The Pipeline....

[Tronado]

I may have said this before but my son told me during the season last year that if he had a choice who he could wrestle for other than the ones he was with, it would be Ben Smith. He loved coach Yosts practices as a 9th grader and loves the enthusiasm of Coach Philips and respects all that he ever wrestled against but he singled out Coach Morris at WV and Ben. My son is quiet and usually keeps his emotions to himself but he shook Bens hand after a match, came over to me and said" god I'd loved to have wrestled for him" I've always respected my sons thoughts, and that one will stick with me forever. 

[fooseball96]

I may have said this before but my son told me during the season last year that if he had a choice who he could wrestle for other than the ones he was with, it would be Ben Smith. He loved coach Yosts practices as a 9th grader and loves the enthusiasm of Coach Philips and respects all that he ever wrestled against but he singled out Coach Morris at WV and Ben. My son is quiet and usually keeps his emotions to himself but he shook Bens hand after a match, came over to me and said" god I'd loved to have wrestled for him" I've always respected my sons thoughts, and that one will stick with me forever.

if your kid loves ben smith that much then why isnt he there

[Xander Zone]

Think about this....think about another fine club that has since gone away...Kevin Emily's Mighty Warriors....Not Knocking Sutherland and AP but they have carried over the talent from that pool...

[YOUTHCOACH16]

Think about this....think about another fine club that has since gone away...Kevin Emily's Mighty Warriors....Not Knocking Sutherland and AP but they have carried over the talent from that pool...

 

You got that right coach. Kevins Mighty Warriors were Loaded!!! We would go over and practice with them a lot and traveled out of town  together quite often. It was an impressive room to say the least. Campbell Lewis, Blaike Henry, Jt , Tim Westbrooks, James Westbrooks,  Zach watson, Jack Boone, Alex Ward and many others would be in there on any given day. Kevin was great about opening the room to anyone that wanted to practice regardless of what club you wrestled for.  

[Xander Zone]

Likewise...we did the same with Cleveland Kids Club/Higher Calling...

[SAC]

You got that right coach. Kevins Mighty Warriors were Loaded!!! We would go over and practice with them a lot and traveled out of town  together quite often. It was an impressive room to say the least. Campbell Lewis, Blaike Henry, Jt , Tim Westbrooks, James Westbrooks,  Zach watson, Jack Boone, Alex Ward and many others would be in there on any given day. Kevin was great about opening the room to anyone that wanted to practice regardless of what club you wrestled for.  

 

In the traditional wrestling states this is something that happens all over. Kids travel hours to workout with one wrestler simply put because he knows that one guy will make him better. And that one guy knows he is the reason that other wrestler came there so he will push himself to stay on top. This comes from confidence. Confidence from coaches and wrestlers alike. This also breeds confidence.

 

Lets face it, there is no one formula for building champions... its finding that room, that technique and that coach that works for you. This is why kids move to other clubs and schools; looking for that right fit for them. Guess how these kids find that right fit? Open doors. After all, we as club coaches are doing this for the love of the sport and not the love of our accomplishments. I can't speak to California as I have no experience there, but its not a secret why some of the toughest wrestlers in this country come from Iowa, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Ohio.

 

Mike Hatcher brought that concept back to the state this year, with the Tennessee Training Sessions... getting those kids who want to train with the best our state has to offer together in the same room. It only grows from there. How we progress it in our region will be seen for years to come at the state tournament.

[Tronado]

You got that right coach. Kevins Mighty Warriors were Loaded!!! We would go over and practice with them a lot and traveled out of town  together quite often. It was an impressive room to say the least. Campbell Lewis, Blaike Henry, Jt , Tim Westbrooks, James Westbrooks,  Zach watson, Jack Boone, Alex Ward and many others would be in there on any given day. Kevin was great about opening the room to anyone that wanted to practice regardless of what club you wrestled for.  

You Gotta love it.....Good times. My boys still, call youthcoach.. Coach Mike and well for Kevin, they love him. Kevin created a bond with a lot of those kids, taught them to love wrestling. We called it show time. Kevin's place was the war room.

[Tronado]

Likewise...we did the same with Cleveland Kids Club/Higher Calling...

To be honest, our wrestling community owes all you guys that gave freely of your time and money to spend teaching and molding our youth wrestlers. Xander, Youthcoach, Kevin, Rabbit, ..the one common thread thru all of them is a passion for the sport of wrestling.

[YOUTHCOACH16]

To be honest, our wrestling community owes all you guys that gave freely of your time and money to spend teaching and molding our youth wrestlers. Xander, Youthcoach, Kevin, Rabbit, ..the one common thread thru all of them is a passion for the sport of wrestling.

That really was a great time for youth wrestling. There was an abundance of talent spread over many teams. There was a lot of young, energetic coaches. It seems to go in cycles just as high school wrestling does. The kids today have much better technique but that time period we are talking about was absolutley loaded with tough  athletic kids. Its  pretty neat and very rewarding watching these kids you have known and worked with since they were 5 years old mature into young men and reach their goals in high school .

[durdon]

I am going to make a bold prediction here...

