And of course I am referring to minor league baseball.  

When the team from Trenton bunted to break up the Hartford Yard Goats’ no hitter in the 9th inning, the benches cleared and a good ole’ summer brawlensued.

Apparently, bunting to break up a no-no is ….uh…. a no-no.

Anyway, why should this interest you, an esteemed member of the wrestling community?

It probably shouldn’t.  And maybe it doesn’t.

But it doesremind me of my own unwritten rule about wrestling:  

Never get instruction from the internet and expect good results.

Case in point:  just the other day, another Yew-Tewb weekend warrior posted a video of a single leg finish.

My reaction?

• Fancy!
• Flashy!
• Wow –  the kids that do this are going to lose a lot of matches.

This yew-tewber made some critical errors:

• Dropped to both knees right from the start.
• When splitting the middle, put his head on the mat (better wrestlers will bury you if you do this
• Got over 100 likes in the first 6 days meaning we’re going to see more of him.

The biggest problem with turning to yew-tewb for instruction?  

The #1 goal for most who post on that platform to GET ATTENTION.

That means, by definition, do something flashy.

And flashy usually gets you beat.

Believe it or not, I have a you tube channel.

But it keep it hidden behind firewalls.  Most of my content can only be accessed by folks who train with me, or are on my list.

When I post them, they are for only one purpose:  to help the dedicated athletes who train with me, along with their parents.

Okay, enough about goats.  Younger Youth Camp for 1st-3rd graders starts next Monday and Youth Takedown Master Camp starts on Wednesday (registration for both is closing down soon).

And the first of 4 High School camps starts in just under 2 weeks.

Get your cheese here

Randy

PS  If you don’t like cheese and just want to access the camps page, go here

Anytime you are on the mats, there is a chance of you gaining skill and making improvement.

But the flip side is, you could also be hurtingyour skill level.

I once observed a world champdemonstrating technique at a coaches clinic – and he was locking his hands incorrectlyon the single leg (repeatedly)….

all while coaches furiously scribbled down notes and recorded every second in order to show their team.  

Side note, if your opponent locks hands like this champ did, you can easily counter him in less than a half second.  (Remind me at camp this summer and I’ll show you how).

That’s from a world championand collegiate coach.  Imaginethe mistakes made by a college wrestler showing technique at a camp.

Amazing that many camps cede their responsibilities to their campers by “highlighting” these collegians and letting them instruct.

It reminds of the old adage about practice making perfect, which my coaching colleague correctly altered to this:
practice makes permanent. 

And imperfectpractice – for instance, executing technique incorrectly– can and will re-enforce bad habits that could be next to impossible to fix down the road, costing you matches and heartbreak at the most inopportune time.

Like the collegiate wrestler that the world champ coached, that locked his hands incorrectly, just like his coach had done – and promptly got countered and thrown to his back and pinned in the biggest match of his life.

To learn it the right way, go to the guys who are meticulous to a fault– with years and years of experience (or decades, like myself) of nailing the finer points – the ones that reallymatter when it counts the most.

On that note, the first camp of summer starts exactly one week from today.

Now’s your chance to join us before its too late.

Randy

PS  If you’ve already signed up, be on the lookout for ‘welcome to camp’ emails – they will be heading your way soon.  Right now, pass this info along to your friends and teammates so they can join you.

This newly overreaching rule has run rampant in collegiate and high school wrestling and is out of control.

One of the most common, effective, and harmless, setups, hijacked by Wrestling Government Overreach.

[Speaking of overreach, it reminds me of the time in college when the optometrist wanted to help me put my contacts in and I was all, “nobody's putting their fingers in my eye!”  Yet I digress.]

Now here'ssomething muchmore pleasant than a sharp poke in the eye…

have you ever wanted to fix just one issue in just 30 minutes?

Here are some common issues off the top of my head:

• my wrestle-off opponent crushes me with legs.  How can I counter it?
• I can't get in on the opponents' legs
• my shot stinks
• every time I get a front headlock I lose
• I struggle to fight off my back
• [this space for rent]

The reason these are off the top of my head is because I've had wrestlers ask me all of the abovethrough the years (as well as too many others to mention).  If you click the link below you can read about one of the more memorable ones.

