So you are thinking about wrestling in college...

               With the high school season coming to an end, you might be thinking of wrestling in college.  Whether you are a graduating senior or an underclassman, it is never too early to begin planning for the future. 

                Many wrestlers figure that if they are good enough, the college coaches will contact them.  They have the workman mentality that if they just work hard enough everything will work out in the end.  While that is true to a certain degree, there are several reasons why a wrestler should market himself to college coaches.

                First of all, you don’t have to be a four-time state champion to be a potential college wrestler.  While it is true that college coaches usually go after multi-time state champions, they often miss out on the state champion or state place winner that has not fully achieved his potential. 

                Just because a college coach may not be calling you doesn’t mean that you are not good enough to wrestle in college. Think about it.  There are hundreds of high school state champions at every weight class throughout the United States each year.  In fact, there are probably dozens of two-time state champions at most weight classes each year.  However, there are relatively few college wrestling programs where all these athletes can wrestle.  Most college coaches know about the multi-time state champions, wherever they are located in the country, but they don’t know very much about the one- or two-time state champions unless they are from the states where the college is located.  Excellent high school wrestlers with college potential reside in places like Nevada and Texas that do not have college wrestling programs. 

                A second reason to market yourself to college coaches is that the very act of researching college programs will enable you to learn more about the programs where you could wrestle.  There are many excellent schools that don’t get the national media attention like the perennial powerhouses such as Iowa or Oklahoma State.  Until the last few years nobody talked much about Cornell University as a place to go wrestle, but now in 2011, people are looking at them as a serious contender for the Division I national championship!

                A school like Cornell is looking for a special kind of student-athlete.   I’ve been impressed with the ability of Cornell’s coaching staff to take athletes that weren’t necessarily multi-time state champions and develop them into outstanding college wrestlers. 

                Another important reason to market yourself to college coaches is that you can initiate a contact with them several months before NCAA rules will permit them to contact you.  This gets you on their radar early in your career.  By the time you are a senior, they will have heard of you, whether you are located in their state and close to their campus or far away from them.

                Part of your efforts to market yourself can include sending a letter and a profile sheet, updates on your progress and invitations to watch you wrestle as well as providing them with videos of a few of your matches.  There are some specific things you can do beginning your freshman year in high school, which are too extensive to describe here. 

                I’ve included all of this in my book Wrestle and Win: The Wrestler’s Guide to Strength, Conditioning, Nutrition and College Preparation which you can order here on this blog site.  Three chapters will help you understand how to evaluate college programs, how to maximize your chances of getting a scholarship and walk you through the timeline of things to do each year before you graduate from high school.  There are even sample letters for you to use as you write to college coaches as well as a checklist of what to do on a campus visit.

Warm-up to Win Your Wrestling Match!

                Most wrestlers seem to know that warming up before physical training is an important way to reduce the risks of an injury.  But few wrestlers effectively use a good warm-up routine to help them win matches.  When I attend a wrestling event, I can often tell how a wrestler will perform in a match based on what I see in the warm-up. 

                Some of the important physical reasons to warm-up include getting the heart rate elevated, the blood circulating, and the muscles ready for action.  A good warm-up also stimulates your body’s nervous system to release important hormones associated with the “fight or flight” response.  Warming up before a competition has psychological benefits as well.  These are more important than the physical benefits. 

                The more we care about our performance in a match (and the tougher we perceive the opponent to be) the more we tend to think about it.  As a person thinks about things, he begins to draw more inside himself.  In fact, there is a funny stereotype about nerdy people that are socially awkward because their brains are moving 100 miles an hour and they are not really focused on what is going on around them.  When this happens to a wrestler, we say that his “head is not in the game.”  In reality, the opposite is true; his head is TOO MUCH in the game.  The conscious, thinking part of the brain is turned up and the reacting part is turned down. 

                Here are some signs that tell me that my brain is turned up too high:

1.       My feels a little cold and I feel drawn into myself.

2.       I feel tired, even though I am in shape to wrestle hard for a two-hour practice.

3.       I just want to get the match started and “get it over with.”

4.       I feel tightness in my chest—just a little squeezing pressure that makes me want to take a deep breath and get things stretched out.

To a certain degree, these responses are completely normal.  In fact, a certain amount of mental stress is necessary for optimal performance.  When these feelings are on a higher level than usual, it’s time to get your body moving.

