A Dangerous Pitfall
Askren answers a question/problem he often gets asked his advice on, how to motivate an athlete when they’re only motivated when their opponent is in their eyes, high level. Askren sees young athletes on both sides of this problem. Either they are fearful of an opponent and give up before they even try or they have no respect for their opponent’s skill set and feel like they will win no matter what. If you fall into this mindset you only end up having good competitive matches when the other wrestler is at an equal skill level. Askren says no matter what your goal should be to have a good performance every single match.
Stress Effort Before Wins & Losses
One thing Askren really stresses as a coach is effort. If you go out and compete and give it your all every time then Askren or your coach can then help you solve whatever issues or pitfalls you’re running into. Winning or losing doesn’t signify the amount of effort an athlete gave. Sometimes a wrestler wins but didn’t give their best effort. One flaw Askren sees in some coaches is they give their athletes way to many things to think about. Askren tries to simplify this by just preaching effort.
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