The Benefits of Wrestling:



The Benefits of Wrestling:

Football has several physical benefits associated with wrestling. The coordination associated with wrestling has enhanced the skills of many of today’s top professional athletes. All Pro Linebacker, Ray Lewis is a former Florida State Champion. Miami running back Ricky Williams, formerly from California, was a standout wrestler at his high school and former world freestyle wrestling champion Stephen Neal is currently a lineman for the New England Patriots. Stephen never played a down of college football. The skills developed go hand in hand with the sport of football. Leverage, balance, tackling, inside hands, level changes, and the ability to execute techniques with a low center of gravity (a good stance) are a few of the skills taught and reinforced in the sport of wrestling. In a Monday night game, color analyst John Madden gushed over a lineman from the Houston Texans calling him a natural “knee bender” and further illustrated that this favorable lineman quality was common with football players with wrestling backgrounds. Carleton Haselrig won 3 National Titles in college wrestling. Even though he did not play football, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Within 3 years he was an All-Pro Lineman.

Gymnastic movements are also developed when training wrestlers. The development of kinesthetic awareness is a staple in any quality wrestling program. This coupled with the muscular strength and endurance developed by wrestling provides participating young men with a “leg up” on their competition. In my years of coaching I have seen several athletes go from second to first team in their respective sports due to the benefits of wrestling.

Wrestling also teaches athletes how to compete. When you watch a game of basketball, football or soccer, you often see young kids, while on the field, taking plays off, or even avoiding. In a one on one sport such as wrestling the athlete is forced by the nature of the activity to engage with the opposition 100% of the time. It demands complete focus. In wrestling the athlete must focus and compete all the time for if they do not, the match is lost. Because of the characteristics specific to the sport of wrestling, young athletes develop tenacity, persistence, and skills that carry over into their other sports arenas.

Wrestling teaches personal accountability. There is little room for blame when you are the lone participant from your team competing at the time. How often have you heard kids blame other people for the team’s loss (Coach, Teammates, and Officials)? This is quite rare due to the individual component related to wrestling. This can be intimidating at first, but over time becomes liberating. You can lose as a team and win your match, and vice versa. The confidence that is not there at first because of the one on one nature of the sport becomes to flourish with more experience. Challenges and risks which require them to stand alone are not as daunting.

Because this is a football banquet, I have compiled a list of celebrities (mostly football players) who not only have wrestled, but are grateful to the sport for how it helped them to achieve greater heights in other areas of their lives. Also See attached letter from Bob Stoops, Head Football Coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Division 1A Football Champions : See next page

|Abraham Lincoln |Donald Rumsfeld |Walter Barnes |Harris Barton 49ers |Brad Benson |

|President |Sec. of Defense | | | |

|Fred Smerlas Bills |Tom Cousineua Browns |Tom Covert |Roger Craig 49ers |Larry Csonka Dolphins |

|Curley Culp |Dan Dierdorf Cardinals |Bill Fralic Eagles |Bubba France |Bill George |

|Charlie Getty |Kevin Glover |La’Roi Glover Saints, |Bob Golic Raiders |Mike Golic Eagles |

| | |Cowboys | | |

|Tim Green Falcons |Archie Griffin |Carlton Haselrig |Ron Heller Dolphins |Chad Hennings Cowboys |

| | |Steelers | | |

|Jay Hilgenberg |Dave Joyner |Alex Karras |Tim Krumrie Bengals |Ernie Ladd |

|Ray Lewis Ravens |Kirk Loudermilk |Joel Mackovica |Mark McDonald |Chris McIntosh |

|Jim Nance Syracuse |Lorenzo Neal Chargers |Stephen Neal Patriots |Jeremy Newberry |Leo Nomellini |

|Chuck Noll Steelers |Jonathan Ogden Ravens |Irv Pankey |Jim Plunkett Raiders |Mike Pyle |

|Mike Reid |Errict Rhett Ravens |Cory Schlessinger Lions |Tony Siragusa |Dave Szott Chiefs |

| | | |Colts/Ravens | |

|Tiki Barker |Bo Jackson |Marvin Lewis |Adam Vinateri |Ashton Kucher |

|Giants |Raiders |Bengals Coach |Patriots/Colts |Actor |

|John Rowland |Martin Lawrence |Philip Seymour Hoffman |Tom Cruise |Daniel Baldwin |

|Governor |Actor/Comedian | |Actor |Actor |

|Ludacris |Charles Moose |Tedy Bruschi |Rick Schroder |Jay Leno |

|Rapper |Police Chief |Patriots |Actor |Actor/Comedian |

|Chuck Hagel |Stephen Baldwin |George Washington |Norman Schwarzkopf |Al Franken |

| |Actor |1st President |General |Actor/Comedian |

|John McCain |Bruce Willis |John Roberts |Roon Arlege Ex. |Robin Williams |

|Senator |Actor |Chief Justice |Producer, TV Pres. |Actor/Comedian |

|Howard Dean |Tony Danza |Dwight Eisenhower |David Chokachi |Norman Borcaul |

|Politician |Actor | |Actor |Argonomist |

|Kirk Douglas |Lincoln Chafee |George Stephanopoulos |John Irving | |

|Actor |Senator |Political Pundit |Novelist | |

See more at: (132uw1555mr0q5ejzvpcaebk)/Collection.aspx?collection=2931

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download