Snacks

This week's Snacks come from Coleman Scott: Wrestled for Oklahoma State, where he was a 2X Big 12 Champion, 4X NCAA All-American, and NCAA National Champion in 2008. Scott went on to win an Olympic Bronze Medal at the 2012 Olympics in London. Previously, he was the Head Coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for eight years and is now the owner of The Farm, Oklahoma’s premier destination for elite wrestling training and camps.

Below are some excerpts from our conversation, along with key takeaways and tips that can be applied to improve yourself as a Coach, Athlete, or wrestling Parent.

Origin Story Tip: Seeing someone from your area achieve greatness makes the dream feel real. When an athlete from your town, school, or club reaches the highest level, it breaks the mental barrier of what’s possible. It’s no longer just an abstract goal—it’s something within reach. Surround yourself with examples of success, and you’ll start to believe you can achieve it too.

"Yeah, I think I definitely loved it. Early on, I loved the individuality of wrestling—I couldn’t blame anyone else; it was just me. I had a great group of people around me. I came from what I’d call a semi-wrestling family. My grandfather wrestled, my dad wrestled a little, but nothing crazy. I had two sisters, so it wasn’t a big family thing. I’m the only one in my family who wrestled—no cousins, no extended family involved.

I started when I was six years old after bringing home a flyer and wanting to try it. Of course, my dad and grandfather were excited, but it was just the right time, right place, and right age for me. Growing up in Waynesburg, I had the right people around me, a great little league program, and good wrestlers and families surrounding me. It was more of a culture—a group of people going through the same journey together. I was fortunate to have that support system pushing me, helping my family, and creating an environment where many of us achieved success. We had multiple Division I wrestlers and All-Americans right around me, which helped tremendously.

When I was about 10 years old, it was the summer of the 1996 Olympic Games. That’s when I realized that the pinnacle of what I wanted to achieve was to be an Olympic champion. I had no idea how to get there, but that was the goal. Then in 2000, Cary Kolat made the Olympic team, and he was from right down the road in Jefferson—same county. His sister was actually my English teacher in high school. Seeing him make the team made it feel real. It showed me that even from our small area in Pennsylvania, it was possible.

From ages 10 to 15, that was my mindset—I wanted to do this, but I had no clue how. My approach was simple: be the best I could be, put myself in the best situation, surround myself with good people, and figure it out together. There wasn’t a set plan, just the understanding that Waynesburg had a strong high school program, we would wrestle freestyle, go to Fargo, travel the country, and compete. But I also played other sports—soccer and baseball my whole life. I wasn’t fully dedicated to wrestling until college.

That balance was important to me. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with great parents who made sure we had opportunities without forcing us into a single path. Everything aligned, and that played a huge role in my development."

Parent Tip: Prioritize practice over constant competition, emphasizing drilling and skill development rather than nonstop live wrestling. During tournament season, consider a structured schedule—such as two weekends on and two weekends off—to keep kids engaged and excited to compete while reinforcing that real progress happens in the practice room.

"Yeah, I have two boys that wrestle—an 11-year-old and a 6-year-old—and I also have a 13-year-old daughter who plays soccer and lacrosse.

I probably take a different approach than most. My boys don’t compete too often. Even my 11-year-old competes two weekends on, two weekends off. The longest stretch we’ve done was four weekends in a row, which was a lot. That was in January because of our local tournament and Tulsa Nationals—more than I had originally planned.

I want to make sure they love the sport and ask to go to practice rather than me dragging them there. I think we get so caught up in winning at a young age that it actually takes away from what the goal should be. My 6-year-old improved so much this year—both of them did. One finished as a state champion, the other as a runner-up. If you had seen them at the start of the season, you’d have never thought that was possible.

But the key was they loved going to practice. They were the ones asking me to compete, and I actually had to hold them back from competing every weekend. That’s the balance I wanted—I didn’t want them feeling exhausted or burned out. When we didn’t compete, we still didn’t miss practice. We trained more than we competed. In practice, we focused on drilling skills the right way rather than just wrestling live all the time...

Another big thing is introducing kids to high-level wrestling. We watch a lot of college and international wrestling at home—it’s on TV constantly. If you ask my 6-year-old, who won a state title this year, what his best memory of the season was, it wasn’t winning. It was sneaking down with his best friend to sit on the bench at Dual State, watching his high school team come back from a 17-point deficit with three pins to win.

That’s what stuck with him—not his own success, but being part of a team and experiencing those big moments. Wrestling isn’t just about chasing medals or trophies. It’s about the journey, the experiences, and the memories that come with it.

Right now, we’re deep into baseball season. My 6-year-old had a tournament last weekend, my 11-year-old has one this weekend, and we have hitting lessons today. I love baseball, I love other sports, and I think having that balance is crucial.

