Strider Wrestling Blog

After the second week of Strider Wrestling's fall session, things are definitely picking up. Thirteen wrestlers came to the College Church location last night, and they were all ready to learn. As usual, we focused on the basics, again refining stance and motion before moving on to the attack step, power triangle, and finishing a double leg takedown. One point I try to get across to them is that even if you practiced something last time you were here, it doesn't mean you are an expert. I've wrestled for fifteen years, but the first thing I work on at every practice is still stance, motion, and my attack step. Only once you are competent at these basic skills can you move on to more complex motions and techniques. As the saying goes, you have to crawl before you can walk.

A lot of beginning wrestling is teaching your body to perform actions that seem unnatural at first. Staying in a good stance is tiring, especially if you've never done it before. In the same way, getting used to moving your own body while controlling another person is a challenge. This is why wrestling takes a long time to learn, and proper teaching is vital.

We had good numbers at both College Church and Lawndale last night. Word is getting out and we are getting the chance to teach a lot of kids how to wrestle. At Lawndale, we worked again on double leg takedowns again. I told the kids about Chicago native Joe Williams, who won three NCAA championships at the University of Iowa, wrestled in the 2004 Olympics, and, just yesterday, won a bronze medal in the World Championships in Hungary. I told the wrestlers about him for two reasons. First, he's from Chicago, just like them. Second, his best move is a double leg takedown, and he's one of the best in the world at it. Following that, we transitioned to defense, and I showed them the seven S's of a counterattack, courtesy of Conestoga Valley High School (Pennsylvania) head coach Trent Turner. They are as follows:
1. Stuff
2. Sprawl
3. Square
4. Slide
5. Sword
6. Spin
7. Score

They made a lot of progress. I was impressed. Over at College Church, Coach Norton took the group through some basic stance and motion drills. Also, he introduced the attack step again and progressed from there to the beginning of a double leg takedown, focusing on the "power triangle." At both sights, the wrestlers are eager to learn. They want to wrestle, and I couldn't ask for more than that.

The second week of training has started well. Fourteen young wrestlers came to Lawndale eager to learn last night. After announcements at two local churches this coming Sunday, I expect our numbers to grow even more. Last night, we focused on two main techniques. First, we worked on our attack step. Driving the knee over the foot and onto the mat in order to arrive at the "power triangle" position is an awkward motion if you have never done it before, but it is absolutely fundamental to a good attack step. Following that, we again practiced double leg takedowns, focusing on using what we had learned about the attack step earlier in the practice. I explained the importance of a good attack step and the "power triangle" position, and then watched the wrestlers put it to use. While none of them are experts yet, they are making great progress. At the end of the day, I introduced the very beginning of defending a double leg takedow so they will be ready to score both offensively and defensively.

Just before calling it a night, I read 1st Corinthians 9:24-27 to the guys. In that passage, Paul speaks of runners striving to win the prize, but they must follow the rules of the game in order to win. Paul spent his life traveling around Asia Minor telling people about Jesus, and he uses the running analogy to explain the importance of hard work and discipline both in his life and in his preaching of the gospel.

The second session at Lawndale also took place on Tuesday night. There, the kids built on what they learned on Monday. We also had four more wrestlers than the day before. On Monday, they learned about stance, motion, and inside attack step. On Tuesday, they applied each of those skills to learn a double leg takedown. Teaching wrestling is like building a house. You have to have a strong foundation before you can move on to more complicated things. It isn't always fun to learn about stance and motion, but it is vitally important to wrestling success, and the double leg takedowns the wrestlers learned on Tuesday are better than if we had ignored the foundation.

We had a smaller group than anticipated tonight at Wheaton, but we accomplished some good things on our first day. As word gets out, more people will come. I think that one difference between the two groups will be the level of experience. Both will have plenty of new wrestlers, but Wheaton is likely to have more who have done this before. Wrestling has a stronger foothold in the suburbs than the city, but the city presence is growing thanks to groups like the Park District, some elementary schools, and, of course, Strider Wrestling.

Welcome to the Strider Wrestling blog. I've started this blog so anyone who wants can keep track of Strider Wrestling's programs in the Chicago area. This fall, we have a program at Lawndale Community Church in Chicago and College Church in Wheaton. Stay tuned for updates throughout the year.

Tonight was the first session at Lawndale Church. The word is still getting out about what we're doing, but we had eight wrestlers at the church tonight. We wrestle in the sanctuary, which is not something you see every day. We are working with these kids, teaching them a sport and then doing our short devotion afterward. The kids are raw and untrained, but I'm trying to teach them focus, discipline, and wrestling skills. Each one of those will serve these kids later in life.

Overall, they seemed excited to be there, which I'm hoping continues for the rest of the fall session. I also hope the numbers expand so we can continue to have good partner matchups. They want to wrestle all-out all the time, but I'm necessarily taking it slow.

Tomorrow is the first session at College Church. The setting and wrestlers is different, but the emphasis on technique, discipline, and focus is the same.