Enjoy the process!
Is this really a major key to developing? We at Impact Wrestling Academy believe that if kids learn to enjoy the process, and fall in love with wrestling, they will get the most out of themselves in the long run. However, it takes more than just saying, “enjoy the process.” We take great responsibility in trying to create an environment where kids learn to fall in love with the process.
At the end of the day, if all we do is teach wrestling moves, we have not given these kids the tools to succeed far beyond the mat. I care greatly about kids getting better at wrestling and I truly believe we can produce college All-Americans and National Champions – however, our foundational mission as an Academy can’t be lost – “to create growth-minded individuals who are eager to tackle any challenge in front of them.” In addition, these kids will start seeing success on the mat because of their ability to tackle the challenge each and every day of finding ways to improve.
One of the ways we aim to create this culture is by building a relationship with the kids. If kids don’t know we care about them, it will be very difficult to help them grow as a young boy/girl. Relationships are everything in life and we hope to pour into the kids in ways that are tangible and real.
Another focus in building this culture is to be calm, confident, and truthful with the kids. As a kid, I had countless number of coaches who would scream and yell when I wasn’t performing or when I wasn’t meeting their expectations. I’ve also had a number of great mentors/coaches who I would trust my kids and family with, who were insistent about being the “calm to my storm”. They understood where I was as a kid (or took the time to understand), and were patient, but, at the same time, honest with my wrestling/development. These mentors still speak to me today when I am looking to tackle challenges and opportunities in my life.
Another major piece to the puzzle in creating this culture is having a heavy focus on attitude and effort and a small focus on results. We practically aim to do this by recognizing when kids give great effort and great attitude.
We believe every kid develops at varying rates and our goal is not to get them to win wrestling matches when they are young – it is to move them along this developmental pathway, to the point where they own it, where they buy into the growth mindset principles and fall in love with the process because they have made the choice to attack each day with great vigor and joy. Our job is just to be patient, honest, fill their mind with the right feedback, and provide them with what they need to get to that point.
The amazing thing that I have witnessed and data shows, is that those individuals who live their life by being process-focused v. results-focused are those that actually achieve the best results in life – sports included. The focus on winning youth state championships is very detrimental to a kids long-term development (although it may garner them a lot of short-term success); where as the focus on developing the growth mindset, falling in love with the process and sport, leads to winning at the highest level in the long-run. This is our aim at Impact – to give kids the tools to win at the highest levels in their life.