Concluding the 2008 School-Age Tournament Training Program

After 3 months of hard work and mental preparation, we are finally coming to the end of the training program that I put together. I believe the group has improved in leaps and bounds in the last 3 months. I am happy to say that the team's attitude has been excellent and every wrestler has developed more of their talent into useable skills. The key theme for this training program was to work on the basics. To that end, we only learnt a few very useful takedowns and ground attacks. Rather than just learn moves randomly, we worked through each technique very thoroughly and also studied the setups applicable to each move. The takedowns that we learnt may have been basic, but they contained the core footwork and body movements that are required to learn more advanced moves. We also worked on getting a well-rounded defence and understanding the crucial things that can either make an attack succeed or fail.

Finally, towards the end of the training period, I worked with each wrestler individually to develop his/her style and to encourage them to use their best moves effectively.

Looking Towards The Future:

I have deliberately omitted a lot of ground attacks and throws from this training program. I believed that learning the basic setups, attacks and defences were the top priority for the group. My intention has always been to branch out and teach more diverse techniques in future. The challenge will be to incorporate these new techniques into the different styles of each wrestler without confusing them. Learning more techniques is fine, as long as one does not lose sight of one's overall wrestling strategy.

I can already see each senior wrestler developing his/her own style of wrestling. This has definitely been something that has only happened over the last 6 weeks or so. This is because each wrestler is getting better at their basic moves and can now try different things to make those moves effective. This results in different wrestlers developing different styles. Thus, one of the important goals for the future is to continue to develop the individual styles for each wrestler.

The greatest barrier, in my opinion, has been the lack of consistent training due to sickness or injury. This has affected almost all the wrestlers and has resulted in very few wrestlers attending 2 or more training sessions per week. I do NOT think that this has been a big problem for this tournament, but as we advance to higher levels of competition, the ability to train consistently will become much more important. The first goal for an advanced training program is for each competitor to attend classes consistently. Once this is achieved, then he/she will be able to work on fitness and strength training on days with no classes (Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends). However, if the wrestler does not attend training regularly, there is very little chance of him/her being able to train their skills while also working on fitness/strength at the same time. Advanced wrestlers need to work both skills and fitness. This can only be achieved by attending training sessions to practise your skills and for sparring, while also improving fitness in your spare time. Every wrestler who wants to advance to more difficult training programs must understand that this level of commitment is required in order to train at a high level. But this level of training is not required for everyone. Future training programs will also cater for those who enjoy wrestling, but who are not able to commit to such a high level of training.

Nevertheless, irrespective of which level of training anyone chooses, the foremost requirement is: to display a good training attitude and respect for your training partners every time you attend a class. This philosophy will continue to be stressed in all future training sessions.

With these goals and challenges in mind, we will continue to learn, both as coaches and as wrestlers, and to strive for improvement in all areas of wrestling.

------ "Citius, Altius, Fortius" ------

This was a very good week of training. Wednesday's session for me was to take all the competitors on a one-on-one session to fine tune their technique and go over their match strategy. In particular, 2 things I stressed were: 1) Wrestle to your strengths. Use the techniques you know well and manipulate your opponent so that you help set up your best moves. 2) Be tough every time you contact your opponent. Every time you touch your opponent, it needs to be heavy and strong in order to keep the pressure on them. Move them around with snaps, jerks and pushes. Do not just tense up and grapple aimlessly with them.

On Friday, we did lots of match preparation drills. I made it clear that the drills were to be done with the same intensity and concentration as competitive wrestling, but we practised the moves cooperatively so as not to injure anybody before the tournament. The important thing was to stay mentally focussed and concentrating on maintaining a good stance all the way through the round.

This Wednesday's training was rather lacklustre. We did some more flow drills which focussed on centre penetrations following into the takedown. But due to a lack of energy and intensity, I switched the class over to doing lots of sparring in the end.

