Cael Sanderson.

I talk a lot about “being about it.” Living it.

This past weekend at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Cael led the Penn State wrestling team to a team title and an incredible 5 individual titles (there are only 10 weight classes!).

The buzz throughout the weekend was, “What is Cael doing at PSU that is creating such domination?”

One word that came to the surface is simple, fun. He makes it fun. From his own wrestlers, to competing coaches, they all seemed to agree on that fact. Useful takeaway for us? Have fun. Show that fun to others.

What I’m more fascinated with, however, isn’t what he’s necessarily doing as a coach specifically, but what he does as a person. The man emanates excellence, humility, curiosity. He lives it.

Every one of his wrestlers said essentially the same thing: They talked about having fun, relaxing out there and just wrestling. They talked about values as people. And they also talked about seeing Cael as a sort of father figure, or far off role model they want to emulate.

What can we learn from Cael and the PSU wrestling experience that we can apply to our own lives?

Here are a few bullet points:

  • Have fun.
  • Keep things simple.
  • Be a good person.
  • Live your life such that you inspire others to excel simply by being in your presence.

Heck, I’m better just by watching him on TV this past weekend!

In today’s AM Excellence, I dive into the importance of communication and how we can all become better coaches (whether that means as a parent, employee, boss, or on the actual playing field).

Listen to AM Excellence 181 “Coaching and Communicating” here.

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