youth wrestling

garlan5

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May 13, 2009
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Just looking to start a thread to discuss youth wrestling. My then 5 now 6 year old started last August practicing a once a week. I knew zero about the sport when he started. Now i'm starting to grasp the scoring and such. I'm just looking for a place to talk about the sport and learn some things. My son just completed his 3rd tournament and finally his first win via pin. It was a proud dad moment. He's looking to build off of that and work hard. Anyone care to discuss their approach on how much they practice and how many months a year they dedicate to the sport. We'll be juggling this around baseball and football in the fall. My son loves this sport and would probably choose it over anything else. If there are any youth wrestling veteran moms or dads please join in and discuss.
 

luckiestman

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My buddy's kids just won NE (8 and 10 year olds). I have a lot of friends that coach youth and HS if you're want me to find out their programming. If your son is in a decent program, I would just focus on making it fun and not sweat the details.
 

garlan5

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My buddy's kids just won NE (8 and 10 year olds). I have a lot of friends that coach youth and HS if you're want me to find out their programming. If your son is in a decent program, I would just focus on making it fun and not sweat the details.
We're in a small group of about 6 teenagers plus my son and another boy his age (6 and 7). I'm just looking to share dad stories and maybe have a place to drop some questions.

He's really enjoying this sport and I couldn't be happier for him.
 
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Fred in Lynn

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Awesome! I think the four most important things for brand new little guys are stance, stance, stance, and footwork. Constantly preach stance. This is Step 1 to setting up attacks and defense. Then remind them to stay on the balls of their feet and keep their feet moving.

Advancing beyond that, try to work on get him thinking of attacking and defense in terms of setup, takedown (or counter-attack), and finishing. For setup, this could mean wrist control techniques such as a 2-on-1, Russian tie, overhook, or underhook followed by a trip or a duck-under, or a simple head tap and low single that just catches your opponent off guard by changing the plane. One simple practice technique when you're messing around is wrist control, both getting and breaking. (It's good for Dad, too, because it works in the bedroom.) It's hard to attack when your hands are tied up and not useful. The overall message is to start encouraging a start-to-finish mindset of attacking and defense, which outlines a purpose (scoring points) beyond just going out on the mat and rolling around for 6 minutes.

Lastly, and most importantly, have fun. He'll be cradling kids up out of the Flying Guadalajara in no time.
 

garlan5

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Thanks FiL. I'll keep those thoughts in mind. I'm starting his brother this week as well (almost 5). Hoping to get him ahead of the curve. He's small for his age while big brother (6) is tall and lanky but heavy for his age. Let brother just turned 6 in January and is 60lbs with only 6 months of practice and just finished fits 3rd tournament. So only 9 total matches. He's in K and wrestling 1st graders and maybe 2nd with a few years of experience. It's tough on him in matches but in the long run I think it will be great for him. Big brother has been kind of a loner kid as he has no boy cousins his age nor had a buddy his age in day care. Where my other two kids have had a best buddy cousin and day care bud. This sport is fitting him well so far as he's very much to himself and very self motivated. He loves learning and myself and his coach are impressed with his memory of the moves he learns.
 

Fred in Lynn

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That's great, garlan. I love the sport. When I was asked today whether I watched the Tournament, I replied "of course!" even though I was watching the other NCAA tournament. I'm not sure why I miss wrestling because it was mostly torture, but I do.

The sport has changed a lot since my day. Year-round nutrition with reasonable training is emphasized (by good coaches/programs) instead of little concern for diet combined with massive in-season weight cutting. Plus, it's really become something you can do year-round (summer tournaments).

For now, just getting them out there and getting them in situations where they're having fun but yet still have an opportunity to fail and suffer some adversity is best. Sounds like you have the dad part dialed in. Now get that wrestling room in the basement built.
 

garlan5

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man i have the perfect spot in my basement. i'll need to pick your brain some in here so i keep learning. did i mention i'm equally as new to the sport as my son is. I'll give you some insight into what my son is learning and where he's at so maybe you can give me some basic dad pointer to work with him. For the record i pick his coaches brain as much as possible but i'm a shift worker and this guy coaches highschool and the youth club (just started it last year) and it takes a LOT of his time. He's super dedicated so i'm trying to limit my 1 million questions. If you dont mind i'll p.m you a couple of videos of him maybe you can see something i can key in on to help him.

I also recorded and watched the tournament this weekend. I'm starting to understand things and i'm getting a little obsessed with the sport. Something I never would have thought I'd enjoy so much. I watched the PA highschool state championship (cant remember weight) where Desantez beat Lee with one second on the clock. That was pretty intense. Also in the ncaa's uva had a wrestler beat vt who was ranked higher. That was fun to watch with my boys.
 

twothousandone

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My 12-year old has been at it for 4 years. I know very little, as well. He typically shows an aversion to "competition" -- he doesn't love meets, but he tends to shy away from score-keeping, standings, etc. in most sports. (It's tougher as he gets older, and he's adjusting.) He loves the practices, but between the all-day tournaments where he wrestles twice (spend 6 hours and wrestle 12 minutes) and then general anxiety, he's not big into the competition. He competes in 3/4/5 meets a year. He's in a feeder program, so the HS coach runs it, and coach has his work cut out for him by balancing the desire to keep my kid in the program with the need for competition to get him better. Unfortunately, he has only two more seasons before it's high school wrestling. But no matter the future, wrestling has served him and us well.

