2000 Olympic Gold Medalist;
Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; former Head Coach at the Olympic Training Center & National Development Coach for USA Wrestling;
2x NCAA All-American (University of Pennsylvania); Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Olympic Champion and USA National Freestyle Coach Brandon Slay shares world class techniques on developing an unstoppable ankle pick and single leg series at the USA Wrestling Coaching Clinic (in conjunction with the 2016 Olympic Trials).
Coach Slay demonstrates the proper mechanics and position for stance, set-ups, and various finishes to the ankle pick and single leg that are being taught and used at the Olympic Training Center by wrestlers such as Kyle Snyder and David Taylor. Additionally, Slay shares examples of realistic match situations to illustrate how and when to use these techniques, as well as how to get wrestlers ready for competition.
Evaluating Your Opponent's Stance and Position
Even at the world level, stance and position are critical for success. Coach Slay reinforces the correct stance and position on your feet and shows you how to quickly evaluate your opponent's weaknesses and your potential scoring opportunities based on their stance. Through simple observation of your opponent's tendencies, he shows how you will be able to understand the key match strategies to employ based on if your opponent is a left foot or right foot lead.
Set-Ups: Why Most Collar Ties are Done Incorrectly
Success with the ankle pick starts with a proper understanding of how to collar tie properly. Most wrestlers use the collar tie incorrectly to passively hold their opponent's head.
Coach Slay will change the way you collar tie by turning it into an aggressive-offensive position. You'll learn the right way to push and pull with the collar tie, and then how to quickly move your opponent laterally to successfully set up the attack. He also reveals the three most common control ties used in wrestling and shares his thoughts on the best tie to use in both an offensive and defensive situation.
Coaching tips are provided on getting wrestlers ready for competition, including the use of offense/defense drills to simulate realistic match-like situations. Understanding the importance of when to go offensive and when to go defensive will stop your athletes from losing in the final minutes of a match.
Executing Set-ups and Finishes to Ankle Picks
Coach Slay covers the "Five Keys to Wrestling" that every wrestler should understand to keep excellent position when finishing any leg attack. By stressing the proper footwork, motion, control ties, and level change, he demonstrates the mechanics of the ankle pick that are used at the world level for Olympic-level athletes. Multiple finishes from these positions are taught as a plan for attacking both sides of your opponent's body.
How to Transition Into Other Leg Attacks
The ankle pick also serves as a great transition into other leg attacks, because you are now under your opponent's hips, and the nature of the attack makes it hard to defend against without exposing oneself to another take down. Coach Slay shows how to easily transition into a double, single and low-single leg attack when your opponent successfully defends the ankle pick, and how to finish these leg attacks (and potentially finish with a leg lace.)
Ankle picks are often used as a setup to transition into other leg attacks. This is great psychologically because the wrestler knows that if they fail, they have other options, allowing them to shoot without hesitation. In essence, the ankle pick is a great attack because it allows you to chain from one offensive move to another.
How to Finish the Single Leg Attack
After transitioning to a single leg, Slay shows the three most common ways to defend the single leg attack, and how to counter them to get the take down. You will learn how to counter when your opponent:
- Defends by hipping into you, like in folkstyle wrestling
- How to turn the corner when they have sprawled
- How to counter when they reach over the top of you
As a bonus, you'll also learn how to properly transition from an ankle pick to a single leg to prevent your opponent from defending with a kick out - a common defense used in international freestyle competition. Slay also shows how to easily turn your opponent's attempt to stall with a shin whizzer into an outside single leg attack.
The ankle pick, when setup properly, does not require a high level of athleticism or explosiveness. Wrestlers of all levels can successfully learn the ankle pick with a minimum learning curve. Slay shares the best techniques and strategies to help all wrestlers and their coaches to know what to do to continue to improve and reach their goals.
Produced at the 2016 USA Wrestling Silver Coaches Clinic in Iowa City (IA).
89 minutes. 2016.
WRD-05036B:
with Bill Zadick,
US National Freestyle Head Coach;
2018 UWW World Cup Champions (Freestyle);
2017 World Team Champions (Men's Freestyle);
2006 Freestyle World Champion, 1996 NCAA Division I National Champion (University of Iowa)
Bill Zadick understands that it takes an offensive minded individual to be successful in wrestling. This mindset allows a wrestler to turn a defensive position into an offensive position and score off of their opponent's underhook with high percentage techniques.
The key to scoring from an opponent's underhook is to create an offensive situation. Zadick demonstrates five fundamental techniques to clear an opponent's underhook and open the door for offensive attacks, such as a sweep single, fireman's carry, and inside trip. He provides insight on current trends from the underhook and gives an inside peek at the techniques that the national team is currently working on from this position.
