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5 Things Wrestlers Can Do To Get Into College by Justin Ruiz

2/23/2013

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Here is a great article from my brother Justin's blog. Justin is an assitant wrestling coach at UVU in Orem, Utah. This is great advice for any wrestling that wants to wrestle in college.

5 Things Wrestlers Can Do To Get Into College
By Justin Ruiz

When I was a young wrestler, I really wanted to earn a wrestling scholarship at a big university. I remember when I started getting letters from schools that I was so excited. I
knew that I wanted to wrestle in college, but I really had no idea where I would
end up. However, there were a lot of things that I didn’t know. I didn’t know
that college coaches couldn’t start calling me until July 1st after my junior
year, I didn’t know that I could take 5 official visits to colleges, and I
didn’t know anything about recruiting rules or how I could help sell myself to
college wrestling programs. To put it bluntly, I didn’t know much of anything.
So now as a college coach, I know a lot more about what college coaches are
looking for and what an athlete should do to get noticed. Here are 5 things that
I think would have helped me during my recruiting process, and hopefully they
can be helpful to others too.
 
1. Get good grades. There is nothing more disheartening than finding an athlete with a great work ethic, great wrestling skills, and a good attitude only to find out that he has horrible
grades. The NCAA has set certain standards that must be met in order for a
student to participate in NCAA division 1 athletics. If the student hasn’t
fulfilled all of the academic requirements to participate at the D1 level, then
the coach’s hands will be tied when it comes to recruiting an athlete. I am not
saying that every wrestler needs to have a 4.0 gpa, but it also doesn’t hurt.
There are many universities that will give scholarships to students who get good
grades. You might as well do your best to qualify for one of them.

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Undefeated

2/22/2013

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Congratulations to Team Ruiz Combat Grappling’s Roy Nash of
Taylorsville high school. Roy won the 5A state wrestling championships in the
220 lb division. Roy’s win capped off the only perfect undefeated season in all
of Utah! Roy pinned his finals opponent in the third period to end his official
high school season with a 41-0 record! 

Congratulations also go out to Richard Larsen of Jordan high school who
finished 2nd in the 5A heavyweight division. Richard was ranked 6th
going into the state tournament and made a statement with his
performance. Victor Samaniego also of Taylorsville placed 6th in the 120 lb
division. 

Both Roy and Richard will be competing in the Super State
Championships being held tomorrow (February 22) at the Maverick Center in West
Valley, Utah. The Super State tournament is the combination of all of the 1A
through 5A classifications in Utah to establish a Super champion at each
weight. Wrestling starts at 10:00 am with semi-finals beginning at 1:30 pm and
finals at 6:00 pm. This is the first tournament of its kind in decades and the
action promises to be intense and exciting!

I hope to see you there!


 
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What's Love Got To Do With It?

2/4/2013

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What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Alright so I know that's gotta be one of the cheesier blog titles I've used, but this month I think it fits perfectly. As far as striving to become a champion in sport and in life is concerned it means everything. There is no way, now how you will get very far in anything you do in life unless you truly love doing it. 

I thank heaven above that I was able to find wrestling early
on in my life. I love wrestling and grappling. Just for the record I call
everything that I do as an athlete ‘wrestling’, even if it’s actually grappling,
BJJ or Judo. I can't help it. If it’s got grappling in it I'm trying it! My wife
often calls wrestling the 'other woman' because I love it so much. I'm
constantly studying, training and thinking about wrestling. 

Early in my marriage when my wife asked "What are you thinking
about?" when I got a blank far off look on my face I would always say
“Wrestling”. That didn’t go over too well when I was a newly-wed. Now after
almost ten years of marriage she already knows but she still asks just out of
curiosity. I think she wants to know which cool new move I’m working on or which
new strategy I’m developing. It’s great to have her love and support for me in
my athletic goals. 

We’ve learned over the years that I don’t just love wrestling
but I NEED to wrestle/grapple on a regular basis if I hope to keep my sanity. I
love the combat, challenge and the struggle that the grappling arts present. I
also love the constant need for learning and development that goes along with
it. There is so much satisfaction in solving the puzzle of your own inner self
and your opponent through hard work, sacrifice, technique and strategy. There
are few things in life that are more intriguing to me. 

At this point in your own grappling pursuits maybe you are
still trying to figure out where you fit in or how your training fits into your
life. I encourage you to find your favorite things about your grappling and
write them down. When difficulties come in your training or when you’ve lost a
match that you really wanted to win you will have those things to go back to. 

Without a doubt the greatest champions in any sport are the ones that love it
the most. At some point they seem to find their identity as both people and
competitors and they no longer compete for medals or placings but against the
sport itself. 

It’s not always about winning and losing but the love of the
game. If you stay close to what it is that you love about grappling you will
always be able to get through the hard times and enjoy the struggle. 

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What Drives You?

2/2/2013

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What drives you?

Over the course of my athletic career I have been fortunate and blessed to
have associated with some of the world’s best coaches and athletes. I saw things
in each of them that influenced my own outlook, career and accomplishments as an
athlete. I have had the good fortune to be trained by Olympians and Olympic
champion wrestlers and by world champion grapplers and fighters.

Their drive and desire has always amazed me. I would like to tell you a
little about two coaches that influenced me the most in terms of creating a
vision of what is possible.

The first is Mark Schultz. Mark was the coach at BYU during my time there.
Mark was an inspiration to me because of what he had accomplished; NCAA
champion, World champion and Olympic champion in Freestyle wrestling. He had an
amazing presence when he came into a room and I’ll never forget the first time I
saw him. I was at a BYU summer wrestling camp the summer before my senior year.
I had never been around an Olympic champion before and he seemed to have an aura
of supreme confidence and power that I hadn’t seen before in any other athlete. 
 
