The one missing factor to your success: Gratitude

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s Volume 32 Issue 12, which printed Sept. 15, 2026.

By Quantal Langford

If you’re reading this now, many teams across the country are already prepping for the upcoming season. I wish you the best of luck. You’ll have many wrestlers looking to get on the podium and achieve their goals for the season.

Through my years of competing and even to my younger years coaching, I always thought that wrestlers needed grit. That invisible factor, that you really can’t measure. The self-motivation and will to go through the ups and downs of the season.

Now … I don’t believe grit is the thing any wrestler is missing. I believe that anyone that steps out on the mat inherently has this invisible quality already instilled in them. They wouldn’t have the urge to get out there if they didn’t!

You know the missing ingredient that separates wrestlers? Gratitude.

You hear a lot of people on social media talking about gratitude. From high-level wrestlers and coaches to some of the top MMA fighters. But what exactly is it and why don’t we practice it more?

The amazing thing with wrestling is that everyone has different backgrounds and perspectives. Some are raised in a tough environment compared to others that may have a great support system. At Palomar College, we fashion much of our culture around this concept. Before we break down for practice we share gratitude talks within the group. Even us coaches jump into the talks daily. Some of the wrestlers generally share introductory gratitude statements. We encourage that group camaraderie and facilitate the dynamic of learning a little more about ourselves each practice and competition.

We find little things daily to be grateful for, on and off the mat. We automatically start looking for the good in any situation. And we jump levels as a wrestler and/or coach. This is critical — how we view our matches, loving the opportunity to compete and develop, as opposed to fretting about our win-loss record can dramatically help your wrestler to jump levels.

Reframing is a creative way of using gratitude in a match situation or even a life situation. Perhaps you just won. Were you concerned with not trying to lose or just loving the opportunity to be the best wrestler you can be at that moment? If you lost a match — can we be grateful enough to know you weren’t the better wrestler in that match? But know that we can process, gather feedback and prepare for the next opportunity.

To contemplate this even further, you don’t realize what you have until it’s taken from you. I’ve had family pass away a few years ago, and through that grief, I’ve found more gratitude for wrestling, for my teams, my family, the talents and gifts I’ve been blessed with and for my health than I ever did while competing. And in doing so, I’ve become more creative as coach, a better communicator and have learned how to connect with a wrestler as a person first. I even tell myself “Thank you” for waking before I get out of bed, giving me the opportunity to create and coach. But for me it had to take losing a loved one to realize it.

Begin developing your own gratitude reps while you’re putting in your actual training reps. When you rise for the day and call it a night; can you give yourself three things to be grateful for? Do it for the next 21 days and watch what happens to you as a person, wrestler and coach.

This is the way of the wrestler.

(Based in Oceanside, Calif., Quantal Langford runs Langfordesign, a creative studio helping teams, businesses and organizations build and develop their brand identities. He’s also the co-founder of Mat Clash Wrestling, a character-driven brand featuring the Mat Clash card game. Langford also helps coach at Palomar College in California and shares mat talks at a variety of wrestling clinics and seminars. Since 2018, he has supported WIN Magazine with design and marketing. For inquiries, contact info@langfordesign.com).