Thanks for the salute.

In regards to riding the hips, it's hard to feel sorry for a kid that let's himself get ridden out for two periods. So if your strategy is to ride and stall and my kid's strategy is to lay there and do nothing about it, then I would agree that I have done a poor job of coaching and or motivating my athlete. In some cases, a kid is just simply overpowered and it falls into the hands of the referee to make a good judgement call. But, part of the nature of wrestling is to prove dominance and control which some coaches teach by emphasizing riding. I think your beef might be with the officials and not with particlar coaches.

I think calling the high school setting a shelter and a safety net is unfair. With so few college opportunities for wrestling in the state of Kansas it would seem reasonable to believe that most coaches in the state do not have college experience, nor can they expect to advance to a college coaching level. Fortunately the KWCA does a great job every fall of bringing in great coaches for our clinic where we can get ideas on how to raise the level of our program and bring in innovative approaches.

I would like to read this 1950's classic. If anyone has a copy could you please forward it to me? I think a great deal can be learned from stdying the classics. I am sure that it is filled with great fundamental drills that will help me instruct some of the kids just trying the sport for their first time in high school. In the meanwhile, I will continue to review technique tapes and bounce ideas off of other coaches so that I can continue to find ways to become a better coach.

There is nothing wrong with wearing tights. Nor having a mullet for that matter. I had both as a freshman in 1988. With the prevelance of skin disease in our sport, tights just may be poised to make a revival. As for mullets, I put that in there because I think they look cool, especially with some Def Leopard playing in the background.

Four classes works just fine. In reality there could be one class or ten classes and my goals for each season would not change: win league, win regionals, win state. I have yet to do either one of those yet, but if I could just get my hands on that book...

Spin drill is a great warm up exercice especially if you move your chest in a square around his back and push his head in the mat every time you go around front.

I am a Kansas Wrestling Coach. Thank you.