Jason W.--I agree with you that you absolutely have to travel to get better, with very few exceptions. Little story--we helped a kid from Texas go to his first out of state tourney earlier this year--Cliff Keen Kickoff. This kid was beating most of his local competition, but his dad was not happy with his skills progress; nevertheless the dad thought he would do well at Kickoff. I didn't have the heart to tell him it's a whole different world. Anyway, predictably the kid went 0-3. Within 2 weeks ON HIS OWN he was making changes to his training, moves, etc. And began throttling everyone in his region--pinning, etc. So much of wrestling is mental. Everybody, with few exceptions, reaches a comfort zone, and when they're in it, they stagnate. It even happened to Askren when he first went international. Happened to even John Smith, so he lost to the Cuban.

Here's an example: Nick got better this weekend in a very specific way--on bottom he has only been hitting switches for months--with lots of success. I told him, you still need to work tripods, standups, sitbacks, etc.--need variety. He says "I'm good on bottom." Well, I talked to D. Jefferies and knew Hayes was a great rider; if I wanted to promote winning the match, I would have had Nick choose top and go for his cradle (not that he would have gotten it against Hayes); but, I wanted to prove my point, told him to choose bottom. Well, against Hayes his lack of variety off the bottom showed--his switch attempt got him 2 back points against; then the tripods didn't work; standups a couple, but brought back to the mat; then he finally makes progress with the sitback series, but it's too late in the match. Now he BELIEVES he has to improve off the bottom.

Maybe the kids in Pennsylvania or Ohio can get by with their local tourneys, but certainly not here in Texas or even Oklahoma. Traveling is a struggle of course, and very often those who travel are "lone rangers." But I think the non-travellers should realize that the skills the travellers bring back improve everyone's wrestling. A rising tide raises all boats.

As a side note, Nick has been wanting to wrestle your son for a couple of years--glad they got to finally hook up. Your son is a very fine boy and I know you are proud of him. Nick knows he's going to have to bring it next time to hang with him.