those are great. sure he's got way more stories he could tell about wrestling at the elite level. can't get enough of that stuff.
maybe Coach Kolat could go over his thoughts on the following things. just listing stuff off the top of my head here (I know some of this is already covered)
making a list, please anyone else chime in too:
Mindset
Commitment
Cutting weight (right way vs wrong way, experiences he had growing up from youth to elite level)
Practice Planning
Other favorite wrestling stories he has and his experiences traveling all over the world and training with the best guys from other countries
Thoughts on why the Russians are so dominant and USA has been playing catchup for all these years
Coaching youth vs high school vs college vs elite (thoughts on different ways to approach each age group)
Motivation (what motivates Coach Kolat to coach, what motivates him to train and also what he's found out what other elite wrestlers to do get motivated to train)
What does Kolat think separated him from everyone else at the high school level?
Thoughts on how the Russians train vs how USA trains (drilling, live wrestling and conditioning)
What's Coach Kolat's stance on drugs and alcohol (partying, celebrating, social drinking, partying during the season, etc)?
How to discipline your athletes and hold them accountable
How has he dealt with athletes who are ready to quit wrestling
How does he deal with burn out both as a coach and elite athlete
What are Cary's favorite experiences at each level (youth, ncaa, international)?
Why did he choose Penn State over other top programs like Iowa (was Cary recruited by Gable at all? did Kolat have any interest in going to school out of state?)
How did Cary handle the NCAA recruitment process (getting recruited by a ton of top programs)
What are Cary's personal experiences with injuries, dealing with injuries, training through certain injuries vs taking a break, mental aspects of coming back from injuries, etc.
Kolat's favorite types of training partners (both drilling and live wrestling) and why
What does Kolat feel makes a great training partner
Kolat's favorite coaches and what aspects about them made them his favorite
Who motivated Kolat the most?
How to deal with parents who coach their kid during practice from the sidelines
What are Kolat's thoughts on how to deal with losses and how to help his athletes deal with losses (at all levels: youth, high school, ncaa, international)
What are his thoughts on how to keep kids in the sport longer and prevent burnout, keeping it fun (mainly for the real young kids starting off)
How does a coach who doesn't have the kind of competitive credentials Kolat has get his wrestlers to "buy in" to what he's teaching and really believe in the leadership? I know Kolat's had coaches who didn't do what he did on a competitive level; what did they do and how did they communicate in order to get Kolat's attention and get him to "buy in" to what they were teaching?
***THANKS***
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STEP BY STEP MOVIE'S
I AM A WRESULER FROM M.BLUE HIGH SCHOOL AND I AM GOING INTO TO MY 3RD YEAR AND TRAINIG FOR THE ARMY. MY FIRST YEAR WAS MY FRESMAN YEAR AND I HAVE OLNY HAVE HADE 1 WIN OUT OF 2 YEAR BUT IM GOING FOR 99 MORE AND NOW I FEEL THAT THOSE WHO STAY WILL BE A TRUE CHAPION. I FELL HEALTHY AND CAN WORK BULT LIKE ARMY TANK.
