Prior to watching this I was not a John Smith fan, but after seeing two interviews now, he is quite the guy. Not as cocky and self centered as I thought he was. His humbleness and understanding of losing and its effect on true competitive winners in the sense of being better prepared for the next time, is uncanny. He just seems like a genuine competitor, coach and mentor. My mind has been changed and I now have a lot of respect for the guy.... the person that is. I always respected John the wrestler as he was phenomenal, I am strictly speaking of John Smith the person. Thanks for the interview. I like his kid too and I hope he does well at the nationals this year.
Knowing him a little bit, I think John's always been a bit reserved and shy and it takes him a while to trust people he doesn't know and is a bit guarded. That probably comes off as cocky and no doubt he's a confident guy but I think overall he's a good person. And a great ambassador for wrestling as well as an incredible coach.
He's a giant of a man.. One night many moons ago John and Bruce Baumgartner caught myself and a friend after curfew sneaking back in after a night on the town. Well.. We had a big tournament the very next day, and they just looked at us and chuckled a little and man did we end up doing a ton of push-ups. John even stood on our shoulders for a few. Man were we sore for our tournament, lesson learned, love em
One of John's sisters is the mother of JT Realmuto. That's quite an athletic family. His youngest bro Mark I thought would be great but when I met him when he was a tyke he said he preferred football. He was the biggest Smith kid but the pressure from family had to have played a part in him going w/ wrestling. Did well but paled in comparison to John, Lee Roy and of course Pat but those are tough comparisons to live up to...
I was a wrestling contemporary of the interviewer: David Mirikitani. He and his father are true wrestling heroes. David was super slick. Energetic, prolific, technical, etc. He had a fabulous career. I no longer live in St. Louis, but his family is legendary-wrestling royalty. Continued success.
USA Wrestling youth development is non-existent. Starting development at the Cadet level is too late. High level coaches, Bill Zadich, the Brands Brothers, John Smith, Cael Sanderson, Sammie Henson, and many other great ones need to have continuous contact with kids 4-14 years of age, not trying to create Olympic or World medalists, but to share the joy and emphasize fundamentals of the sport. You can learn a lot from just being around these type of people. You have over zealous fathers at the youth level that aren't technically developed. There good at yelling and "conditioning" but that's about it. If a youth club is sanctioned by USA Wrestling, AAU, or any national organization, coaches of the club should be required to enroll in an education program and learn techniques that are taught at the Division I or Olympic/World level. A model for development can be taken from European Football Club youth development academies. We cannot be closed-minded when it comes to development. It starts from the ground and moves up.
LoL at the huge TRUTH you wrote, youth wrestling is basically "overzealous fathers" just yelling but not technically developed. Describes it perfectly, fathers at youth tournaments screaming but revealing they know very little and their 'coaching' is the low level.
Prior to watching this I was not a John Smith fan, but after seeing two interviews now, he is quite the guy. Not as cocky and self centered as I thought he was. His humbleness and understanding of losing and its effect on true competitive winners in the sense of being better prepared for the next time, is uncanny. He just seems like a genuine competitor, coach and mentor. My mind has been changed and I now have a lot of respect for the guy.... the person that is. I always respected John the wrestler as he was phenomenal, I am strictly speaking of John Smith the person. Thanks for the interview. I like his kid too and I hope he does well at the nationals this year.
Knowing him a little bit, I think John's always been a bit reserved and shy and it takes him a while to trust people he doesn't know and is a bit guarded. That probably comes off as cocky and no doubt he's a confident guy but I think overall he's a good person. And a great ambassador for wrestling as well as an incredible coach.
I saw him wrestle in the goodwill games in Seattle he was like a cat
He's a giant of a man.. One night many moons ago John and Bruce Baumgartner caught myself and a friend after curfew sneaking back in after a night on the town. Well.. We had a big tournament the very next day, and they just looked at us and chuckled a little and man did we end up doing a ton of push-ups. John even stood on our shoulders for a few. Man were we sore for our tournament, lesson learned, love em
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One of John's sisters is the mother of JT Realmuto. That's quite an athletic family. His youngest bro Mark I thought would be great but when I met him when he was a tyke he said he preferred football. He was the biggest Smith kid but the pressure from family had to have played a part in him going w/ wrestling. Did well but paled in comparison to John, Lee Roy and of course Pat but those are tough comparisons to live up to...
I was a wrestling contemporary of the interviewer: David Mirikitani. He and his father are true wrestling heroes. David was super slick. Energetic, prolific, technical, etc. He had a fabulous career. I no longer live in St. Louis, but his family is legendary-wrestling royalty. Continued success.
Awesome interview!
USA Wrestling youth development is non-existent. Starting development at the Cadet level is too late. High level coaches, Bill Zadich, the Brands Brothers, John Smith, Cael Sanderson, Sammie Henson, and many other great ones need to have continuous contact with kids 4-14 years of age, not trying to create Olympic or World medalists, but to share the joy and emphasize fundamentals of the sport. You can learn a lot from just being around these type of people. You have over zealous fathers at the youth level that aren't technically developed. There good at yelling and "conditioning" but that's about it. If a youth club is sanctioned by USA Wrestling, AAU, or any national organization, coaches of the club should be required to enroll in an education program and learn techniques that are taught at the Division I or Olympic/World level. A model for development can be taken from European Football Club youth development academies. We cannot be closed-minded when it comes to development. It starts from the ground and moves up.
LoL at the huge TRUTH you wrote, youth wrestling is basically "overzealous fathers" just yelling but not technically developed. Describes it perfectly, fathers at youth tournaments screaming but revealing they know very little and their 'coaching' is the low level.
This comment didn't age too well.
@@christopherneeper2658 Age well? Well, if they started doing some of these things, I should hope not, you big dope.