JRob Blog

Message from Ty Eustice, Director of Wrestling Operations - J Robinson Camps

Since I started working for J a year ago, this is the quote that he goes to the most (which is really saying something if you know J at all, he has A LOT of sayings). He has challenged me and the entire staff to continue to improve and look for new ways to do things. Being a wrestler and coach at heart, I relate the meaning of this quote to what we call the “off-season.” For this blog, the off-season means all the time on the calendar that fall outside our regular high school or college wrestling season.

When we are pursuing major goals and trying to be great, there shouldn’t be an off and on, or time frames of when it’s appropriate to be working for those goals, we should ALWAYS be working for those goals. Are there training phases and scheduled time off? Yes. Are there max days and peaking days? Yes. We all need stretches of time off the mat, different levels of frequency and intensity in our training, but, all these smaller plans and phases and peaks and valleys should be a part of a bigger training cycle that never ends; basically, there is no off-season.

One of my biggest mistakes as a college wrestler was viewing this off-season time as an escape from wrestling, I talked myself into thinking that I needed to get away from the sport and that I needed to be away from the mat and the wrestling room. I was wrong, my thinking was wrong, my attitude was wrong, and it probably prevented me from really reaching my potential as an athlete. I could have changed my attitude and perspective and looked at the off-season time much differently. Don’t get me wrong, I was still getting workouts in and thinking about wrestling, but I didn’t have clear goals for my training. I needed to address specific wrestling positions and physical weaknesses. Without goals and a purpose for your training, you really aren’t working for anything and will not make the progress you desire.

How do you develop your off-season goals? After our regular season ends, we need to take a step back and evaluate our goals, but more importantly what we need to improve on to reach those goals. Oftentimes, wrestlers want to stick to the same schedule they’ve done before, because they’re comfortable doing those things. Does this mean that’s the right plan? Hardly. There’s another saying that goes: whatever you don’t feel like doing, that’s probably the thing you need to be doing. Usually, we don’t enjoy working in areas we are deficient at, so it makes sense that is where we need the most work. Example: you might hate the bottom position, it’s hard, it’s tough, when you walk in a wrestling room it’s the last position you want to work in. Well, as you can imagine, that’s an area where most kids struggle. I’m all for continuing to improve your strengths and make them unstoppable, but we have to be realistic and address the areas of concern as well.

SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

Let’s start small and work our way to the bigger picture. Identify some small changes that need to be made before your next season begins. These small areas of concern can be worked on every day, therefore giving you daily direction and reward as well. You cannot wait until the FALL pre-season to try to improve, you’ve wasted the best time to make gains. Slow footwork, lack of explosiveness, poor single leg position, trouble getting your wrists free on bottom, lack of pulling power…..whatever it might be that you’ve addressed as a concern, it can be improved! It’s going to be uncomfortable, it’s going to take work, but anything worth wanting is going to require effort. The great thing is, just knowing that you spent time addressing a weakness, will result in a huge return on confidence. Also, anything you start doing now is more than you were doing before.

The great thing about the era we are in now is that any are of concern can be attacked a bunch of different ways. There is so much access to great information that there shouldn’t be any excuse for not trying to improve whatever problem you might be having. Slow feet? The world wide web is full of workout plans and devices that are free for anyone who is willing to do the research. Talk to a strength coach, ask a coach for help, find a buddy or teammate to work with every day. No explosiveness? Again, the knowledge that is out there now is amazing: lifting plans, plyometric training, training aids, workout videos. Not everything costs a lot of money. Do the research, ask the right questions, and get around people that want to improve. Wrestling specific problems? Broken record, but, there is so much information at your fingertips today it’s not even funny. Technique videos, YouTube, Flowrestling, all these things have made learning the finer details of the sport more accessible, take advantage. If you need a motivator, go watch Flowrestling’s video of John Smith “The Scientist”, if you can attack one area of your wrestling like he did the low-single, you will see positive changes. http://www.flowrestling.org/video/1028-John-Smith-The-Scientist

THE BIG QUESTIONS

How much time should I take off? Can I play other sports? Should I do freestyle/Greco? What summer camp should I go to? The short answer is: some, yes, yes, the right one for you. The long answer is long, and it’s different for every athlete. I don’t have all the right answers, there’s more than one answer. I think it comes down to evaluating yourself and what you want to get out of the sport. Realize that whatever you want, you’re going to have to give that much into it and then some.