A good warm-up that will prepare you physiologically and mentally will take about 15-20 minutes.  Keys to a good precompetition warm-up:

GET WARM! 

The light jog that I see most wrestlers doing before a tournament is a good start, but make sure to actually get warm.  Either jog a little faster or put on extra clothes.  You can cheat this a little by taking a hot shower before you warm-up.  I once saw world champion Dennis Hall jumping rope with a plastic top on (before the days that they were banned).  One your body starts to sweat a lot you can move to specific wrestling activities. 

DO EXPLOSIVE MOVEMENTS

                Prime your body’s fast-twitch muscles by doing explosive jumping movements, clapping push-ups, short bear crawls and spin drills.  Each of these should be short in duration (4-6 seconds).  Because you are already warm, their purpose is simply to prepare yourself to move fast.

SITUATION WRESTLING AT 100% INTENSITY

                You can do some light drills of your favorite moves if you really want, but is that really necessary at this point? Is the 5^th time you hit the move in a warm-up any better than the first time?

                I remember watching two wrestlers warm up about 45 minutes before the NCAA finals one year and what they were doing made a lot of sense to me.  They would wrestle at what appeared to be 100% intensity for about 10-20 seconds in the positions they were most likely to get into in their matches.   They were in shape to wrestle hard for two hours, so they weren’t likely to tire themselves out.

AFTER THE WARM-UP, BEFORE THE MATCH

                After the warm up, change into dry clothes.  Have a clean, dry t-shirt so you don’t develop a chill before your match.  Even a stocking cap or a ball cap is a good idea to help you stay warm.   If you have 30-40 minutes before you compete, it might be helpful to take in about 12-16 ounces of a sports drink like Gatorade. 

Once you have established a good warm-up, all you need to do before your match is elevate your heart rate with a few short sprints, even if you have several matches throughout the day.  Ten minutes before each match do about five or six 10-yard sprints.  Some shadow drilling will keep your heart rate up and keep you in the right mindset.  They key is not to push it too hard in the minutes before the match.  Just stay loose.

Using Set-up Tactics to Score from the Neutral Position

            When I was in college, our team placed a heavy emphasis on using tactics to set-up an opponent for a takedown.  Tactics are not necessarily specific moves, like an arm drag, but they are like, well, tactics.  It’s probably easier just to describe them.  Before I start, I should mention that the original source (that I am aware of) of the concept of tactics was published in an article entitled “Tactics” by Ed Yarovinski, sometime in the 1980s. 

            You should use tactics several times in a match and be able to switch from one to another as the situation dictates increases their effectiveness. 

            The first tactic is Breaking Balance, which is using any kind of control tie to get an opponent out of position so you can shoot.  The best ties for this are simply a collar tie used effectively to snap the head, and underhook, or a Russian tie.  Using this tactic looks a lot like an Iowa-style of wrestling where your are in an opponent’s face and just knock him or her out of position until you can attack the legs.  Probably the best thing about this tactic is that it keeps opponents on the defense.

            Binding is probably the next most effective tactic.  This involves using a control tie such as an underhook, Russian tie, or wrist control to slow down an opponent.  When the opponent works to clear from the ties, there is often an opening for you to attack.  You must be focused on aggressive wrestling, however, because if you just hang on the tie you can be called for stalling.  Avoid getting lazy in this position and don’t get in the habit of hanging in the position too long.

            Maneuvering is kind of the opposite of binding.  Most coaches call this clearing ties.  Use this when an opponent ties you up.  If an opponent hangs onto a collar tie, clear the tie or maneuver out with a slide-by or a duck-under as the situation dictates.  Clear a Russian tie by spinning or attacking the far elbow.  When an opponent has an underhook, battle for head position and go on the offensive.  The key is to look for a scoring opportunity as you are clearing the tie, don’t just clear the tie only to give an opponent another fresh start.

            Another very effective tactic to practice is Repeated Attack.  This is simply planning two or three attacks in a row.  Basically, as soon as an opponent blocks your first shot, you follow it up with a second.  Timing is critical.  You don’t want to take a shot from a poor position, but you can’t wait too long for an opponent to get back to a defendable position.  Your repeated attack can be the same shot, if the opponent is in position or it can be another shot.  Double leg attacks work well for same-shot repeated attacks as long as you keep your head up and don’t get stuck on your knees. You can also follow a double-leg attack with an outside single (high crotch) attempt. 

