My Team's Style vs My Wrestling Style

My wrestlers are coached towards a very different style than I wrestled. The emphasis is on improving their stand-up game. Single-legs, hand-fighting, and finishing a shot are drilled daily. There is also a progression of moves that they can work through.



Single-leg --> "Run the Pipe"
If "Run the Pipe" fails (after a try or two)  --> Switch to Double-leg or Bring the ankle high.

There are finishes and counter finishes if something is blocked. It's all very well laid out. I was able to see the flow of the moves and strategies quickly.

There are a lot more techniques taught standing up or when caught low on a shot than on the mat. We did not start drilling much mat work until after the season was well underway.

On bottom, the two main moves taught are a power stand-up and a baby stand-up. The sole goal of being on bottom is to get-up, get a point, and then win from neutral. The varsity drills some very effective leg counters ("Magic Beans") and hip heists, too. Most of the other drills are defensive. Wrist-control and clearing your own wrists are stressed.

Speaking of wrists, on top the primary goal taught is to break down the other wrestler and get a wrist. With near-side wrist control, wrestlers can go for a "Wildcat Ride" and with far-side control they can jump sides, switch hands, and half.

Overall, it seems like a very logical and effective style. Wrestlers are typically discouraged from trying moves outside of the style, though. Particularly the JV. The idea is that some moves ("Cement Mixer," "Head and Arm," etc) are very effective at the JV level, but not as much at higher levels. The coaches stress fundamentals and eschew anything they see as gimmicks or that may cause bad habits as skill levels progress.

My style and how I was coached would be anathema to Coach Z and P!

I learned wrestling backwards. I was very good on the mat and offense-shy on my feet. I wrestled JV at 103 lbs as a freshman. I had some success, and I sometimes got pulled up to Varsity to collect forfeits. Even then, my style was more instinctive than drilled. Coach D joked at the end of they year that they didn't know what I was doing half the time, but it usually ended up all right!

As a sophomore, I made Varsity at 112. However, my weight class was filled with talent and my main job became "Don't get pinned!" My opponents were almost always bigger and better than me, so I found myself being shot on fairly quickly. I am double-jointed, flexible, and extremely stubborn, though. Once I was take down, I did everything I could to avoid getting pinned and usually did a decent job of it. It taught me how to defend on bottom.

Once I got better defending on bottom, I started to go on the offensive. I learned if I escaped, the other guy would take me down again. Reversals and rolls became my goal to keep the match on the mat. I started to get on top more frequently and learned how to ride a man out (because I really didn't want us to go back to our feet!). I learned tilts, cradles, leg-riding, and a wide assortment of other moves. I enjoyed learning new moves. I knew far more than I could probably use in a match (the opposite of my JV guys). 

I started to win more matches than I lost. As my confidence grew on bottom, I became more gun-shy on top. Most wrestlers are drilled extensively on their feet. When I faced off against someone with years more experience there, I was hesitant. My stand-up defense was pretty good, but if the other guy is the one making all the shots he's going to get something sooner or later. I normally started a match slow and behind and then fought may way back to victory. That was partly due to my conditioning. 

Almost everyone I wrestled was bigger and stronger than me. There was no weight or focused strength training in my school and I didn't cut much weight. What I had was endurance. We ran more than the track team. Bleachers, sprints, long distance...my coaches were big on conditioning. My opponents would come out stronger and more intense than me in the first period. If I held on, my conditioning started to show. I felt like I became stronger as the match wore on. Sometimes they ended where I felt like I'd rode a bull to victory.

The end result: I'm very strong when my team is not focused. I'm weaker where we are. 

I feel like my stand-up game has improved just from listening to Coach Z. He's very technical and I can see and understand the techniques better now than I would have as a rookie. I haven't seen him review the stand-up skills I did develop by the end of my career (mainly ankle-pics and high-crotch shots), but I know he's taught some of those to the varsity. 

Which brings us to coaching style. Coach Z has a very structured room with lots of drill. He doesn't do much direct conditioning. He favors repeated drilling of moves to condition and there is a strength training program twice a week in the weight room before practice for Varsity. 

My coach ran a longer practice. The first third was usually all conditioning. We did a team stretch and then went into learning and drilling. Then the last third was a lot of live wrestling. We learned a lot of moves, but a lot of them were in isolation. If we tried a move frequently, we were coached on how to improve that one instead of being told to stick with the curriculum. The team ended up with a wide variety of styles throughout the line-up. 

Now, Coach Z's strategy may be more typical and considered more effective for all I know (I've only been in two wrestling rooms). I do know I enjoyed my coach's style much more. When he left before my senior year, I nearly quit. We got a new coach who was similar to Coach Z. I did not enjoy practice anymore and I did not like being told what I had to learn (I told you I was stubborn). I hung in and finished the season, but my heart wasn't in it the same as before. It's not a completely even comparison to Coach Z, though, because my new coach did not command much respect. Coach Z is clearly in charge, seems liked, and has a sense of humor.

This will probably be one of my final wrestling posts for the year. Our final event was supposed to be last night, but we have two that were rescheduled due to snow. Team pictures are Friday. They've been rescheduled twice. What I really should be doing right now is getting a haircut.