Holmen Women’s Wrestling
Your one-stop location for the team handbook, transportation form, learning resources, and other important team information and documents.
Leaving an event with a parent or guardian?
Fill out this form if a wrestler will be leaving an event with her parent or legal guardian instead of riding home with the team.
Our approach to technique, priorities by position, and the full video library.
Complete the required preseason tasks before the wrestling season begins.
Helpful resources for wrestlers, parents, and coaches.
The Female Wrestler’s Guide to Weight Mastery by Katherine Shai and LuchaFit.
Helpful guides for supporting wrestlers throughout the season.
We all obviously want to win. We will be state champions and one of the best in the country, but the majority of this booklet is not specific to wrestling. We “stack good coaching strategies with an intentional effort and plan to create the right culture and go from good to great.” (Brian Cain, world-renowned mental performance coach). When we follow our mission and pillars, winning takes care of itself.
We emphasize a fun, positive, and relaxed environment, our pillars, an elite mindset, caring about our wrestlers, and our mission of For Her. The top expectation of our coaches is to love and care about the girls, follow For Her, and help create that fun, positive, and relaxed environment.
We make everything specific to girls wrestling—technique, mindset, mission, uniforms, logo, etc. We do not practice with the boys. Our coaches are girls-only coaches. Our technique is centered around mastering the basics, techniques that work at the highest levels of women’s wrestling, and doing a handful of things very well.
We consistently analyze our program and how to improve. Every year, we are improving and building on our program, not just that year’s team. No matter what type of season we have, and even after we become State Champions, our offseason conversations will always be based on the same concept: What can we do better?
Everything we do is for each other, for women’s wrestling, and for women’s sports everywhere. On the mat, we fight for our teammates. Off the mat, we grow the sport for the next generation of girls.
Our purpose is bigger than ourselves. Our mission is greater than any one person. We lift each other up, make everyone feel included, and remind each other that we belong.
We buy in. We give everything for our teammates. We are strongest when we invest in our team and our shared goals.
Every single day—we show up, we fight, and we do what is best—For Her.
One example of extending For Her to other teams: we don’t forfeit to other teams’ good wrestlers, in part to make sure they get matches too.
The pillars of Holmen Women’s Wrestling are what we base our program around and the qualities we want to see from our wrestlers on and off the mat.
Coaches and wrestlers give nominations for pillars every week. From those nominations, at the end of the season, the coaches pick a yearly award for individuals who best demonstrated each pillar. We relate all the pillars back to our mission: For Her.
We have a team focused on positive psychology, nurture, positive reinforcement, acceptance, and highlighting strengths and potential. Doing that will help our wrestlers be the best version of themselves. Positive reinforcement is also much better for learning and retaining athletes.
We follow the model of some other very successful teams. The LA Rams are one example:
“We’re relaxed. We have fun. It’s energetic. We don’t have coaches out there screaming at people. That’s not allowed on our field. It’s about having energy and positivity and the belief that no matter what happens on one snap, the next snap’s the next best one you can have. I think guys come in, they believe in it, and they appreciate that opportunity to be in an environment where they’re encouraged to just be themselves and go out and do what they do.” —Andrew Whitworth, LA Rams
The Rams have been to two Super Bowls and won one with their current coach.
In the NBA, the Golden State Warriors are also known for having a relaxed, fun atmosphere where music, humor, and friendly competitions between coaches and players help create a positive culture. It’s no surprise that those Warriors also made it to the NBA Finals six times and won four championships in recent years.
Penn State Wrestling (11 national championships since 2011) has the same culture. They’re known for playing games to warm up at tournaments, remembering there are always things bigger than wrestling, and, no matter what, wrestling is still a game.
“[Sanderson] wants the wrestling room to be a place where kids have fun,” Byers said. “It doesn’t mean you won’t work your tail off or that every day is a fun, easy day. He wants it to be a place where you feel good…It’s a place you’ll look at as a sanctuary and a home away from home where they can feel comfortable being themselves.”
We strive to have a similar environment as these programs and are intentional about building it.
Citations: LA Rams, Penn State Wrestling
Wrestlers neatly fold their warm-up clothes after removing them for a match. This shows respect for the equipment and for all the people who helped raise the money to purchase it.
If a wrestler decides to no longer be a part of the team, she has an in-person conversation with Coach Carl and/or Coach Kelsie.
Wrestlers rotate through washing the mats daily after practice.
Coaches always welcome questions, feedback, and open conversation. At the same time, every wrestler is expected to accept and support Coach Carl’s final decisions—whether about lineups, wrestle-offs, or anything else that affects the team. Trusting the process, even when a decision doesn’t go the way you hoped, is part of what makes our program work and reflects the same trust and respect we ask our wrestlers to show each other.
Check email at least once every 24 hours, have SportsYou notifications turned on, read all emails from coaches, and keep up to date with the practice/competition schedule.
We pay for all wrestlers to be USA Wrestling members, which provides more wrestling opportunities and supplemental health insurance if there’s an injury. Seniors must complete SafeSport training to become members.
Love and care about the girls, follow For Her, and help create a fun, positive, and relaxed environment.
Become better coaches, both during the season and offseason, by finding weak areas, such as showing technique or speaking better in front of groups.
Coaches base decisions on what is best for the program, the team, and the athlete, and help every wrestler accomplish her goals and learn valuable life lessons.
