As the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club nears the Olympic Trials in April, CKWC coach and veteran blogger Andy Hrovat will periodically share the progress, results and experiences from the road and inside the practice room. On the eve of the Outstanding Ukrainian Wrestlers and Coaches Memorial tournament in Kiev, Ukraine, Hrovat provides insight into the wrestlers’ final preparation and identifies the three characteristics that separate the world’s elite from the rest of the pack.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14
It is almost tournament time here in Ukraine, and all the guys here are excited to get after it. We’re finished with the hard work and now are just getting ready for the final push before weigh-ins and competition. At this point the guys are pretty much on their own. I’m just making sure they are staying active and not just sitting in their rooms all day. They’ve been very open to all my suggestions of going for walks and getting out of the room. The dorms are nice here, but they don’t have great seating arrangements. That can wear on the body. Most of the guys will spend their time in the room lying on the beds. They next thing they know, their bodies are stiff. Plus getting up and moving around helps with your metabolism and burns calories. It may not be much, but even a small amount helps in the long run.
I have a great feeling about this tournament. I believe we will continue to build on our recent success. This trip has been a great learning tool and confidence booster for everyone involved. If you come to these training camps with an open mind, you will learn a lot about wrestling and life. When you are training to become the best in the world and are at a world-class level, there is often only a very small margin between winning and losing and between winning gold and not placing at all. I learned that first hand during my own competitive career. What separates wrestlers who win at the highest level is their attention to detail, their ability to stay level headed no matter how much things might not go their way and their willingness to learn all the time.
Details are so important in everyday training. If you can’t tell if you’re improving or even know what you need to work on, then you will have a hard time succeeding at the highest level. Wrestling at the world level is like a chess match. You have to trick your opponents. You have to manipulate the matches by hiding your weakness and disguising what you are good at. Guys at this level have world-class offense and world-class defense. It is rare that you will find a champion who is only proficient at one. I think sometimes in the US we spend way too much time focusing on offense. At this level you may only be able to score once against your opponent, so if you lack the ability to shut him down, you might end up losing when it counts the most. I’m not just talking about shutting down guys at the end of a period but throughout the whole match — every time he shoots. If we lack attention to detail, we will continue to struggle at the highest level. It’s like the old saying, don’t leave any stone unturned.
When trying to become the best, the ability to remain calm and not get frustrated is key. Traveling is hard and does not always go how you would like. For example, the Olympic complex here lost power yesterday just as we were about to go through a weight-cutting session. It was the day before weigh-ins, and some of the guys still needed to lose some weight. I was really impressed with the way they handled the situation. They just shrugged it off and do what was needed to find a way to make weight. When you let small things — things that you have no control over — affect you mentally, it will negatively affect your wrestling.
Finally, staying open minded and always willing to learn will take you a long way. Not only do the best wrestlers learn moves, they study wrestling. They study their opponents, they study world champs, and they learn from anyone and everyone. I studied tons of matches in my life, spending countless hours watching Dave Schultz, Arsen Fedzaev, and Sergei Beloglazov. While I never wrestled exactly like any of them, I took little things from each and applied it to my own wrestling. Now as a coach, I plan to use the same strategy in helping others find success at the highest level.
Andy
