Clint Gard

It would be nice to know the realignments so schedules can be changed to wrestle teams that might be coming into a sectional. If a team is leaving a sectional, then it makes sense for us to know so we can take them off our schedule if there is no need to wrestle them.

So put a folk style state in sometime in December or right after Christmas Break.

I'm going to keep copying and pasting this because I think what I have listed are viable options... It's been said a couple of times already I think but if Freestyle is something the ISWA wants to get back to in Indiana, then the focus and push will need to change. I think Freestyle is great. Loved it back in the late 80's and early 90's...it helped develop me at a very fast rate. But back then, that's all there was. Part of the problem is they started changing the rules and just made it really stupid IMO. I think it is back to being what it once was, but all the rule changes turned a lot of people off to it. Having said that...here is my 2 cents to pushing Freestyle again: 1. Folkstyle Season for PeeWee-Schoolboy's will be November and December. Tournaments can start the beginning of November and end just before Christmas Break. We don't need to have a state tournament...we have too many "state" and "national' tournaments. Just wrestle. If you want to have a state tournament, then make the local tournaments a qualifier for the final one in December. 2. January to IHSAA State Finals- Training for freestyle/Greco technique and rules interpretation. Train your officials and pairings people. No tourneys. It's a proven fact that our kids wrestle too much and don't practice enough. Ask any other country in the world and they will tell you we do the exact opposite of what they do. We do not get the results other countries do...hmmm. 3. February - March: Freestyle/Greco tournaments only. 4. April - Freestyle and Greco State 5. Late April - ??: Training and more training for those kids that make the Fargo teams or any other types of teams. I'm still thinking through some things but those are some rough toughts. I'm telling you right now, kids will train freestyle if they want to get better. Those that don't, will see a noticeable difference in their HS seasons and they will get on board. If they don't, they will get passed by. Thoughts??

I'm going to keep copying and pasting this because I think what I have listed are viable options... It's been said a couple of times already I think but if Freestyle is something the ISWA wants to get back to in Indiana, then the focus and push will need to change. I think Freestyle is great. Loved it back in the late 80's and early 90's...it helped develop me at a very fast rate. But back then, that's all there was. Part of the problem is they started changing the rules and just made it really stupid IMO. I think it is back to being what it once was, but all the rule changes turned a lot of people off to it. Having said that...here is my 2 cents to pushing Freestyle again: 1. Folkstyle Season for PeeWee-Schoolboy's will be November and December. Tournaments can start the beginning of November and end just before Christmas Break. We don't need to have a state tournament...we have too many "state" and "national' tournaments. Just wrestle. If you want to have a state tournament, then make the local tournaments a qualifier for the final one in December. 2. January to IHSAA State Finals- Training for freestyle/Greco technique and rules interpretation. Train your officials and pairings people. No tourneys. It's a proven fact that our kids wrestle too much and don't practice enough. Ask any other country in the world and they will tell you we do the exact opposite of what they do. We do not get the results other countries do...hmmm. 3. February - March: Freestyle/Greco tournaments only. 4. April - Freestyle and Greco State 5. Late April - ??: Training and more training for those kids that make the Fargo teams or any other types of teams. I'm still thinking through some things but those are some rough toughts. I'm telling you right now, kids will train freestyle if they want to get better. Those that don't, will see a noticeable difference in their HS seasons and they will get on board. If they don't, they will get passed by. Thoughts??

I'm going to keep copying and pasting this because I think what I have listed are viable options... It's been said a couple of times already I think but if Freestyle is something the ISWA wants to get back to in Indiana, then the focus and push will need to change. I think Freestyle is great. Loved it back in the late 80's and early 90's...it helped develop me at a very fast rate. But back then, that's all there was. Part of the problem is they started changing the rules and just made it really stupid IMO. I think it is back to being what it once was, but all the rule changes turned a lot of people off to it. Having said that...here is my 2 cents to pushing Freestyle again: 1. Folkstyle Season for PeeWee-Schoolboy's will be November and December. Tournaments can start the beginning of November and end just before Christmas Break. We don't need to have a state tournament...we have too many "state" and "national' tournaments. Just wrestle. If you want to have a state tournament, then make the local tournaments a qualifier for the final one in December. 2. January to IHSAA State Finals- Training for freestyle/Greco technique and rules interpretation. Train your officials and pairings people. No tourneys. It's a proven fact that our kids wrestle too much and don't practice enough. Ask any other country in the world and they will tell you we do the exact opposite of what they do. We do not get the results other countries do...hmmm. 3. February - March: Freestyle/Greco tournaments only. 4. April - Freestyle and Greco State 5. Late April - ??: Training and more training for those kids that make the Fargo teams or any other types of teams. I'm still thinking through some things but those are some rough toughts. I'm telling you right now, kids will train freestyle if they want to get better. Those that don't, will see a noticeable difference in their HS seasons and they will get on board. If they don't, they will get passed by. Thoughts??