Time off:

Of course we all need time after our season to rejuvenate and evaluate oneself. I would tell an athlete to view the time as part of the big process, you need this time to heal your body physically and to mentally move on from the season. If you’re reading this and you still haven’t touched your wrestling shoes since the state tournament, we’ve got problems. Training SHOULD NOT be as intense or demanding all year long- that’s just not practical- but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something every day to improve. Get back into it and start thinking about the coming season.

There’s other sports?

Yes, there are other sports besides wrestling- some great sports. If you’re dead-serious about wrestling, then view these other sports as a chance to improve your overall athleticism, coordination, conditioning, and competitive spirit. 2013 NCAA Champion Chris Perry was an All-State football player in Oklahoma. Recent U of Minn commits Jake Short and Nick Wanzek were standout football teammates and 3 sport athletes as well. The list goes on….. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_21419661/prep-football-jake-short-nick-wanzek-together-always

Applying the dedication learned in wrestling to other sports can be rewarding and help an athlete grow in different ways. College coaches have also become even more interested in seeing how athletes compete in other sports to gauge their character, competitiveness, and level of commitment to other areas of their life, outside their “best” sport. I still can’t get over the night Jim Zalesky drove up to Minnesota to watch me play high school football, and was rewarded by watching 2 balls go over my head, one for a touchdown (I played cornerback). I didn’t hear the end of it for 5 years, however, he later did say that he liked how mad I was at myself and the way I reacted to the adversity. I remember Marty Morgan coming down to watch a football practice as well, to see me work in an off-the-mat setting.

Freestyle/Greco: There have been several recent articles on the pros of Spring and Summer wrestling, some really good stuff. There are no secrets: the same guys that are on top of podiums in March are the same guys that are traveling in the Spring and testing themselves against the country’s best. Committing fully to Spring wrestling will definitely limit your ability to play Spring High School sports, without question, but a balance can be found. This article is about wrestling, if wrestling is your focus, you need to be constantly challenging yourself and improving. Freestyle is a chance to compete, but also hone your skills in an environment that exposes any technical or tactical errors….severely. I can’t stand when a high school kid says they don’t like freestyle wrestling. It’s wrestling. If you want to get better, you need to wrestle. It’s the international style of wrestling. Now, more than ever, we need to challenge our youth wrestlers to think bigger than the local, regional, and national levels.

Summer wrestling makes Winter champions: *my one allotted cliché for this blog

It just comes down to how much you want to invest in the sport and what your goals are. I had a front row seat to all 3 days of the Minnesota High School State Tournament this year, it was so plainly evident who put in extra workouts in the off-season and who was committed to the sport.

Camps:

There is a ton of them: Intensive Camps, Technique camps, Team Camps, Competition Camps, Commuter Camps, Father-Son Camps, Resort Camps, Big-Man Camps….maybe more that I don’t know about! Wrestlers should evaluate themselves, ask their coach, talk with their parents, and decide what camp fits their needs. Be honest with yourself and identify what you need to improve on, let that shape your summer plans.