It’s easy to get caught up in cutting weight and chasing trophies because that’s what everyone else is doing. But we don’t do that. People think I’m crazy, but I believe I have more experience in seeing what goes wrong than most. And that’s exactly what I want to avoid."

Coaching Tip: Never assume you know everything. Always be open to learning, no matter what level you’re at. Growth comes from being willing to learn every single day.

"Don't ever think you know everything, right? Always be willing to learn, no matter what level you're at. It sounds simple, but it's actually quite hard because we all have an ego. We want to believe we know better or best. But you have to be willing to learn each and every day.

And it doesn’t have to come from other wrestling coaches. I learn from all kinds of people—business professionals, dietitians, strength coaches. I'm always asking questions and picking people's brains. I believe that to be the best coach, you have to understand that there’s no perfect formula where everyone becomes a national champ just by following A, B, C, and D. It just doesn’t work like that. You have to adapt and be able to relate to different kids, personalities, styles, weight classes, and skill levels.

If you think you know best and refuse to adapt, you’ll just end up frustrated and unsuccessful. Wrestling as a sport tends to be more reactionary than visionary. We get stuck in tradition—"We’ve had a two-point takedown since 1924, why change it to three?" But in reality, it’s been the best change we’ve had in the last two decades. So, don’t be so stuck in your ways that you become your own biggest obstacle. Be open to change and willing to learn.

I ask questions to Little League coaches, parents, high school coaches, college coaches, and Olympic coaches. Learning isn’t just for the highest levels—it’s everywhere. I talk to my old high school coach, I pick the brains of others in different sports, even basketball coaches. My wife was just asking a basketball coach a bunch of questions the other day. We’re always trying to learn. You can learn a lot just by being curious and staying open to new ideas."

Athlete Tip: Clarify Your "Why”. Your motivation for wrestling will evolve throughout your career, but knowing your "why" keeps you focused and driven. Take time to reflect and write down your "why"—not just a surface-level goal like being a national champion, but the deeper reason behind it. When your motivation is bigger than yourself, you’ll push further, work harder, and stay committed when things get tough.

"You know, I don't think I truly understood this until later. But I think you have to figure out your "why"—why are you doing this? That "why" changes periodically throughout your career, right? As you get older and move through different stages of life, your reasons evolve.

At one point, my "why" was simple—I hated to lose and wanted to win for myself. Then, it became about my family. In 2010, I got married, and in 2011, we had a daughter. My "why" changed. It wasn’t just about me anymore. When I went to the Olympics, there were around 90-something people in the stands supporting me. I didn’t want to wrestle back for third. I knew I was going to, but I didn’t want to. I had never even considered what it would feel like to lose. I was dejected, broken, and just wanted to crawl into a hole.

I had only ever thought about first place. Third place was never part of the plan. But at that moment, my "why" couldn’t be about me—because if it was, I wouldn’t have had the motivation to wrestle back. It was about everyone who came to support me, the people who put their lives on hold because I wanted to chase this crazy dream of being an Olympic champion. In our sport, only six people in the country get that chance every four years. It’s a wild thing to think about.

I don’t think kids take the time to consider why they do this. Why do you wrestle? In the moment, it might just be because you love it. Maybe you love competing, or maybe, for some, it's because their dad makes them do it. But by the end of the year, a lot of kids realize they truly love the sport—they love being around their friends, they love the culture, and they thrive in the environment.

Your "why" doesn’t have to be something grand or profound, but you should know what it is. Why do you do this? Why do you love it? That’s something we rarely take the time to reflect on. Sit down and write it out. Whatever you do in life, ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" And not just, "I want to be a four-time national champ." Cool. But why? Is there someone who inspires you? A grandparent? A parent? A mentor?

I believe you’re driven further when your "why" is selfless—when you do it for someone beyond yourself."

Negative Impact Tip: Don’t make wrestling about you. Living through your child’s wins and losses, forcing extra training, or pushing them beyond their desire can take the joy out of the sport. When kids feel pressure instead of passion, they’re more likely to walk away. You can help guide their journey and provide opportunities for them to enjoy the sport, but let them develop their own love for it so their motivation comes from within, not from external expectations.

"I've always said, if you want to learn what not to do as a parent, go to a youth wrestling tournament—it’ll teach you real quick. I believe this sport, for whatever reason, attracts some very bad parenting. You have to be super conscious of that. I’m not saying most people listening to this are bad parents, but it’s easy to get caught up in living vicariously through your kid and start yelling at them after a loss.

