Remember that sinking feeling when you set down your #2 pencil and knew you blew it?

When I was a kid, moments like that left a pit in my stomach for the rest of the day.

Imagine what it would be like if you knew you could take a course that guarantees you won’t experience that?

Well, you can.

Here’s the first option:  take German at Watkins Memorial with Mr. Ferguson.

At last night’s conference, he unveiled his methods.

• There is no textbook.
• There is almost never any homework.
• Bomb a test?  You can retake it as often as you like (as long as you follow his systematic training – uh – learning system designed to make it second nature).

….and students fill out a detailed personal profile – so he can personally craft the class to fit his students.

Each student – a personal connection.

He went on to explain in fine detail, how he builds a foundation from the ground up, training students to first understand individual words and entry level concepts…

then put together entire sentences…

and then develop the capability to carry on lengthy conversations and discussions.

Now here’s a guy who understands Phase Five, the 5 step path to learning and winning (on the mat and off).

Athletes who don’t follow this five phase process…and coaches who don’t understand it…

are destined to wind up frustrated by their lack of progress.

I see athletes who are constantly stressed out…as well as parents and coaches who are constantly disappointed in them.

That’s why you hear things like:

“I told you to not to do that” or
“how many times do I have to tell you that?”

If you fully understand this five phase process, you will understand exactly where you rate in specific areas – and understand how to accelerate your path to the next level.

go here to learn more

Randy

PS  This fall, you (talking to athletes) can accelerate your path to phase five faster by doing this, than anything else.

Maybe he's lost to him before – or knows who he is and knows he's in for a rough ride. 

You look at your son…

 and he's like a different person.

• Quiet
• To himself
• NOT joking around with friends
• perhaps turned a whiter shade of pale

You can see the worry on his face – he's feeling The Dread.

And you think – oh no here we go again.  

If you've ever thought, I just wish I knew how to help him…

you're not alone.

Here are two indisputable truths:

1. Without the proper tools, he is going to suffer throughout his entire career struggling to wrestle his best in the big matches, and dreading the experience – or be overwhelmed and eventually give up the sport (big reason for burnout, as I've discussed in the parents guide to youth wrestling).

2. There is a path to help your athlete develop a winner's mindset so that he has a better experience, wrestles with more confidence and wrestles his best on the biggest stage.

This Sunday, I will focus on two elements of my Winner's Mindset series:

• The Pre-Match Confidence Boost – how to shove the negatives out (even the ones that come from teammates, coaches and parents)
• Mid-Match Coping skills – how to quickly flip the switch back on when facing adversity in the match.

The Winner's Mindset is a big part of the parents guide to youth wrestling.  You can get your free copy now.

aka, how expectations of excellence can crush your soul

Seems counter-intuitive don't it?

But harken ye…

when I played golf up to 3 times per week I reached my own level of golf excellence:

I played on a cheap under-groomed $9-an-outing course with my wrestling coach/insurance salesman buddy.

I rose to the level of pretty averagely not too bad….

fighting for bogeys and an occasional par.  

My best game ever? 

I parred 5 holes and bogeyed another, ending up 5 over for 9 holes.  

This best game ever had the following impact on me:  it kept me coming back, giving me a false sense of an impending level of excellence that I convinced myself was right around the corner…yet I was never never able to attain.

Instead, I attained more of the same:

• fighting for bogies while making an occasional par
• chipping great one day, struggling to climb out of the bunker the next.
• sinking a long putt one day… struggling with even the short ones the next
• drilling it right down the fairway on the tees… struggling with grounders, hooks and slices the next.

You get the idea.  

Perhaps you've seen it on the mat – I know I have.  

It looks like this:

• hitting a great shot one minute…getting buried underneath following a dive shot on the next.
• firing up out from bottom one minute…getting stuck on the mat the next.
• confidently shutting down the opponent’s shot one minute…getting dominated the next.

Those expectations of excellence arise from the moments of success…and the feeling that you can replicate that success every time.

