Learning From My Husband...a Thing or Two!

These past few weeks I had one amazing emotional ride watching my husband and his wrestling team win their divisional tournament and then turn around the next weekend and win the Montana State A title.

So what was it that Ted taught me? Let me explain the steps to success he teaches his wrestlers.

My husband a high school state champ and NAIA top 5 placer himself has always believed in the power of mindset and believing in yourself. Now as a high school coach he helps his team do the same.

Step one - Believing and SEEING the outcome you want.

He teaches them that a big part of being successful both in life and on the mat you have to BELIEVE in YOURSELF first. That belief is like laying a foundation for your success. You have to believe and SEE yourself successful in order to make it happen.

Your coaches, parents, friends and other team members can believe in your but the power comes when YOU believe in yourself.

This also means you have to take the time to SEE yourself successful, winning the matches and visualizing the outcome you want.

"How can you get where you want to go if you first don't have a clue where you are going!" - unknown

Step two - Taking the daily action needed to condition yourself to finish strong.
 
Ted as a wrestler and coach has also believed in hard work, daily action and putting in the time needed to finish strong. He tells his wrestling daily that YOU need to train and be able to finish in the 3rd period! Most matches are won buy the guy that can wrestling strong til the end and has conditioned himself for the 3 period.

Is training everyday, sometime twice a day FUN? Nope not always, especially in the beginning of the season you are exhausted, tired and often times have the attitude of not wanting to show up. The fun comes in when you realize that day after day it becomes easier and you realize that the more you train the better you are becoming!

Step three - Trusting in your mentor and coach.

In most cases your head wrestling or assistant coaches have been chosen for the position because they have the knowledge, wisdom and ability to encourage the team. It is up to the wrestler to listen to their advice and trust that what they are teaching, will make them a better wrestler.


Ted gets more joy in seeing a wrestler win a match because he applied the skills he needed in order to win. I know as a coach Ted personally puts many hours in doing his research on the other teams and what is need to win a match. It is a great feeling when a wrestling trust in his guidance and wins.


Step four - Do not let others determine your Success!
 
Another important aspect for success that Ted teaches, is NOT letting others determine the outcome. It is your responsibility to believe, train and take action RIGHT away in your match. You are the one that needs to push the action and apply what you have been taught. You have to prove to them you are ready because you have put in the time, effort and trained to win.

Are you always going to win? No...Are you going to run across others that are better? Yep. but,even when the outcome is not what you thought, you can walk away from the match KNOWING you did everything you could and be proud that you did your BEST!

Step five - Learn from your mistakes

Ted as a coach runs into younger, less experience wrestlers each year. Whether they have not been wrestling for long or whether they have yet to apply what they have been taught. There are always those that make mistakes. Don't we all?!!


It is important  when you make mistakes you take the TIME to admit it, then figure out a solution to get better. Most times that means willing to change a bad habit that you may or may not realize you are doing. Then, you need to put in the practice and time doing it the correct way over and over and over again in order to recondition your actions.

Step six - Have fun and enjoy connecting with others!

The last but best advice, is enjoy what it is that you are doing and make sure you are surrounding yourself with a like minded group.

It was amazing to see the boys this year come together as a TEAM and accomplish the STATE A title TOGETHER. Even though wrestling is an individual sport it is also a TEAM sport when it comes to tournaments.

There is NO way that our Laurel Locomotive wrestling team would have won State Wrestling 2011 if the coaches, managers, parents, fans and team would not have come together WANTING the same outcome! That is what team support and commitment is all about.

They were there to support, encourage and cheer each other on. In doing so, it brought them together to WIN and take the title! Why? Because they surrounded themselves with others that had the same goal and outcome...not to mention show up and wrestle to their FULL potential.

And to think our boys were ranked 4th...There is something so powerful when you see a team come together and prove they deserved it.  

Seeing this happen first hand made me realize and learn that not only are these 6 steps important to any athlete but those like me who are running a business!

If you are not applying these 6 steps in life or business...what are you waiting for?

Cheryl Hill
VERY proud coaches wife!