The Lancaster Wrestling Program is a great environment for young boys and girls to grow into young men and woman and then to be successful adults. In the wrestling room we don't just teach wrestling, we teach a way of life involving good morals, strong ethics, and postive decision making.

 

The middle school team posing at the E-Town Optimist Tournament after a fourth place finish .

LEVEL 2: MIDDLE SCHOOL

 

This level will act as a transition from Level 1 to Level 3. As a transition level there will be a strong emphasis placed on the number of athletes that progress through this level and continue to participate in Level 3.

Although wrestling should always be viewed as fun, there will be a shift from the basic skills and "wrestle for fun" mentality to a "wrestle for competition" program where athletes get the opportunity to test the skills they have worked to develop. The focus is still not on winning, however, it is placed on using competition to evaluate progress. Much emphasis at this level will be placed on the preparation for competition, as well as handling the results of competition in a positive manner. Because of the transitional focus, Level 2 is viewed as the "life blood" of the wrestling program in Lancaster .

Due to the nature of the task, the strongest assistant should be in charge of this aspect of the program. The coach of this level has a large and varied role. This person must be able to act as a counselor in order to help adolescents deal with both victories and defeats constructively. They must be a motivator in order to move these athletes to a level where hard work and preparation is a necessity. Finally, the coach at this level must be a technician and a student of wrestling in order to help these athletes mature as wrestlers who have the needed skills and confidence to successfully move into Level 3.

It is the expectation of the author that in a city as large as ours, we should be able to support a program in each of the middle schools. Due to the restructuring of the district these numbers would have to come solely from the seventh and eighth grade population of the district. It should be the goal of the entire program to produce a time when the involvement in wrestling is so vast that there will be no choice except to house a middle school program in each of the four middle schools. At such a time it will be imperative that we make a concerted effort to staff each program with an exceptional coaching staff.

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