Running That First Practice

October 2026 · For coaches · 6 minute read

In the first hour, kids and parents decide whether your room is a safe, organized, fun place to be. Most of what makes that happen is settled before anyone walks in. This is the plan for a first practice, for the coach who is new to it and for the one who has done it before and wants to do it better. It works for beginners and for returning wrestlers who have been away all summer.

Before the day

• Get certified first. Membership, background check, SafeSport, and current CPR and first aid. The list is in the New Coach Starter Guide.
• Know your numbers. How many kids, what ages, and how many are brand new. The plan changes with all three.
• Have an emergency plan. Where the phone is, where the first aid kit is, and who calls 911 while you stay with the athlete. Write it down and tell the other coaches.
• Get the room ready. Mats cleaned, floor dry, water available, and a clear spot for parents to watch.
• Print the plan. Fill in the Practice Plan worksheet before you arrive. It has the five blocks with timing, space for groups, and a notes box for afterward. The whole Coach Starter Kit is free if you want the rest of the sheets.

The first five minutes

Greet every kid at the door. Check fingernails and look at skin as they come in; a quick look now becomes a habit and catches problems early. See Safety & Skin Care. Then gather everyone, say who you are, and give the room two or three simple rules: listen when the coach is talking, respect your partner, and ask if you are unsure. Tell the parents when practice ends and where to wait. Then start on time.

Learn the names fast

Skip the name tags. A coach who knows every kid's name by the end of the first week has the room. A few tricks that work:

• Ask for a name and one fun fact in the first huddle, such as a favorite food or pet, and use both again later in the practice.
• Use the name every time you praise or correct. "Good, Maya, hips low" teaches Maya and teaches you.
• Play the five push-ups game with the youngest kids. If a coach forgets a child's name, the coach owes that child five push-ups, and the kids will remind you gladly. Little kids love catching an adult, and you learn the names quickly.
• Keep your roster handy and write a note next to each name after practice.

The hour, in blocks

Every wrestling practice follows the same shape. A first practice for beginners looks like this:

Time	Block	What to do
0:00-0:12	Warm-up	Age-appropriate; see below
0:12-0:30	Technique	One idea. Stance and motion is the right first lesson. Demo big, talk little.
0:30-0:50	Drilling	Partners drill it slowly with no resistance, then a little faster. In weeks one and two this block takes the time live wrestling would.
0:50-1:00	Finish	A game or light conditioning, a stretch, and one takeaway

Notice there is no live wrestling yet. Live goes (short, size-matched, with patient partners for beginners) come in around week three, once the stance, motion, and basic positions look like wrestling. The next section lays that out.

Weeks one and two, then week three

• Weeks one and two: more time on stance, motion, sprawls, falling, and basic positions. Little to no live wrestling. Beginners need the foundation before they get a resisting partner, and returners need to get their legs back.
• Week three or so: add short live goes, 30 to 45 seconds, size-matched, with a patient partner for anyone new. Start with takedown-only or position-only goes so nobody is overwhelmed.
• After that: build live time slowly and keep it short. Adjust to the room. A group that picked it up fast can start sooner.

When the football players show up

Football ends in the fall, usually a few weeks after wrestling practice starts. Encourage football players and welcome all new athletes a few weeks into the start of your season. Football players will all think that they are fit, they are tough, and they will underestimate wrestling while they are new to the sport. Do not treat them like veterans because of how they look. Give them the same basics the beginners got, even though you are weeks in. Pair each with a patient experienced partner or new athlete to show them the basics together. You may consider holding them out of live wrestling and having a coach work with them on the basics, with a short list of the essentials to catch them up: stance, motion, sprawl, and one takedown. Then bring them into live goes after a few "catch-up" sessions. They will be humbled, and need to know that is okay. If you will have football players, point them to the eight-week countdown and our football-to-wrestling page.

The same table with percentages, plus a full high school session, is in Practice Planning.

Warm-ups: match them to the age

Games make the best warm-up for the youngest wrestlers, such as elementary-age kids and younger. They learn balance, stance, and movement without noticing. Older youth and middle schoolers can start learning the real routine: lines across the mat for jogging, tumbling, stance and motion, and sprawls. It is a good habit to start early, and kids that age usually like the structure. For any age, a game that closes practice is a good idea. It sends everyone home smiling, and an occasional game works for middle and high school wrestlers too.

The one-third rule

New coaches almost always talk too much. Kids should be moving about two-thirds of the practice. If it feels chaotic, talk less and drill more.

Beginners and returners together

Most rooms have both. Pair new kids with patient, experienced partners and tell the experienced kids the job is to work technique, not to win. Welcome returning wrestlers back at lower intensity. They have lost conditioning faster than technique, and the first practice is not the day to prove otherwise, and week one is not the week for live goes. The wrestler-side version of this is New, or New Again.

Keep it safe, every time

• No weight talk at youth or middle school level, ever. See The Truth About Cutting Weight.
• Water breaks, and a rest for any kid who looks unwell
• No wrestling a much bigger kid without close supervision
• End on time. Parents' trust lives in the last five minutes.

Afterward

Take 60 seconds to write notes while you remember: who struggled, who stood out, and what to change on Thursday. Then send parents a short message on what the kids learned and when the next practice is. For the parent-facing view of a good practice, link them to What Good Youth Practice Looks Like.

Sources: Practice Plan worksheet · Practice Planning · New Coach Starter Guide