yourself day in and out,  ask YOURSELF AM I JUST SAYING IT OR AM I GOING TO DO IT!  Gotta love Nike.  JUST DO IT!!!!!!!!