Why Wrestle?
A great description of the benefits of having your child wrestle is provided by one
of the sport’s all-time greats, Cael Sanderson. The following is excerpted from his
article “Why My Kids Will Wrestle”.

1. Foundation Sport
   Wrestling is the perfect foundation for all other sports. Wrestling is balance,
   agility, hand-eye coordination, flexibility, positioning, strength, speed,
   explosiveness, footwork, hustle, mental focus, mental toughness, core strength,
   concentration, competition, and endurance. Wrestling will make our youth better
   at all other sports.
2. Fun
   Wrestling is a game. It is the most basic and instinctual game. Toddlers wrestle.
   The sport of wrestling is the ultimate competition where two individual take their
   individual strengths and match them up against each other. Wrestling is a battle
   of wits, technique, speed, agility, flexibility, and toughness. No two wrestlers are
   alike. Fun stuff!!
3. Exercise
   Wrestling is one the world’s most premier physical fitness sports. Wrestling
   develops strength and endurance. Poor health is a major issue in our society
   today and wrestling will help develop a love of exercise and physical fitness in
   our youth.
4. Self-Confidence
   Very little is accomplished without self-confidence. Wrestling teaches selfconfidence
   like nothing else I know outside of religion and knowing that you are a
   child of God. Insecure people have the most difficult time learning from others
   and make progress even more difficult than it already is. Wrestling teaches hard
   work, self-improvement, sense of accomplishment, camaraderie of team, 1 on 1
   aspect, and self-defense to name a few. These promote self-worth, respect and
   confidence.
5. Self-Defense
   Although wrestling is not commonly considered a “martial art,” it is the #1 base
   discipline in the world of MMA. Wrestlers know how to defend themselves and
   neutralize threats quickly. Wrestling is controlling an opponent. If you want your
   kids to know how to defend themselves, put them in wrestling.
   “After you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.” — Dan Gable, Olympic
   Gold Medalist and Coach
6. Humility
   Nothing teaches humility better than a 1-on-1 sport. Winning and losing in a
   1-on1 setting brings humility. There is nowhere to hide and no one to blame but
   yourself. All wrestlers will lose at some point and doing so in these conditions
   teaches humility. Hard work and discipline are two keys to success in wrestling
   and both teach humility.
7. Respect
   The challenges of being a wrestler teach you to respect yourself. After you learn
   to respect yourself you will learn to respect others. You learn to respect your
   team mates as well as your opponents. You learn to listen to and respect your
   coach. After you learn to respect others you are able to learn from them, a life
   lesson.
8. Self-discipline
   Wrestling is discipline. Repetition of drills, hard work, weight management, and
   continually doing the best thing instead of the easiest thing is discipline.
   Wrestling requires postponing instant “wants” to gain something more valuable
   long term. It takes discipline and focus to reach goals.
9. Roadmap to Success
   Wrestling is the perfect example of what it takes to be successful in life. Goal
   setting, hard work, determination, focus, love of challenges, love of competition,
   confidence, being coachable, mental toughness, discipline, creativity, team work
   and accountability.
10. Toughness
    Wrestling is a physical, contact sport. You learn that sometimes you just get
    poked in the eye. Physical and mental toughness go hand in hand. You learn that
    a little pain or struggle is part of the process of doing great things.
    Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other
    categories.