We are coaches because we are passionate about the sport of wrestling and being there For Her.
Provide opportunities for wrestlers to get better and have a fun season.
Coaches, we have more information and expectations in our Coaching Philosophy document, and our Technique Philosophy & Library section further down this page.
Just like the wrestlers, parents follow our mission and pillars. Examples of how they can follow them include cheering for all wrestlers on the team, getting to know other parents, connecting positively with the coaching staff, volunteering to help improve the program, and having fun.
Help hold your child accountable for her attitude, mindset, attendance, effort, and being a part of our culture.
Check email at least once every 24 hours, have SportsYou notifications turned on, read all emails from coaches, and keep up to date with the practice/competition schedule.
High school is probably the last time these athletes will be part of a sports team, so enjoy watching them compete!
If a parent is ever not sure what to say to his/her daughter about the sport, most likely, “I love you, and I love to watch you compete” will be the most effective.
A letter is earned by finishing in good standing with the team (following expectations, no code violations, good attendance, acting within the mission) and meeting one of the following:
All letters are also subject to coaches’ discretion.
We do not have wrestle-offs for dual meets — lineups for duals are set by the coaches.
Some tournaments allow only one wrestler per weight class, including Bi-State, The Women’s Warrior Challenge, and Regionals. Before these events, coaches will post a projected lineup, and wrestlers not on that lineup may request a wrestle-off to challenge for the spot. A wrestler may also request a wrestle-off at any time during the season, not just before these events.
Wrestle-off requests may be denied if the coaches feel the requesting wrestler is not ready to challenge for the spot. For example, a brand-new wrestler requesting a wrestle-off against a state place winner will likely be denied and will instead have the opportunity to earn that wrestle-off in practice.
Wrestle-offs are held the week of the event or the week before. For all events except regionals, a wrestler must win one match to earn the spot. If more than two wrestlers are competing for a spot, we will run a small bracket in which the incumbent varsity wrestler receives a bye to the final round. For example, if three wrestlers are competing for 126, the incumbent varsity wrestler at 126 will only need to beat the winner of the other two challengers. If there is no incumbent varsity wrestler at a weight, the coaches will designate one.
Because unique situations always come up during wrestle-offs, the coaches reserve the right to make any changes necessary. Coaches have final say on who wrestles, when, and for which meet — this may include placing a wrestler in the lineup who did not win her wrestle-off match. Factors such as work ethic, grades, attendance, commitment, how she competes, behavior, mindset, and how she represents our mission may all be part of that decision. Acting within our mission is a requirement to be a varsity wrestler. Our goal is to field the lineup most likely to win duals, tournaments, and matches while staying true to our expectations.
Coach Carl sends out an email and a SportsYou post every weekend to wrestlers, parents, coaches, and managers with a summary of the upcoming week. All practices and events are also on the Google Calendar. Wrestlers and parents should ask if they are unsure or need to know something. If any problems happen during the year, please contact Coach Carl.
Wrestlers and parents check their email at least once every 24 hours, have SportsYou notifications turned on, read all emails from coaches, and keep up to date with the practice/competition schedule.
By saving most information for the weekly email, Carl minimizes the number of emails and SportsYou posts, but sometimes information needs to be sent during the week. All of that information is also posted on our website.
Wrestlers contact Coach Carl through SportsYou, email, or phone call. Parents may use text, SportsYou, email, or phone call. Keep in mind that coaches value input and feedback, but the coaches have the final say on how everything is run.
Head Coach: Carl DeLuca
delcar@holmen.k12.wi.us
715-204-7433
Head Assistant Coach: Kelsie Speltz
Assistant Coaches:
Joey Perrigo, Jozie Collins
For overnight away meets, coaches will make the room assignments.
100, 107, 114, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165, 185, 235
Weight classes could be different when we compete in other states.
Singlets are not required. We have a two-piece shorts/compression shirt option.
Our approach to technique, priorities by position, and the full library of instructional videos — kept separate from the handbook above.
1) Be great at a few things rather than average (or worse) at a lot of things.
“Teach a lot of the Little.” — “Focus on a few things and do it well…Develop an identity and this is what we are going to be good at. If you’re a team that gets that identity, it grows confidence in your team.”
Our identity will be the priorities in this document. It’s based on what works at the highest levels. For example, single legs, snapdowns, and re-attacks/shot defense are by far the most common ways girls score at state, national, and senior-level events.
80/20 principle: 80% of our technique success comes from mastering 20% of wrestling skills.
“If you can’t keep me off your left leg, you can’t beat me. Period. I don’t care how bad you want it.” — John Smith
2) Master the basic skills.
Fundamentals Create Highlights — Amit Elor and Carley Ceshker are perfect examples of this.
“Why do you think I’m the best player in the world? Because I never ever get bored with the basics.” — Kobe Bryant
We don’t have to “go back to the basics” because we don’t stop doing them. Practices look pretty consistent each week — we work and develop common positions.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” — Bruce Lee
3) Score points and have fun.
Being a hammer means:
We are primarily looking for a single (sweep or hi single) or a snap. We don’t have to force offense shots, and getting underneath her. A 0-0 score in the first period is okay, especially since we are hammers on top.
The best defense is to keep her off our legs by controlling ties, staying in good position, and a down block to keep her off our legs. If she does get to our legs, Kylie Welker sprawls are our primary defenses.