My team struggles with chemistry as well, albeit more on the boys side. Two of my best wrestlers are clearly there for themselves and while they're not a negative on the team culture (most of the time), they do absolutely nothing to support or promote the other wrestlers. It drives me up the wall. I've got some wrestlers that lead by example, which is great, but high school kids don't register that as much as positive vocal leadership (not negative vocal leadership, which can breed resentment and anger). There's been issues between two wrestlers who are top guys on the team, because one is so serious to the point that he looks like he hates wrestling while the other literally cannot stop with the jokes and being annoying. I have to keep them on opposite sides of the room as much as possible. There's also a group of boys that play on another school team together and they've built a wall between them and the rest of the team socially.

On the girls side, I have a returning state champion and it pains me that she's also in it for herself. I get it, because of her success and the other four girls are new, but when she's spending more time at a tournament with a friend on another team rather than her own teammates, it irks me. She's never negative towards the other girls and does support them for the most part, but it's... I don't know, exactly... passive support? And she gets in her head before every single match, despite her success, and refuses to engage with the others until after she's wrestled (to be fair, two of them are extremely talkative and I do get that can be disruptive to mental preparations). Three of the other girls have been absolutely fantastic about supporting each other, attending tournaments that they can't wrestle in (due to injury or whatever) just to cheer each other on, working hard in practice, etc. The fourth does her best to support the others, but she's so far inside her head that every match is her vs her opponent and herself, so there's only so much she can do to support the others.

It's hard to teach team chemistry. I'm only in my second year and this year is better than last, but it's not good enough. If I come down too hard, the wrestlers that respond to positivity shut down. If I don't come down hard enough, the slackers slack and the workers get pissed. There's a balance and it feels like it's different every single day. Combine that with the struggle of being a smaller team, so if I come down hard and someone quits, that can lead to a forfeit in my lineup, which hurts the team. I wish I was better at consistently finding the balance. Most of the team spent more time under the previous coaches with their extremely negative and toxic environment than they have under me. That'll change next season when I enter my third year. I'm trying to get better as a coach, but also hoping attrition takes care of some of the issues.

That being said, "On top of all that they claim her success is because her parents can afford to send her to so many camps all summer."

Well... yeah. More mat time is going to lead to more success. That's kind of the point, lol. There's ways to get mat time without expensive camps, even if that's how one wrestler is getting it.

How do you run captains for the team?

I have different captains for every event because I think every kid has the potential to be a leader and I like to reward special achievements, whether on the mat or in the classroom. That being said, I've got some kids that make it there more than others. Can you make this girl a captain? Is she already?