Our entire Greco family, including our athletes, coaches, medical staff, administrators and general supporters are all at a loss. I am sure you “the reader” are frustrated as well. Our goal was to win numerous medals in London and make our country proud. It did not happen. I apologize for that.

As National Coach for our Greco-Roman program, I take full responsibility for this lack of result. I realize the buck stops with me. I can assure you that there are many of us who are working to figure out why we are struggling in Greco. We are very confident that our country has the great potential to be the best in the world, just like we proved in 2007 in Baku, Azerbaijan when we won the World championship team title. But that old news is just that, 'Old news.'

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I had the opportunity and pleasure at one time to coach with someone I would consider a close friend. His name was Darrell Keller and he was during his wrestling career a two-time NCAA Champion and Outstanding Wrestler for Oklahoma State. One of the things I admired about him was the simplistic way he would express things. We were sitting together a few years back at the NCAA Championships, he had not been back to them in over 20 years and I asked him, “What do you think?” His answer was “ Not much has changed, two or three of these guys came to win it and the rest are just kind of participating.”
If you think about it this, it speaks volumes regards the attitude you must have as you enter tournament competition at any level. You not only need to be physically and mentally prepared to win, you must be determined and in absolute belief that you will be victorious. There can be no doubt or self-recrimination, no excuse to fall back on, no other choice or option open. There can only be a firm conviction of your own personal ability to wrestle your match, to control the action, to stay focused on the task at hand and to avoid distractions from the crowd, the referee or any previous injuries or illness you may have or have had going in and find a way to win.
I witnessed this same kind of attitude and conviction in both Terry Brands and JohnSmith during their international careers.

In 1989 in Martigny, Switzerland prior to his finals match and going for his third gold Medal, I heard John say, it's over, I've won it, they just haven't raised my hand yet. Never under estimate the power of positive self talk.

I was fortunate enough to coach with Terry for a number of years and his ability to stay on task, to be self disciplined and to be relentless in his pursuit of excellence, not just on the mat but in life itself, is part and parcel of the very fabric of the Champion he is. To win on the mat and in life an athlete needs to assimilate these same attributes.

To be a complete wrestler you must be able to wrestle in all positions. This means on your feet as well as on the mat, both top and bottom positions. Defense and counter offense are a critical part of all positions. In addition you must know where you are strongest and where you are weakest. You have to spend enough time on the skills and techniques that you are good at to hone them to perfection, but you must also find the time to develop the essential skill and technique in your weak areas. Repetition is the key to all of this. You do not truly own a technique until it has become a part of your muscle memory. It must be instinctive. When you have been in a given position enough times you begin to recognize it as it develops rather than as it happens.

Wrestlers who are great with an underhook usually don’t have an issue with getting underhooked, wrestlers who have a great single leg usually have better single leg defense and those who are experts at leg rides rarely get leg ridden. Offense and defense go hand in hand. The stronger your defense the more confidence you have in your offense. These are critical points to keep in mind as you practice. If there is one truth in the sport it is that practice makes perfect.

To win you have to believe you can win. A lot of people say “I will believe it when I see it”, but in wrestling you have to believe first. You have to have self-confidence in yourself and your technique. It isn’t how much technique you know, it is being able to execute the techniques you do know better than your opponent. You have to control the action and pace of the match to fit your game plan. I believe “a champion has the ability to impose his will upon his opponent at his discretion”.

Saying all of this is fine but how do we implement it? The best place to start is in the practice room. Learn to stay focused on the tasks at hand. Fully concentrate on skills and drills of the day. Pay attention to detail as you execute technique. If you drill imperfectly you will then execute with the same flaws. Be a good partner so that your partner will understand you need the same from him, always giving an honest reaction to bring realism into the interaction. Be a leader in the room, don’t be outworked. Always look to the next action and don’t let a mistake or losing a given situation such as a takedown cause you to lose concentration on the task of the day, which is to leave the room better than you entered it.

When you are committed and accountable to doing things right, doing all the extra’s, putting a 100% into each day, you gain confidence and believe you deserve to win and expect to win.

I want to welcome you all to our new website and hope that in time you will find that it is a useful resource in your development as either a coach or athlete or maybe even as an avid fan who wants to learn what skills different athletes possessed that made them great.

Wrestling has been my life since 1957 when I was first introduced to it and next to God and family has been the biggest passion of it. I have had the opportunity to coach at most levels from the grassroots clubs and High School to my final position as National Developmental Freestyle Coach for USA Wrestling and I believe that two of the biggest contributors to my understanding of the sport was my being able to watch world class athletes compete at their highest level and then analyzing their actions on the mat by use of film and video. Via this website you have the opportunity to gain access to a good quality copy of many of the pasts great wrestlers in action, thanks in part to both USA Wrestling and FILA. In addition you have the opportunity to get first hand instruction from many of those athletes. As the weeks, months and years go by we will continue to add instruction content of not only great athletes of the past but also of the up and coming stars of the future.

This is more than an e-commerce store in that there will be many features that are yours at not cost. For example we have developed a technique search engine for the various styles of wrestling that will be continually populated with actual examples from live competitions. There is also an interactive module to help educate and train officials. Both of these are free and available for use via links on USA Wrestling's new social network "thewrestlingnation.com". There are blogs like this one that will be posted as time allows by other coaches and athletes. It is, however, an e-commerce site and we do appreciate any purchases made by you. The majority of any funds raised is going back into the sport, not only to help fund USA Wrestling and FILA, but directly to the athletes themselves.

Best wishes. I look forward to one day meeting many of you in the world of wrestling.