You probably wonder why the Minnesota Gophers are featured here so often. A couple simple reasons: The Wisconsin Badgers do not promote their team or wrestlers at all like the Gophers do. Minnesota is one of very few that provide these videos and blogs on a weekly basis. I enjoy the Gopher style of wrestling. They are very aggressive and hard working. They make watching wrestling fun. (Oklahoma State is the same)
I have had the opportunity to attend camps and clinics at Minnesota, met their coaches and wrestlers, and over the years have had the following as clinicians or speakers at Sparta and our Leadership Camp: LeRoy Vega (3 times), Luke Becker, Tim Hartung (2 times), Brandon Eggum, Jared Lawrence, Mack Reiter, and others. They have all been very well spoken and presented messages about leadership and finding success in life through goal setting and hard work. WE have had wrestlers over the years attend J Robinson’s camps and come back much better wrestlers, on and off the mat. The Gophers are Big 10 Dual Champions this year also.
Now is when the wrestling season gets exciting and all the work and preparation starts to pay off. The three videos this week deal with getting yourself ready to perform at your best and doing it with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm and hard work will almost always top talent alone. You have to enjoy competing and challenging yourself if you are going to be successful. Thursday is the beginning of some exciting matches to come. Have fun, wrestle hard and do it with passion. This song and video is about hardwork, overcoming adversity, pursuing your dreams and accomplishing your goals in life.
In this video the highlights are great and you can see the excitement and enthusiasm as the Gophers compete. Pay attention to Coach Robinson as he addresses the team before the dual. Some very good points.
I like Coach Smith and how he assesses a win and coaches his teams. It isn’t always how you win but weather you win or not. Ugly wins are still wins. You can watch his team defeat #1 Iowa on the Big Ten Network tonight at 7:00 PM. (He gave his team a C- for their performance….) Also some good references for our team has they head into an important dual with Holmen Jan. 19.
I thought I would give everyone a couple of movies to watch over the holidays. The first is a wrestling movie and surprisingly it does not have a lot of cheesy wrestling in it. It is actually very realistic and a good story to boot. Some of “us” old timers will relate very well with the assistant coaches. It is a good movie that just happens to involve a wrestler as one of the main characters. The wrestler in the movie is Alex Shaffer who was a champion wrestler in high school before an injury ended his career. The article below gives you a little background.
There’s nothing fake about this wrestler in ‘Win Win’
Seeking authenticity, director Tom McCarthy cast Alex Shaffer, a novice in acting but a real-life champion in high school wrestling.
reporting from new york — When New Jersey teenager Alex Shaffer told his parents he wanted to audition for a part as a high school wrestler in Tom McCarthy’s “Win Win,” they said he couldn’t go — but not because they were against him becoming an actor.
At first, Mike Shaffer recalled, “both my wife and I said the same thing. ‘Sure, let’s go.’ And then, unfortunately, we realized Alex couldn’t take the day off” because the teen had an actual high school wrestling meet the same day.
Instead, the sophomore sent in a packet of wrestling press clips to the casting agent whose name appeared on an ad in a local paper. A few weeks later, Shaffer was called to a meeting in New York City. McCarthy, known to have an exacting manner with actors, wound up summoning Shaffer back about eight times to read for the part and even paid a visit to one of Shaffer’s wrestling matches.
Last March, Shaffer won a state championship. The next day, he began shooting a movie opposite some of the independent film world’s biggest stars.
“Win Win,” which was a hot ticket when it opened in three L.A. theaters over the weekend, widens to seven screens in the area this weekend. Shaffer’s turn as Kyle, a disaffected teenager and competitive wrestler taken in by a part-time high school wrestling coach (Paul Giamatti) and his wife (Amy Ryan), has garnered strong reviews for its authenticity. In an era when many on-screen teenagers are portrayed as preternaturally smart and polished, Kyle comes off as polite but laconic and a bit removed. He has little desire to spend time around most adults and seemingly even less of a desire to speak to them.
“I was tired of seeing 16-year-olds who are so emotionally attuned and articulate,” recalled McCarthy (“The Visitor”). “Most 16-year-olds are like Alex: They’re hearing it all and taking it all in. They’re just not letting you know that.” McCarthy added: “He had qualities that were oddly very much like how Kyle was written on the page.”
As he sat in a corner of an empty gym last year in a public school on New York’s Long Island where the movie was being shot, as well as in a follow-up interview, Shaffer evinced the traits that drew McCarthy to him.
The teenager had never acted professionally and barely even performed in school plays (the one credit he calls to mind was “The Pirates of Penzance” in the sixth grade). Then he heard that a movie production was seeking a teenage wrestler. “My friend texted me: ‘You should audition for this. It’s in the newspaper.’ And I was like, ‘No, man.’ At the time, I was focusing on wrestling. And my friend was like, ‘No, dude, you should audition. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’ And I thought about it, and he was right.”
The second movie is “Warrior”. It has some great MMA action but is also a very good story. If you don’t like this movie you’re not really a wrestler!
We’ve added a new feature this year that will include some fun highlights, technique videos and matches worth watching. To start off I’ve included a collection of all areas. The first is a highlight of wrestling in general and shows what a really great sport this is.
I’ve also included a match between Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State and an opponent from Oklahoma. Oliver is one of the most impressive wrestlers in the NCAA today and probably the best technician of any wrestler I’ve seen. The third video is a technique video of Jordan Oliver and an assistant coach from Oklahoma State showing a variation of the arm drag. Enjoy!
We’re excited to bring to you a new feature for the website called Mont’s Videos of the Week. These will be videos about wrestling that will hopefully inspire you to work harder, teach you various moves, entertain you with stories from the sport’s great coaches and competitors and more. They are definitely worth checking out and [...]