Intensive Camps: I like the individual nature of an intensive camp, you focus on yourself, you put your body through an uncomfortable training regimen, and you come out mentally tougher than you were before. J Robinson invented the INTENSIVE CAMP while coaching at Iowa; he thought it would be a good idea to show high school kids how to train like college guys. The one thing that no one else can do, that we can do, is spend the necessary time required to create an actual CHANGE in an athlete. 4-5-6-7 days is not an intensive camp, it is not enough time to bring about a permanent change in a human being. We also remove the distractions that are normally present in a kids’ life: friends, parents, coaches, girlfriends, video games, etc. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you take someone out of their comfort zone and immerse them in one subject. Imagine if you traveled to an island with no distractions, surrounded by like-minded people with the same goals, being taught by the best teachers within a PROVEN curriculum for 10/14/28 days? It doesn’t matter what the subject matter or sport or activity is, you are going to produce a tremendous change in yourself! (28-day golf camp, anyone?) That’s what our Intensive Camps do: we create phenomenal changes in people that are willing to invest in themselves. The most gratifying thing about my job, now, is seeing that we are actually making a difference. Wrestling is one thing, it’s great and it’s important, but hearing from coaches and parents about how Jack or Tommy came back from camp a different person, that’s when you know you’re onto something. And don’t get it confused, the Intensive Camps are creating results on the mat (go to our Hall of Fame page)(also, TWO of the 2012 NCAA DI Individual National Champs were 28-day graduates) But, there are lots of different teams and people running camps; do the research, try to find the right fit for you. Maybe you like a certain style, or who is running the camp. Maybe you want to develop a certain move or position, or develop a particular mindset. Even if you go to a non-JROB camp, at least you are working towards a goal. Goals are the key, make sure you set them; otherwise you’re just punching the clock with no direction.

Every day, week, month, workout, or training phase is all part of a bigger training cycle that never ends. There is never an “off-season” when you’re trying to better yourself. I hope to see some of you at camp this summer; you can find J and me in the dorms as always.

-Ty Eustice

To see an overview of the 2013 Intensive Camp training season, check out the video below:

J Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camps Webinar Series: Why JROB Camps? from J Robinson on Vimeo.

In looking back over the past 14 weeks and trying to write a blog about adversity, I find it hard to do unless you first include/define perspective.

Why perspective? Within the past 14 weeks at different times, even though I’m moving along a line of improvement, the stages you reach in the recovery process greatly influence the way you look back at what is happening.

In the beginning at the Southern Scuffle when the infection first started and I had a hard time walking, I was physically drained even though there wasn’t a lot of pain. So I framed the infection as just another knee problem. No big deal. When I get home I’ll get some antibiotics, get some rest, and I’ll be good to go.

On seeing our team physician once I got home—my perspective (outlook) changed quite dramatically. Upon draining my knee for the second time in two days and seeing the pus/discoloration of the knee fluid all of a sudden the infection went from the casual “I’ll get some antibiotics” to “What are we going to do?”

It’s hard sharing thoughts and feelings as you don’t want to sound melodramatic. In looking back I didn’t really want to project to people the seriousness and degree of problems that could result for a variety of reasons.

I think one of our biggest concerns is we don’t want people to worry about us so we minimize the extent of what’s going on. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it so I just said “It’s OK, just another knee operation.”

On the flip side, that wasn’t really what was going on. My team doctor, Dr. Smith, said when he drained my knee, it was bad and I would go to the Mayo Clinic tonight. Now knowing Dr. Smith isn’t an alarmist, those were pretty strong and suggestive words.

Sue, my wife, took me that night and it probably made the difference in me keeping my left leg the rest of my life, they said. The next morning my heart rate jumped to 120 BPM so they bumped me from the last surgery of the day to the first, as they were worried the infection might get in my blood and into my heart.

They initially intended to just take out the plastic part in my knee, but the infection was so widespread and the artificial joint was loose, so they took everything out, making a 15-inch incision from my shin to the top of my thigh. In the artificial joint’s place, they inserted a spacer to hold the bones apart.

This is when things got hard, probably one of the hardest things you deal with is the concern, worry, fear that your wife, family, friends are going through. You don’t want them to worry so you downplay what you are going through.

The incision on my leg cut through so much tissue that when they moved it the pain was intense, hard to deal with and the morphine drip only helped a bit. I worried that what my wife was going through was hard to handle, as she saw firsthand what was going on. I’m sure her thoughts were many along the line “Is he going to make it?” “Will he walk again?” “How will this affect our lives in the future?” All valid thoughts and feelings and the only way to deal with them is “I’m OK. This will be alright.”

