Dearest Randy,

Knowing that you are one of souond mind and body, I have to also agree with you. Being both a Middle and High school head coach allows me to break some of those kids wrestlers with bad habits. Perhaps the worst in my opinion is finishing a double leg from the knees!

I feel that not only being banned from coaching Federation wrestling, but not being able to coach freestyle/greco till the end of May, hampers us tremendously. Although I do not need another practice to run(my wife and kids would never see me), I feel that we are lagging behind those states that do finish high at nationals. Kids in Missouri, N.J., N.Y., and some western states have an advantage with their farm style kids programs and young men/women who "want" to wrestle all the time.

But with true grit and determination we still finish in the top half of the 50 states continously and that says something about Kansas. Up here in the "great white north" that is Sabetha, most of my wrestlers are throwing hay, working in landscaping, or being a lifeguard. While the lifeguard may not figure as a "hard" summer job, swimming is great for core strength. The rest of them are moving large objects with the entire body or core and this is a great help. And being in good with your weights coach is a must.

As far as JV or less than developed wrestlers one needs an experienced and qualified assisstant coach. I am lucky to have Aaron Georg as mine and he does a great job with those developing young men. I made sure, when we were both new, that he was on board with the program I wanted to run an I requested his input. Too many times the assisstant coach is left in the wings, I try to ask Aaron for his advice daily. When I started wrestling at Pratt my sophmore year a young assisstnat coach named Kipp Chambers took me under his wing, he started me out and nurtured me as an athlete. I am in debt to him and Coach Bryan Pixler forever, they showed me the light that led me away from the "pumpkin poundin".

Once again Randy you bring up a great point and it is nice to see someone besides me and Chenoweth are still thinking about wrestling. I will be in KC for ten days this summer and I'll give ya a call.

By the way-no cheese for the whine anymore-turns out I have a 1 inch tear in my quad above my knee-not a blown out knee. While it will take longer to heal, 2-3 months, I will not need surgery. As Medreno would say "ki,ki,ki,ki" it made my day.

Coach Brown