2018 marks at least the 16th year straight that the Iswa has had coaches attend the fall silver clinic at the olympic training center. This truly is an amazing experience for coaches to learn from not only the national team staffs from Greco Roman freestyle and women’s wrestling, but from the olympic training centers strength staffs, dietitians, sport psychologists and more! For every boy growing up wrestling, the olympic should be the pinnacle of their dreams. This allows our coaches to feel a step closer to that dream and take some part in the process at the otc. The OTC only accepts 50 coaches per year for this and Indiana has by far had the most coaches attend. For any coach that wants to further their knowledge on all matters dealing with wrestling, this clinic is an awesome way to submerge yourself into training your body, mind, and coaching spirit!

7 Indiana coaches attended this year, here is what they had to say and their favorite item they picked up.

Left to right: Nick Stewart, Dan Mikesell, Leroy Vega, Danny Struck, WORLD TEAM MEMBER Sara Hildebrandt, Greg Ratliff, Gralan Early, Gary Myers - pictured at the Olympic Training Center - 2018 Silver Coaches Clinic

Danny Struck - Iswa state coach- Jeffersonville-

This was my 19th silver clinic. I have attended them at the otc, world championships and world team trials. I’ve even had the opportunity to present at 6 or 7 of them.  People always ask what you gain by getting a silver. They want something to hold in their hand. But it’s not what you get to hold in your hand, it’s what you get to hold in your head! The sharing of ideas with the best coaches around the country from all levels elementary to college to olympic is amazing.  We have all heard “we are who we hang out with”, and this gives you the chance to become peers with the best in the country.

One of the best things about this clinic isn’t the on the mat experience, but the classroom settings.  The nutrition, the psychology, the team building ideas that come from the top coaches and people at the OTC is amazing.  This clinic gives you a chance to get excited again about new ideas to take to your kids - when your excited your kids are excited!

Here is my presentation from the 2018 clinic if you would like to view it - it's called “POWER”

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1smIXw3R7sw7lPsEtjvVdHm2sEr5izE5
 

Greg Ratliff- IHSWCA President- Edgewood
Going to this course was a nice way for me to reflect on some of my coaching strategies, team building, and roster retention. There were several exceptional speakers, but listening to Chuck Brown speak on how he builds his team’s interest in the history of wrestling was great. The speakers were very engaging and very hands on. I also appreciated some new workout ideas.

Gary Myers- Former ISWA Greco Director - Hamilton Heights

My experience at the 2018 Silver College was an eye opener into how to reach my athletes as a whole and individually. To be in the same room with so many experienced coaches and educators was an experience I only wish every coach could have. I wish I would have done this 20 years ago. What an assortment of professionals not just from Wrestling but from all aspects of all sports genres. Everything from nutrition to sport  psychology was in play at this awesome clinic!

Leroy Vega- ISWA RTC Director - Portage

This past week I had the opportunity to work with 30 to 40 other coaches across the country while I attended the Coaches Silver clinic at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I had the opportunity to learn quite a bit from various coaches and advisors to the sport of Wrestling. Here are a couple things that I feel that we need to pass along to our coaches in Indiana.  

Freestyle and Greco Ref Presentation: Rod Cozzetto
• When a coach throws a brick in the ref will no longer ask the wrestler if he wants to argue the call.
• If a coach throws the brick at the end of a match for no reason, he will receive a yellow card.  The coach will only receive a yellow card IF the brick will not have any impact on the outcome of who will win the match.  
• We need to let our coaches know they can go to www.uswoa.com which is the official website for the United States Wrestling Organization.  This website is a great tool for coaches to be able to watch videos on certain situations and learn why officials made certain calls. It is also a place where coaches can ask questions and send videos to be viewed by referees.

Freestyle and Greco Technique: Gary Mayabb (Freestyle) and Mo Mohammed (Greco)
• In all the technique sessions, the technicians talked a lot about positioning and always moving our feet forward.  I think this is something that, as a state, we need to improve on. We do not do enough of this in our drilling and live goes.  (Something we can implement at the RTC Sites)
• The technicians talked a lot about scoring right after a takedown.  I think we need to drill more on scoring a gut or leg lace right after the takedown at camps.
• In Greco, they talked a lot about just having fun and teaching kids to not being afraid of attempting throws.
o I talked to many coaches about what they do to try to grow their Greco program.  
o We need to somehow get our youth to learn Greco at a young age.  
o What about starting an all Greco RTC?

Leadership Development: Dr. Roberta Kraus
• Don’t know how we can provide information to our coaches about Dr. Roberta Kraus but this is probably a good source for both coaches and parents:
o www.ccl.org  - a site for information on leadership development
o “Got Game” Coaches and Athletes Mental Training Skill Building Workbook.  You can purchase the workbook online on amazon. Had an opportunity to look at the book and it seems like a great book for coaches at all levels.  

I know there was a lot of information to retain in the three days of classes and the on-mat presentations.  I think it would be helpful if this information can be shared with other coaches in Indiana. I honestly think we need to maybe start trying to get our youth coaches to attend these types of sessions. Thanks again for allowing me to attend and hopefully this letter helps a little on what I thought was helpful.

Nick Stewart - IHSWCA Website and Technology - Jeffersonville

While the entire clinic was extremely beneficial, the portion that I found the most interesting was Chris Snyder’s session on “USOC Coach Education”. The session was a basic overview of how every Olympic sport organization is handling their training (from youth up) and programs. I found this extremely useful since it I never really thought of looking at non-wrestling sports programs, outside of football, to get ideas from. For instance, volleyball (I believe) goes by experience levels instead of using age for classification and baseball is trying to cut down on being year around. With wrestling there is always the ongoing discussion on athlete development at a young age and for beginners and with Chris Snyder’s talk we can bring a lot of ideas and methods in our own youth program and to the state as a whole.

Dan Mikesell - 2018 Fargo coach - Mooresville

Attending the Fall Silver coaches college at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs was one of the most beneficial and educational experiences in my 24 years of coaching experience.  Watching the women's world team practice, listening to outstanding coaches from around our country gave me several ideas i can implement into my program. Specifically i will implement the skill progression list into my curriculum for our younger athletes.  I will implement more coaches training for our coaches at each level and I several ideas to navigate the tricky task of managing the overbearing parent that sometimes chases kids out of our sport inadvertently.
The Greco technique sessions were very educational and I feel can bring this back to help improve my contribution to our local regional training and our team indiana teams at national tournaments.  My favorite session was with the sports psychologist, her information i believe can help me as a coach get some of my athletes over the hump to truly reach their fullest potential.

Gralan Early - 2018 ISWA Coach of the Year - Indiana Tech

This clinic was very educational and very necessary to every coach development. The sessions covered mental toughness, youth development, sports psychology and more. The sports psychology was far my favorite because it gave us tools that we can do without hiring a sports psychologist for my team. These tool I see that can help me further understand my wrestlers and get the most out of their performance on the mat. I truly would like to thank the ISWA for giving me this opportunity to grow as a coach. I look forward into helping the ISWA to build our youth with the tool that was given by this amazing opportunity.