Olympus Wrestling

A regular newsletter brought to you by Olympus Wrestling Foundation

Vol. 1, Issue 1

5.14.2021

Top stories in this newsletter

New Memberships? Going forward we are going to be offering annual memberships to athletes, which will be a change from past strategies. Our goal is to offer wrestling as a year round sport and not just as a seasonal sport. This doesn’t mean that we expect you to be in the room all year long but just that we want to give your athletes chances to wrestle when it fits into your families schedules. Memberships will run from September of the current year through August of the following year. So currently we offering memberships through Aug. 31, 2021. The cost is $100 for the rest of the season, however we wanted to thank you all for being loyal to us with 25% discount, please see the coupon code at the bottom of the page. Memberships include the Olympus Summer Wrestling Camp! We will be holding a summer wrestling camp at Olympus High School. June 12-21st, for grades 5-12. Click here for more information.   Olympic Styles for Wrestling In America we have traditionally wrestled what is called Folkstyle (F), however most place in the world wrestle Freestyle (FS) and Greco-Roman (GR) styles. The major difference between the styles are the rules, however the skills learned can generally transfer between the styles. For example, In America we have several athletes that were championship wrestlers in college (high schools and colleges wrestle Folkstyle rules) and they go on to excel at the Olympic (the Olympics athletes wrestle FS and GR). As a high school coach I find it necessary that athletes learn techniques from all three styles, but I like to emphasize strategies that especially apply back to Folkstyle wrestling. For example the skill of throwing/defending throws of your opponents is used in all three styles but GR and FS rules both place high emphasis on developing those skills so athlete are able to better focus on that skill set to help them excel in the winter. In the spring months we like to have our wrestlers participate in the Olympic wrestling styles (FS and GR) so that they will perform better in the Folkstyle season. The rules are different enough so that wrestlers that participate don’t generally worry about burning out and they have lots of fun participating! Come give our Spring Youth Club program a try and see how much fun it is!   Olympus Wrestling Results High School Team: Congrats to the Ashton’s (Haaga @138 lbs. and Thorn @160 lbs.) for qualifying for the 5A State tournament! Ashton Haaga placed 6th at the 5A Divisional tournament and he also placed 4th at Layton Invitational Tournament (one of the biggest tournaments in the high school season). Ashton Thorn placed 4th at the 5A Divisional tournament.   Youth Teams: Due to Covid-19, most of the teams got a season of practicing in however we did sneak in a few matches. I am so proud of those of you that came and worked through the practices. Thanks to Coach Robbins and Coach Burkman for running those programs. Our Junior High teams unfortunately didn’t even get to practice, except those that came to our competitive team practices. Those of you that have junior high/middle school wrestlers I would strongly encourage you to participate in our Spring and Summer Youth Camps. Visit www.olympuswrestling.com for more info. Congrats to Atlas Burkman he placed 2nd at the Utah Youth Super State Wrestling Tournament!   Mental Moment #1 Physical health is important but so is our mental health! In this section I hope to outline some tips and strategies for helping athletes succeed mentally in all sports but especially wrestling. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a motivational strategy that tries to help shift people away from doing activities or participating in sports because of awards like the medals, trophies, and winning for the praise of others. The goal is to help athletes participate because they enjoy the comradery of the others on the team, they feel good about their performance/effort, and they feel they have input in their development. Studies on this topic demonstrate that athletes that self-determine participation are more likely to enjoy participating and will generally perform better. As a coach I am so excited for the next season to develop and atmosphere in our room that builds a strong team atmosphere! In my experience though it will take more than just me to make this happen, I will need all of you to help! More to come on future plans but as you see opportunities do not hesitate to volunteer. So how can we as parents help implement this strategy? I am also a strong believer in the KISS (Keep It Super Simple) method. Start by taking your athlete out to get an small treat after practices and competitions. Just hang out and laugh with your wrestler, they will enjoy that more than the practice itself. After you have done this a few times you’ll be ready for the next step...   Olympus Wrestling Foundation (www.olympuswrestling.com) djashcroft@graniteschools.org 4055 S. 2300 E., Holladay, UT US 84124 (385) 646-0996   Important Links: · 2021 Olympus Wrestling Summer Camp · More 2021 Summer Wrestling Camps · Summer Sale on Olympus Wrestling Gear!     Click to unsubscribe Next edition: June 2021