As I got to know Mark and had the opportunity to hear stories about him and
his late brother Dave, who was also NCAA champion, World champion and Olympic
champion, I got a sense of what was possible if a person were to really believe
that they could become a champion. The stories Mark shared about Dave and how
Dave was teased and picked on as a kid and then how he later became a champion
resonated with me. As brothers they were the perpetual “Steel sharpening Steel”
and they were always learning, pushing and doing whatever they could to become
more as athletes.

They did things that were absolutely crazy in order to test themselves and
overcome fear. Mark was a master of technique although to watch his wrestling he
seemed so simple, brutal and direct in his approach. I learned from him that
great technique is simple, brutal and direct. I absorbed as much as I could from
him and how he learned technique.

I built on these ideas I learned from Mark.  At Mark’s suggestion I
started keeping a wrestling journal where I catalogued and took notes of every
technique that I learned. Today I have several volumes of techniques and
experiences as an athlete stored in my wrestling journals. Techniques I learned
from Mark are some of the most efficient and powerful in my arsenal. He will
always be the ideal of what following the path of the warrior means to me. 

Next is US National Team Coach Steve Fraser. Steve was also an Olympic
champion. He won the first ever Olympic gold medal in Greco Roman wrestling for
the United States. Steve was a scrappy, tenacious and extremely strong willed
character. Through his strong faith and belief in his goal and his purpose he
defeated athletes both more credentialed and more talented on the way to his
monumental victory.
There is no one I know that has a greater power to
envision the biggest most lofty goal possible and then tenaciously pursue it. 

While I was training at the Olympic training center, Steve constantly
influenced us to believe in his mantra of becoming world and Olympic champions,
both as individuals and as a team. He set goals for the team that no other US
national team coach had set before; 7 medals and a team championship were his
constant high standards. He preached hard work, determination, sacrifice and
having big dreams day in and day out. 

Some days it was hard to believe. They were so big and so lofty that often
they seemed like a mountain that the US team would never get over. I watched as
each year the team went back and forth through highs and lows. I wondered if
coach Fraser hadn’t taken on more than the US team was capable of accomplishing. 

Then in 2007 after years of constant pushing and prodding and belief through
some of the darkest hours coach Fraser’s vision broke through and the US team
was finally crowned the champions of the world in Greco Roman wrestling. It was
the first and to date the only world team championship that the US has achieved.
I believe whole heartedly and unequivocally that it was won through Steve’s
belief and vision for the team that eventually won out. The athletes of course
deserve the credit for this amazing feat as well, but I believe that much of the
credit still belongs to Steve for the vision that he instilled in them.

My brother, Justin Ruiz, was one of the members of that 2007 Word
Championship team. I was extremely happy for the success of both the team and my
brother. Although I had never made a Greco world team and I had left the OTC
before 2007 I was proud of many of those athletes who I had known. I had seen
their struggles and saw that their vision had finally pulled them through.

What’s your vision? What is your driving force? Do you have goals of becoming
a champion? What vision will wake you up early and keep you up late in the
pursuit of its completion? 

Because of the example of these two great athlete-coaches I have tried to
create big dreams and visions for myself. I have tried to follow their lead. I
encourage you to believe in big goals. Dream big dreams. Put in the work. 
Find a way. Become the person and the champion that you truly want to become
because of it. 

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Is it Time for a Change in Your Training?

2/1/2013

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Are you tired of getting beaten by the same people day in and day out? Are
you completely stalled and not making the progress you want and deserve? Have
you been training at the same gym in the same way hoping that eventually things
will get better for you?

I understand exactly how that feels. Over my 20 plus years in the trenches as
an athlete I have certainly gone through this scenario on several
occasions.  At times they went from a simple slump in motivation to a full
on landslide of doubt and frustration. It was sometimes very difficult to turn
the ship around and get back on course. 

Over the years I learned that I needed to be aware of two main things when
times like these arose. 1. I needed to be aware that I needed to make a change
or adjustment to my approach and 2. I needed to be careful not to change too
much all at once. 

One of the most critical success principles for an athlete is being
consistent in regards to training and level of their performance. This can
become tricky when you’re going through a sticking point in your progress. You
have got to determine how you can make improvements with the least amount of
changing variables. This is no easy task. 

Asking questions and getting feedback from a coach or advanced level team
mate can help tremendously. A good coach or instructor can make a night and day
difference for your game. It is much easier to have someone point out the
immediate problems and then you can get to work on the solution. 

Without a coach it can be more difficult, but not impossible. If you don’t
have the luxury of a coach to guide you then you must learn to be your own
coach. You must be willing to analyze your game more than you have in the past
and find solutions to those problems yourself. 

The hard part with changing up your training is not in the change itself but
in knowing what not to change. In cases like this it is more difficult to
determine what is working correctly and understanding why it is working than it
is to overhaul a stale routine. 

The best way to make the best changes to any training program is to do the
following:

1. Keep detailed journals of your daily training sessions. Log
what you did and who you trained with. Log how you performed with and against
that particular opponent. Log which or your moves worked and which didn’t and
vice versa for you opponent.

2. Ask a coach or advanced team mate for
critiques and suggestions. Have them watch you spar with one of your team mates
and help point out both your strong and weak points. Their advice can go a long
way.

3. Never make too many changes at once. The more variables you introduce
into the equation the more difficult it will be to isolate which ones are
working and which ones are not. 

Change is not easy. It can be hard but is often necessary in order to make
progress as an athlete. Follow these simple guidelines and you will have a big
advantage over your competition and you will progress much faster.  


 
 

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