- Know your role. Wrestlers wrestle. Coaches coach. Officials officiate. Parents parents. And there should be very little, if any, overlap between them.
- Verbally & Non-verbally communicate that you believe in them. According to many successful wrestlers, their parents tell them they could do anything dozens of times every day!
- Verbally & Non-verbally communicate that you accept them, love them, and are proud of them NO MATTER WHAT. Reinforce winning, perfection, & success are much lower on your priority list than their fun, happiness, & enjoyment-you might be surprised how much more success this brings with it.
- Praise their performance, not their outcome.
- Ask your kid permission before giving your opinion/criticism. Would you mind my opinion… (This gives the kid a sense of power during a sensitive interaction)
- Be Positive & Supportive. 9 out of 10 times, this is what your kid would like.
- Don’t always talk about wrestling too much at home. Let your kid bring it up first most of the time. Let your home be a place of peace, positive, and mental recovery.
- Most Wrestlers, no matter how old they are, want to make their parents proud. Wrestlers are keenly aware of their parent’s judgments & opinions more than anymore else’s opinion. Even the highest level wrestlers I have worked with are sensitive to the verbal & non-verbal praise and critique of their parents. Know this- “YOU/PARENTS have the power to help them or hurt them more than anymore else in the world.