From Setback to Comeback

Athletes in every sport face challenges and obstacles. A basketball player misses free throws late in the game in a tough loss. A baseball player strikes out with the bases loaded. A soccer player has to skip an entire season because of a knee injury. And wrestlers are no different. But what's great about sports—and wrestling—is that there are athletes who are overcoming setbacks and creating their own comeback story every day.

For example, USA women's wrestler Adeline Grey suffered a serious knee injury in 2010, which forced her to forego nearly a year of competition. She rebounded to win two World Championships. Jordan Burroughs, a 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist, looked like he would miss the 2013 World Championships after breaking an ankle just four weeks before the tournament. Instead, he took gold there too.

At the youth and high school level these same setbacks and comebacks take place as well, only with far less notoriety. But it's not always about the top-rated wrestler losing a big match in the state tournament. There's the high school sophomore who just made varsity, suddenly dealing with illness or injury. Or the young boy or girl new to the sport discouraged by the lack of wins in local youth tournaments. Setbacks are going to arise in almost every wrestler’s career, says Joel Sharratt, head coach of the Navy wrestling program. But how coaches, parents, and wrestlers deal with it matters even more. “Learning from those setbacks can be very beneficial to ensure future success,” says Sharratt.

Sharatt knows where of he speaks. He didn't crack the starting lineup his freshman year of college at Iowa, where he wrestled on national championship teams under Dan Gable. So he changed his workout plan his sophomore year—adding even more post-practice training and lifting sessions and advancing all the way to the NCAA finals before losing. But he won the national title his junior year and finished his career as a three-time finalist, three-time NCAA All-American and one-time national champion. He then went on to a successful international career with USA Wrestling.

Overcoming adversity is about setting goals and committing to those goals, Sharratt explains. Firmly commit to them and go forward. Don't let your highs get too high. Injuries—serious or nagging, are part of the sport. Losses are going to happen. It's inevitable. But when you set goals and don't meet them, reassess the plan. Look at critical factors such as life skills and strategy, training, match planning, as well as strength and conditioning.

"Spending the time necessary to identify what could have been done different is a positive thing," says Sharratt. "These are all areas that you can control and instantly adjust to change the future outcome by putting more effort into each."

The Positive Coaching Alliance promotes a tool that fosters “You’re the kind of person who…” statements. For example, if an athlete suffers an injury, coaches or parents might say something like, “I know this is a setback, but you’re the kind of person who is committed enough to persist anyway.”

David Jacobson of the Positive Coaching Alliance says using the words “you’re the kind of person who…” conveys that the trait the parent/coach is pointing out is integral to the athlete’s personality and mindset. “That may give the athlete a greater sense of control over devastating circumstances, which in turn instills the confidence to actually make the comeback,” says Jacobson, who has also coached high school basketball, youth baseball and youth softball.

It’s a different mindset than one that just says: “I know this is a setback, but I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

This tool is even more useful if the parent or coach can refer to a specific instance from the athlete’s past instance to drive home the point. Athletes who hear a lot of “you’re the kind of person who” statements may even start telling themselves, “I’m the kind of person who…”

Jeff Wichern, now a coach with the Eden Prairie (Minn.) Eagles Youth Wrestling Program, says coaches can help wrestlers handle setbacks by putting them in difficult situations in practice. For example, when he was a high school coach he set up scrimmages with elite area high school teams to show his wrestlers what it's like in those environments and to prove they were training and working just as hard as the best of the best. Even if his team lost, he wanted them to believe they could compete at the highest levels. "As a coach you have to build confidence in your athletes," says Wichern.

So no matter what gets in your way, look for some approach to turn things into a positive. Tyler Baier, an NCAA runner-up for Cornell and current Beat The Streets Los Angeles board member, recently discussed overcoming an injury during his wrestling career for Liberty Mutual Insurance’s Play Positive program.

Even when you can't compete or train, Baier noted that there are steps you can take to make yourself better. Whether it’s getting the proper amount of rest, fine-tuning your diet, studying film, or motivating your teammates, there are a number of things wrestlers can to do to maintain their competitive edge even when they’re not actively competing. “An injury can either keep you down and defeat you, or it can propel and motivate you to come back even stronger,” he explained. 

Sharratt reinforces the importance of being totally committed to achieve success and reach goals after a setback. "Dedicate yourself fully to reaching those goals," he counsels. "Be willing to learn from your mistakes and look in the mirror when things don't always go your way.” The best part of this: doing so allows you to live your life with no regrets. So no matter the outcome, nothing will set you back for long.