I agree the competition makes him better. In practices, he has, over time, gained on his peers who were more advanced at the start. Seeing them twice a week and paying attention to the coaches will do that. Without wrestling strangers frequently, when he does, he gets surprised and too often has to battle from behind. The coaches are convincing that more competition means a better ability to recognize and react quicker.

But, working up a sweat twice a week during the dead of winter is never a bad thing. And learning that getting your ass kicked (pinned) isn't the end of the world, or even the end of the day, is a really, really important lesson. Not many other sports dole out defeat so decisively.

(We've also gotten two skin infections -- ringworm and impetigo. We scrub him in the shower after every practice, so I assume we've just been unlucky.)
 

DJnVa

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Where in Virginia are you? I grew up in Great Bridge, where wrestling was king. We won something like 18 of 23 state titles at one point.
 

garlan5

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South of lynchburg by an hour. Small town usa! We've hit tournaments in midlothian, Buena Vista, and orange va. More coming up near Harrisonburg I think.
 

garlan5

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My 12-year old has been at it for 4 years. I know very little, as well. He typically shows an aversion to "competition" -- he doesn't love meets, but he tends to shy away from score-keeping, standings, etc. in most sports. (It's tougher as he gets older, and he's adjusting.) He loves the practices, but between the all-day tournaments where he wrestles twice (spend 6 hours and wrestle 12 minutes) and then general anxiety, he's not big into the competition. He competes in 3/4/5 meets a year. He's in a feeder program, so the HS coach runs it, and coach has his work cut out for him by balancing the desire to keep my kid in the program with the need for competition to get him better. Unfortunately, he has only two more seasons before it's high school wrestling. But no matter the future, wrestling has served him and us well.

I agree the competition makes him better. In practices, he has, over time, gained on his peers who were more advanced at the start. Seeing them twice a week and paying attention to the coaches will do that. Without wrestling strangers frequently, when he does, he gets surprised and too often has to battle from behind. The coaches are convincing that more competition means a better ability to recognize and react quicker.

But, working up a sweat twice a week during the dead of winter is never a bad thing. And learning that getting your ass kicked (pinned) isn't the end of the world, or even the end of the day, is a really, really important lesson. Not many other sports dole out defeat so decisively.

(We've also gotten two skin infections -- ringworm and impetigo. We scrub him in the shower after every practice, so I assume we've just been unlucky.)
If all he gets is some discipline and structure I'll be happy. He's never lacked any confidence but he's not boastful either or a bossy kid but being in the with the high school kids and middle school kids has really made him a different kid. Not sure how to explain it. Maybe a sense of pride and a good work ethic. He's self motivated and convinced me to allow him ti jog on treadmill and do a body weight work out (no weights at 6yr old, lol)
 

twothousandone

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Not sure how to explain it.
I also had trouble explaining a slight difference in attitude, when my son was a bit younger (maybe two years ago). Then it hit me -- he knows if that guy over there wants to start something, he can take him down and push his face into the concrete. I've warned him against being too confident-- that guy may know martial arts -- but if push comes to shove, he can handle himself. At around 10 years old, maybe a bit younger, it kind of matters.
 

Fred in Lynn

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I watched that match, too. I thought it was great strategy, albeit a little crazy, to cut Lee loose with about 30 seconds left and tried (successfully) to take him down. It would have been tough to ride him out, and then he'd still have gone to sudden victory/OT. To be fair, Lee had an ACL tear, which certainly hurt him. Nevertheless, Lee tech falled him last year without surrendering a point and is, after all, a three-time World Junior freestyle champ, and DeSanto came prepared and beat Lee, so hats off to him.

You can learn a lot watching the NCAAs (and in amazing twist to any first-time viewer, learn that Billy Baldwin actually is cool in this milieu and has a functional purpose in life!). Gibbons and Robles are really good color guys. They explain a lot of technical aspects and strategy. Building off a previous post, watch how the really good wrestlers work for control in different positions (neutral, top, bottom). That's mostly for you. Overall, your guy is still so little that just providing a forum for him to have fun is what really matters. The skill will come when he's out there competing and trying different moves and strategies.
 
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garlan5

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I watched that match, too. I thought it was great strategy, albeit a little crazy, to cut Lee loose with about 30 seconds left and tried (successfully) to take him down. It would have been tough to ride him out, and then he'd still have gone to sudden victory/OT. To be fair, Lee had an ACL tear, which certainly hurt him. Nevertheless, Lee tech falled him last year without surrendering a point and is, after all, a three-time World Junior freestyle champ, and DeSanto came prepared and beat Lee, so hats off to him.

You can learn a lot watching the NCAAs (and in amazing twist to any first-time viewer, learn that Billy Baldwin actually is cool in this milieu and has a functional purpose in life!). Gibbons and Robles are really good color guys. They explain a lot of technical aspects and strategy. Building off a previous post, watch how the really good wrestlers work for control in different positions (neutral, top, bottom). That's mostly for you. Overall, your guy is still so little that just providing a forum for him to have fun is what really matters. The skill will come when he's out there competing and trying different moves and strategies.
Yeah I posted in the espn sucks thread about Billy Baldwin was interviewing kids there and doing coverage. I assumed he had wrestling experience in which he did.