Great coaching examples

[Ranger123 43]

This weekend was Bearcat Brawl bonanza. Saturday for the highly competitive MS tournament and Sunday for youth. After a very long day of working tables and concessions our HS wrestlers volunteered their Sunday to officiate the youth event. I won’t speak to how well they did as officials, because if they are half as tired as us coaches are I’m sure they made some mistakes. 
 

But that isn’t what I want to point out here. I want to focus on the youth coaches in attendance Sunday. We tend to hear horror stories of overzealous coaches and parents who go crazy at youth tournaments. Our kids experienced quite the opposite. I’m sure there were a couple cases where a call (possibly a bad call) resulted in a kid losing a match. It happens every week at all levels and refs are ripped to shreds. But what I consistently heard from the coaches and what our HS wrestlers told me was that the coaches thanked them for volunteering and told them what a great job they were doing. So rather than rake them across the coals, these coaches were supportive and actually praising the kids. I won’t try to name them all because I know I will miss many of them. But I will just say thank you to the coaches in attendance at the Youth Bearcat Brawl. Your positive attitude and willingness to pat these kids on the back is greatly appreciated. If this approach could be replicated at higher levels we would very likely have a greater number and better officials on the mat every weekend. 

[heavy83 15]

Ranger I agree well said I felt the refs(wrestlers) did very good today. It was great watching coaches letting the kids wrestle having fun and realizing that losing a match when you're 7yrs old  is not the end of the world. Hats off to the coaches for being the leaders and mentors they should be.