Based off what I am seeing from what is happening at the youth level, the balance of power of wrestling is going to start to shift from metro Chattanooga to metro Nashville starting in about 2 years.

There are 2 factors at play that are going to cause that to happen. One is that there is an absolute army of really highly developed youth and middle school kids in middle TN that will start hitting the high schools in 2 years. We saw this last year at TeamTN state tournament as all of the Middle TN kids showed up big time. The youth and middle school club states have always been dominated by Chattanooga kids and kids from a few select clubs throughout the state until Metro Nashville kids came in a cleaned up last year. And, this year theses middle tn kids have gotten even better and it's not just how skilled they are but also just how many good kids they now have. I don't think anyone in the wrestling community in this state has really ever seen the influx of talent that is about to start hitting the middle Tennessee high school wrestling programs.

The second factor is that while Middle TN is getting dramatically stronger, Chattanooga youth wrestling is about to go on a major decline. Hamilton county's middle school rules and schedule that are prohibiting kids from wrestling on the club circuit is going to start killing the development of the majority of the middle school kids in the Chattanooga area including the ones who were already on the club circuit as youth. Right now there is just 1 major kids club in Hamilton county with a couple of other small clubs. Mike has over 60 kids in his program and a majority of those kids won't end up going to Baylor. Those kids have over past 6 years have ended up at other Hamilton county public middle schools. Mike has basically been the regional training center for all the Chattanooga schools for a number of years now. Now all those kids he has developed are going to see their skills decline as they won't be getting anywhere near the level of competition in Hamblen County middle school league as they would face on the club circuit. All of the kids in the Hamilton County public middle schools are going to quickly and dramatically fall behind the kids in Middle TN and bigger clubs in the state that are pushing their kids out on the club circuit. All of the public high schools in Hamilton county that have been traditional powers probably don't realize it yet but their pipeline of new talent has now been turned off.

Bradley County and the other private schools that are in the Metro Chattanooga area are actually doing the opposite next year and working with TeamTN to make their middle school schedule more club circuit friendly and encouraging their kids to get out on the club circuit because they realize that is only way they are going to stay ahead of Middle TN high school teams.. But with the largest county in Metro Chattanooga area restricting their kids from the club circuit,what Bradley county and private schools are doing won't be enough to prevent shift in this balance of power that's about to happen...

Edited February 5, 2014 by durdon

[JBoskenUSAW]

I guess time will tell Mr. Taylor.......

[Newestguy]

It's Hamilton County, not Hamblin County. And the rules aren't new. It's been that way for quite some time. Don't expect a 'shift' anytime soon. There's a very large abundance of coaches that stay involved at all age levels in the Chattanooga area. Most aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

I am going to make a bold prediction here...

Based off what I am seeing from what is happening at the youth level, the balance of power of wrestling is going to start to shift from metro Chattanooga to metro Nashville starting in about 2 years.

There are 2 factors at play that are going to cause that to happen. One is that there is an absolute army of really highly developed youth and middle school kids in middle TN that will start hitting the high schools in 2 years. We saw this last year at TeamTN state tournament as all of the Middle TN kids showed up big time. The youth and middle school club states have always been dominated by Chattanooga kids and kids from a few select clubs throughout the state until Metro Nashville kids came in a cleaned up last year. And, this year theses middle tn kids have gotten even better and it's not just how skilled they are but also just how many good kids they now have. I don't think anyone in the wrestling community in this state has really ever seen the influx of talent that is about to start hitting the middle Tennessee high school wrestling programs.

The second factor is that while Middle TN is getting dramatically stronger, Chattanooga youth wrestling is about to go on a major decline. Hamblen county's new middle school rules and schedule that are prohibiting kids from wrestling on the club circuit is going to start killing the development of the majority of the middle school kids in the Chattanooga area including the ones who were already on the club circuit as youth. Right now there is just 1 major kids club in Hamblin county with a couple of other small clubs. Mike has over 60 kids in his program and a majority of those kids won't end up going to Baylor. Those kids have over past 6 years have ended up at other Hamblen county public middle schools. Mike has basically been the regional training center for all the Chattanooga schools for a number of years now. Now all those kids he has developed are going to see their skills decline as they won't be getting anywhere near the level of competition in Hamblen County middle school league as they would face on the club circuit. All of the kids in the Hamblen County public middle schools are going to quickly and dramatically fall behind the kids in Middle TN and bigger clubs in the state that are pushing their kids out on the club circuit. All of the public high schools in Hamblen county that have been traditional powers probably don't realize it yet but their pipeline of new talent has now been turned off.

Bradley County and the other private schools that are in the Metro Chattanooga area are actually doing the opposite next year and working with TeamTN to make their middle school schedule more club circuit friendly and encouraging their kids to get out on the club circuit because they realize that is only way they are going to stay ahead of Middle TN high school teams.. But with the largest county in Metro Chattanooga area restricting their kids from the club circuit,what Bradley county and private schools are doing won't be enough to prevent shift in this balance of power that's about to happen...

 

Edited February 5, 2014 by Newestguy