Capturing an Underhook
Being able to hand fight your way into the ties is the real art of wrestling, and is often the difference between elite and non-elite wrestlers. Zadick covers many of the international methods currently used to gain an underhook.
Clearing the Underhooks
With the amount the underhook is used in competition, being able to clear out of it in order to create an offensive attack is an essential skill. Zadick demonstrates five simple and effective fundamental ways to clear an underhook.
- Re-pummeling to an underhook
- Across the face to an underhook
- Breaking the elbow to a 2-on-1
- Thumb block to inside control
- Arm block to inside control
Being aware of the new innovations happening in wrestling is critical to constant development in the sport. Zadick does an excellent job of demonstrating some of the new innovations in wrestling to clear the underhook, including the snap to clear and Sadulaev cartwheel.
Going from Defense to Offense
Zadick demonstrates a variety of offensive finishes to transition to after clearing the underhook:
- Nearside single
- High crotch
- Sweep single
- Outside fireman's carry
- Nearside fireman's carry
- Inside trip
- Headlock
- Whizzer kick
Zadick also shares insights of how to turn a bad situation into a positive situation that will lead to a variety of scoring opportunities. You will learn simple, high percentage techniques from the underhook that are winning big matches in all levels of wrestling.
Produced at the 2016 USA Wrestling Silver Coaches Clinic in Iowa City (IA).
81 minutes. 2016.
WRD-05036C: with Terry Steiner,
US National Women's Team Head Coach,
NCAA Champion and 3x All American (Iowa); Distinguished member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Many wrestlers struggle with the par terre aspect of freestyle wrestling, as it's dramatically different from the typical mat work in scholastic and collegiate wrestling. Frequently, wrestlers will score the takedown, cover the upper body, and then get stood back up without scoring additional points. Athletes spend 80% of their time attacking legs on their feet, so it makes sense to continue attacking them once they're on the mat.
US National Women's Coach Terry Steiner shows a system of turns for freestyle that can be easily added into any wrestler's arsenal. He also covers how to counter several common defenses to the lace and completes the training with other attacks based from the leg attack. Steiner has spent most of his coaching career developing this system, which has led to several world titles on the women's team.
Laces Off Leg Attacks
The best way to score points on the mat in freestyle is by transitioning immediately into a turn off of a successful takedown. Since most wrestlers are most comfortable with leg attacks, the natural transition is into the leg lace. Coach Steiner demonstrates transitions into the leg lace from single legs, double legs and high crotches. Additionally, he shows a variety of ways to transition directly into the lace from your opponent's takedown defense.
A Pathway to Attack the Body
Coach Steiner believes in attacking the straight leg at all times. This gives your athletes a blueprint to attack on the mat. He demonstrates several options right off the leg attack that lead to big time scoring. These options can be, but aren't limited to, cross to a lace, bent knee to a leg in, bottom leg turk, crotch lift, and gut wrench. All of the turns are dynamic, right off the score.
Leg Lace System
If a wrestler is able to lock up the lace immediately from a takedown, there's always the potential to score big points off of consecutive turns. Many savvy opponents will have a solid initial defense to prevent the leg lace from getting locked up immediately. However, many wrestlers don't recognize that they're still in a strong position, and fail to score additional points.
Steiner demonstrates a complete system to transition into a number of different leg lace variations off the most common and effective defenses. He shows:
- How to get an opponent back to the mat when they come to their base.
- How to split the ankles when the opponent is sitting on their hips.
- How to change off to a cross knee turn when you cannot break through the opponent's lace defense.
These follow-up attacks open up a whole new world for many athletes that feel stymied from a basic lace getting shut down.
Women's Wrestling
As the USA Wrestling Women's National Coach since 2002, Coach Steiner has been a passionate advocate for women's wrestling. In a lecture format, he discusses the benefit of incorporating women into your program and the broader wrestling community. He talks about his methodology for creating opportunities for women in the sport, and how he feels it will benefit the sport as a whole.
Coach Steiner gives a complete system for attacking on the ground in freestyle, allowing your wrestlers to score big points that are often left behind. This video is appropriate for coaches and athletes of all levels.
"This video was incredible! After watching for 20 minutes I already had more answers than you normally get from most videos. He shows so much technique and talks about how to develop a system of lower body turns. This is by far the best video I have ever seen on Par Terre." - Customer Review
Produced at the 2016 USA Wrestling Silver Coaches Clinic in Iowa City (IA).
63 minutes. 2016.