Fear vs Ignorance
On this Mental Mondays with Ben Askren the topic is about respect on and off the wrestling mat. Askren says there are two different groups with their opinions about respect. One says you have to respect all your opponent’s skill sets try hard otherwise you’ll lose. The other group says respect no one wrestle your gameplan. Askren says the truth like with most things, is somewhere in the middle. You don’t want to give someone too much respect where you’re fearful of them or their techniques. On the flip side, you don’t want to have zero respect to where you get caught by something and lose.
Real Life Examples
Askren uses the example of wrestlers who always wrestle close matches. He says part of the reason is they don’t respect the fact their opponent could beat them. If you’re comfortable wrestling a one takedown match every time you must not have the respect for your opponent. In the area of scrambling, one move could end up in a pin and the match is over. Askren sees this all the time when a wrestler has too much confidence in their abilities and end up in a bad position to where they get pinned. The other side is having too much respect to the point of fear of shooting on your opponent.
Find the Balance
Askren says you need to find the balance between these two groups. You need to know when you’re in danger and have respect for that but also when you’re not. The truth about giving respect and not varies on who you’re wrestling by their style and skills as well as yours. Overall, respect is a sliding scale and in order to calibrate it, you need to know your opponent.
Featured RUDIS Gear:
Ben is wearing the Schultz Tbilisi Champion T-Shirt: https://rudis.com/product/schultz-tbilisi-champion-adult-t-shirt/
Where to find Mental Mondays with Ben Askren:
Stay connected with RUDIS at:
Subscribe to the RUDIS newsletter here: https://rudis.com/my-account/
