Senior Colin McAlister coaches wrestling at Mill Valley Kids Club and Monticello Trails Middle School
Senior Colin McAlister has been immersed in the sport of wrestling his entire life. He decided to also become a wrestling coach at the Mill Valley Kids Club and Monticello Trails Middle School during his freshman year after being inspired by his own coaches.
“I started coaching because I’ve always thought the coaches were my role models growing up and I thought it was important to be a role model,” McAlister said.
After receiving insightful advice, McAlister saw coaching as a way to better himself while also helping to teach others.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘you don’t master something until you can teach someone else’ so I decided to improve my own game and my own wrestling,” McAlister said. “I wanted to practice teaching it to someone else, so I can improve myself and improve others while I do that.”
Coaching kids from six and under all the way up to 14 year olds, McAlister believes that his job of coaching wrestling is crucial in helping the kids learn and develop, especially at that age.
“I think the sport of wrestling helps people in life so by coaching them in wrestling, I can also coach [the kids] and teach them lessons about life,” McAlister said. “That’s really important to me, especially as they grow and develop at such an important age of [their] childhood.”
Coaching has also presented McAlister with the rare and fun opportunity to coach his own younger brother, leading them to secure multiple state titles together.
“My favorite memory from coaching is definitely when I got to coach my little brother to his two state titles that he won,” McAlister said. “He’s a seventh grader and he wrestles [for a] club so coaching those kids to those state titles was really enjoyable for me.”
