By Sammie Spillman ’16

The wrestling team added new assistant coach Todd Wilson to better train the team in its approach to aspects of the preparation that go beyond the wrestling on the mat. While Coach Pete Siarkas concentrates on the actual techniques of wrestling, Wilson, who has his own website [www.holisticafitness.us], is helping the wrestlers to mentally prepare for matches.

Wrestling is a physically and mentally demanding sport, in which athletes must develop a great deal of self-confidence to perform at their highest potential while also staying healthy throughout the season. “We assumed that kids know how to get fired up before a match but as a coaching staff we thought it was important to use practice time to work on mental aspects as well,” explained Siarkas. “I always talked about the mind games in wrestling in practice but never took time to talk about pre-match routine.”

Wilson’s holistic program is centered on three Pillars, one of which is directly about mental fitness. The principal at work is “mindfulness” by being present in the moment. The benefits of mindfulness are not only displayed in athletics but in the classroom and life. Mindfulness reduces stress and anxiety along with a number of other benefits. The wrestlers learn some of the top sports psychology techniques, such as visualization, to complement their physical training. These skills help build self-confidence and develop a better mindset. The same techniques are used by Olympic, professional and high-level collegiate athletes.

Wrestling unfortunately has a reputation among outsiders as a sport that requires the athletes to use unhealthy methods to either lose or gain weight for weigh-in. Gaining weight is easy, but losing it is much harder because most of the food that is readily available to high school students is hard to burn off.

Wilson has designed a nutritional program around a steady, healthy diet to maintain a certain weight. A written template of dense, macronutrient foods, a one-week “Training Table” (that specifies exactly what foods to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and a grocery list is provided to each athlete who chooses to manage their weight. The athletes are monitored weekly and the plan is adjusted accordingly to their goals. This nutritional program is not just for wrestling season; the belief is that athletes will tend to adopt the healthy eating plan throughout the offseason as well.

Finally, Wilson has helped craft a general physical preparation program that begins in the summer and continues throughout the season. It focuses on developing strength, power and conditioning. The program is centered on weightlifting, body weight movements and metabolic conditioning. Weights are programmed by Wilson and each session includes a technique portion so the athletes learn to perform the lifts correctly to avoid injury. Every session also includes a Workout of the Day (“WOD”) that can be a single modality movement or a combination of a weightlifting movement and body weight movement.

“We, as coaches, strive to create a culture of high performance for each wrestler,” said Wilson. “We are committed to helping each athlete reach the highest level of performance on the mat, in the classroom, in the family and in the community.”