            Most wrestlers and coaches use Reshots so I won’t spend a lot of time on them here.  A reshot is simply stopping your opponent’s initial attack, and attacking him before he can get back to a defensible position.  Double legs, ankle picks and sweep singles are all effective re-shot attacks depending on the situation.

            Fakes.  I would much rather wrestle an opponent that was very strong than one who was quick and moved well.  Using fakes to set-up an opponent is an easy way to keep an opponent on the defense, because every well-executed fake must be taken seriously.  Unfortunately, I don’t see nearly enough wrestlers using this great tactic.  One wrestler who made a career on this kind of movement is the legendary John Smith, now the head coach at Oklahoma State University.  He would change his levels and fake a shot with his entire body and even world-class opponents could rarely stop his shot. 

            The final tactic I found to be effective is called High and Low.  Using this tactic simply involves alternating between attacking the upper and lower body.  My favorite way to do this was to use a head snap to set up a leg attack or faking a leg attack and then snapping the head for a go-behind takedown.  It can also involve using an upper-body control tie to set-up an inside trip.  If you are a good thrower, there are several opportunities to hit body locks, bear hugs and lateral drops after an opponent fights off an initial shot.

            The key to effective tactic drilling is to have a good training partner.  The reason I like tactics so much is because they are the kind of movement that actually happens in a match.  However, to effectively drill them, your partner should be giving you at least 70% resistance and must react to your set-ups.  I might mention here that when I coach a drilling session, I pay as close attention to the defensive wrestler as I do to the guy who is drilling the shots.  If the defensive drill partner is not reacting realistically (sprawling, level changing and reacting to fakes), then the drill is a waste of time.  Think about it.  Who makes you better?  It’s your training partners.  If they aren’t giving you a good defensive look on your shots, then find a new partner.

            Incorporating tactics into your drilling will give you effective series of attacks from each position.  Eventually, you will get into a rhythm of how the opponent reacts and what effective second- and third moves are available. 

            When I coach a drill session, often I will say that the drill is Breaking Balance to any takedown or I will call for Re-shots.  The key is that I don’t just call for a move like a single leg, I try to call for a set-up, which will open up scoring opportunities for many moves.

            Incorporate tactics into your training and you will find that your takedown success will increase quickly, because your set-ups will be more fluid.

Investing in Your Wrestling Training

DISCLOSURE: I offer training lessons for athletes, so I am admitting up front that what I am about to write will be slanted from my point of view...and it might not sit well with fans or coaches of team sports.

January and February...
AT THIS TIME OF THE SEASON, a wrestler's strengths and weaknesses are becoming obvious as wrestlers move through the gauntlet of increasingly tougher opponents.  The natural tendency for parents and wrestlers is to blame the high school wrestling coaches for shortcomings in their son's or daughter's lack of preparedness.  To a certain extent they are right; the expectation is that a parent can entrust coaches to develop athletes and have kids ready to compete.  However, there are great differences between the knowledge and abilities of coaches.  Most that I have met are very committed and trying to do the right thing, but many will admit that their experience is somewhat limited.  There is a BIG difference between being able to teach a move and understanding how to incorporate that move into drilling and live wrestling in such a way that the wrestler can use it effectively.


A FEW YEARS AGO I moved to an area and was asked to provide private instruction to an athletic high school freshman with limited wrestling experience.  We trained throughout the winter and into late May.  After about a month I was very encouraged, and thought that he could be competitive for at least a couple of top-three finishes in the state tournament by the time he graduated from high school.

His other love was football.  In June of that year, he attended a few football camps, and, after some encouragement from his football coach, determined to specialize in football and their conditioning program and chose not participate in wrestling any more.

As promised by his coach, for being committed to the football program, he was able to earn a starting position and garnered many minutes of playing time.  He also had high hopes of being recruited to play college football and attended camps and participated in combines to assess his skills and playing ability. Unfortunately for him, during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons his football team went 8-18, winning only one game his senior year and losing by nearly 40 points at home on "Senior Night."   I felt terrible for him, because I knew how hard he had worked, and I felt like the system that he bought into had let him down. 

I am NOT SAYING there is anything wrong with football or other team sports.  I am not even suggesting that wrestlers should not play football or other team sports.  What I am saying is that there is only so much an individual can do to create success.  There are so many factors beyond one person's control.   This becomes increasingly challenging when subtle pressure is applied by many team sports coaches (albeit in a positive way) to specialize.

