Coach the position
Ted Witulski/USA Wrestling

For every position in wrestling there seems to be a dizzying array of maneuvers wrestlers can use to score points. Whether it’s a low-single, or a granby cradle, generally coaches have a move that they wished they would have shared with their wrestler prior to a match-breaking scramble occurring.

Only after a match ends does the re-teaching begin. On the Monday practice, often coaches spend a good deal of technique time going over a variety of moves to win those scrambles that occurred at the previous meet. While knowing moves is an important part of the sport of wrestling, coaches may find it useful to reinforce the key components of position.

Wrestling in scholastic competitions there are three common wrestling positions: neutral, top, and bottom. Each position has traits that should be constantly reinforced in participants’ minds so that they begin to analyze the various wrestling positions that they will encounter.

Often times a failure to successfully score is really a failure of a wrestler’s ability to hold or move in a strong wrestling “position”. While the tendency for coaches will be to coach wrestlers to enact the next move from a common position, coaches may find it useful to coach wrestlers to return to a strong “position” to wrestle from.

From the neutral position coaches at the beginning of the year spend a good deal of time on proper stance and movement. Wrestlers are versed on a good stance. Coaches reinforce that wide feet are imperative, knees bent, head up, chest forward, lead hand low. All of these different components are the fundamentals of the position.

In recognizing the particulars of the position, coaches should help wrestlers see when their stance fails in a match. Instead of a coach approaching a wrestler with the next “new” move needed to win a position from the feet, coaches may find it useful to first refer wrestlers to a self-analysis of how their position failed or succeeded in their stance.

While the tendency of the coach, whose wrestler was beaten consistently from a front headlock, might be to show him a sucker-drag or a peek-out a different approach towards coaching positioning might be more effective. To be beaten in a front headlock, a wrestler first lost his stance, a wrestler that recognizes the failure of his stance begins to analyze his technique better.

A coach instead might ask his wrestler about how his position failed ending up with him in a front headlock. How strong was your position when your opponent secured a front headlock? What would you need to do to return to a good stance without giving up the takedown? With a coach asking these questions the goal should be to get the wrestler to see the failure of his position and the necessity of regaining a good stance.

A wrestler might notice that his stance was broken when his chest dropped forward effecting the alignment of his stance. He might also recognize that the opponent was able to establish a strong lock, without having to battle hand control. Other wrestlers might see that an extended reach got them out of position.

Breaks in position are correctable errors that don’t require a complex move. Certainly counters and secondary attacks are all still necessary but analysis of position is a must for wrestlers to grow in their knowledge of wrestling.

Another way to help wrestlers understand the importance of maintaining strong position from their stance is to chart attacks from opponents in a dual or tournament.

Development of data to show trends by opponent’s can help reinforce why maintenance of position is important. A category that charts attacks to the lead leg side might reveal to wrestlers the necessity of keeping their lead hand low to better protect against an attack. (Note: Charting lead leg attacks can be more revealing than charting left or right leg shots, unless it is done for individuals.) If wrestlers are shown with empirical data that the trend against them is a lead leg attack then a wrestler will develop stronger concern with protecting the lead leg.

Keeping track of the number of takedowns given up by go-behinds off of a wrestler’s own shot can help wrestlers see that they may be getting out of position when they shoot. The data collected in this instance might be best used to reinforce positioning instead of leading wrestlers to the conclusion of “don’t shoot”. By helping wrestler see trends, coaches have another way to remind their team members of the importance of holding strong position.

Wrestling from the bottom and top there are several position indicators that coaches constantly refer to. For example, on the bottom to escape or reverse opponents, wrestlers start in strong position. The base starting position is coached to be a strong offensive position. But, once the clock is rolling often bottom wrestlers are ridden because of their inability to return or maintain a strong offensive position characterized by hips being loaded back and down, head and chest up from the mat, and arms pressuring back into the top man with elbows in.

While every wrestler is familiar with the phrase “base up”, often they are unsure just exactly how to build into that base. From the corner coaches can better assist their struggling down man by helping them know which knee to bring up first. For example “right leg up” (or “left leg up) is more useful when a top man is riding stronger to one side than the other.

A good general rule for wrestlers to learn from the bottom position is the two most important elements of escaping or reversing an opponent. When a base is secured, to score offensive points a wrestler needs to be reminded to “move his hips” and “control hands”.

Virtually every successful scoring maneuver from the bottom position requires both of these elements. Wrestlers should be coached to circle hips both right and left on cue, as well as being able to capture an opponent’s hands on the right and left side. As wrestlers advance towards the junior high level they should be able to recognize needs to capture “high” or “low” hands.

For example, a wrestler on top riding from the left side might begin to attack the bottom man with a cradle. The top man reaches high on the head of the bottom man with his left hand. In this instance, the bottom wrestler should respond by controlling the top man’s left hand by attacking, “right high-hand” as a coaching cue. As a wrestler takes off the high cradle hand he should learn to circle hips away from his opponent (“Circle-right”).

Wrestlers should easily recognize when they have been broken out of a strong base. But, wrestlers who fail to score from bottom should constantly evaluate whether their hips are moving, and if they have successfully established hand control.

Once coaches consistently rely on coaching strong offensive wrestling position, wrestlers will begin to realize why moves like switches, granbies, and stand-ups succeed. Essentially from the bottom position wrestlers must see a positive correlation between hip motion and hand control to reversals and escapes.

To reinforce strong wrestling position from the top wrestlers need to reverse their thinking from bottom. On top wrestlers need to control hips and tie up the down man’s appendages. Whether attacking legs or arms, the top man’s guide should be control over his own hands. When wrestlers feel a bottom man controlling their locks, then automatically they should see the necessity to cover hips and reestablish control.

Coaches know a vast multitude of moves for wrestlers to commitment to rote memorization. Instead of reliance on the moves in all cases of coaching, coaches should also rely on the value of coaching position. Wrestlers that are versed in the basics of position and then repeatedly see how they could hold or move in a stronger position have another way to improve their performance. In wrestling it’s not just the moves that win matches but the position of the athlete as well.