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.