Ray Brinzer talks about his current project – Clinch Gear 5 Star Camp

Published on May 25, 2010 by viratas   ·   No Comments

The former Iowa Hawkeye sat down and discussed his new project the Clinch Gear 5 Star Camp. Ray Brinzer is known for a lot of different things throughout his long and colorful career. One thing that people often leave out his the amazing amount of success he has already had as a coach.

As the co-founder of the Angry Fish Wrestling Club along with his High School teammate Ty Moore they created a system that produced: NCAA National Champions Coleman Scott and Jarrod King, NCAA Champion and World Silver Medalist Jake Herbert and NCAA Champion and MMA Standout Phil Davis. Many other wrestlers were involved in this program that produced a staggering number of age-level national championships for a small club. Coach Brinzer has also served as a head coach for Team Iowa and Pennsylvania, 2007 Cadet Greco World Team Coach and was named the 2006 Cadet Greco Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling.

We sat down with Ray and discussed this new camp. I have met a lot of people in our sport and must say I have met very few that share the same passion for the sport that Coach Brinzer does. He designed this camp to help wrestlers learn more about where they are at as an athlete, help them learn about the recruiting process and provide them with the information and tools they need to bring themselves to another level.

The camp will also benefit college coaches who are trying to maximize their thin recruiting budgets and find the kids that best fit their programs. At the end of the camp coaches will have access to invaluable information on 112 student athletes.

Below is our interview with Coach Brinzer.

TOM: Tell us why you are doing this camp opposed to a traditional camp?

Coach Brinzer: A traditional camp is virtually out of the question. I believe you can use the time much more productively. Besides, they’re boring (to me, anyway).

I have a business partner, who is handling the business aspects of the camp. My job is to do what I’m good at: train athletes, and help them get from one level to the next.

TOM: Specifically what do you expect the athletes to learn or walk away from the camp with?

Coach Brinzer: Perspective, and a plan.

First, perspective.

The athletes will talk to people who have been through the recruiting process, some as blue-chips, some as unknowns who became successful later. Some of our coaches found a perfect home in college, others were square pegs in round holes; some transferred, some stayed put. They’ve all been through the process. We’ll have a good ratio of coaches to athletes, and I want athletes to go away understanding what it takes to win in college, what the time demands of academics and athletics are like, how to make international teams, and so on.

To train well, you need a plan. A camp like this is a small (but hopefully important) part of it. We’re going to have the athletes for just over a week out of the year. So we’re going to help an athlete beat someone he wouldn’t otherwise have beaten, or win a championship he wouldn’t otherwise have won, this week has to influence how he spends the other 51 this year.

Planning requires information. The tests results should give athletes a realistic sense of their strengths and weaknesses, relative to their competition. The athletes will get to compete under college rules, and receive feedback on their performance from top coaches. This information should become the basis of a plan to move forward. And we hope to teach athletes to analyze their own performance, by breaking down video, for instance, so that they can continue to plan for themselves.

TOM: What is the reasoning behind having only 8 wrestlers per weight?

Coach Brinzer: I think it’s going to be helpful in several ways.

I’ve seen how limiting the numbers, and requiring pre-registration has helped with youth tournaments. When I was a kid people just shot from the hip; if more kids showed up than expected, you just ran the tournament longer. I remember showing up early in the morning for a tournament, not having a match until 10 at night, and being there with my mom until 2 in the morning.

Camps are no different. You have limited resources, and to best serve the athletes you need to be able to plan ahead. Athletes need workout partners. You need a reasonable ratio of coaches to athletes.
Trying to pack in as many athletes as possible doesn’t allow you to serve people well.

With 8 athletes per weight, we’re going to be able to do some neat stuff. We can create 8 teams, and give each team one dual meet per day for 5 days. This gives each athlete the exclusive attention of a coach and an evaluator, and competition allows you learn things about an athlete that you don’t get to see at other times.

TOM: If one of the athletes were here now, what would you say to them in order to get them to attend?

Coach Brinzer: I’d say that if you love the sport, and want to be around other people who love the sport, show up. Those are the people we want. If you get fired up when you find out how pieces of this puzzle fit together, you’re not going to want to go home when it’s over. Wrestling is The Game; it’s what we do, and winning is worth whatever you give up for it a dozen times over.

TOM: On your website you say there are benefits to the parents and college coaches as well, could you explain those in more detail?

Ray Brinzer: Well, most parents are as new to the recruiting process as their kids are. My father wrestled, but he walked on at Slippery Rock in the 1960s; he didn’t actually know much about how to handle this.

So there was an imbalance: on the one side you had professional coaches who understand the system well, and on the other you have athletes and parents who don’t, but who have to make a big decision.

We think the process will work better if the athletes and their parents know more. We’re going to talk about how to pick a program that’s right for you…. which isn’t always the top-ranked program.

We’ll explain why you might need to transfer, and how to do it. The relationship between coaches and athletes is somewhat different in college; your coach will probably have different sorts of pressure on him to make decisions which might not be in your best interest. So we’ll people an idea as to what to look for, how to stick up for themselves, and when to compromise.

The coaches have a different problem. There are a lot of athletes out there, and not all the ones with great potential are the obvious blue-chips. They need information, and we can help them find diamonds in the rough, and decide which athletes are a good fit for their programs.

TOM: Really at the end of the day is this camp really that different then other camps, I mean there are a lot of camps that target “elite” wrestlers, what makes this different?

Coach Brinzer: I think the details of what we’re doing are different enough to speak for themselves, but it’s our philosophy that really sets us apart. I hate wasting time on the mat; it’s important to me that we really accomplish something at this camp. And we need to follow through with the recruiting side, and help these athletes with the process.

One of the most important things for a coach to do is to build relationships with athletes. Eric and I have talked a lot about what we can do with the campers later on; we don’t have solid plans yet, but I hope that we’ll be able to work with at least some of these athletes again in the future. I strongly believe that the best people to work with are the ones who want to work with you, and it means a lot to me when athletes come to train with me. I’m looking forward to meeting the people who choose this camp.

Thanks to Coach Brinzer for taking the time to speak with us. Wrestlers if you are on the list (Click here) and you want to spend a week around a group of people who want to take things to another level, peak performance training, compete against the best, and gain more college exposure, then sign up.

Coaches, take a look at the list, if you feel an athletes would be a good fit for this camp, but is not on the list, please contact us at camps@theopenmat.org and provide us with additional information.

By The Open Mat Staff

Tags: Clinch Gear 5 Star Camp, Clinch Gear Camp, Ray Brinzer