Core Education through wrestling

It sounds odd to say that wrestling can be a core of your child’s educational foundation. Most people equate wrestling for the sport and that it develops hard work. While that remains true, I think we can add another more important layer to the sport. As parents we need to frame the sport in a way to tease out the most education for our children. There are three things I will emphasize: Work ethic, humility, and reality.

Work ethic is what is commonly associated with wrestling. This is still the most important aspect of the sport since without it the chances of success are minimal. What is often missed is that we need to leverage that virtue into all areas of the child’s life. So, the practices and conditioning in the sport need to be used as examples when they are doing their math homework for example. Why limit their potential? We need to gently expect high performance in all the areas.

Humility is something that may be seen as anti-American, but that is only on the surface. Most people see that pride and all that is what we should aim for. How many times do you hear in sports “make your team proud”? I disagree with that statement. I’ll explain. It takes losing or at least being exhausted to know that you cannot do it without help to get to the next level. I just know that if you are a parent that focuses on emotions to pump up the performance level of your child, then you are working on things that won’t last. Humility on the other hand is a natural extension to the first point (work ethic). It teaches the child to be okay to say to themselves, that they need to get better. They can do that without damaging their confidence, and that allows them to ultimately stay in the sport far longer. More time in the sport equals improvement.

Reality is what allows the individual to see whether they are getting better or not. Without humility a person may fall for the constant excuses that people use. Things like “he got lucky” or “I wasn’t ready” can be heard by the losing side almost every time. I know I have used those excuses myself. If instead you see the results as a measuring stick, then it makes you take the responsibility to simply improve. Whatever you have been doing hasn’t been enough, so the only logical step is to learn more.

To capstone this topic, imagine if your child applied the above three virtues. Do you think they would be better people when they grow up? The answer is likely not a black and white result, but the chances improve greatly they will be incredible people.

LET'S WRESTLE!