But the moments of defeat slowly translate into:

• he can’t finish his shots
• if he’d just do that every time
• if he just tried harder
• and ultimately…”he can't win the big one”…

We all strive for consistency, but we rarely train to achieve it.  Instead, we’re constantly in search of the next magic bullet, the secret formula…

instead of doing what really gets us to this:

• being able to drill that shot every time
• finish every front headlock with points
• confidently shaking off the toughest spiral and leg riders.
• knowing exactly how to start every match…how to set up every opponent…and how to finish every shot
• more importantly…having the skill to do it consistently…every time.

We wonder why we don’t reach those levels but the answer to doing so is clearly in front of us.

Here’s where it starts.

Here’s what convinced me to buy this bike:  when test-riding it, I wrecked it twice.

Heeere’s the rest of the story:

Those of you who follow me on instagram already know about my affinity for bikes (and a summer beard but that’s for another time).  

Recently I’ve been intrigued with the idea of getting an actual road bike (I’ve had a mountain bike for years, and more recently, a commuter bike).  What’s always held me back is this:  I was never overly comfortable on a road bike.  Its just got a different feel to it…

the drop handlebars, the design, the different positioning and riding style…

….just….

…different.

I had almost convinced myself that I was just never going to get a road bike…

until the salesman at Trek said, “Once you’ve ridden a road bike, you’ll never go back.”

I test-rode one of their top road bikes at the store….twice.  Started to get more comfortable with it.  Still, the price was a lot higher than I was ready to spend.

Then I spotted it.

I stumbled across it in the online sales ads…

road bike – MY SIZE (small!) – for a fraction of the Trek store price.

I had to check it out.

I set an appointment and went to see this bike.

Its owner was a nearly 70 year old retired professor with a neck issue – which led to him having to give up this bike.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

This bikes pedals are ‘clip’ pedals.  They require special biking shoes that ‘clip into’ the pedals…

which I didn't own.

“No fear”, the ole professor said “you can borrow mine.”

Well, I’d never worn clip shoes or ridden on pedals like this but I had already determined one thing:  this was one SWEET bike.

• Incredibly light (only 16 lbs, we have a cat that's heavier) and well crafted….
• very well taken care of…
• looked brand new…
• very few miles due to his health condition cutting short his riding…
• and priced waaaay under retail value.

If this bike was a fit, this would be a heck of a bargain.

The only way to find out though,  was to give ‘er a spin…

wearing Ole Professor's bike clip shoes.

What could go wrong?

So I took the bike for a spin around the block.

One problem though:  I forgot that you have to clip out of the pedals before you come to a stop…

otherwise your feet will be stuck in there and you are going to fall over on your side.

Which I did.

After 3 very nice, concerned drivers saw me laying over on my side, still attached to the SWEET bike, and asked if I was okay, I sheepishly reassured them I was fine and I freed myself from the bike, stumbled to my feet and jumped back on the bike.

Then I headed down the road again.  

I approached another stop sign, with cars approaching.

This time by gum, I was prepared!

I quickly unclipped my right shoe and put my foot down.

Then, gradually, the bike started to leeeeeaaaan to the left….

where my other foot was still clipped in.

You guessed it. 

I kept leaning to the left, and couldn't get unclipped in time…

and over I went again!

3 more concerned drivers immediately asked about my welfare again.

“YES I'm fine, I'm just an idiot.”

Now I headed back to this guy’s house, pulled up and got off the bike.

Told him I wrecked twice.

And then I made him an offer.

Why would I do that?

Why make an offer for a bike that I couldn’t even ride yet?

Even though I wasn’t skilled enough to wear clip shoes yet…

and I wasn’t totally comfortable even riding a road bike yet…

I could immediately feel this bike’s power when riding it… and could see the  potential for being able to enhance my riding – go farther and more easily, and have a much greater riding experience….

IF I was willing to learn.

I’d have to learn the ins and outs of riding a road bike (its a different ride than  other bikes)…

and learn how to ride with bike shoes and clip in to the pedals…

and overall, raise my skill level.