I wouldn't say that I have scientific articles. I have read many articles about youth sports that talk about this notion that we have to compete more than we train. Couple things kind of got me on to this idea about 10 years ago. Jim Humphrey was doing an RTC at Peru and as the kids were wrestling live, he and I got on the subject and really opened my eyes. The main thing I remember is him saying that we wrestle too much and don't practice enough. We don't drill enough and work on the basics enough. He said kids should not be competing every weekend and they should limit the number of national tourneys. So, one thing I've tried to do when I go to camps or clinics is pick the brain of the clinician on this subject. I have spoken to Valentin Kahlika (hopefully I spelled it correctly)...he is Aaron Pico's coach and he was adamant that we have our system backward in the U.S. Jake Herbert came and did a 2 day clinic at Rochester and we talked a lot about their BASE system and it is very similar to what Valentin said. The Soviets do it completely opposite of what we do. When their kids start out, they spend 2-3 years doing tumbling and basic drills. No competition and very little "live" wrestling. The next 2-3 years, they continue with this path, adding more technique and "live". They really start working on sparring and play wrestling at this point. Kids might attend 2-3 tournaments in their region. Once they are teenagers, is when they really start competing. But here is the kicker...they still only compete about 5-7 times per year. Jake and Valentin both said we put too much emphasis on competition and weight cutting. I've talked to Tom Brands, Terry Brands, Cael Sanderson, John Smith, Bruce Baumgartner, Brandon Slay, and basically any other coach that has come to Wabash College's camp. While they all have a little different spin on it, they all agree that we compete too much. One of the things Valentin and Herbert both said is that sparring or play wrestling is vital to development. There are some good articles out there on Russian Wrestling, specifically one region in Russia that has developed like 90% of all their Gold Medalists in freestyle wrestling. My numbers might be off but it is a crazy stat. Andy Hrovat went and trained there for 6 months and that is where he developed his ideas for the BASE system. He kept a blog and talked a lot about how they do things. It was very interesting. Hope this helps! Clint

Thanks Blane! I can't speak for anyone, but we've had success with the little guys just by exposure and working on position wrestling more than just drill and wrestle. Joe, I agree and I knew when I typed it, it is probably a pipe dream but I at least wanted to throw the idea out there. I alluded to the fact that you could still do a state tournament, it would just have to look different that's for sure. I think it is feasible and worth discussing. Clint

It's been said a couple of times already I think but if Freestyle is something the ISWA wants to get back to in Indiana, then the focus and push will need to change. I think Freestyle is great. Loved it back in the late 80's and early 90's...it helped develop me at a very fast rate. But back then, that's all there was. Part of the problem is they started changing the rules and just made it really stupid IMO. I think it is back to being what it once was, but all the rule changes turned a lot of people off to it. Having said that...here is my 2 cents to pushing Freestyle again: 1. Folkstyle Season for PeeWee-Schoolboy's will be November and December. Tournaments can start the beginning of November and end just before Christmas Break. We don't need to have a state tournament...we have too many "state" and "national' tournaments. Just wrestle. If you want to have a state tournament, then make the local tournaments a qualifier for the final one in December. 2. January to IHSAA State Finals- Training for freestyle/Greco technique and rules interpretation. Train your officials and pairings people. No tourneys. It's a proven fact that our kids wrestle too much and don't practice enough. Ask any other country in the world and they will tell you we do the exact opposite of what they do. We do not get the results other countries do...hmmm. 3. February - March: Freestyle/Greco tournaments only. 4. April - Freestyle and Greco State 5. Late April - ??: Training and more training for those kids that make the Fargo teams or any other types of teams. I'm still thinking through some things but those are some rough toughts. I'm telling you right now, kids will train freestyle if they want to get better. Those that don't, will see a noticeable difference in their HS seasons and they will get on board. If they don't, they will get passed by. Thoughts??

Biggest thing I noticed was the bottle neck that happened when the Cadets were brought in at 2 pm. My son wrestled 1x in 6 hours because they were trying to finish up Juniors as well. I don't think that is ideal. I don't know how this would work, I haven't looked at the numbers for each division that closely to know if this is feasible, but I wonder if the Pee-Wee, Bantam, and Intermediates could be run 8am-2pm on Saturday, Novice and Schoolboy 2pm-8pm on Saturday, then bring the big kids in on Sunday. It seems sensible to me to have all of the little guys wrestling on Saturday, get them done and get them home or back to a hotel and out of the gym. I thought the ISWA did a good job. My one gripe was the response I got on Saturday after I asked if we could wrestle one more match so my son would have wrestled 2x in that 6 hour period. It wasn't the response, I actually thought it was a fair response, but the mat official and the lady "running" that gym were absolutely rude and had no reason to be. Then of course, I was the bad guy...won't be the last time I'm sure. All I ask of the ISWA and those representing it (they have a ton of great people) is remember why you do it and who you do it for. Lastly, I think the ISWA should also put together a rankings system for officials. Some very good ones yesterday...very good. At the same time, let clubs rank the officials and if they don't meet a certain ranking, they can't officiate an ISWA State tournament. Parents would not be allowed to rank, only those presidents or designated "head" coaches of the club or academy. Just a thought! Having said all that...the ISWA did a nice job and we'll be back next year. Clint Gard

What's your email address?

I'll volunteer Rochester as a central location in Northern Indiana. We will use the school library and order some pizza from Fulton County's famous Nubianos!

That's always important...I'm pretty sure wrestlers shake hands more than any other sport. We shake at the face off, the captains at the center of the mat, before the match, after the match (with the opposing coach as well), and then after the dual. We shake too much IMO!!

If we want to see some change, every coach needs to take the survey. I thought it covered some hot topics that could make a big difference in our sport. Playing the edge Fleeing the mat Calling stalling if wrestlers go out of bounds (similar to college) Change of uniform Forfeits worth more than falls...we FF 2 weights this year and I'm all for this. Those were the big ones I remember...but I thought it was a good survey that hit on topics that wrestling needs to address!

No chances were taken. Laces were tied and velcroed. No visible loops. One official called it and the other official the very next match did not call it.