Get Two Ropes if You're a Champion

"Get two ropes if you're a champion."  It was August 2nd, and it was the day I started coaching with Copley Wrestling.  Practice had just ended and one of the captains yelled that line out as everyone started scattering to the drinking fountain, the bench, or the locker room.  I knew he was referring to the climbing ropes, but I asked him about it just to hear him clarify it.  His response was something along the lines of: "After practice is done, you climb the rope twice if you're a champion."  Plain and simple.  But the key thing to realize here is that he's not saying you should only climb the rope if you're a state champion, but that you should climb it if you have the champion mindset.

Practice was officially over, and so this was not mandated, but anyone that wants to go above and beyond puts in the time and does a little extra.  It's this type of attitude that really sets people apart.  This week I recalled my first summer that I wrestled at NIU's 10-day intensive camp.  Each evening after dinner we listened to one of the college wrestlers or coaches give a motivational speech.  The most meaningful one for me that year came from a wrestler named Pat.  He spoke about how his older brother pushed him so hard his freshman year of high school.  He had him stay after practice and climb the rope or do some running.  Then he'd go home, have dinner, do some homework, and go running again.  That year Pat was one match shy of All-State status as a freshman.  But the next year his brother was off at college and wasn't there to push him.  Pat stopped putting in the extra time.  And the end result: he didn't even qualify for state that year.  Realizing his error, he re-focused himself the following year and eventually went on to place at the state tournament his junior and senior years.  Man did that story get me fired up.

I tried to explain this mentality in simple terms to some young kids that I was coaching this week.  The head coach had told everyone to practice a single-leg takedown four times each.  When I approached a pair of wrestlers that were sitting around they told me: "We already did four."  "So why not do five?  It will never hurt you to do more.  It will only make you better."  Nothing sums this up better than Dan Gable's famous quote:

When I'd get tired and want to stop, I'd wonder what my next opponent was doing.  I'd wonder if he was still working out.  I tried to visualize him.  When I could see him still working, I'd start pushing myself.  When I could see him in the shower, I'd push myself harder.

 Being confident that you're better prepared than you're opponent is one of the greatest advantages that you can possibly have.  When you know inside your heart that you've worked harder and smarter than your opponent, man, you are ready for war!

Get two ropes,
Jeff

P.S. "The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra." - Jimmy Johnson, football coach