What a big weekend for MWC! We had the Elkhorn tournament for our Novice Squad (as well as a few open) where we managed to win the “6 and under division”, and we also qualified 44 wrestlers for state from the district tournament! Not to mention, our team WON the district tournament! This is all very exciting for the members of our club. The wrestlers are motivated, the parents are motivated, and the coaches are definitely motivated! This is when being a part of something and a sport like this gets really fun! When we are WINNING!

At Elkhorn, we had some wrestlers really step up and do their part. We were fairly low on numbers so it was going to be tough to win all of the divisions, but those who made the trip, made it worth going. I mentioned that we won the “6 and Under” division and that is to no surprise to me. If there was a division title at every tournament, MWC would win that age group every single time. There is something very special with those kids! There are a lot of them, and they are ultra competitive. We have an advantage over our competitors in that group because of the numbers and quality we have in the 32-45lb range. They always have new partners to wrestle in practice, and it doesn’t hurt that they are some of the best around!

As coaches, we thrive on victory for our wrestlers. When they win, we win…when they lose, we lose. We coach for a number of reasons, but it is them getting a victory that keeps us in it. We want our kids to win every match they wrestle in. It is unrealistic, but it is what we want. Since winning every match is probably not in the cards, the next best thing a wrestler can give us is ”effort”. If a wrestler gives me effort, I can’t ask for anything else. We have laid out certain expectations for the wrestlers in our club and one word sums those expectations up…you guessed it, effort. If you work hard good things will come. If you want to win, you will win. Hard work beats talent every day of the week and that was proved this weekend by one of our kids.

Vince Giandinoto is a first year wrestler. He usually wins more matches than he loses, shows up with a good attitude, and works his tail off every day. When he loses it is because of his lack of experience and when he wins, it is because he WANTS IT! This weekend he found himself in a match with a far more experienced wrestler that had sound technique and a will to win. While Vince trailed most of the match, he was never really out of it. Vince fought off of his back, fought off a few takedowns, and scored when he needed to. Skip to the 3rd period with 8 seconds left and Vince finds himself down by one point. He knew he needed 1 point to take it to overtime, so when the whistle blew he exploded out like a madman! He took it into overtime and had the other wrestler mentally broken. He shot on the whistle, finished the double leg, and won the match. Vince lost his other two matches to more experienced wrestlers, but I couldn’t care less. He took his mind and body somewhere it had never been before and was awarded with a victory that motivated everybody around that mat to include complete strangers! We don’t care if you get 1st place every tournament…just kill yourself trying to.

MWC kids EXPECT to win. Wanting to win is important, but expecting to win is a completely different thing. This is the mindset we want and it is that mindset that creates stories like that one.

See you all at practice.

Hard Work!

Coach Nick Patrick