Hence – maybe you've noticed some of the instagram pics where I’m practicing riding in my bike shoes.

Like anything else, its taken sacrifice to get where I want to go.

I studied specific riding techniques so I could become a better rider.

I also studied specific techniques (from my friend Chris at the Trek store) so I could use the bike shoes with the clips.

Then I started practicing….

using the same techniques, over and over again until I get them right.

And then….

more practice.

Just like learning wrestling technique, I have systematically trained to ride using precise techniques and movements.

NOT a conglomeration of different ways of doing things.

That way, I can keep practicing one method, and drilling it until I get it right.

Its always better to learn one system of doing things and get good at it.

There’s the key to long-term success…whether in wrestling or on a road bike.   

As for my biking – I’ve still got a ways to go, however….

I became proficient enough with my new road bike to enter Pelotonia and ride 25 miles to raise money for cancer research.

My daughter and I handled the ride pretty easily…easily enough, in fact, that we decided to bike the extra 7 miles home after the event was over.

Its also another aspect of human nature that can be a barrier to winning matches – but also can be exploited to our advantage…and must be contained in order to win against the tougher opponents.

The details

When wrestlers encounter an opponent who appears to have physical advantages over them such as:

• It's why we have wars…  
• fail to accept those different from ourselves…
• and selfishly think of ourselves first.

The ugliest aspects of human nature threaten our very existence.

The positive aspects of human nature, however, include…

• the need and desire to help others.
• the desire (at least by most of us) to be good people
• the desire to be like others (wait – that one's not always a positive)

We are naturally born copycats

See a successful idea?
TV show?
Catchphrase?
Club name?
It's a guarantee that before long, you will see cheap knock-offs of successful ideas (my own club, and the wording around it,  has been copied shamelessly – exact phrases used to promote it, lifted for others' own use:  premier this, attack that).

And each successive rip-off is weaker, less effective, less valuable than the original (like those who ripped off my club for instance).

An original Rembrandt is worth millions while the copy may be had for pennies on the dollar.

And I will reveal it to you in a few days, with a  Free Report.  In it, I will give you the blueprint for exploiting human nature for your benefit…in wrestling as well as in life.  Once you receive this, you will be able to unlock a secret to success that few people even know exist.

Why am I doing this?

Two Reasons: 

• First, I want to share my knowledge from 30+ years of training athletes, so folks can benefit from it.
• Second:  I want to reward YOU for being on my email list.

To be clear:  This report is only going out to those on the list.  If you’re not getting my emails, you will NOT receive it. 

It will NOT be on Facebook, or in my blogs, or elsewhere on my site.

If you’re not currently on the list, go here to join while there’s still time.

When this sleeper hit came out in 1977, it caused quite a stir.

Protests.

Anger.

Even death threats.

I was one of the 3 shortest kids in my class (yes, counting girls), every year of my childhood.  Some years I was Numero height-challenged-uno. 

Thank goodness Sam English moved into the district.

But this was one of my favorite songs growing up – it spent a good solid 5 weeks at #1 on the Randy Charts.

People choose to be offended, and this little ditty was the perfect example of that.

Me, I felt honored that someone finally wrote a song about shorties such as myself.

See?  Its all a matter of perspective.

To this day, I enjoy a good short joke (now, short AND bald jokes).

Life's too short to be easily offended (there I did it to myself).

What offends me more than short/bald jokes? 

People lying to wrestlers.

Luring them in with the promise of bright shiny objects that, like fool's gold,  will turn into magic moves that are unstoppable (they don't exist), and will instantly turn them into champions.

The long and short of it is, this is what turns you into a champion:

Hard work and a dedication to the process of winning from the core positions in wrestling.

This summer, you can learn to win where it counts the most – from the short person sending you this email.

go ye here yet quickly, spots are rapidly vanishing

PS  its a tall order to try and learn the finer details (the ones that mean the difference in winning sometimes and winning lotsa times, when there are tons of kids in the gym.  That's why I insist on keeping my camps to reasonable numbers that allow me to personally train every wrestler.