Kolat's Perspective on Wrestling
There are a number of good questions for Cary here but Cary will be the first to tell you that designing a program using any of Cary's models is only valid to the degree that you should follow the process not the exact story. Cary's individual story is unique and very difficult to duplicate. I would not think of Cary as a normal model by any stretch of the imagination and every star has a different path. You can use Cary's knowledge of how other wrestler's think but to model Cary is very tricky. Cary could write many books on the details of wrestling and elite human achievement for that matter. Cary transended his coaches and the sport to some degree by his unbelievalbe ability to achieve any goal. All you have to do is study the greatest achievers in the world and you will understand Cary. Unbelievable focus to detail and goals at an earl age along with special people abilities. His childhood upbringing is very difficult to duplicate. Economically depressed areas like the coal mining areas of PA have created many of the great high achievers of our modern day. I am sure Cary would argue with me but I will always believe he became bored with wrestling at an early age and it became about what he could achieve internally versus externally, kind of like Einstein in a sense. The external was the 4 PA titles, the 2 NCAA titles versus 4 titles, and the World golds versus Olympic golds. Ask Cary what the internal goal was all that time and that is the real question. And no one will really ever know but Cary. You can thank Carr and Shultz for offering Cary goals to acheive but to explain anything beyond that and try to mimic it is not the goal. Understand the process model that Cary used, focus on details, clear vision, clear, definable, and measurable goals, and a unsaturable desire to be a star. Very high IQ people like Cary understand one thing, that the Western contribution to learning is not about the Mongolian taking a cold shower and not wincing, it is about breaking down every goal into small easily understood learning goals that can be added and scaled to create one master goal. Cary's brain is now available on-line with real time access to every wrestling move broken down into small easily understood learning goals. Someone may disagree with Cary's wrestling approach and philosophy, but what you can not deny is his ability to break down wrestling moves into small learnable chunks that can accelerate learning for any human of any age. For everyone that wants to know why the Russians do so well in wrestling is to think of a combination of Western and Eastern thinking, left brain versus right brain, Cary, John Smith, and Cael are the best U.S. versions of this type of approach. Cary fell short of a few of his external goals but John and Cael did not. Most of the questions asked above will be best served in an autobiography which I hope to be writing with Cary shortly. Remember, the best human of learning and change can come from failure not success.
Replying to "Litten2010" --
Replying to "Litten2010" --
I understand what you're trying to say. Good points. I agree and am on the same page with most of what you're saying. I recently read "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin and "The Edge" by Howard Ferguson (amazing books). While reading them it made me nostalgic and got me thinking about all the different wrestling stories, journeys, etc. I've heard and experienced over the years. I hope Coach Kolat does write a book; clearly he's leaving quite a legacy (besides his external wrestling accomplishments) with this website. He already did a live webcast where he answered a lot of these questions. It was amazing.
Cary's story, although difficult to duplicate, is one that all of the wrestling world should be interested in and talking about. The fact that it's so unique and difficult to duplicate are the exact reasons why we should get the "exact" individual story and learn from it. It's great that Coach Kolat has opened up and told some stories from his perspective here on this site. These are things that I've always wanted to know, and hearing his stories (like the one about the Mongolian wrestler not wincing from the cold water) are entertaining as hell as well as educational.
ALL of it fits together in the process. I think an absolute crucial part of constructing a process to give wrestlers the best chance at achieving the ultimate in this sport is to study the exact stories. Media sources out in Iowa have done a great job promoting the story of Gable. Books like "Wrestling Tough" by Mike Chapman do a great job in covering different articles of interest with different wrestlers from the USA. However, I don't think there's enough out there that really digs deep into enough of the worlds' best wrestlers. "The Silent Gladiators" was a good book too. But there's still not enough out there that gets enough of those "exact" individual stories without pulling any punches. There's a lot to be learned from the success principles in each one, but still, the exact stories need to be a part of learning the process. The article in W.I.N. magazine titled, "The Pain Remains" (about Kolat) is fascinating. But there still isn't ENOUGH of those types of stories being told to the wrestling masses.
The process is in there--it's in those exact stories--the ones that tell about the ups AND the downs. The hardest stuff to talk about, many times, is exactly what USA's young wrestlers need to hear and put into perspective. Putting things into the right perspective is key there--a couple keys to helping people do that, especially the youth, are good coaching and good communication (which go hand in hand). Anyone who knows anything about wrestling knows that USA sure could use more athletes like Kolat--ones who are determined to achieve the ultimate in the sport from an early age and have the commitment and dedication to work diligently for it.
The more athletes USA has like that, the better. The more stories we share, the more young athletes (and heck, even older athletes) will be educated and inspired to wrestle at the highest levels. USA needs that kind of thing now more than ever.
I hope Kolat does release a book someday. It would kick ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great post, thanks for sharing your insights (I'm especially interested in the internal vs external motivations). Good stuff!
- James Kelly