When young wrestlers are itching to scrap with their coach they should ponder an old military maxim:
“Beware an old man in a profession where men usually die young.”
“Sparring” or “play wrestling” doesn’t mean live wrestle at (insert % intensity here). It means trading kinetic positional problems to solve back and forth.
Nobody is trying to win. Both are trying to learn and exercise, not dominate or injure.
It’s time for Olympic wrestling to take back the term “professional wrestling” from WWE. UWW senior athletes aren’t amateurs and WWE actors aren’t wrestling.
Yo
@espn
. Thanks for the coverage of the NCAA D1 wrestling tournament. One quibble. College wrestling is not “amateur wrestling” any more than college football is amateur football. Just call it wrestling.
Rewatched the Yianni Vs Murin match. Yianni had 4 takedowns to Murin’s 1 (+5 escapes) and yet it was a 1 point match at the end. 8-7.
That’s absurd.
Takedowns need to be worth 3 points.
Wondering if hypothetically we handed the card at FinalX to the folks at UFC or WWE, could they (profitably) promote the event well enough to fill the arena?
USA Wrestling clearly doesn’t know how or lacks resources. Best talent in the country and half the seats empty. 😕
Toughest states to win a boys state title? Depends on the division. In no particular order:
PA AAA
CA
OH D1
NJ
IN
IL 3A
NY D1
Big school divisions in TX, FL, MI, MN, WI, IA and PA AA, OH D2, and IL 2A are the next tier again in no order. Some may compete with the top tier.
Wrestling community during Worlds: “Why don’t we do better in Greco?”
Youth folkstyle wrestling coach: “A headlock is a junk move. If I ever see you try it again it will be 1000 pushups”
🤦🏻♂️
@PusheenRage
@metaplexmovies
With baby boomers retiring as I write this, anyone looking to get into skilled trades is likely to have a pretty secure financial future in the coming years. Labor shortages are going to be a thing for many years to come.
Watching NCAA D3 Regionals today I had a two thoughts:
1) D3 is tough, deep and fun to watch. Much more accessible than D1 in many ways.
2) The college stalling rules are 🍌 🍌 and consistently called badly (especially on the mat)
@stuOWH
As a coach I’d tell a kid to backflip to their hearts content. Not going to affect the team race plus for all but a few schools the team score is totally irrelevant. Celebrations are a Good Thing and moments like that are rare.
David Goggins is a pretty out there guy but he did have a interesting point about exercising with headphones.
If you don’t learn to handle your inner dialoge when training, how well will do it in competition when the music isn’t there to distract you?
@Malikthemessiah
@Claunchinator
The sharpest difference between wrestling twitter and MMA twitter is that nearly all of wrestling twitter has actually wrestled and has a functioning clue about the relative skill of its participants in regards to wrestling.
MMA twitter? Not so much.
So my wife is not a wrestler but wears wrestling shirts in solidarity. She got asked if she was a wrestler the other day.
I like that we’ve reached a point where that is a real question.
A conversation with an ex wrestler yesterday got me pondering.
Nearly zero adults compete or train in wrestling post-HS & college. How much is this due to wrestling’s unique emphasis/tolerance/celebration of bad weight cutting practices? Especially among kids.
So Japan is still tops in womens freestyle wrestling but USA is getting close. Margin was basically two medals. 9 medals to 7. Team USA has young guns on the bench (Kylie, Kennedy, etc) who are Senior ready and potential medal threats.
Bring the popcorn, it’s going to be fun.
I’d love to understand the psychology going on when someone is losing a close wrestling match and they don’t really anything for the last 15-30 seconds. We’ve all seen it.
Objectively the margin (usually) doesn’t matter so why the fear?
I used to think it was unprofessional for the announcers to “coach” and for most it still is.
But when you have one of the best coaches (aka John Smith) doing a real time breakdown of what a coach tells wrestlers, that is awesome for fans unfamiliar with wrestling.
Annual reminder that wrestlers representing Puerto Rico are Americans, live in an American territory or one of the states, and carry USA passports.
They are Americas other team. Give them a cheer!
When I started coaching girls in the sport of wrestling, I got a lot of disapproving looks and “girls wrestle?” questions.
Lately I’ve gotten way more responses like “oh I have a niece that wrestles” and far fewer negative or confused reactions.
We are getting there!
@MJGold
I have no objection at all to athletes sharing any position in the podium when they achieve equal or indistinguishable results.
Totally fine with it becoming more common. It’s just a game at the end of the day.
A reminder that getting HS girls wrestling a sanctioned state tournament is just the first step in a marathon. It’s not “mission completed”.
Still to come is full teams, duals, dual state championships, and more. This will take sustained effort over years to realize.
So it was interesting watching NCAA vs NAIA womens wrestling teams dual last night. The NCAA team had to wear headgear and the NAIA teams happily left it on the bench.