They had me so doped up on the second day we went off the pain medicine as it was better to have pain than feel spacey all day. In dealing with the pain of the leg movement, the doctors decided to cast the leg to make it more stable, which eased the pain and made any movement more bearable. There are a lot of thoughts that go through one’s mind from the beginning of such an ordeal to the end. You can only deal with them as they arise.

My 12 days in the hospital consisted of this routine every 2-3 hours: the nurse would lift my leg and put it on the floor, I would crutch to the bathroom, they would lift my leg on a stool, I would go to the bathroom, lift my foot off the stool, crutch to the bed, nurse would lift my foot onto the bed. It’s hard when you’re enduring pain to keep your eye on the end goal (a new knee in 91 days) but it’s critical that is what you do.

As I have said, you live in the now and take it one day at a time. Looking back on those 12 days, I never thought they would end, but now they seem a thing of the past. Getting out of the hospital wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning of learning how to now endure at home. All the things you’re used to doing for yourself you are now totally dependent on help from others. It’s hard accepting help for things that just two weeks before we could do but now we can’t. You have to give up some of that stubborn pride and allow others to help. For those first four weeks back home, my wife not only had to take care of herself, she now had to provide all of the things I could not. Sue was and is truly a saint. Sue now had to lift my leg from the bed, cook meals and everything else one can imagine. It is hard watching someone do all of the work and not being able to help.

Probably one of the most noticeable things I felt on a daily basis was the lack of energy. Not necessarily feeling tired out, but feeling drained like someone sucked all of my energy from me. Never in my days of wrestling competition and Ranger School did I feel such an absence of energy. In the first month home, most simple things or tasks became chores and hard to do. It was amazing how tired one would become going up a flight of stairs or just heading to the bathroom. Most decisions were made by a simple rule: How far do I have to go on crutches to get there?

In the end, day 15 turns into day 25, day 40, and things begin to get better. After a couple weeks home, Sue allowed me to go to work at the University. As draining as it was to me physically, it helped me a lot to do something and be around positive people. Some days I would come home exhausted but just being around others helps get the focus off of your problems and get involved with helping others. Through it all, your family and friends are always there for you offering support and help when needed. Friends came by when I first got home from the hospital and it was good to talk about normal things besides my leg. It was 76 days I had no knee in my leg and in January I never thought March 29th would ever get here. Now its day 97 and I have had a new knee for 21 days. I’m still on crutches, but the muscle I lost in my left leg from having it in a brace for three months is finally returning and in three more weeks I’ll be without crutches.

Over the course of these 97 days, about every emotion has gone through my mind from: I quit- I’m done- I don’t want to do it no more- This is hard- Stick with it- It will get better- It’s getting better- It’s not that bad- Other people have it worse- If this is all I have to do compared to what others are going through it’s nothing- Learn from it- What is God trying to teach me- and probably 100 more.

Throughout this ordeal/adversity I dealt with it different ways depending on the time and what was going on. The end result was and is keeping your eye on the ending. In the end, having hope and working on a daily basis gives you some control over what you are going through. I can’t say it enough, but taking it one day at a time makes all of the difference in the world. Here I am at day 97, not sure I could or would make it on day 4, but 93 days later things are looking up.

It’s been a much harder and challenging experience than I realized going into it, but coming out the other end has made me stronger. I have learned from it. As a man once said, “Don’t ask for an easier life, ask for and develop more skills.”

- J Robinson

Kevin LeValley
2012 Olympic Team Trials Qualifier
2012 University World Team Trials Freestyle Champion
2X NCAA Division 1 All-American-Bucknell University
2011 EIWA Conference Champion
4X Colorado High School State Champion

After graduating from Bucknell University in 2011 as their all-time wins leader, Kevin LeValley joined the University of Minnesota as an assistant coach, and plays a major role on the staff of J Robinson Intensive Camps. LeValley also trains and competes for the Minnesota Storm wrestling club, recently winning freestyle titles at the 2013 Cerro Pelado International in Cuba and the 2012 Hargobind International in Canada.