More than likely there are wrestling coaches that apply this same pressure.  The difference is that when a kid specializes in wrestling, his or her efforts are more likely to produce individual wins.  In fact, within about one wrestling season, it is easy to see whether the effort has paid off.  In team sports, sometimes kids get strung along with promises of how the team will be in the future.  When a kid leaves an individual sport to specialize in a team sport, he or she really does roll the dice on whether the team will have success.

ON THE OTHER HAND, in wrestling or other individual sports, when you invest in camps and clinics, your development WILL pay off.  Your team may not win dual meets or tournaments, but an individual can win multiple state championships, get noticed by college coaches and perhaps even get a college scholarship.

Some families with a team sports mentality put a lot more of the responsibility for their child's development on the shoulders of the high school coaches and wonder why their wrestler can't just jump into a season and beat kids who are wrestling in the off season.

The reality is that many wrestlers will probably benefit from specialized instruction and participation in off-season training.  Here are a few things to consider when determining whether to shell out money for private training or camps.

1. Is the additional training really necessary?  A first-year wrestler and kids who are not naturally intense will probably not benefit that much.  Wait until your kid has mastered a few of the basics and has competed enough to understand how the advanced drills relate to competition.
2. Is it too late?  Three weeks before the end of the season is a little late to get a kid with a .500 record to accomplish anything that will make a big difference.  On the other hand. a kid who has won 75 or 80% of the matches may benefit from a little tune-up and some refinement on a few specific things.
3. Are you willing to make a long-term commitment?  I like off-season training programs that are once or twice per week.  (More training might provide more benefit, but a kid still needs the chance to be a kid and have opportunities to do other things.)  I'd rather see a kid train for three or four months once per week, than cramming all the learning into a few camps once in a summer.    

Essential Contact Drills

In my club practices we begin every training session with what I call "contact" drills.  These drills are designed to develop a wrestler's automatic reaction to the most common positions that happen in every match.  For the most part, these drills help wrestlers maneuver out of an opponent's attempts to use set-ups or tie-ups, but there are a few other offensive and general drills we use. 

We've all seen down-to-the wire matches where a wrestler with a narrow lead gets warned for stalling, because he or she goes to a collar tie and tries to slow the opponent down.  The idea behind the contact drills is that a wrestler can look like he or she is doing a lot of work without actively trying to score.  The beauty of some of these techniques is that they generally set up a low-risk takedown. 

Another thing most of us have observed is wrestlers who trail in the closing seconds of a match who cannot effectively set up a shot.  These drills will help in those situations as well.

I typically will have the wrestlers drill each technique for about a minute.  I like to have one partner hit the move continuously for about 30 seconds and then the other person drill it.  These are pretty quick techniques, so most athletes will get several reps in thirty seconds.

There are a number of these drills, so I generally don't use each one every day, but the kids see all of them at least every other practice.  Moves have different names in different locations so hopefully the names will not be too foreign and the general descriptions will help.  I am assuming most people reading this will have some familiarity with these techniques.  My objective is not to teach new techniques, but to highlight ones that I think wrestlers don't use effectively in matches and suggest that we get them to drill them more frequently.

Slide-by

In nearly every match at the high school level you will see some form of a collar tie-up position.  The slide-by can be used by wrestlers initiating the tie-up or defending against it.  There are two keys in this drill.  1) Get your opponent to push into you; 2) Perform a slight cartwheeling motion with the upper body as you look away from your opponent's collar tie.

Elbow pass-by

This can be used as an attack or a counter attack.  Assume you are trying to attach your opponent's right leg or get close to the right side of his or her body.  Begin by circling to your right to the the opponent to circle.  As the opponent commits weight to the right leg, use your left hand to pass the opponent's elbow across his body.  As you do so (and this is key) tuck the right side of your head against his ribs to seal off the arm from coming back.  Your head should be in about the same position as it would be for a high crotch.

Arm drag from wrist tie

Assume you are attacking the same side as on the elbow pass-by.  Set this up with the same foot motion.  This time, however, dangle your left arm in such a way as to invite your opponent to grab your wrist.  When he does so, do an arm drag.  This drag will be faster if you step to the outside with your left foot instead of stepping between the feet with your right foot.  (If you have time the drag to coincide with the person stepping with his right leg, you won't need to penetrate with a step between your opponent's feet.)  Again, tuck your head against the ribs.  On this technique, your right ear will actually end up near the area over the person's kidney, if you circle to get the angle.

