Mental toughness a key to winning wrestling dual meets
Massapequa's Marco Musso puts the move on Hilton's Collin Burns during state wrestling finals in Syracuse on Saturday, January 26, 2019. Credit: THOMAS LABARBERA
How important is mental toughness to succeed in wrestling?
While recapping this past weekend’s state dual meet championships on our high school sports podcast with Gregg Sarra, Massapequa coach Ron Serrano and Eastport-South Manor coach Nick Garone discussed what it takes to shake off a bad performance and get back in the groove during a big meet or over the course of a long season.
On Saturday, Massapequa’s Marco Musso lost early in the day against Sachem East, only to bounce back with wins against Minisink Valley and Hilton to help capture a state title for the Chiefs.
“Well, he got pinned, he made a mistake,” Serrano said. “He got pinned, he got off the mat and we talked about it. My way of thinking is, ‘How can I get his mindset correct? Because right now it’s a different path.’ Well, it took me an hour but we got him on path.”
Garone agreed that the ability to move on from defeat is the key to any wrestling team’s success.
“It’s monumental to be able to shake it off [in wrestling] because in a football game, you get four quarters, you’re done, you don’t have a game to play after that,” Garone said. “In wrestling, you’re in a tournament, you’ve got to come back and take third, or if you’re in a dual meet tournament like the state tournament, you have to shake that off.”
Listen to this week’s podcast to hear more about Musso’s big day, as well as Massapequa’s victory and the rest of the dual meet championships.
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