Friday was a lot better. There was more energy within the group, and as a result, we managed to revise our single leg shots and finishes. I was also very happy with the sparring sessions. Most of the wrestlers were very effective in the tie up and actively moved their opponents around to get a good leg shot. However, footwork and level changes still need to be worked on. Footwork involves penetrating deep in for a centre shot, or stepping in close to the opponent's foot for a side shot. Level changes need to be done at the same time as the shot. You cannot shoot and then try to level change after that. This will be our focus for next week.

We went back to revising snap downs this Friday. One common mistake that I observed was that wrestlers did not put enough body weight behind the snap. This problem can be solved by pulling the opponent towards you first, then sprawling all your weight on the opponent's head/neck. This puts much more pressure on their neck compared to just pulling them down. This move should be used in conjunction with headlock and go-behind techniques in order to score a takedown.

This week we returned to generally brushing up our takedowns. We need to keep practising those 4 basic takedowns until they can be done smoothly. Only then, can these lead on to more techniques. For example, the technique for ankle pick is based on the same footwork as the head-pull to single leg that we've been training. Techniques for footsweeps to single legs are based on the same footwork as the 2-on-1 armlock that we practised today. Peek outs and duckunders are based on the high-crotch technique. The sweep single teaches the knee movement techniques required to learn the low single. Therefore learning the basic footwork and setups in these 4 moves is a good investment because they are used in almost all other leg attack techniques. But even if you did not learn any other leg attacks besides these 4 moves, you can still win matches with them because they are the highest percentage moves in wrestling. Next week, we will revise another of the top 3 high percentage move in freestyle wrestling: the snap down. Also revised ground defence techniques on Wednesday. This is the area which I thought needed the most work from the X-Cup tournament.

We had some fun with a new move this Friday. The outside leg-reaping throw. This is probably the simplest, but most useful throw to learn in freestyle wrestling. It works really well when your opponent is off balance and you have a tight overhook/whizzer on them (usually when you sprawl correctly and grab the whizzer). Stepping in and throwing from here can get you a pin! The important things are to step towards your opponent's foot while pulling hard on the whizzer, then sagging down as you cut their leg with yours. Don't try to lift or use your hips to flip them. You must transfer your weight and sag downwards for this throw. Watch Kendall Cross of the USA do this move in the 1996 Olympic Finals (it happens at the first 30 seconds of the match). If it can be done in an Olympic Gold Medal match, you can definitely use it in your matches! This move is favoured by the tall lanky people in their weight class. When used properly, it makes if very intimidating for shorter opponents to shoot in on you because you could sprawl, whizzer and throw them.

Practised a new technique in class today. This was a ground move where the top person uses a Chicken Wing (or arm bar) hold to wrap the opponent up and wind their arm around their back. When done correctly with lots of pressure, this move is very difficult to counter. The trick is to get a tight chicken wing hold on the opponent's near arm (on the same side as your body). Walk around to the other side of their body while pulling tightly on the arm. This will force your opponent to turn over. Once you have them in the danger position, grab their chin with your other hand and secure the hold or try for the pin.

Other than that, we did lots of sparring too. We did some situational sparring from the whizzer position. But everyone seemed pretty tired and flat. We have been working pretty hard and maybe we need a short break to refresh ourselves on Friday. So I think Friday will be more of a troubleshooting session where everyone can try to work on their technique.

Daniel and I recorded one of our sparring rounds. We're on youtube! Check it out.

After the X-Cup tournament of the previous week, we now resume training for the school age nationals. The focus is certainly on sparring now. In the last couple of Fridays, we have spent a lot of time doing full sparring and situational sparring practice.

Today we started off by drilling the front headlock sprawl to go-behinds. Two methods were explored. The first was to use the headlock to crunch the opponent down and drive with the legs behind the opponent. Grab the opponent's hip or ankle to complete the go-behind. The second was to use the headlock to set up movement towards one side, but then using your opponent's momentum to shuck their head to the other side and go behind. This second method works when the opponent defends the first method. Then we did situational sparring where one person started off in a sprawl on top of the opponent.

Congratulations to all the competitors at the X-Cup last weekend. It was great to see everyone focussed and wrestling positively using the techniques they had learnt over the last few months. As a coach, I was busy busy busy, working with the wrestlers to warm them up and to go over match strategy. It was great fun and a good learning experience for me too!

Technically, I took a lot of notes on each of the individual wrestlers. This information will be very useful over the next couple of months as we train towards the school-age nationals. In general, I thought the areas we need to work on as a group are: 1) Ground Defence, 2) Choosing the right setup for the takedown and 3) Sprawling.

X-CUP Results 2008

The X-Cup was held at Fremantle PCYC. There was a good turnout from the Freo, Claremont and Gosnells clubs which set things up for an exciting day of wrestling.

Fremantle was well represented by our school-age team, our kids and our women's duo (Emma and Rhea). Congratulations to Kieran and Sean on their first wrestling tournament. Kieran wrestled well in all his matches and showed great potential. Lucy had a tough exhibition match against Hayden, but lost out to his size and strength despite wrestling well. Hayden then went on to wrestle 3 more tough matches and gaining great experience in the process.

Daniel Mitchell and Daniel Carrigg both were in good form, indicating that their preparations for the school-age tournament are on track. Mitchell had a match against Shahab and was beaten by his opponent's strong tie-ups and double legs. Despite the loss, Mitchell fought hard and was proactive in trying to take Shahab down. Mike Wood had a mixed day, winning his first match but then getting pinned by Carrigg in a quick scramble. Nonetheless, his techniques were looking sharp and, with the right training, should continue to improve at a fast pace.

Emma and Rhea wrestled each other, as they have done in many competitions in the past. Rhea went for an early takedown and looked promising, but once on the ground lost out in the scramble and got pinned by a beautiful headlock throw by Emma.

The youngsters, Andrew, Kai, Nick and Sean, put on a good show. They wrestled in great spirit and entertained the crowd at the same time too.

X-CUP Results 2008

The X-Cup was held at Fremantle PCYC. There was a good turnout from the Freo, Claremont and Gosnells clubs which set things up for an exciting day of wrestling.

Fremantle was well represented by our school-age team, our kids and our women's duo (Emma and Rhea). Congratulations to Kieran and Sean on their first wrestling tournament. Kieran wrestled well in all his matches and showed great potential. Lucy had a tough exhibition match against Hayden, but lost out to his size and strength despite wrestling well. Hayden then went on to wrestle 3 more tough matches and gaining great experience in the process.

Daniel Mitchell and Daniel Carrigg both were in good form, indicating that their preparations for the school-age tournament are on track. Mitchell had a match against Shahab and was beaten by his opponent's strong tie-ups and double legs. Despite the loss, Mitchell fought hard and was proactive in trying to take Shahab down. Mike Wood had a mixed day, winning his first match but then getting pinned by Carrigg in a quick scramble. Nonetheless, his techniques were looking sharp and, with the right training, should continue to improve at a fast pace.

Emma and Rhea wrestled each other, as they have done in many competitions in the past. Rhea went for an early takedown and looked promising, but once on the ground lost out in the scramble and got pinned by a beautiful headlock throw by Emma.

The youngsters, Andrew, Kai, Nick and Sean, put on a good show. They wrestled in great spirit and entertained the crowd at the same time too.

We were tapering for the X-Cup this week. As part of the peaking exercises, we did a lot of speedy sparring drills. Each round was for only 45 seconds with an emphasis of speed and aggression.

Also worked hard to learn a comprehensive defensive sprawl. We worked both the side-sprawl to the whizzer, and the front sprawl to the headlock. The important thing with the whizzer was to control their head, scoot sideways, face in the same direction as your opponent and throw them forward with your overhook, thus preventing them from circling behind you for the takedown.

The important thing with the front sprawl was to get both legs back quickly so your hips are flat on the ground. Push yourself backwards away from your opponent. If you manage to get the headlock, keep the pressure on them by driving with your legs and squeeze with your shoulder.

Practised our top two "favourite takedowns" today. This was a good time to consolidate what we've learnt and start applying it to everyday wrestling. The reason I asked for 2 types of takedowns was so that we could use one to set up the other. Make your opponent defend one of the takedowns and switch to the other if you can't get the first one.

Of course, we should know more than just 2 techniques. The theme, however, is the same. No matter how many techniques you know, it is always about using the setups for one technique to open up possibilities for another technique. This concept of giving yourself options against your opponent really shows how important it is to link setups with takedowns. It is the setup that gives you options. For example, a 2-on-1 armlock can be used to setup a single leg, but if the opponent fights it, you can push the arm away and shoot a double leg. Similarly, an inside tie (your hand on the inside controlling opponent's bicep) can be used to setup a duckunder, or pulled across to setup a sweep single to the opposite side.

We continued with practising sprawls and overhooks/whizzers. If your opponent is trying to go around behind you while you sprawl, use the whizzer to extend him forward and block his attempts to get behind. If your opponent hangs on and tries to drive straight through your sprawl, use the whizzer to pull your opponent up, get your hips in close to his and whip toss them to the mat for a pin.

Finally, I was very happy with the sparring today. I really think everyone in the class is getting the concept of push-pull-lateral movement. We've learnt several good setups, but we need to use them together continuously. Don't just hang onto one setup if it is not working. Pull the head with a snap, or push it to get an angle. Drag the arm and move laterally to create opportunities to attack. This is what the push-pull concept is all about. Use all the setups we've learnt to continuously off balance your opponent so you can attack.

As for myself, I got to wrestle with everyone today. I've also started to notice a few problems with some of my own techniques. My gut wrench is getting a bit sloppy and I'm not driving enough with my feet to gain leverage for the turn. Same with my ankle lace. I need to get off my knees and apply more pressure on my opponent's back. I've been watching this video to try and help solve my technique problems with the ankle lace.

Continued to drill the stuff learnt last week: Finishes to single and double legs.

We then practised the front sprawl. Some aspects are the same as the side sprawl that we practised 2 weeks ago. We need to drop our hips down fast and put pressure on the opponent's head. But instead of scooting out to the side for an overhook, the front sprawl involves snapping your opponent forward so you can go-behind. The go-behind needs a lot of leg power to drive into your opponent. Do not just try to jump around behind your opponent. In this video, you can see Tom Brands dominate with his front sprawl and go-behinds. He doesn't just sprawl defensively. Brands uses his attacks to force the opponent onto his knees, then puts great pressure on the head and shoulders while driving with his legs to go-behind.

Today's training session was all about drills. We learnt a couple of finishes.
1) Single leg into a high leg control from the outside and inside. Elevating the leg and stepping in to trip the opponent. See how it works in real life in this video (enjoy the country music soundtrack!)
2) Double leg, scooting into a good position under your opponent, then lifting and turning them at the same time. Excellent video here.
3) Double leg driving in a tight circular motion to take opponent down. This is a good driving technique that works when you can't lift your opponent.

Setups: Today we learnt how to fight to get a setup. This works by pushing and pulling the opponent's arms and head/neck. Work hard to off balance opponent and then use one of the setups for the attacks that we've been drilling. Setups and attacks are not enough. We need to create the angle or level-change in order for the setup to succeed.

First thing today was to practise those 3 moves from last week again. But in addition to those 3 moves, we also learned the Wrist Grab to Sweep Single Leg. The key to the sweep single is the big step in the direction of the takedown followed by dropping down low to one knee and swivelling your whole body on that knee until you sweep behind your opponent. This move can also be done without dropping down to the knee and instead swivelling on your feet.

We followed up last week's training with more focus on setups. This week, we closely drilled 3 types:
Head Pull -> Outside Single Leg
Duck Under -> High Crotch
2-on-1 Armdrag (Russian Arm Drag) -> Double Leg

My approach to training takedowns is to associate certain setups with certain types of shots. This is because not every setup can be used for every attack. Some setups work better with certain shots and it is important that these standard combinations are understood by every wrestler. These moves are not only the most basic, they are also the most commonly used moves in high level competition. Once the basic movements are learned, some variations are possible with each setup. But this is a lesson for some other time!

We did another interesting drill today where we wrestled from sprawling/scrambling positions. This is a good drill which we will use more in future. This video shows some of the best scrambling I have ever seen: John Smith vs John Fisher. Take note of their excellent defence to each shot (sprawl), their control of the arm and the head (whizzer) and the counter-attacks. Study it carefully and you will see both wrestlers using the moves we learned today, but they go from one attack to defence to counterattack to counter-counterattack very quickly. This is what scrambling is all about.

This was a final tune-up for those going to the nationals. The main thing we drilled today was the setup and follow through to the shot. For example,

Snap Down -> Spin Behind
Head Pull -> Outside Single Leg
Duck Under -> High Crotch or Inside Single Leg
Front Headlock -> Outside Single Leg
Wrist Grab -> Sweep Single
Russian Arm Drag -> Double Leg
Overhook -> Spinning Arm Throw

We will be continuing to drill this more in future. These combinations form a strong basis for learning leg attacks in freestyle wrestling.

We also emphasized the importance of partner-work. Drilling with a partner is the best way to become fluent with moves. Instead of just practising moves together, we focussed on how to be a good training partner by being active and providing the correct amount of resistance to allow them to train effectively.

We did a lot of sparring practice today. The main problem with the standup wrestling is still not changing levels quickly enough to take the shot. Remember that set-ups off balance your opponent so that you can either get an angle or change level on your opponent. Changing angle and level allows you to shoot for a good takedown position. Finally, a good takedown position allows you to scramble effectively and get the takedown. These things all happen in a chain.

Also covered ground defence. The 3 main defensive strategies we looked at were: Bracing, Sitting Up and Grabbing Hands. Bracing is good when your opponent attacks your head and gut. Sitting Up is good to defend your ankles. Grabbing Hands is a useful way to prevent your opponent from getting a grip and using moves to score points on you.

Next week we will look at more upper body tie-ups and practise using them to set up shots and throws.

We covered how to finish takedowns from difficult positions. Two scenarios were considered:

1. If you shoot badly and end up on your knees, and you are still far away from your opponent's legs, you need to scramble defensively. Do not let your opponent stretch you out. Instead, get up on all fours and start circling. Do NOT end up like this: sprawled.

2. If you shoot well, but still end up being partially sprawled on, you can either scramble defensively as described above, or continue for the takedown. To continue the takedown, scoot your knees under your chest. This helps you get your base balance. Once you have your base, keep your head up and try to straighten your back. Get under your opponent's centre of gravity and continue with the takedown. Like this: single leg from knees. The blue wrestler (Bruce Baumgartner) has both knees under his opponent's centre of gravity, which allows him to make his back straight, which then allows him to follow through the takedown. Here's another picture of Baumgartner displaying good takedown posture.

In today's lesson, we continued working on shooting for the single leg. The technique we covered was a head tie to a side-single. From a head tie, pull your opponent and step around in a circle. This opens up an angle for you to attack opponent's legs. So if you have your right hand on your opponent's head, pull his/her head and circle to your left, then shoot with your left leg. Here, you can see dual Olympic gold medallist Arsen Fadzaev using this move (link to youtube). Even when he misses with it, he keeps trying and eventually gets the takedown. Unfortunately for him though, he lost this match in the last 10 seconds!