The Value of Off-Season Wrestling
by Dr. Bruce Gabrielson
Head Coach
18 Time National AAU Club Champion
Southern Maryland Wrestling Club
Fall 1992
Note:
This article explains what off-season wrestling programs are
like, what benefit they can provide to a wrestler, and how they
can easily fit into a busy calendar of activities.
Introduction
Each spring numerous off-season wrestling programs are formed
at
clubs throughout the US. These clubs are primarily freestyle
oriented, but occasionally a spring club will maintain a
traditional folkstyle program. Beginning around March, and often
extending through early summer, the clubs are intended to offer
wrestlers a chance to practice or compete in a much less intense
and also more weight relaxed environment.
Wrestling is not an easy sport, and there are few natural
winners. Paying your dues with sweat and some disappointments are
to be expected. Like any other sport, success requires a
commitment from both the athlete, and, in the case of younger
wrestlers, plenty of active support from their parents. No rides
to practice or competitions, no money for shoes, dues, or entry
fees, and parental pressure to devote 100% to a different spring
sport (such as baseball or track) will guarantee failure.
Personal commitment is also a must. A wrestler must realize
that
it will be very difficult to achieve his competitive goals if he
isn't willing to make the personal sacrifices required, including
committing himself to his wrestling objectives. Wrestlers must
ask themselves first if they want wrestling to be one of their
best sports (or maybe their primary sport). If their answer is
yes, and if they are committed, then they probably have the
necessary determination to maximize their potential for success.
What is Spring Wrestling?
There are five wrestling styles practiced in the United
States.
Folkstyle is the traditional US style practiced in schools and
universities. Of the five styles, Judo, Sombo, Freestyle, and
Greco-Roman are competed internationally. Judo, the oriental
style of wrestling, Freestyle, and Greco-Roman are also Olympic
sports. While Judo is a year around sport and Sombo is primarily
a spring, summer, and early fall sport, Freestyle and Greco-Roman
are historically spring sports.
Since Freestyle is similar to Folkstyle, its techniques and
rules
can be easily learned in a short time. Also, since it not a
recognized HS sport, HS eligibility rules for competitions and
coaching are usually not a problem in most states. With plenty
of local and national competitions, coaches, work-out partners,
and practice sites available, it is the most popular spring style
in the US.
In order to be accommodating to other spring sports,
Freestyle
activities are often very flexible. Clubs generally arrange non-
mandatory practices two or three evenings a week, often late
enough so as not to conflict with baseball or soccer. Work-outs
are not oriented towards conditioning or weight loss, but towards
mat work and live wrestling. This format allows the wrestler to
get plenty of work into the 1 1/2 to 2 hour sessions a practice
usually lasts.
For spring competitions, club teams have no need for full
roosters. Fun scrimmages are just "get togethers." Wrestlers
compete in age groups and weight pools. Tournaments are usually
held with "Madison" weight classes. The Madison system allows
pools to be formed where wrestlers can be within 2 years and 10%
weight of other members of their pools. Dieting is therefore
ineffective for locals events, and is seldom seen except at major
open competitions.
Local late spring tournaments are small, often less than 100
entries. Two mats are frequently all that is needed, with most
events over by about 2 pm. Local tournaments are held on either
Saturday or Sunday every few weeks. Entry fees are low since the
emphasis at these spring events is more on matches than making
money and awards. Some local events, such as Challenge Cups,
don't even have an entry fee. While there are major tournaments
held all over the US, most clubs attend local tournaments, within
a one hour drive of where the club is located.
What Can a Wrestler Gain From Summer Programs?
Summer participation allows a wrestler the chance to
greatly
accelerate the training program without the normal pressures and
hassles of the winter folkstyle environment. A small sacrifice
on the wrestlers part will pay major dividends during the seasons
ahead. In addition to direct advanced training and high level
coaching, spring programs offer other benefits not available in
winter programs.
Probably the greatest advantage to spring clubs is the
level of workout partners.
Finding coaches and practice partners of quality is a difficult
task, especially when top wrestlers are spread out at various
schools and clubs during the winter season. Spring clubs are
widely separated with members made up of the best wrestlers in a
larger area. Wrestlers would never have the opportunity to work
with and learn from very good peers if they stayed only within
their local Folkstyle environment.
Many ex-college wrestlers who now coach in school programs
know
enough Freestyle to get by. However, most spring clubs have an
abundance of quality coaches with experience in all the
international styles. In-addition, the majority of famous past
and present wrestlers that live in an area usually belong to a
local spring club. Since these individuals mostly work outside
the school environment and don't have the time to coach or work
with local folkstyle teams, their only alternative is freestyle.
Some also have their own kids in a program, and this activity
gives them a good opportunity to help both their own sons and
also everyone else around.
Special clinics by many prominent wrestling figures are a
common event at spring club practice activities. Many famous
wrestlers and coaches travel to other areas during the spring,
and during these travels they always manage to visit an area club. The clinics they
put on help wrestlers observe a variety of different successful wrestling
styles and techniques in an informal environment.
One other important advantage of off-season wrestling often
overlooked in the mental conditioning. When you become part of a
group with many champions working together, your mental
orientation starts to change. The "Champions Philosophy" in
psychology basically says that a champion never looses, only gets
beat sometimes. Conditioning your mind to be a winner is the
first major step in becoming a winner. With all those around you
working to become the best, it won't take long for you to think
the same way.
There are some family benefits to spring wrestling as well.
Different age brothers can work together and help each other.
Parents can get down on the mat to coach or cheer, plus action photos and
video taping is easy for anyone at spring events. Since crowds
are small, photographers, spectators, and parents can get right
up to the match if they wish. Professional wrestling
photographers also frequent spring events, often taking action
photos of matches at no cost.
The Old Folkstyle vs Freestyle Controversy
Surprisingly, there are still a number of old time high
school wrestling coaches who promote the philosophy that somehow
Freestyle wrestling will effect the performance of a Folkstyle
wrestler. This opinion is usually offered by coaches who either
don't understand Freestyle, or who don't want their wrestlers to
be exposed to more progressive wrestling programs and techniques.
Rest assured virtually no modern NCAA champions, or for that
matter local high school state champions, restrict themselves by
only competing in Folkstyle. In fact (at least in Maryland), there are very few recent
high school state champions that don't belong to a
spring Freestyle club.
Freestyle is close enough to Folkstyle that it can be learned
sufficiently to participate in a couple of practices. Many
wrestlers learn Freestyle simply by entering a tournament. Also,
since the emphasis in Freestyle is on action rather than control,
many Folkstyle wrestlers find they prefer the faster pace of Freestyle once they get
used to it.
Freestyle helps develop footwork, aggressiveness, balance,
takedowns, and low attack techniques. It also incorporates a
number of moves which are easily modified for Folkstyle use. In
addition, if the wrestler also learns the Greco-Roman style, his
throws and hip motion will drastically improve as well. Any
coach who doesn't recognize the these benefits and won't endorse
off-season Freestyle participation is holding his wrestlers back
in the dark ages.
In Conclusion
If you are a small wrestler and would like to become a
national contender someday, you really need to go wherever the
quality competition and a variety of talent is located. If you
are a high school age wrestler looking for a scholarship, you
will have a much better chance with a spring club than on your
own. A great many college coaches use the spring season to look
for talented and committed wrestlers for their programs.
The results of spring program involvement has been very
visible
over the years. A great many wrestlers have progressed from
average to contenders in just one off-season of work. Looking at
those who have been the most successful at the state or national
level, I would be willing to bet that every one of them is an
active freestyle wrestler during the spring. Certainly those who
have the top state rankings are also those who compete off-
