The Way: A RUDIS Wrestling Podcast

On this episode of The Way, Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan join in on the ongoing debate of cutting weight classes from high school wrestling to prevent forfeits and reduce the number of teams who compete with semi-empty rosters. While some favor cutting the lighter weights, Dernlan and Kolat explain why that could be catastrophic to the sport and suggest their own solution.

On this episode of The Way, Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan discuss ways to improve while we experience time off from wrestling, and debunk the excuses that exist for not making progress.

On this episode of The Way, Matt Dernlan and Cary Kolat react to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics from this July to the summer of 2021. Kolat, an Olympian who competed at the Sydney Games in 2000, reflects on his own adversity at the Games and predicts what the prospective athletes representing the United States are thinking and feeling.

On this episode of The Way, Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan discuss the intricacies and strategies behind getting college athletes to be able to peak correctly through their competition season. Kolat brings a unique perspective as his first recruiting class as a coach in Campbell are now Seniors and his strategy for getting his athletes to peak has changed over the course of his career. The two discuss the importance of balancing the mental and physical aspects of helping athletes to peak in the critical moment, along with the value in trusting the system and not making drastic changes near the end of the year.

On this episode of The Way, Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan discuss the reasons behind what is commonly referred to as the “Sophomore Slump” when it comes to Collegiate Wrestling. With both having competitive and coaching backgrounds they bring insight into the potential causes and solutions to what causes athletes to feel a lack of development or excitement after they make it past their Freshman year of competition and don’t immediately experience a continued high level of success.

On this episode of The Way, Matt Dernlan and Cary Kolat weigh in on the topic of realistic goals and dreams for athletes during competition. With both having a deep background in coaching they discuss the caveats of keeping it honest with your athletes about what goals are realistically achievable while also giving them the opportunity to put in the work and dream big enough to accomplish something great

On this episode of The Way Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan discuss the problems that come up as coaches when you're a third of the way through the season and issues of rest and recovery come to the surface. Kolat stresses the need for athletes to have perspective on the lucky position that they have while also valuing the importance of resting and recovering outside of the practice room.

On this episode of The Way, Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan discuss the struggles and variables that come along with traveling for competition and how to deal with them in order to perform at the highest level possible while on the road. Cary pulls insight from his experience coaching at Campbell University through competition in the early 2019 season as well as from his experience as a college and senior-level competitor himself.

On this episode of The Way, Cary Kolat and Matt Dernlan discuss the current state of officiating in college-level wrestling. Both agree that officials are held to unreasonably high expectations in relation to their compensation for working wrestling meets, and that fans harassing officials for missed calls leads to officials leaving the sport. Kolat and Dernlan emphasize that officials are often working as a service because the pay is so low and they often have to cover their own travel and lodging expenses, and the way to draw more high level officiating to the sport is to increase the pay scale for officials. The two wrap up their discussion by explaining that coaches should take the time to understand how an official is going to call a match so that they can best serve their team and avoid butting heads with an official unnecessarily.