|
|
|
|
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
In the Right Place
Greater Louisville, KY
|
|
|
By: Jacob Arnold
|
Photo(s) By: Jacob Arnold
|
Coach Jim Kraeszig, the head wrestling coach at St. Xavier, believes he has found his personal niche in life. HSSTM’s Jacob Arnold sat down with Coach Kraeszig to find out what makes him tick as a coach, a teacher and a father.
HSSTM: Did you ever want to do anything besides teaching?
Kraeszig: I didn’t know what I wanted to do at first. I got a BA from Bellarmine and I worked for the lottery and then for a bank. Then it became very obvious to me after reading a Lou Holtz book that said, “If you can look around you and see people you want to be like in the profession you are currently in, then you are in the right place. If you can’t, you are in the wrong spot.” The people I really admired were the coaches here at St. X and that helped guide me. Nothing I ever did in business made me feel like I do when I am here teaching. You know you are making an impact on people and helping them to be successful. I get chills daily teaching. This is where I am supposed to be.
HSSTM: Was wresting always your sport?
Kraeszig: No, but when I came to St X as a student I wanted to participate in some sport. My dad circled it on the extra activities. He said, “This is your sport. It is the sport for the little man.” I wasn’t very big, I think I was 88 pounds as a freshman, and I just wanted to get that letter on my jacket and be a part of St X. It had such a tremendous impact on me that I wanted to come back, and I ended up having as much fun as a coach.
It became very obvious that not just coaching but being a teacher here at St X was what I wanted to do. For me it was being in an all boys’ institution--a Catholic, Christ-driven place that was awesome. It is not just a job. It kind of chose me. It is more of a calling.
HSSTM: How long have you been teaching/coaching?
Kraeszig: I have been coaching constantly for almost 12 years and I have been teaching since 1994. I have mostly been the assistant and have been around great coaches who not only knew the sport, but knew how to motivate young guys. That is the secret--it is all about self esteem and getting them to believe in themselves and then see them do that in a competitive environment.
HSSTM: Who would be your role model in coaching?
Kraeszig: I am a huge Lou Holtz fan. I really admire Mike Krzyzewski. I like Rick Pitino and the style in which he teaches basketball. It is very close to the style that Dan Gable and Tom Brands teach down at Iowa. As far as young coaches, I like Cael Sanderson who is just starting to coach at Iowa State.
And then there is my father. He was a big influence in my life. When things are going well he says, “Things are good, but they are never as good as they seem, you could always be working harder.” And when things are bad, he would pull me the other way and say, “It is always darkest before the dawn and you’re around the edge of another jump--just hang in there.”
HSSTM: We recently had the debate in our first issue: Which is tougher, football or wrestling? What do you think?
Kraeszig: They are both contact sports and lots of collisions. It is actually a perfect marriage. The NFL is full of guys that wrestled in high school and didn’t even play football on the college level. An example is Stephen Neal. He didn’t play football in college but he starts and has four Super Bowl rings for the Patriots and he is a world champion wrestler. They are so similar, that is the way we sell wrestling to some guys: “If you want to become a really good open field tackler… you wrestle.” Wrestling has great balance and coordinating skills and teaches body control.
I think football is a great sport. I have coached football. It is more bruises and bangs. With wresting it is more strains and soreness. One difference is that in wrestling you are going against one guy your same weight, whereas in football, two guys could be double teaming you. They are both team sports. Everybody thinks wrestling is an individual sport, but even though you are alone on that mat you have 13 guys on the side cheering you on. It is not about one individual champion. We want to get 14 guys placing in the top six in the state tournament and that is how you win state championships. When the tide rises, all the boats float.
HSSTM: How do you motivate your athletes and students?
Kraeszig: It is different with every guy. What works with one doesn’t work with the other. We think of it as body, mind and soul. Your soul is where your mind is and your body is going to follow, so if you follow what his body is doing then you can usually track it to his mind and fix it.
Another important factor is teaching a kid to do fundamental things when there is pressure. We try to train guys to be able to handle the pressure, like a free throw in the NCAA final game. That is pressure, and to teach that you have to make practice tough and full of pressure. When they feel that situation arise, you want them to think, “I can do this.”
HSSTM: One of my favorite memories of you as a teacher was the joke of the week. Do you use humor in coaching as well?
Kraeszig: Yes, you get to know your athletes on a little more of a personal level and it is very important to keep them loose.
HSSTM: Does being a dad affect your coaching and teaching?
Kraeszig: Absolutely, especially when I am disciplining an athlete I think about how I would want my son to be treated. I bring my sons to practice with me all of the time--not necessarily for them to be wrestlers, but to make them feel like they are part of it. As long as they are part of it, then I can keep doing it.
If I can’t be a good dad, then I can’t be a good coach. Cael Sanderson is probably the most successful wrestler ever; he never lost a college match, and he was an Olympic champion. He is now a tremendous coach at Iowa State. Cael is one of four brothers. They all wrestled Division 1 in college. I e-mailed his dad to ask how he got his sons to compete in college. He said the mom had the most to do with it, but he said he took them with him to practice (he coached at Brigham Young University) and he said, “don’t ever treat your athletes better than your own sons.”
|
|
| No comments added! Click [ add a comment ] to be the first! |
|
|
|
