I coached Middle School wrestling for over twenty three years, and I loved just about every minute. I loved the enthusiasm and exuberance that all those twelve year olds brought into my wrestling room. Teaching to such a receptive audience was extremely gratifying, because the kids were learning every technique for the first time, and whatever I showed them was the coolest thing they ever saw. What I loved most about being a Middle School coach was having my own team. I could make all the plans and call all the shots – and I lived for it. I did everything a varsity coach did with only a fraction of the pressure and expectations. What more could a coach want?
In the beginning I, like most other young coaches, viewed Middle School as a stepping stone to a varsity career. By the end I had no desire to be promoted to my level of incompetence. I worked for about five head coaches over the years, all of whom offered me the chance to move up to junior varsity or assistant varsity, and all of whom were quickly turned down. I was simply having too much fun and too much success to want to screw things up.
Middle School is different, and Middle School will change you. It’s not where you are, it’s how far you’ve come. It’s more than practice plans and pushups. A Middle School coach must know, and be willing to do, what is right for his kids. That knowledge must be guided by the laws of education, not the laws of competition. A Middle School coach must use his experience, his judgment, and his compassion to create an age-appropriate environment for his wrestlers.
When I wrote the Rockmart Takedown Club Handbook in 1989, banged out on an Apple IIE and printed on tractor-fed paper, I was determined to set down a declaration of principles to serve as the foundation of my feeder program. The first part showcased what I considered to be five basic ethical principles every responsible youth team should operate under. To this day those five principles still personify what I believe responsible leadership is all about. Twenty years later, those five principles exist now only in my memory.
These principles are not secrets to gaining the winning edge in competition. They are not guidelines for creating the ultimate practice plan, nor are they a technical system for turning your program into a juggernaut. They are intended to serve as a template for a good Middle School coach’s decision making process. They are principles to live by, and they are what I believe the Middle School Way should be.
A Middle School team should:
1. Be a child-focused, learning-focused organization.
2. Reinforce the principles of Middle School education which focus on the development and maturation of its members.
3. Provide a safe and age-appropriate introduction to the fundamentals of the sport.
4. Teach fun, fundamentals, character, and sportsmanship through practice and competition.
5. Discourage the cutting of weight, the making of mismatches, and encourage the full participation of all wrestlers in all activities.
This is what I call The Middle School Way. It’s a way that says Middle School wrestling should run for the benefit of its children, that it should not be an exact mirror of varsity competition, and that it should be limited in its goals and scope. Frankly, this philosophical stance could apply not just to wrestling, but to any sport or endeavor undertaken by parents and children of this particular age group.
If you are a Middle School teacher reading this for the first time, then the things I’m saying should resonate and reinforce practices you are already living by. If you are a parent volunteer or a lay coach looking for ways to set up a proper program for your Middle school age team, then hopefully the material here will challenge some of your preconceptions and open up new understanding about the wonderful, fragile, and fun children you have accepted responsibility for. Coaching the Middle School Way is never the easy way, but I think it’s the only right way.
The Middle School Way 