Do More Than Others Think is Necessary
Chances are, you’ve never heard of Les Gutches, but he’s a household name in the wrestling community. This past week, I had the chance to see him teach wrestling at a wrestling camp (I was part of the camp staff). During one of the sessions, he shared a story that left quite an impression on me.
When Gutches was twelve years old, he was sick for a few weeks and could not go to school. He couldn’t do much, so he called up a bunch of retirement villages in Iowa (he lived in Oregon, btw) and asked if anyone watched wrestling on TV. He found a guy, and asked him if he’d be willing to record the matches and send them to Gutches. Gutches supplied the video tapes and the self-addressed stamped envelopes. The man recorded the matches and sent them to Gutches to watch while he was sick. Gutches watched the films so much that he literally wore out the tapes.
This displayed an incredible amount of dedication and smarts for such a young guy. For one, in Iowa, TV stations broadcast The University of Iowa’s college wrestling matches on public TV. Secondly, there are many men in retirement villages who watch a lot of TV. Third, watching college wrestling on public TV is, as they say, “old school.” I don’t hear of too many youths doing that. Fourth, many men in retirement villages have more time on their hands than most other people with jobs to attend and kids to raise, so they might have time to record matches.
That is why Gutches called retirement villages in Iowa: those were the best places where he’d be most likely to find what he was after. When I heard his story, I thought, “what a stroke of genius!” I mean, c’mon, he was twelve at the time. Most kids that age (heck, even most young men in college) would whittle away the time playing video games or doing other useless time-killers, but Gutches redeemed the time, using it to make himself a better wrestler.
This was not an isolated incident in his life. He went far beyond what most people deemed necessary to succeed in sport. His habits payed off–he ended up becoming a two time NCAA Division I champion for Oregon State, then qualified for the 1996 Olympics a year later. In 1997, he became a world champion, and was set to qualify for the Olympics in 2000 before a herniated disk in his back ended that quest. He later was inducted into the wrestling hall of fame.
When I saw him teach at the camp, what impressed me the most about this man was not his incredible physical talent, but how articulate he was. It was clear that he was a student of the sport. Geez louise, he even referenced geometry while teaching the moves–”for this move to work, your opponent’s hips need to form an acute angle, as opposed to an obtuse angle.” Most coaches don’t know how to spell “geometry.”
After the sessions at night, I had a very informative conversation with him about the banking and economic crisis (he is an investment banker today). Whenever I find someone who knows more than I do on a certain subject, I pester him/her with questions in an attempt to gain more insight into the subject. I wasn’t disappointed with Gutches, and what’s more, I had great fun talking with him.
While he didn’t have the most creative moves to teach–which is ok: basics win matches–I still learned an incredible amount on moves I’ve known for 15 years, and the dedication and intelligence he exuded impacted me in a positive way. I’m gonna remember that story, both for my own benefit as a coach and for the wrestlers under my charge. The principles that are embedded in that story can easily be transfered to life off the mat.