As the season draws to a close, wrestlers around the country begin to prepare for their organization’s culminating event. Everything before this point has been nothing but preparation. Deep down, each wrestler knows that this is the time where goals are achieved and legends are born.

Ten or twenty years from now, not a soul will ask how you did at the Husky Open or the Badger Invitational. Instead, you will be asked to sum up your career in a few words, reflecting on the big tournaments. When all the dust had settled, where did you stand?

It’s a scary time for some, a stressful time for all. And, with all of the stress and all of the hype, what can put your mind at ease?

As a seasoned competitor, I too know the feelings and emotions that go along with the end of a long season. It wasn’t long ago that I spent many sleepless nights staring at my ceiling, pondering the competition ahead of me.

Now, looking back, I can reflect on the specific mental preparation that I went through to put my mind at ease on those sleepless nights. First, I visualized all of the work that I had done leading up to that point in the season. I recalled the extra workouts, the sprints after practice, and the extreme dedication I had displayed, surrounding myself with like-minded people for the entire duration of the season. In short, I remembered why I deserved to win. Next however, I began to partake in what I believe was my most important ritual…routine.

There is some comfort to be found in routine, a sense of familiarity that puts the mind at ease. With routine, there are no surprises. This is why I believe routine was so important to me, and continues to be a significant part of my training regimen. My routine throughout my high-school and college years grew into a near-obsession. I woke at the same time every day, ate the same thing for breakfast, and folded my clothes in the same manner before each workout. My daily schedule often bordered on extreme “OCD”, and I was often mocked for it. Even so, I did not hesitate to remain consistent. As competitions drew near, I prepared in the same way each week. I came into workouts at the same weight, went through the same warm up with the same partner, and taped my right shoe before my left….every single time.

I hope that my obsession with routine has at least put a smirk on your face by now, but regardless of your reaction, I am certain that you are at least curious. Why would I knowingly put so much effort into so many, seemingly meaningless, actions? The answer is consistency. By doing everything the same, I always knew exactly how my body and mind would feel going into a competition. It doesn’t matter whether it is the first dual of the season or the final match of a career, routine provides comfort and confidence.

So, as the season draws to an end for wrestlers around the country, I encourage each individual to find comfort and confidence. Reflect back on your preparation; know that you have put in the work. Don’t sway from your routine. It has gotten you this far….stick with what you do best!

-Kevin LeValley

In my journey with adversity I believe you can break it down into 3 main parts. The 1st which is hard in its own way is the question of fairness, why me, why now, and the immediate change it makes to your life.

My 1st stage was denial; it’s not that bad it will be OK. Come to find out it was worse than expected and I was in a hospital bed for 12 days on my back.

This 1st stage it begins to sink in to you what has really happened and you try no matter what your circumstances are a way to address it and deal with it.

My leg was cut from shin to thigh and with no knee I had to find a way to cope with all the things that were going to happen: sleep, bathroom, eating and had to find a way to make it work until things got better.

It might be a loss or a string of losses throughout the season; you have to deal with what the problem is and find a way to overcome it–start looking for solutions and the more you look the more you’ll find them.

I found ways to lift my bad leg without a lot of pain and make progress in the other small things that were now my daily routine.

The 1st stage is accepting what happened then begin to start looking for solutions.

The 2nd phase is the hardest mentally because it requires you to stay in the game when you don’t feel like it. Stress, pressure, being tired, lack of energy, daily frustrations all began to pick away at your mental attitude.

This is where you fight the biggest battle of staying in the game. No matter what you CHOSE to stay in the game and work at it. It will not be easy but it is what we must do.

Hope is what keeps us going in the 2nd stage. Hope in my case of a new knee and the ability to walk again on March 29. If you’re wrestling, it’s the hope you’ll be at that state tournament and things will have worked out.

