I'm just wondering what other clubs do to recognize their wrestlers that place at tournaments. They get their medal and or bracket at the tournament but there isn't any award ceremony (I understand why, due to the number of kids). We used to recognize the kids at the next practice but have not been doing that this year. I really think it is important for the kids to get recognition from their coaches and peers. It can be very motivational! What are other clubs doing regarding this issue??? By the way- great job Wellington and Bishop Carroll for jobs well done at their tournaments!

By having the kids who do well lead stretches or at the end of practice during conditioning make them do a lap or two less then everyone else

Our club has a team website that has a link for all the kids and their individual records. This site also has past state accomplishments.

There are many sites, eteamz.com is one, that you can get a free homepage for your team. I would ask one of the parents to volunteer for this - chances are there is at LEAST one person who loves this kind of stuff.

OUR CLUB AT THE PRACTICE IMMEDIATLEY FALLOWING THE TOURNEYS GIVE THE KIDS GOLDEN SAFTEY PINS FOR EACH PIN THEY GOT THERE. WE ALSO HAVE A NEWS LETTER THAT IS GOING TO START GOING OUT EACH WEEK WITH ALL OF THEIR ACHEIVEMENTS FOR THAT WEEK.

Our club always starts Monday practice after tournaments with handing out pins then as head coach I make it a point to walk around while stretching, to every Wrestler and wisper something positive about how or what they had done on saturday.
I also make it a point to designate an outstanding wrestler of saturday even if they didn't place to lead group conditioning, more often than not it is one of my 6 n under or 8 n unders.......
I also have phoned the older kids individually without them knowing just to let them know how much they mean to our program and what their role is on this team......We are having much success with this!!!!

Coach Judd

Mr.W fan ,

Your time maybe better spent trying to motivate and help your wrestlers who did not place at the tounament.

Winning the match and having your hand raised high in the air in front of the crowd is better than a little recognition party after the fact.

Paying your local paper to do an article on your kid is another way to get in the spot light. :rolleyes:

Our local paper prints it in the paper in the sports section every week.

recognition is a good way to keep kids interested, but the ones who work as hard as they can to win but still lose are the ones you should devote more time to = winning keeps your interest, losing makes kid think that is not their sport or they're not good enough. these are the ones who need to be recognized = for their efforts

We always have the kids stand on the outside of the out of bounds circle at practice. We then ask all the wrestlers that participated in the tournament to come to the inner circle. Then we all give them a round of applause. Then we say if you didn't win any matches go ahead and leave the circle. We give them some encouraging words and maybe single out a few for good effort. Then we give the ones left in the circle a round of applause. Then we have the ones who didn't place leave the circle. And so on... When we get down to the highest placers, they stay in the circle and lead the stretches. I didn't think it was a huge deal untill one practice when I forgot and was approached by about 5 little heart broken wrestlers asking why I didn't call them into the circle.

Coach JW

i think recognition is a great way to keep wrestlers interested. winners need to be told that they did good and what they need to do better on. i personally think it helps when i coach comes up to me and says i did a good job with a match but i like it even more when they tell me what to work on to get better. i also think you should recognize the kids that didnt win but did a good job with their matches to. it helps them stay interested in the sport and wrestling is a great sport so every one should try it.