Shorter than our guides, timed to the season, and heavy on the part of wrestling nobody drills enough: the six inches between your ears. New posts land here and in the newsletter.
Latest posts
Running That First Practice
What to set up before the day, how to run the hour, and how to learn every kid's name by the end of week one.
Read →What Good Youth Practice Looks Like
A checklist for parents and new coaches: the signs of a healthy youth wrestling practice, and the ones that should make you look elsewhere.
Read →New, or New Again: A Wrestler's Season-Start Guide
For first-years and anyone who lost the feel over the off-season: the first month, plus the food, sleep, water, and grades habits that beat any extra workout.
Read →Picking Your Weight Class the Sane Way
Where the body already is, not where someone hopes it will be. How classes and certification work, and why moving up is a normal decision.
Read →Preseason Strength in 4 Weeks
The last window of the year where getting stronger is the main job. A four-week block by age group, with the safety framing every plan should carry.
Read →Football Players: Your Wrestling Season Starts in 8 Weeks
Football ends in November. Wrestling starts the same week. The eight-week countdown that gets you onto the mat without costing a single snap.
Read →The Sign-Up Day Checklist
Before, on, and after sign-up day: the club, the membership card, the physical, the gear, and the questions worth asking. Nothing is a surprise.
Read →This Year's Rule Changes, Translated
Eighteen NFHS changes landed for 2026-27. Four you will notice from the bleachers, and the one that matters most is a safety change for girls.
Read →The Car Ride Home
Your kid just lost in front of everyone. The next twenty minutes in the car will shape their whole relationship with the sport — here's the script.
Read →Pre-Match Nerves Are Fuel (If You Know the Valve)
Every wrestler gets the stomach drop before their name is called. The good ones aren't calmer — they've just built a routine. Build yours.
Read →The Mid-Season Wall (and How to Wrestle Through It)
Late January: everything hurts, progress feels invisible, and quitting sounds reasonable. It's not a crisis — it's a phase with a playbook.
Read →Coming this season
- November: Surviving (and loving) your first tournament
- December: Holiday tournament season · Eating through the holidays in season
- January: The mid-season wall series · Blood-round mentality
- February: Peaking for the state series · Win or lose, finish on the mat
- March: The exit interview: one question to ask your coach · Rest is training
- April–July: Freestyle season starter · Camp selection · Recruiting-email season · Off-season strength blocks
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