In the 2nd stage you being to notice small/little positive changes. Cling to them, hold them and they will propel you on to better things.

I did 3 sets of leg lifts with my two legs which I couldn’t even raise one week ago so changes are getting better.

In many of these situations God is teaching us patience and patience can only be learned by time invested, so embrace the different lessons of life you are learning because there will be other times in your life you apply these lessons of adversity.

How do we get through the hard time? Like they taught me in Ranger School—“Take it one day at a time” don’t look ahead, don’t look back. Get as much as you can out of your different situation and say thank you because someone I guarantee you has it worse than you. Be thankful for what we have.

It’s called perspective in Stage 2; knowing you’ll have some tough times but there are a lot of people that have it worse than you.

Stage 2—“One day at a time and if you need to break the day in to parts, then do it.” I just have to get to “noon,” “6pm,” “bed time.”

It is hard, this daily grind, but if you break it down into little pieces you can do anything.

- J Robinson

Check back for J’s take on Stage 3 of dealing with adversity

Sue Rubens, J Robinson’s wife, tells us about her experience with J’s recent battle with adversity.

The Reality of J’s surgery #?!?…

FRUSTRATION with J for not telling me he was in the hospital during the tournament. RELIEF that everything seemed OK. ANXIETY that things must be bad enough for team doctor, Doc Smith, to send us to the Mayo Clinic immediately that night.  FAMILIARITY of yet another J medical revision.  FEAR of hearing his surgery went from last, to first of the day, due to the speed of the infection and the lethal damage it could have caused.

11 unexpected days at the Mayo Clinic was a roller coaster – post op, he is typical J – talking about going to work, how Nelson and Schiller were going to have to carry him down to the wrestling room…and then the major panic dip for me, as 2 days later he appears barely conscious and they decide to put the full cast on him that day to stabilize the cement block and rods that are now in his left leg.  SCARED – where did my opinionated, stubborn husband go?  This person laying in the hospital bed can’t hardly talk, eat or get out of bed.  Adjustments are made and a few days later, he’s finally sent home but so sickly and weak I’m asking myself is he going to be OK?

It’s always good to be home even if I have him trapped Kathy Bates style. The exhaustion levels are pretty extreme, the pain that shoots through his leg whenever he moves is frightening.  We’ve never been down this road of him being so physically and mentally impacted by a medical procedure.

PERSPECTIVE is key, we are extremely blessed and grateful to God.  I haven’t allowed any pity-parties as there are people in our lives who are facing incredibly difficult challenges.  Just walking the halls through the Mayo Clinic was enough to put this in perspective and we couldn’t be more appreciative of having access to top-notch medical professionals.

Luckily I am able to use everything he teaches back at him if I get any resistance!  We’ve had battles, I’ve threatened him with “negatives” and I look forward to when I have to rein him back in.

-Sue Rubens

A word many of us hear many times and places throughout our life. During this past two weeks’ time I had the chance to address it again as I have many different times and situations.

Most times adversity strikes without warning. Something is fine today and then, sometimes through our own neglect, we are facing what to us is a hard crisis or problem.

Two weeks ago adversity hit my life again. Being with the team in Tennessee for the Southern Scuffle my bad knee (L) got infected. After a visit to the emergency room and a flight back to Minnesota I found myself at the Mayo Clinic, ready for surgery.

Now, after 4 total knee operations, I thought I pretty well knew what to expect. The infection was worse than they thought, the joint was loose so they had to take my entire knee out and leave it out for 72 days.

There is not a lot of words that prepare you for such news. Many things race through your mind as you try and get a handle of what going on: What do I have to do? Do I control the pain? And how am I going to get through this?

Adversity has reared its ugly head again in my life and the idea from our staff is to have me share some of the thoughts, feelings, and emotion we all go through when we deal with adversity.

Adversity comes in all sizes and degrees but developing some mechanics to hold the beast at bay will help in any given situation.

- J Robinson

Check back for more from J on dealing with adversity!