I, like many excitable coaches, have started down the path of constant screaming. When I began coaching I got riled up and upset every single match with refs, my own wrestler, opposing coaches, and the like. But over the years I’ve realized the value of calming down. and I think I finally understand why. If you pay attention to any coach who has been in the sport for a long time you will notice that almost every single one of them calms down in the corner over time. Some may say those coaches are “getting soft” but I think what is happening is that they are getting wise.

Simple reasons why we all need to calm down in the corner:

1. They can’t hear you.

Most of us coaches were athletes and most of us wore the same Cliff Keen “Signature” headgear that our athletes wear today. I think we all know that those 8 little holes don’t allow much sound to come in. Not to mention the fact that in every match there are at least a dozen voices at any given time. Head and assistant coaches yelling instructions, your bench filled with teammates yelling, as well as the fans in the gym. Not to mention the other teams' coaches, teammates, and fans are all also yelling. Combine all these voices with the just plain exhaustion accumulated in a match, there just isn’t the real ability to listen and cognitively react to every piece of advice shouted out.

2. You can’t do and listen at the same time.

Humans are notoriously bad multitaskers. Even if/when your athlete can hear you- do you really want them to take a moment out of the match to stop and really listen to what you’re saying? Think about it. If they do, knowing how bad of multitaskers humans are, they’re taking his focus away from the match. Which is probably not a good idea.

STORYTIME: My college coach was the late great Mike Duroe. He had an exchange with his athlete that I think illustrates the whole multitasking issue really well:

Duroe: "McAuley!"

…. McAuley keeps wrestling

Duroe: "MCAULEY!"

….McAuley looks at Duroe and immediately gets taken down.

Duroe: "McAuley what are you doing?!"

Moral of the story: Don’t distract your athletes.

3. You aren’t showing that you trust them.

This last idea is the most important. When you are constantly yelling instructions to your athlete you are both consciously and subconsciously telling your athlete that they don’t know what they’re doing. That they’re doing something wrong. It shows that you don’t believe your athlete knows what they should do.

Making your wrestler question themselves is the exact opposite of what we always preach as coaches. We preach confidence. “Let's go stud”, “Trust your stuff”, “Hit your moves hard knowing they will work”.

If In the heat of the moment you tell your athlete to do something they aren’t confident in or don’t see, you make them question everything in the exact moment they need to trust everything. Your job in the corner is to inspire confidence- not undermine it.