Are You Tough Enough?

By Steve Fraser

December 03

At the 2003 Greco World Championships in Creteil, France this past fall there were some great displays of toughness. One in particular stands out in my mind. This was the performance of one of our younger Greco guys…Brad Vering at 84kg.

Brad Vering, who has been in the United States Olympic Training Center (USOTC) Resident Program for less than two years, finished in fifth place for his second year in a row. Brad overcame and wrestled with a very painful groin injury that really hampered his mobility. Brad wrestled like a true American gladiator. Even with this serious injury, he wrestled fiercely and without hesitation.

In the quarterfinals, he faced the Norwegian wrestler, Fritz Aanes, who is one of the top 84kg wrestlers in the world. Brad battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the match 2-2 in overtime. Brad had the Norwegian dead tired, crushing him with intense pummeling. He was moving him back and forth, dominating the fight. It seemed to be only a matter of time before Aanes would break down completely, giving into Brad.

Vering then hit a “duck under” and was almost all the way behind

him, when his groin injury pulled and Brad stumbled a bit. A tremendous scramble ensued…when both wrestlers came up neutral, the official signaled one point for the Norwegian for a correct attempted throw (correct call). For me, as national coach, it was one of the most heart-breaking losses I have ever experienced. I’m not embarrassed to say that I had tears in my eyes for at least one hour after the match.

Even though Brad Vering lost this match it was a tremendous display of great courage and extreme toughness.

What does being tough really mean? Is it having the “Killer Instinct”? Is it being mean or cold? Is it being hard, insensitive, callous or ruthless?

In a previous issue of WIN magazine in Wade Schalles’s column, Wade identified what, in his mind, were some tough, hardnosed wrestlers. He mentioned Doug Blubaugh, Wayne Baughman as well as the Brands brothers. I think most people would agree that these individuals all fit the bill of ‘tough’.

So, would we describe these tough wrestlers with the adjectives above or do words like flexible, responsive, relentless, strong, resilient under pressure come to mind? Although they all have some of the above attributes (i.e. ‘Killer Instinct’), I think the latter words better represent what tough really is and these men are definitely all that.

Toughness is the ability to perform at your ‘Ideal Competitive State’ no matter what the competitive circumstances are. What is your ‘Ideal Competitive State’? Your ‘Ideal Competitive State’ is your personal state of being that allows for you to wrestle with the greatest potential. It is a state of being where you feel most energized, most confident, and most strong. It is when you are generating positive emotions that help you to be most alert, instinctive, responsive & creative. It is when you have that positive fight – when you are having fun and enjoying the battle. When all these positive emotions are flowing you are going to wrestle to your greatest potential. Toughness is being able to create these positive emotions upon command thus enabling you to bring all your talent and skills to life at that moment.

Emotion is very important in wrestling and all competitive sport for that matter. The positive emotions mentioned above will empower you with great action and attitude. But some emotion can disempower you, blocking your potential. Negative emotions include such feelings as fear, confusion, low energy, fatigue and helplessness.

Which brings us back to toughness…being truly tough means no matter what is happening that might be considered negative; you continue to operate in your ‘Ideal Competitive State’ generating positive emotion. This means during the match when you make that big mistake, you can refocus and be right back on track. When you get thrown to your back or taken down, you can refocus and get right back at it. When the referee makes that bad call against you, you can refocus and get back to business. Being tough means that if your girlfriend breaks up with you, your mom is on you about keeping your room clean, your teachers are hammering you about your school work, it doesn’t matter…when you step on the mat you kick into gear rising above all of the problems. You can adjust your mindset and voilà…you are in your ‘Ideal Competitive State’. Nothing can break you. Nothing can stop you. You are resilient. You can bounce back. You are one tough cookie!

Toughness is physical, mental and emotional. Being tough involves all three of these areas. And make no mistake…toughness is learned. If you are not tough, it is just because you have not learned and practiced enough yet. Just like any wrestling technique or skill…toughness can be developed, practiced and honed to perfection.

So…how tough are you? Before one can improve their toughness one must be able to face the truth! And, if you are unsatisfied with what you see you must be willing to take full responsibility to change it. So lets take a look at the truth.

On a score of one to ten with ten being the best (strongest) rate yourself on some of the following issues:

Resilience discipline self-reliance responsible

Committed coachable confident focused

Patient motivated relaxed physically fit

Be honest with yourself in regards to how you rate in the above areas. Remember…in the heat of the battle, when push comes to shove you’ll tend to break at your weakest points.

For example: If your weakness is discipline, in a tough match when it really counts for you to be disciplined. i.e.… you are ahead 3-2 with 30 seconds to go in the match you must stay disciplined at keeping to your game plan of “sticking and moving” (not stalling) to burn seconds off the clock and securing the victory. But because your discipline is weak, you second guess yourself, change your strategy and start backing up, and…BOOM, your opponent takes you down to win the match.

To improve your toughness you should focus your training on your weakest areas. This is why it is important to know the truth about you and your needs for improvement. Getting feedback from your coaches is vital here. You need to be very open-minded about what your coaches see. This will help you get to the ‘real you’.

Addressing your needs for improvement: Take two areas that you score low in. Now let’s create a toughness training plan to improve these areas. Here are some suggestions:

1. State your ‘needs for improvement’ in writing in a positive fashion.

i.e. Discipline - “I have tremendous discipline” or

Resilience – “I love being in a close match where I must come from behind to win.”

2. For the next 30 days make these positive statements the most important issues in your

wrestling life.

3. Post these positive statements in your locker, near your bed or your bathroom mirror.

4. Write a one-page summary on how you will improve each of these issues.

5. Just before you go to sleep and when you first wake up take 30 seconds to visualize

yourself and see yourself successful at improving these issues. Take the time to really

feel it.

6. For the next 30 days track your progress in these areas. Note in your training journal

the days you feel you improved and when you did not.

7. At the end of 30 days take two new areas that you feel you need improvement and repeat this process.

Remember…you must take control of your own wrestling career and commit to making changes. The sooner you take full responsibility for your actions and hold yourself accountable, the better. No matter how old or young, weak or strong, you can get tougher. Never believe that you cannot achieve because you are not talented enough, not smart enough or that you were not given the gifts to succeed. Your future is much more dependent upon the decisions you make and what you do…than what you are genetically. And believe me, the level of toughness that you acquire through your focused training efforts will be the most powerful force in your wrestling career and your life.

As always…expect to WIN!