Popularity of the sport

[rushn]

Coach Lauderdale,

 

It was great talking with you at the UTC quad with Iowa State, VA Tech., and Carson Newman. You're the type of coach that makes a difference to the sport.

What I like best about it is meeting the participants, great coaches, and sharing great ideas about all the aspects of wrestling. The elite in our sport have this in common; they are multi-talented. They are not just great wrestlers and coaches - they are musicians, artists, tri-athletes, chemistry teachers, authors, agriculturalists, - I even know two that are preachers. They don't settle for status quo, and they refuse to let their kids settle for anything less than their absolute best. Wrestling is not popular because people who don't understand it or are not passionate about it don't get it for all the reasons mentioned previously.

 

But for the ones that do and are - I'd like to share this quote from one of our historic predesessors:

 

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena; whos face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

 

Theodore Roosevelt (a wrestler)

 

Wrestling may not be popular, but it's enriched my life and the lives of thousands of people.

 

Here's to seeing everyone down the road.

 

Marc Taylor / FRA

[3rdchance]

Great posts Jet and Marc Taylor.

[800trackmom]

I'm going to throw a comment in here even though I only saw my first wrestling match last year and I certainly don't have any kids that wrestle. Continued winning will make any sport popular at the school that is doing the winning. Last year when Bradley and Cleveland met, the gym was packed out and the fans were very supportive of their respective teams. Why, both teams were good and they were natural rivals. I grew up in Marion County and I believe only one school there has a wrestling team. Where are their "natural" rivals? They have to travel away from their fan base for a match or other schools have to travel there. People will travel for an awesome team but not for so-so. The reason I now like to watch wrestling is because the wrestlers themselves took the time to explain the sport to me. The first match made no sense but when the scoring, etc was explained to me, I got it. It wasn't that difficult to understand but you really do need someone who knows what they are talking about to explain it to you if you've never been associated with wrestling. And by the way, anyone who has ever watched a crosscountry meet will tell you that wrestling is far from being the most boring sport around. GO BEARS!!!

[ranger215]

eddie haskal,

have you ever been to a tourny? not just state, any tourny. or have you ever been to a match of a team that is actually good? if not try making a trip to soddy's round gym sometime. i dont care if they are wrestling bradley or rhea caounty, that place is always packed out. im sorry you have never seen anything like that, you must not go to one of these schools that i mentioned that are actually good.

[Drem2Achev]

the reason our sport is so unpopular is because people dont know anything about it.all they is the hellish torture we put ourselves through and it scares them to death if people knew it wasnt all just "pain and death" wrestling would probably be more popular and it is our job to educate them.until they know about they will be scared of it.

[LAUDERDALE]

rushn. Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoyed speaking with you at the UTC Quads and thank you very much for the ideas you gave me. I have a great deal of respect for you and your program.

 

UTC QUADS! This was a GREAT DAY! WE NEED MORE EVENTS LIKE THIS IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE!! Our wrestlers, mine are in dire need of opportunities to see this level of competition. The wrestlers I took down there came back with a totally new "fire" about them. THANK YOU COACH BRANDS and WHOMEVER else set that day up.

 

I have a few more reasons why the popularity of our sport is not where we would like for it to be:

1. The stories, some refer to them as horror stories, about weight cutting.

 

2. We spend way to more time putting down other sports, especially basketball, than we do promoting our sport. How is putting down basketball going to encourage an athlete to come out for wrestling? I myself have been guilty of this. We have an one of the old Abercrombie "Wrestling: what men do during boys BB season" poster hanging in our wrestling room. One of my former wrestlers got it for us. This thing is 6 feet by 6 feet. When I read it and my wrestlers read it, we had a thought it was funny. However, a basketball parent saw it one day and asked me why I hated BB.

 

I know, I know, other sports do it too. Football players put down soccer players and soccer players put down football players. I even I a couple of parents this year ask me why do football players give the band members such a hard time and they wanted to know when did all this friction begin.

 

3. Using terms like "hellish", "torture", and "death" to describe how hard wrestlers train is not helping.

 

Just a few thoughts.

Edited December 14, 2003 by LAUDERDALE

[Drem2Achev]

I think young men today have changed wrestling is extremely hard the work the putting yourself on the line this is mental this scares most of them and they are extremely lazy. they need instant gratification. wresling does not do that you must drill a move 10,000 times to start to master it.. But they do not understand why anyone would subject there self to not eating what they want when they want it. Having to run 5 extra miles today do 500 extra push-ups today an love it why they are doing it. It scares them and shows them how weak and frail they are this is scarey. But if you love it you love it and finally young men of today are weak and they have changed as a whole not everyone of them but most.

[gopher15]

I think young men today have changed wrestling is extremely hard the work the putting yourself on the line this is mental this scares most of them and they are extremely lazy. they need instant gratification. wresling does not do that you must drill a move 10,000 times to start to master it.. But they do not understand why anyone would subject there self to not eating what they want when they want it. Having to run 5 extra miles today do 500 extra push-ups today an love it why they are doing it. It scares them and shows them how weak and frail they are this is scarey. But if you love it you love it and finally young men of today are weak and they have changed as a whole not everyone of them but most.

I change my mind, people don't like wrestling because of people like you who think you work harder than everyone else.

[63raider]

 

Marketing: On a higher level, Pro/College Football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Tennis, Bowling, all these sports have major events that are broadcast on TV. Bowl Games, Playoffs, Super Bowl, World Series, College World Series, the Masters, US Open, etc. Millions of parents and children watch these athletes, and many of them aspire to do what those athletes are doing on TV.

 

How can you say wrestling isn't promoted on TV. I have heard many people say that Vince McMahon is one of the greatest promoters of all times. Twice a week wrestling is on in my house!! I know it's a little different from high school wrestling, but you know most of those guys were wrestlers back in high school, like kurt angle and brock lesnar!!

[LAUDERDALE]

There is a big difference between our SPORT of WRESTLING and the play acting that is done of the WWE. Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle are wrestlers, some say former, who use acting as a way to earn a very good living.

 

No, most of those guys were not high school wrestlers. Yes, Lesnar, Angle, and Ric Flair have an amateur wrestling background, but a gross majority do not. There are more of them that have a football background than wrestling.

 

If you enjoy watching the WWE, good. I wish I could turn the TV on twice a week and watch: UTC, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Illinios, ...

Edited December 15, 2003 by LAUDERDALE

[63raider]

There is a big difference between our SPORT of WRESTLING and the play acting that is done of the WWE. Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle are wrestlers, some say former, who use acting as a way to earn a very good living.

 

No, most of those guys were not high school wrestlers. Yes, Lesnar, Angle, and Ric Flair have an amateur wrestling background, but a gross majority do not. There are more of them that have a football background than wrestling.

 

If you enjoy watching the WWE, good. I wish I could turn the TV on twice a week and watch: UTC, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Illinios, ...

Why do you distance yourself from the thing that can bring you r sport the popularity it wants? if i was you i'd welcome all the attention i could get

[Drem2Achev]

gopher no one was saying they i or anybody works harder than other wrestlers just other sports and at my school it scares the other kids walk the halls they will tell you.

pretty much all wrestlers work this hard. and most of the other kids in my area on other teams tell me its that way at there school. i know i do not work any harder than most others .