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Wildcat Wrestling Fans,

One year ago I became involved in wrestling after a decade or so hiatus when I was asked to assist the coaches and wrestlers at Northwestern University, and what a year it was! Northwestern had one of their best seasons in memory and the future looks promising as we have all of our NCAA tournament qualifiers back and a good mix of new faces and veterans on the team.

My commitment is to work with several young men on the Wildcat squad as mentor and coach. These men include Ryan Lang, Jake Herbert, Dustin Fox, Matt Delguyd, Mike Tamillow and Joe Gulotta. I have promised to each of them that I will continue to work with them until they reach their goals in the sport and I believe that several of them have the ability and drive to become Olympic Champions. After that I am back out of the sport! (This stuff is tough for an old guy!) And now with Pat Cummins and Ryan Bertin joining our efforts we can only get better. I can hardly wait for next year to begin.

I am not idly waiting for the season to start. I also volunteered with USA Wrestling to work with their National Team and was selected to coach the US Women's World Team that will compete in Budapest at the World Championships at the end of September. This past year I have been working to become more familiar with the team and current rules and this past two weeks have been to Colorado twice to work with the team at the training camp. I will be spending my weekends in Colorado and then traveling to Prague for a brief acclimation camp before heading to the World Championships in Hungary.

This experience has been a real education for me. First, I am learning more wrestling and training skills to bring back to Northwestern. Second, I am learning how dedicated and tough these women really are. Their practices are TOUGHER than anything we made the guys at Northwestern do last year. (Watch out next year guys...no mercy!) Third, I am learning that their are differences between the sexes in how they feel and think but not in their commitment and determination and love of the sport; or, their ability to work. So, all of you who haven't embraced the sport of women's wrestling get on board because our women are moving to the top! And if you don't wish to get on board, get out of the way!

I will continue to post blogs as we move towards the World Championships and into next season for Northwestern. You can also learn about our women and some of the young men I am mentoring at Northwestern on my website www.mywrestlingcoach.com <http://www.mywrestlingcoach.com> or on USA Wrestling's Website www.themat.com <http://www.themat.com> .

Thanks,

Bill Scherr

Coach Scherr-
hello,
I am sending you this message to get your insights on Pre- in--Post season lifting.
We are starting our Pre-season lifting this next week and I wanted to get your ideas on Core-lifts that are best for over-all strength and preparedness to wrestle. I have some resources but could always use new ideas. How are Wildcats lifting now? What do they do for Core strength and then sport -specific lifts for wrestling? If you had info on in-season lifting ,we do that as well to maintain strength- would like your input. Thanks for your time and dedication to the Wrestling- i have follow your career and have a lot of respect for you and your accomplishments as well as your continued dedication to our sport... Coach Lino Martínez

Lino,

Thanks for the inquiry. I am a huge believer in lifting for wrestling...although in my day we did not lift as much. Today's wrestlers are more physical and your kids need to keep pace or risk being overpowered.

Lifting is now a science unto itself like most other aspects of sport for modern athletes and I would recommend that you consult a strength coach. The NU wrestlers are under the supervision of the University's strength coach. I am not quite sure what they are doing now but I will give you a brief overview of my thoughts on lifting for wrestling as follows:

First, lifting should follow a seasonal pattern which coincides with your wrestling schedule. Lift heavier in the off-season and build your intensity as the season moves along until you finally taper at the end of the season as you build your wrestlers to a peak. Second, wrestling requires overall body strength and therefore you should strive to build the larger muscle groups. That means doing squats, deadlifts, cleans and bench etc... Additionally, specific exercises that utilize pulling such as rows, shoulder pulldowns, pullups etc...will be particularly useful for wrestling. Finally, I would strongly urge you to utilize strength building exercises in your practice sessions. Activities like partner situps, partner bodylifts, climbing rope, pushups, situps, partner wheelbarrows, and running with a partner on your back etc... I believe that natural strength building outside of the weightroom is essential to build overall strength and to strengthen the bodies structure (bones, tendons, ligaments) that will not necessarily be trained as well in the weightroom is essential. This will increase your athletes strength and prevent injuries.

Thanks for your inquiry. Best of luck this season.

Yours in wrestling,

Bill Scherr

Hello,

This is the first time that ive talk to you. My name is Byron Peters and ive been wrestling for the past three years this upcoming year will be me fourth year in the wrestling program. For the past three years I was wrestling for the same school and over the summer i had to move to a new school but i was really lucky that the school that im attending is in the same region. Im only 15 but hopefully i can and will make the varsity team although im only in the ninth grade. The school that i was attending was Morgan County in Madison Georgia but now im located in Walton County in monroe Georgia. my first year in the wrestling program was a real thrill i was weighing in 105 and since my brother Jacob Peters had won a state champinship title and a state runner up i learned a lot in the first two months of the first year of my wrestling carear. He tought me a lot of moves but in the past four years ive gained fourty pounds is that bad? oh im 5 foot 9 inches so im not that fat i just think that if i weighed less i would exceed in the wrestling progrqam better and quicker.