As a sport, wrestling is good for young boys and girls because it builds self-confidence, strength and determination. It is a sport that requires discipline, however, and beginning wrestling from an early age often helps a child achieve more success at the junior high, high school and higher levels. If you would like to help a child you know start wrestling, you must instill the mental and physical aspects of the sport in him early.
Beginning Interest
Many children, particularly boys, have a predisposition toward the competitive aspects of wrestling. In his 1996 coverage of former national and world champion twin wrestlers Tom and Terry Brands, "Sports Illustrated" writer Franz Lidz notes that they were exposed to wrestling at 8 years old by a pig farmer named Randy Feekes. Feekes gave the boys a few moves to practice and encouraged them to perfect them before he would teach more. Setting clear goals for the boys helped direct their competitiveness and turn them into champion wrestlers from an early stage.
Positions and Movement
In "Successful Wrestling: Coaches' Guide for Teaching Basic to Advanced Skills," author Art Keith explains that new wrestlers must learn the basic positions of wrestling and how to move before leaning any other skills. Young wrestlers in primary and secondary school participate in folkstyle wrestling, which has three positions to master: neutral or standing position, top referee's position and bottom referee's position. Train young wrestlers to stand in a good wrestling stance from their feet with their knees bent, hips lowered and hands in front of them at all times. They should learn to circle around the mat without crossing their feet. You must also teach them how to begin in referee's position from both the top and bottom positions so they do not incur penalties in a match.
Training Program
The type of training a wrestler needs to start with depends on what level he is starting at. Authors Thomas Ryan, Julie Sampson and Bruce Curtis point out in "Beginning Wrestling" that coaches at the most basic level of wrestling need to teach children sufficient warm-up techniques such as stretching, running and push-ups first and foremost. From there, practice should revolve around the coach teaching one or two basic moves, such as a double-leg take-down, that the children can then drill with their partners. You may also integrate an explanation of the rules and scoring into basic wrestling practices.
If the youth is starting at the junior high or high school level of wrestling, practice may be more intense and should focus on strength training with weights, more advanced conditioning drills and teaching combinations of moves with advanced techniques. Wrestlers should also get more practice live wrestling with a many different members of the team at this level.
Open Wrestling Tournaments
One of the best ways to gain experience as a young wrestler is to enter open wrestling tournaments. Open tournaments allow wrestlers of all skill levels to enter without affiliation to a specific team. They can be an invaluable way to keep wrestling skills sharp in the preseason of the sport or as a way for very young wrestlers to get their first taste of competition before joining a school-affiliated team.
References
- "Beginning Wrestling"; Thomas Ryan, Bruce Curtis and Julie Sampson; 2001
- Northwest College: Wrestlers Host Open Saturday; Randal Horobik; November 2009
- "Successful Wrestling: Coaches' Guide for Teaching Basic to Advanced Skills"; Art Keith; 1990
- "Sports Illustrated"; Wrestlemania; Franz Lidz; June 1996
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