Become the Coach Every Kid Deserves
Put Me in Coach is a complete youth wrestling certification that takes you from nervous volunteer to confident, safety-certified coach — armed with age-appropriate skills, proven practice plans, and the child-development tools to build kids up, not just win matches.
"Winning is great, but the coach kids remember for the rest of their life is the one who made them feel capable — and that's a skill you can learn."— Leigh Baumann
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Master age-appropriate wrestling fundamentals, terminology, rules, and the high-leverage 20% of skills that drive 80% of match success across every youth age group.
- Design structured, engaging practice plans and game strategies tailored to your athletes' developmental stage — keeping kids focused, motivated, and improving every session.
- Build an inclusive team culture rooted in positive reinforcement, confidence-building, and genuine belonging for beginners, neurodivergent athletes, kids with disabilities, and every ability level in between.
- Recognize, prevent, and respond to common youth wrestling injuries and medical emergencies — including sprains, head injuries, and situations requiring immediate professional care.
- Apply youth protection best practices: maintain safe boundaries, spot warning signs of abuse, fulfill mandatory reporting duties, and create an environment that safeguards every child and every coach.
- Partner effectively with parents, rotate players fairly, manage competitive dynamics, and send athletes home with at-home skill drills that deepen athletic growth and family connection.
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 30 lessons
Know Your Coach, Know Your Athlete
Coaches assess their own experience level, select their age group, and gain a foundational understanding of youth wrestling's rules, terminology, and required equipment.
- 1.1Self-Assessment: What Kind of Coach Are You Today?Included
- 1.2Age Groups Decoded: 3-Year-Olds to High SchoolIncluded
- 1.3Rules, Terminology, and the Basics of the MatIncluded
- 1.4Gear Up: Equipment Selection, Fit, and Safety StandardsIncluded
- 1.5The Coach's Role: More Than Wins and LossesIncluded
The 20% That Wins Matches: Wrestling Fundamentals and High-Leverage Skills
Coaches master the core technical skills — the high-impact 20% that drives 80% of youth wrestling success — and learn to teach them with age-appropriate drills and progressions.
- 2.1The High-Leverage 20%: Skills That Drive 80% of SuccessIncluded
- 2.2Stance, Motion, and Level ChangeIncluded
- 2.3Takedowns, Escapes, and Rides: The Core SequenceIncluded
- 2.4Pinning Combinations and Match-Winning FinishesIncluded
- 2.5Skill Progressions: Teaching New Moves Step by StepIncluded
Practice Plans, Game Strategy, and Keeping Kids Engaged
Coaches build structured, developmentally appropriate practice plans and competition strategies while mastering techniques that sustain attention, effort, and fun.
- 3.1Building a Practice Plan That Actually WorksIncluded
- 3.2Drills That Develop and Drills That DisengageIncluded
- 3.3Managing Attention Spans and Keeping Energy HighIncluded
- 3.4Match Strategy and Play Calling for Youth WrestlersIncluded
- 3.5Rotating Players and Managing Competitive Lineups FairlyIncluded
Developing Every Kid: Inclusion, Communication, and Team Culture
Coaches learn to communicate with athletes of all ages and abilities, build a genuinely inclusive team culture, and handle challenging behaviors with confidence and compassion.
- 4.1Communicating with Kids: Age-by-Age StrategiesIncluded
- 4.2Coaching Every Athlete: Beginners, Advanced, and Everyone BetweenIncluded
- 4.3Neurodivergent Athletes and Coaches with Exceptional NeedsIncluded
- 4.4Positive Reinforcement, Confidence Building, and a Winning CultureIncluded
- 4.5Handling Conflict, Challenging Behaviors, and Difficult MomentsIncluded
Safety First: Injury Prevention, Recognition, and Emergency Response
Coaches build the knowledge to prevent common wrestling injuries, recognize warning signs of serious harm, and respond appropriately to medical emergencies on and off the mat.
- 5.1Creating a Safe Practice EnvironmentIncluded
- 5.2Common Wrestling Injuries: Sprains, Strains, and Skin ConditionsIncluded
- 5.3Head Injuries and Concussion ProtocolsIncluded
- 5.4Medical Emergencies: When to Act and HowIncluded
- 5.5Weight Management and Overtraining Concerns in Youth WrestlersIncluded
Protecting Kids, Partnering with Parents, and Building a Lasting Program
Coaches learn youth protection best practices, mandatory reporting responsibilities, and strategies for partnering with parents to build a supportive, lasting team community.
- 6.1Safe Coaching Boundaries and Appropriate ConductIncluded
- 6.2Recognizing Abuse and Fulfilling Mandatory Reporting DutiesIncluded
- 6.3Avoiding Dangerous Situations: One-on-One Rules and Safe EnvironmentsIncluded
- 6.4Partnering with Parents: Expectations, Communication, and Buy-InIncluded
- 6.5At-Home Skill Drills, Team-Building Activities, and Keeping Athletes GrowingIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
First-Time Volunteer
You said yes before you felt ready — this program gives you the foundation, confidence, and certification to actually deserve that whistle.
School Staff Coach
You know kids, but you want the wrestling fundamentals, safety protocols, and practice-planning tools to run a legitimate program your school can be proud of.
Wrestling Parent
Your kid loves the sport and needs a coach — so you stepped up, and now you want to do right by every child on that mat, not just your own.
Rec Department Coordinator
You're building or managing a youth wrestling league and need coaches — including yourself — trained to a consistent, safety-certified standard.
Returning Coach
You've been coaching for years but want to close the gaps in child development, inclusion, and youth protection you never got formal training in.
Church or Community League Organizer
You're running a program rooted in character and community — and you want a coaching framework that reflects those values while keeping every kid safe.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Leigh Baumann
If you're reading this, there's a good chance someone handed you a whistle and said, "You're the coach now" — and you said yes before you had time to think about it. Or maybe you've been coaching for a while, and something in your gut keeps telling you there are gaps: in safety, in how you handle the kid who shuts down after a loss, in what to do when a parent corners you after a match. Either way, you're here, and that already tells me something important about you.
You care. Not just about winning — about the kids. About doing this right. And that's exactly who Put Me in Coach was built for.
Here's what I've seen over and over: coaches who love kids and love wrestling get thrown into the deep end with zero real training. They learn on the fly, sometimes make avoidable mistakes, and spend half their coaching career feeling like they're one bad practice away from losing the room. It doesn't have to be that way. The skills, strategies, and safety knowledge that make a genuinely great youth coach are completely learnable — and that's what this program delivers, step by step.
We start with what you actually need to know: the rules, the gear, and the fundamental wrestling skills that drive the most match outcomes — taught in progressions you can use with a 5-year-old on Tuesday and a 15-year-old on Thursday. From there, we get into the stuff most coaching courses skip: how to run a practice that keeps 8-year-olds focused, how to communicate differently with a nervous beginner than with a competitive veteran, how to build a culture where the kid who's "not athletic" still shows up every week because they feel like they belong there. That's the work. And it's worth doing well.
I also want to be straight with you about something: youth protection and safety aren't bonus content in this program. Injury recognition, concussion protocols, safe coaching boundaries, mandatory reporting — these are core. Because nothing we build on the mat matters if a child isn't safe in our care. You deserve to feel prepared for those moments, not blindsided by them.
By the end of this program, you'll walk into every practice with a plan, coach every kid on your roster — not just the ones who make it easy — and go home knowing you did right by them. That's what I want for you. That's what they deserve. Let's get to work.
— Leigh Baumann
Start your journey today
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$79/mo
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- 6 modules, 30 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed