Trying something new here. Going to start sharing videos of all the crispy wrestling technique I can find. I’m gonna show off PAC-5 wrestlers as well as senior and NCAA competitors while saving everything in one place for myself. Self-serving, I know. Here we go:
First up: we’ve been playing with outside step sequences and how you can “swerve” from one attack to another. Like this elbow control representing a single and outside stepping the other way.
Good nuance from both guys. Coleman’s mini fake/hesitation probably got him to Hall’s legs…but Hall’s decision to force the single leg position saves him. (I love this as double D).
Nothing to see here ‘cept a really cool sequence and probably CTE.
Last one for now: a la Kemerer and others, our guys have been playing with the necessity of head position (or not). Shooting head inside attacks, popping their heads out on the reaction, and finishing before any adjustment.
Fuck it, who needs to work? I’ve shown this to our wrestlers a bunch. 1) to demo how confident Vito is here. He knows he’ll get the right look he wants and doesn’t force it until it’s right. 2) GD does he turn the corner and get behind Glory’s leg QUICK. Really crispy.
Probably my favorite HI wrestler to date, Terukina was masterful in this match. Clock control, ring generalship, etc. But what I love is his single finish here. Short compared to WYO, he shows head wheel before hitting almost a duck to finish head outside for the winning TD.
Something simple that our wrestlers have really added to their games: eating their opponents’ snaps, gathering their feet, and getting to a leg attack of their own. So minor, but a nice tool to have.
Been playing with outside step sequences for two reasons. 1) so many kids are learning it early, and we need to be able to recognize it from a defensive standpoint. 2) it allows kids to attack both legs quicker without learning to shoot ambidextrously.
So here’s the thing: sometimes I spend weeks on a concept that doesn’t always take with our guys…then all of a sudden they’re doing it regularly in drilling. I LOVE this. Case in point: getting to the ankle on singles to negate the shin whizzer EARLY.
This is from Mat Sense out in Oregon. I don’t see him on Twitter or I’d tag him. Rowley does a superb job turning his knee out, getting his toe into the mat, driving his knee over his toes, and wrestling back into the offense guy. Super imp concept in single D.
A note about “playing” which we say a lot in our wrestling room. I attended a Gary Mayabb clinic a few years back, and the man blew my mind on a number of fronts. But he always exposed kids to new concepts, then said “go play” with a shoo of his hands. I’ve definitely…
Adopted this. BUT, play and experiment only works if your guys trust you. I’ve been very fortunate to work with kids who do. Blue hair started wrestling for us as a soph. He’s now a soph at Augsburg. Other kid started wrestling for us…
As a seventh grade and just won a state title as a soph. I feel confident going into our room and telling our guys: I want to play with this. I’m not sure if it’ll work. It’s stuck in my mind, so let’s explore. They are ALWAYS open to it. #fortunate
Feel good post alert: had our second practice under our new club and had good mix of our kids, kids from other schools, old, and young. Rider, top, is the younger sibling of one of our past club wrestlers current wrestling at SOU, and I’m pretty sure…
his gut is better than his big sister’s. Sorry Kyara! We don’t charge fees at this club as we don’t want money to be the reason a kid doesn’t have opportunities on the mat. We’re open to all schools, and we’re trying raise HI’s collective bar of wrestling ability.
Also: Micah, bottom, was a team captain for our school team this past year. He’s at least 150 now, and Ryder can’t weigh more than 70 lbs.
Super basic, under-appreciated tech. Too many younger wrestlers don’t know how to wrestle though the FHL position. They’re too willing to go to their knees or wait for the stalemate. Elbow control-head pummel (ear switch)-circle into the lock.
I really love watching the Japanese wrestle across all levels. Could be my half-Japanese heritage or my technique nerdiness. Probably both.
I love the way Asano (blue) wrestles. His head/hands defense is top-notch. He’s constantly getting his head in the way of red’s leg attacks and turning that natural downward motion into his own attacks. Really crispy wrestling.
A new wrinkle in outside step sequences. Played with the idea of using an outside step or even a cheater step and an outside step to get to our opponents’ legs in medium range defense to leg attacks. Too close for a shot, too far for short offense.
I’d have liked it if offensive guy waited a second longer before stepping, but that’s why we play with these things, right?
Something I appreciate is when our guys make something their own. Case in point: Xander learned that Russian wrist snap and used it a bunch this year. I showed him another random wrist snap thing on Friday. On Saturday, we’re doing short hits where A man has five seconds to score
and he blends those two snaps and hits this. Never drilled it. Never played with it. Just made it his. Check the look on his face when it works. Makes my day.
Really nice clip of Marsteller and Jackson play wrestling/sparring across multiple weight classes. I’m a huge believer in sparring and play wrestling being the keys to getting young guys to chain wrestle and to keep old guys healthy while getting great reps and feel.
Arujau v Gilman was probably the most intriguing matchup for me. Here’s some sequences that stood out. Elbow pass/post to far ankle. Recognizes Arujau evading and goes up the body. Makes you ask: does he drill this, did he recognize it, or is this scouting?
1) I love the way Arujau lets Gilman’s aggressiveness feed his attack. That draw backward into loading a shot is so powerful. 2) Gilman—to his credit—shows why getting a hand between bodies is often more key than a sprawl.
Will definitely be showing this to our kids. Momentary lapse of judgement/out of position and Arujau is back in this particular match.
Really disappointed I didn’t hear a single person on the broadcast call this a Metzger. Brilliantly excited by Gilman. 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻
You know there are things you harp on? I love it when video emerges demonstrating exactly why you harp on it. BRB, gotta send this to our wrestlers so they keep circling to their feet.
I’m no fan of inside trips to the underhook side…but watch how Sadulaev uses his left arm to drive through and drops his underhook to the leg, greatly mitigating his risk level.
Posted this our team account earlier because there’s so much going on. 1) Taylor’s natural drop to a leg attack as the handfight rises 2) his “show single, snatch knee, knee pound” attack 3) baseline short drag followed by getting to the ankle 4) Valencia forcing the whizzer pos.
Love this.
Was going through footage from this past HS season. Relatively young wrestler here, really showing off what we teach about counter offense. Just get to the damn leg and worry about finishing later. Really nice job not giving space, finding the leg, getting to a score.
Toward the end of some lives goes, one of our guys shows laced-leg lat drop, intuits the resistance, and switches to an uchi mata without ever resetting. Kid has a deep judo background.
Was looking for a clip of Kemerer’s sweep, to head pop, to finish. Ended up down a rabbit hole and found this picture perfect outside step attack. So slick, so efficient.
Little thing we’ve been playing with in terms of teaching handfighting: continuously working toward YOUR tie and having the confidence to pull the trigger when you get to it. Want to avoid disengagement and HANGING onto ties.
This is a rising sophomore I just started working with. He’s got great physical attributes and is super responsive to the adjustments we’ve made so far.
Over the weekend we were working on far ankle defense, troubleshooting, and sparring through the position. One kid brings bjj to the table and back steps over his partner. This kid sees that, back steps, bottom man builds, gets slop cradled.
Is this baseline defense? Not even remotely. Are we still upping their overall wrestling IQ? Absolutely. Let me play. Let me develop style and sequences. Let me discover weird shit I couldn’t think of.
Stumbled on this clip of Helen Maroulis and really liked how she uses almost a dummy chin whip/lat whip to unbalance the offensive wrestler before circling to the back in the opposite direction. Really nice detail.
The past 2-3 years, my perspective has shifted on a lot of the “rules” of wrestling fundamentals. Take this video for example—steinar hits two very different outside step entries. On at distance, one in closer. So many variables to consider, but the biggest thing…
in teaching these guys has been to get them to be “less disciplined” in their basics. Meaning: don’t worry what your lead leg is. Don’t worry about the opponents either. Also, when you hit that big step at distance…
bend at the waist, and let their reaction do the work for you. You don’t need to be heads up-chest up-hips in all the time. Same as popping our head out to finish singles like HI-Cs. Maybe head position…
in the grand scheme of things, is less of a deciding factor then it’s made out to be.
At the same time, fu same rails have to be sound before we cross that bridge.
At the same time, fu same rails have to be sound before we cross that bridge.
One of my favorite things is when our wrestlers are far enough along in their technical understanding to troubleshoot an issue WITH ME. There’s nothing like a kid being invested, bringing something to the table, and solving a problem on their own.
Two of my upperclassmen reverse engineering that clip of Maroulis breaking the balance of Gross in on a HI-C. Figured out that this takes patience and should be hit as offensive wrestler is about to turn corner and step up with outside leg.
Have to shout out some good from our room last night about these two guys and our young wrestlers as well. Black shirt is a junior, won states at 152 last year. Orange is a senior, placed 5th at states. Have worked closely with both for years.
Both are studs in their own right—orange doesn’t realize it. Like me, he gets in his own head, holds himself back, and underperforms. Last night during live, we stepped up the pressure against him hard.
Parameters, bringing his dad in to sit silently in the room, go-by-go directives pushing him to take risks and let fly. All this to just get him to say fuck it and ball out…which he did. Scored multiple tds against a great opponent that knows his game well.
Likewise, one of our young female wrestlers was wrestling a female coach who has two wrestling state titles and three judo state titles and was getting the worst of it. Some tears were shed.
We got her breathing and reset in a single period, and she came back out swinging, taking it to one of our JV boys. I know this seems like small potatoes, but these are huge moments of progress for young wrestlers that we pay a lot of attention to.
Super proud of our athletes last night and wanted to share with the void. 🫶🏻
Just for fun, here’s our brand new alumni-turned asst coach, using his old teammate as a battering ram. Target: me.
This is something we’ve played with in the past, but getting more deliberate. Stopped shot, chasing the corner, changing directions back pulling on the lat or the head. Executed beautifully here.
Sequence with a slightly awkward outside step entry. Guy attempting it will try the outside step without committing to the knee next time. Note: he came up with the sequence and I love that
Further edits on this. I think we’re onto something, but I’d like to see Micah pull more on his left tricep tie, release when it’s over his head, and also let the sequence float backwards so Xanders coming at him when he hits it.
MUCH. BETTER. HERE.
Old man deviousness during play wrestling the other night.
Working on capitalizing on laziness in our opponents. Aka: how do we score when they reach with the wrong hand, lean forward too much, or swing too hard on a club?
Been working on establishing a clearer connection between wrestling on the mat and on our feet to better intro our new kids to the sport without being remedial for our old guys.
Also want to always be pushing them to chain wrestle and attack both sides of the body etc etc. Made the elbow pass the connection point. This is where our kids got to in our second week of practices.
Been raving about this because a) the balls to just fuckin launch it b) the foresight to elevate his right leg to ditch the lace…intentional or not. *chefs kiss
We’re at a point now in this kid’s development that he’s taking concepts, extrapolating, and making sequences of his own. Here’s three from the weekend that I enjoyed watching. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Here’s a kid that I’ve got a lot of love for. He’s wrestling in his first big varsity tournament, pulls the returning state runner-up, and just gets after him. Zero fear. Zero respect. Our guy in black.
Gotta hype up one of my guys. Between concussions and the pandemic, he hasn’t competed in two years. Stepped on the mat for Augsburg, did baseline shit, and looked pretty damn good considering the layoff. Hype on it. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Our 98-pound, junior girl just doing baseline skills with authority. Fucking love it.
I have massive love for lat drops, so it makes me extra happy to see my guy competing at National Duals for Dubuque and planting guys with it.
Our 152 is a junior and the returning state champ at his weight. Our league is only six teams, so the dual meet season matches can get repetitive. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
So, I’ve been giving our kid the option of chasing big matches at different weights, and he’s really risen to the challenge. Last night, he wrestled our opponent’s 152, waited 15 minutes, then wrestled their 160.
Collected wins in both and carried himself well. Random clips that I’m stoked on: everyone knows he’ll hit you with a slide-by, so I’ve been pushing him to develop a dummy attack with a follow-up option to the opposite side.
In the next clip, he goes HI-C, but his opponent has a nice thumb block and keeps it at distance. Our kid immediately goes at it again, and converts the TD.
Finally, the 160 opponent is a big, strong kid who just signed to wrestle at SFSU. Antithesis in build and style to our kid. So what does our kid do? Bum rush a knee pick. I appreciate the stones in that attack, even if it didn’t convert.
We’ve been harping on how important mat returns are, the mechanics of good ones, and pushing our kids to have the confidence to ball out in this position. I think it’s beginning to take.
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