Rotational arm drag (or chop drag)

The finish to this is the same as the arm drag from the wrist tie.  Use the rotational drag against an opponent who is trying to control your elbows.  A chop drag is effective as the person is reaching.  I drill these, but I've never used them in a match.  However, I've scored with the arm drag from a wrist tie many times against good wrestlers.

Knee-slide recover position

Get in on a head-outside (or high crotch) shot.  Inside kneed should be down, outside knee should be up.  Wrap your hands down the calf of the leg you are attacking.  Don't hug the leg to your chest.  Hugging it usually means your above the knee and allows him to bend his knee on the sprawl--it also mean that when he sprawls you are more likely to get extended and pulled out of position.  Wrapping the calf, so to speak, allows you to keep some control of his lower leg without getting your body pulled so far out of position.

Allow your training partner to sprawl at about 75% resistance.  When he sprawls take a small step forward with the outside leg, drive your head up and into his ribs as you slide the inside knee back underneath you to recover your position.  Do this three or four times.  On the last one, finish by driving across to a double leg attack.

Front headlock shuck

Some high school kids are very effective at this.  Simply chase the ankle like you would on a go-behind.  As the opponent attempts to square up, shuck his head circle around the other side.  Sidenote: Many kids get into trouble when they lock their hands under an opponent's arm pit.  This sets them up for a sucker drag.  On a front headlock go-behind or shuck, it isn't even necessary to lock the hands, it just slows you down.  In folkstyle, don't worry about trying to put a lot of pressure on someone or choke them, just get behind them and score!

Sucker drag from front headlock

This is similar to an arm drag when an opponent locks his front headlock under your armpit (or anytime you can control the elbow of the arm he has controlling your head. 

Peak out (Auble out)

This is a move you don't see very often, but if it's drilled correctly and frequently it can be effectively used because there are many times it presents itself in a match.  The easiest way to drill this is to have a drill partner drape both arms behind your armpits when you are kneeling in front of him in the referee's position.  (It's like he is in a front headlock position, but both arms are behind your instead of only one.)  To execute the move, cross your left hand in front of your right to bear your weight as you elevate your right knee like you are doing a sit-out.  Hit a short sit-out to the right side as you peak your head under his left armpit.  Attach his legs like you are shooting a double leg takedown with a really good angle.

Sometimes you can hit this move when your opponent has a front headlock.  It can also work when you have shot a head inside single and your opponent has a loose whizzer and squares his hips.

Head snap-leg Attack Combinations

            Any time you snap an opponent's head, his or her natural reaction will be to raise the head, which opens up leg attacks.  This set up can also work by making a convincing leg attack fake and then snapping the head as the opponent begins to sprawl.

Monkey throws (Lateral drop)

We call them monkey throws in practice with our little guys, because I have the kids squat down on their haunches when they throw each other.  It eliminates the fear and they can get a lot of reps without beating each other up.  Withing a few days they can all hit some pretty good lateral drops, but we still keep them low for most of the reps.

I also teach them when to use this.  I suggest the mentality is to score with traditional takedowns to build a lead. An opponent will invariably coming rushing in to try and tie the score.  Wrestlers who have been trained to throw and drilled effectively can break a close match wide open.  We also teach a few step-around lateral drops to use when you are losing. 

My throwing philosophy is taken from the movie Quigley Down Under where Quigley wins a pistol duel with a guy who didn't think Quigley could shoot.  As the bad guy was dying, Quigley said, "I told you I didn't have a lot of use for pistols, I never said that I didn't know how to use them."

Some of the mat drills are the following.

Build up from Belly

Most kids have never learned basic techniques from building up from the belly.  Key points include keeping the opponent's arms from being underneath your arms--don't let him or her under your armpits.  In fact, if you can get two hands controlling one of the opponents hands and be under his or her arms it is even better.

Build up by bringing the inside knee up to your inside elbow.  (An opponent will generally ride off to one side. The inside knee is the one closest to the side his or her hips or feet is on.)  Don't let go of the hand control.  Support yourself with elbows and knees, but control at least one hand!

Hip Heist and flip grandby. 

Incorporate several drills of these movements with and without partners each week.  Being comfortable executing these techniques will come in handy in many situations in matches.

Feel free to post some of your favorite drills including series and move combination drills to this blog.