At the end of the day, it's a youth wrestling match. It has no bearing on what they do later, but it can be demoralizing for the kid. I try to approach it with the mindset that win or lose, as long as you give me 100% effort, I’m good. That’s all I care about. I don’t care about winning—just give everything you’ve got. The only time I’d ever be disappointed is if my kid gave zero effort or had a bad attitude, but that hasn’t happened. Wrestling is a tough sport, so I just want my kids to compete hard, keep their heads up, and enjoy it.

One of the biggest issues in youth wrestling is weight cutting. Letting your kid eat healthy and naturally lean out is one thing. But putting them in a sauna, making them run with layers of sweats, and forcing extreme weight loss? That’s ridiculous. Wrestle what you weigh.

Another issue is parents living through their kid—where every win or loss feels like their win or loss. That’s not going to help your kid down the road. Let them experience their own journey. And finally, don’t force more work on them just because you think that’s what’s best. More isn’t always better. Let your kid fall in love with the sport and start asking to do more. If they come to you and say, "Hey Dad, can we get a workout in?"—that’s when you know it’s working. When it feels like a burden every time they go to practice, you’ve lost them."

Wrestling Growth Tip: Be visionary, not reactionary. True growth in wrestling starts at the grassroots, not the highest levels. As a sport, we must define success, set clear goals, and build systems to achieve them. That means providing coaches, clubs and programs with the resources, training, and support needed to develop not just great wrestlers, but well-rounded athletes and people. A strong foundation creates lasting growth.

"I think that we're so reactionary—let's just talk about women's wrestling. That's the biggest growth we've seen in the last five years, right? But starting programs at the highest level can't just happen overnight. When a school announces that they’re expanding their athletic department, that decision was made years prior. Growth has to happen at the grassroots level first, and we have to keep pushing for 10 years to get to the point where there are so many female wrestlers that colleges have no choice but to provide opportunities for them.

That’s the key—we can’t just get pissed off when a school chooses to add lacrosse or some other random sport instead of women's wrestling. We need to be in tune with what real growth looks like. I don’t think anyone has ever truly defined what growing the sport of wrestling means. Some people say, "We just need to pay our athletes." Well, that sounds great, but at some point, people are going to stop donating money if they don’t see a return. Wrestling is a non-revenue Olympic sport, and eventually, people will start asking, "What am I getting in return for sponsoring RTCs and NIL deals?" Other than personal joy, I’d argue there's little to no return on investment.

And going back to paying guys to compete in these matches—how does that actually grow the sport? Explain it to me. Because five guys getting paid to wrestle in an event is cool, but that's the highest level of the sport. Growth happens at the grassroots level, and we need to do a better job of developing great coaches. I don’t believe there’s any structured system in place that truly develops kids—not just as wrestlers, but as people. Look at the European soccer model—academies at Real Madrid and other clubs actually pay kids and their parents to train. We do the opposite. It costs a fortune to wrestle in some of these clubs.

I don’t know the perfect system, but we need to make wrestling more affordable. That’s one thing I love about Cowboy Club here in Stillwater—no kid is ever turned away. We find a way to make it work because that’s what grows the sport. We have great coaches, and our focus is on developing good people, not just good wrestlers. But we are the minority. That’s why, in a small town like Stillwater, we have over 200 kids in our wrestling club—because we make it accessible.

And I think what you're doing is awesome, but again, we're in the minority. That’s how you grow wrestling. You grow it from the grassroots, not by throwing more bad high school coaches into the mix. There isn’t a strong system in place to develop both athletes and coaches. We keep being reactionary instead of visionary. We’re a non-revenue Olympic sport, and yet NIL and revenue sharing are being pushed down our throats. People think we’re going to get all this money, but I can promise you, we’re not. And when athletic departments need to make budget cuts, where do you think they’re going to look? At the non-revenue Olympic sports.

And let’s be honest—wrestling is still male-dominated at the college level. Outside of a few Division I programs for Title IX purposes, we don’t have enough women’s programs. If schools start cutting sports, where do you think wrestling stands? People act like it won’t happen. "Oh, we were the first Olympic sport; we’re safe." Look at what happened in the Olympics—we had to fight our asses off to get wrestling reinstated.

That’s why we need to be visionary. We need to push against the grain and do what’s necessary to grow the sport. But we’re afraid. And when people try to step outside the norm, they get criticized. Why? Why is it crazy to think differently? We should be the ones leading the charge for growth. But instead, we wait for the higher-ups to make decisions, and they just keep doing what they’ve always done. It’s the good old boys system."

Growth Bite

This week's Growth Bite comes from Chris Williamson on the topic of unmade decisions.

What unmade decisions are you carrying around that are adding unnecessary weight and stress to your life?

Community Treat

This week's Community Treat comes from Hall of Fame sportswriter, broadcaster, PA announcer, and founder of Mat Talk Online, Jason Bryant. He emailed me a topic of discussion that I’d like to share with our community. Let me know your thoughts!