Good post Shawn. Glad you shared some of your Army values based perspective and that thing called “leadership” that recognizes the value of positive motivation in coaching.

I found it very disturbing that “coaches” (I am using this term lightly), call their wrestlers “pathetic” while others suggest making “t-shirts of quitters” or “walls of shame” in their wrestling rooms. While there are many styles and techniques for coaching kids, any of the above reminds me of something a play ground bully would come up with.

Wrestling is a tough sport and not meant for all. Kids will quit for various reasons and yes it is frustrating to their teammates and coaches. And yes, high school athletics is not the same thing as little league t-ball where every participant gets Kool-Aid and popsicles after every game—we expect a little more out of our high school students.

Than again, high school wrestling is not the Special Forces Qualification Course. As a commander of a Ranger Training Company some years back, I routinely had 5 or 6 Rangers want to quit in a three week period. With some, we took their resignation from the course, because in our opinion, they just did not have what it took to continue. We would wish them the best, and reminded them they could always try again down the road. Some however, we tried to get to the root causes for them wanting to quit (for example, wife just sent them a letter that she wants a divorce, etc.). In some cases, the Ranger Instructors were able to “coach” the potential Rangers to graduation—helping them through their difficulties, leading them to success.

There may be a few examples (e.g. the former Iraqi National Soccer Team under the outstanding leadership of Uday Hussein) that belittling athletes and negative reinforcement has some value, I dought there are many. Ideas like “walls of shame” in high school wrestling rooms has no place in Kansas schools.

I can only hope that parents, athletic directors, principles, school boards, and the Kansas Coaches Association does some self policing on this matter.

For those wrestlers that are fortunate enough to be gifted athletically, mentally stronger than others, have better family settings, or just a little smarter than others, I recommend you lead your teamates by example and use positive reinforcement. Both your team and yourself will be better off.

Mike Flynn