Amazingly all NAIA ears left the building intact. 😏
I am cheering for any college that sponsors women’s wrestling as a varsity sport over those that do not until further notice.
Yes, that means I will even cheer for Iowa. 🤨 (which hurts as a Lehigh grad)
I have to admit that I like it when a deserving assistant coach moves into the head job when the previous coach moves on to succeed elsewhere. Especially when they continue to build on previous work. Shows a proper level of succession planning and depth on the coaching staff.
Not that it’s a surprise to the wrestling community but Jordan Burroughs could have a bright future in TV commentary if he wants it.
I predict he is behind the mic in all future Olympics once he stops competing.
While one can only guess why Rulon entered the Open…
Someone who once was That Guy is a scary opppnent. Guarantee he’s strong and hasn’t forgotten how to wrestle. Think George Foreman…
If Cael or Kolat or Brands decided to throw down, you want a piece of that?
Flight reserved for Fargo. 40 years of wrestling and it’s the first time I’ve been able to go.
Hope to meet lots of you fine folks in person while I’m there.
@alliseeisgold
Swipes are a courtesy to those watching (coaches, fans, table, etc) to let them know what is happening. They are not a requirement for the count to occur.
@NCAAWrestling
Owing beating Gable was easily the biggest upset. Due respect to Spencer but Gable hadn’t lost a match in HS or college. Spencer had dropped several prior to his match with Ramos. Kids today don’t know how big a star or how dominant he was.
If you ever want to see pure love of sport in action, look at the people who make 2,3 or 4 Olympic wrestling trials but never make a team. They must know the odds but clearly love to compete and have the iron will to keep trying and training. Total respect.
My 3yo daughter just out of the blue said “want come wrestling with you”. 🥺
I know she doesn’t really understand what she said just yet but it still kind of hits an old coach in the feels.
Refusing a vaccine because you are “young and healthy” shares similar flawed reasoning as refusing to wear a seat belt because you believe you drive responsibly and haven’t had an accident yet.
Some tips for folkstyle fans watching the US Open:
1) Passivity isn’t stalling
2) It’s not as subjective as you think
3) Folkstyle uses criteria too
4) Difficult calls exist in all styles
5) Refs make mistakes in all styles
6) Different isn’t bad and applies both directions
I have no idea what is happening behind the scenes in our national Greco team but in less than 6 months the
#1
athlete and the newly hired (well respected) coach resigned.
Hints strongly at something very broken in the top leadership at USAW.
@sarhilde
When you say the wrestling community has given PD a platform, let’s be clear. FLO has given him an outsized platform. They give far less coverage to many objectively more accomplished yet still interesting wrestlers.
Always respect your opponent. Victorious moments can not exist without a worthy competitor. They risked their dreams they sacrificed a part of their life to achieve so yours could have form and meaning. A precious gift deserving the highest reverence.
Watching my daughter in gymnastics I am wondering why so few boys train in the sport when it has so much benefit. Especially for the little ones. I’ve coached sooo many (male) wrestlers who can’t even do a proper cartwheel.
@watchyour62018
@FightHaven
Old myth that refuses to die. Slams have nothing to do with knees on the mat. Never did. The sole criteria is lifting and returning with “unnecessary force”.
@CJOlanasty33
There is copious research showing that early specialization commonly provides minimal to no long term benefit and increases risk of injury. Most pros were not one sport athletes.
Examine examples of successful early specialization carefully for survivorship bias.
For anyone wondering why most states have too many divisions for high school athletics:
State associations make money selling tickets to state championship events. More divisions = more parents buying tickets.
Competitive integrity/balance is not a serious consideration.
When watching the Pan-Am wrestling championships, remember that all Puerto Ricans are American citizens competing for an American territory using American passports. It’s not a foreign country, just another American team with some special heritage.
Ok they need to stop it with the NCAA basketball on the screens in the arena during the NCAA wrestling tournament. Literally nobody who paid for a ticket to get into Little Caesars arena cares about basketball today.
@dc_mma
“Stop comparing eras” right after you compare eras? 👀😂
Smith also only had to face one Soviet, had shallower domestic competition, and wouldn’t have won his 2nd Olympic gold under current competition structure.
Maybe Smith is still the 🐐 but JB has a very strong claim.
@VNcaas
Aleksandr Karelin. 887-2. Undefeated for 13 years and unscored on for 6 years against the best in the world. 12 straight world/Olympic titles.
Easily the best ever without disrespecting anyone.
So if you can’t buy it - modify. Little kid wrestling shoes in cool colors are hard to find for my daughter so we modified a pair. Colored the stripes and got some colored laces. Turned out pretty good!
@CPyles8
@NCAAWrestling
I’m a certified accountant. I would love to see any sane accounting where a few dozen trophies costs even a significant fraction of $4 million.