Now that spring club is over, I have a short window of time to work with athletes who are new to my program, to fix an issue that may be frustrating you.

To learn more, go here

Randy

PS   If this seems like an unusual time for me to launch the 30 minute solution, especially with camps right around the corner, think of it this way:  If you are considering coming to camp this summer but aren’t sure this is the answer for you, this is a great way to get in a short session and see what its about – and see if this training is a fit for you.  If it is, you can join us this summer for more training.  If not, well, you have nothing to lose because the 30 minute solution comes with a money back guarantee (you can read about it here)

An estimated 1 million people calling in sick for work the next day… for a show that ended before 11 pm.

Because I am passionate about my chosen profession, no way is a TV show going to keep me from it.

When you have a passion for something, that passion is front and center – high priority– in your life.  And no amount of dragons melting thrones or misplaced Starbucks cups will rank above it.

And if your passion is excelling at the sport of wrestling, and you still watch Game of Thrones – you’re probably discussing it while heading to the gym – or the Attack Barn in Pataskala Ohio– because what you do is ultimately more important to you that what Jon Snow does.

Your journey to claim your own iron throne starts here

-Randy

My friend and I were just talking about this very thing, and how people think wrestling comes 'naturally' to some.  You know, the whole 'freak of nature’ argument you hear so often.

And the assumption is that certain athletes are so naturally talented, they don't have to work hard to excel.

While there is such a thing as genetics, and those genetics domake a difference, here's the ugly truth:

the natural wrestler doesn’t exist.


Its a fallacy that attributes another person's success to luck, or genetics, or anywhere but where it belongs:  squarely on the shoulders of the individual who earned it.

Another truth:  when you see a young wrestler chiseled like stone, he didn’t get that way from eating potato chips while watching game of thrones on his couch.

It takes a ton of hard work to make wrestling look so easy.   Wrestling isn't like running – there are real skills, and complicated ones at that, to be learned and refined.  Those who make it look easy, do so by putting in a lot of hard work.

Like the local tennis player I was talking about last week, who appears to be 'good at everything'.  All the while, nobody sees the 500 balls a day (or more) he's hitting to refine his groundstroke, his serve, his net game, etc.  And nobody sees when he sneaks in my building for strength training on my pegboards and ropes either, or throws my medicine balls around.

When you see what athletes do behind the scenes, their success becomes crystal clear.

Their hyper focus (including attention to detail, work ethic, heart and drive) is on full display –  behind the scenes.

That path will be explained in fine detail in Chapter Three of my upcoming book.  The chapter's working title is Rapid Risers Handbook, and that chapter goes to every athlete who trains here this summer.

Warning:  Choosing the path is your decision – I can only lead the horse to water.

go here if you're ready to challenge yourself

Randy

In fact, despite being constantly overshadowed by Johnny Bench, he always hit for higher batting average than Bench and was also a defensive wizard.  He had a lifetime .296 batting average, the 4th highest career batting average for a catcher in the last 80 years.

He also rarely walked or struck out.  Unusual that he didn’t strike out more since he was known as a ‘bad ball’ hitter, often chasing balls way outside of the strike zone.  He used to infuriate pitchers who would expect to strike him out with a throwaway pitch, and instead give up a base hit.

He once shared the secret of his successfully unusual hitting style.

Here ’tis:

When he was a kid growing up and playing street baseball in Panama, “everything was a strike.”  You had to swing or you struck out.

As a result, he learned to hit the ball wherever it was – way up high, in the dirt, way outside, etc.  

And, all the practice of taking his cuts at the ball, no matter where it was, paid off.


Just as Manny learned to hit by constantly taking his shots, wrestlers who take their shots, and go for itin practice, tend to develop their offensive skills on their feet more quickly – meaning more takedowns and more wins.

Its why coaches (and parents in a lot of cases) need to let them use practice for practice – and not sweat giving up practice points.  The more you go for it in practice, the more quickly you will be scoring takedowns in matches.

You can discover how to ‘hit it out of the park’ on your feet this summer by training in our HS/Jr High attack system takedown master camp, or youth takedown master camp

In our system, you can attack your opponent 5 different ways using a handful of setups, drill to precision and test yourself at the end of the camp via our final exam.

go here now to check out all 7 camps we offer, including the younger youth skills camp

 for grades 1-3.

Randy