If someone has an Olympic or Senior World gold medal in freestyle while still competing in college, you can take it to the bank they are also the best college folkstyle wrestler.
@alliseeisgold
For NCAAs only:
(Not sure internationally)
Rex, Ed, and Hugh Peery have 9 NCAA titles between them. 9 titles in 9 chances has to be pretty high on the list.
Nate and David Carr are contenders, both champs.
Bill and Rob Koll also contenders.
@ChasePami
Not coaching HS currently but my answer would be absolutely not. Too much overhead for volunteer table workers that can barely keep up as it is.
Plus I think riding time should go away in college too. Too many bad incentives and not needed.
You can keep debating the USA wrestling GOAT but Kyle Snyder has definitely made it into the figurative Mount Rushmore.
World medals every year since 2015 and the guy is only 27. That is very rare air.
Too often one can tell what techniques a coach is good at by watching his/her athletes.
The most impressive coaches are the ones where you have no idea because they have moved beyond trying to copy/paste their own strengths on to others.
Last night I couldn’t sleep. Watched some videos on YouTube of jiu-jitsu guys teaching wrestling takedowns.
While no doubt they are very good at their game, the wrestling community needs to help some of our guard pulling friends with their takedown game. 😬
@alliseeisgold
Should be 5 years to get shots at 4 national tournaments.
No red shirts. No injury shirts. No Olympic shirts. Clock starts ticking at first of age 19 or enrollment. Deferment only for govt/military service.
No hate for the guys using the extra years - just looking forward.
@jesse_esselman
1) Fun matters. Results don’t. Be positive.
2) physical literacy more than technique. Gymnastics, tumbling, etc
3) Don’t push competition. Let him steer the ship.
4) zero weight cutting until HS
5) Emphasize greco or judo early if you can. Harder to teach those skills later.
Before calling for “referee accountability”:
1) No wrestling ref makes their living officiating
2) Most do it fun & to stay involved
3) They are effectively volunteers who can quit any time
4) We don’t have enough refs
5) Refs don’t care who wins & just want a fair match
Last 5 Greco matches I’ve watched at PanAms have had collectively two takedowns. Scoring has been all via forced par terre off passivity. I love me some greco but I have no idea how to sell that a wider audience.
@Tony_Rotundo
Top 10 states with the most HS participation in wrestling (2019) are
1) CA (22,602)
2) IL (14,170)
3) NY (11,184)
4) TX (10,998)
5) OH (10,313)
6) NJ (9,648)
7) PA (9,460)
8) WA (9,251)
9) MI (9,167)
10) MN (8,058)
I run into aspiring coaches who are studying psychology, kinesiology, and similar topics in college. All good stuff.
But consider also studying accounting and finance while in college. Being able to talk money fluently to administrators and donors helps immensely.
@HighlightHump
Believe the doctors and health care workers who are dealing with this disease. Listen to the CDC. Listen to Dr Fauci.
None of these people have a political agenda and they know what they are taking about. Listen to anyone else at your own risk.
@WrestlingJunki6
Two thoughts.
1) Both Lee and Yianni were bigger blue chips than Dake and carried potential 4x expectations even before college.
2) Neither has an opponent in the bracket as fearsome as David Taylor. That matchup had a lot to do with the Dake hype.
@zakr_mma
@RichardAMann
Here is the rule book. ANY hold that cuts off breathing or circulation is explicitly illegal. Does not matter if it was intentional or not. So yeah this was an illegal move.
@blumer_joey
Because obesity isn’t contagious. No one will die from catching another person’s poor diet and exercise choices.
But imagine the selfish complaining we would hear it were...
@kyledake444
Because false negative tests are a reality and having a true negative test doesn’t mean you can’t get exposed subsequent to the test. Additionally people have to go outside the building to uncontrolled places like hotels and to eat.
I’m usually a coach and carry a camera to help the team and fill dead time so I’ve never needed them but today I got my first actual media credentials.
@alliseeisgold
Most arguments against participation awards effectively are statements that the parent/coach only cares about the athlete/child if they win.
Participation awards aren’t about rewarding mediocrity, they are about reinforcing desirable effort towards a worthy goal.
Any time I run into a coach who proudly declares themself to be “old school”, I’m immediately suspicious of anything they say after that.
We don’t do things the way we did 40 years ago because we learned and improved. The best coaches constantly evolve.
@PusheenRage
@ibogost
I usually treat work hours as an opportunity to do some low key intermittent fasting. Feel good about my discipline.
Then I get home and ten minutes after walking through the door I wake up from a haze in a pile of empty ice cream containers…
My grandfather was in the Army and took Airborne training. Someone asked him “do you like jumping out of airplanes?”
His response was “not especially but I like being around people who do.”
You can do great things being around the right people.