Page Four

THE FIRST AIDER

Gardner, Kansas

Training a Wrestling Team

By Paul V. Keen, Wrestling Coach, University of Oklahoma, and Former
President of the National Collegiate Wrestling Coaches Association.

‘Coach Paul Keen’s team won the National Collegiate Wrestling Championship
last year. His men are always in top condition. Here he gives us some of
the reasons why and they are certainly worth studying.

o

 

Paul V. Keen

 

It is just about as hard to tell how
to coach a wrestling team as it is to
tell how to rear your son, because
there are just about as many compli-
cations and variations in wrestlers as
there are men on your squad. Every
boy must be taken as an individual
and holds and combinations stressed
to suit his particular need.

However, there are several things
a Coach should do that have no par-
ticular bearing upon learning to
wrestle. First of all, a Coach should
get acquainted with every man on his
squad. He should know their likes
and dislikes, their habits, tempera-
ment, and_ social inclination. He
should gain their confidence and let
them know that he is interested in
them and their wrestling.

In starting a boy or team off, the
first few days or up to three weeks
is spent in getting the boy used to
the mat and how to care for himself.
We give such exercise as tumbling,
rope jumping, arm push ups and
running,

The first fifteen minutes are spent
in these warm up exercises, and un-

‘til a man can take these exercises
without feeling tired, we don’t give
him much of anything else. However,
after he has taken these exercises
for two or three days, we follow with
some wrestling positions, First, I se-

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lect two men about the same weight
and strength and they pair off to-
gether. Then we show them how to
face each other in a standing posi-
tion. Then from this position, I have
them try to push each other off the
mat, or by making each of them
cross their legs or by jerking one an-
other to the knees on the mat. We
do this until one wrestler has upset
his opponent three out of five times
or until both have worked at it a
maximum of five minutes.

The next definite step is to teach
a man how to get behind his oppon-
ent. We usually teach two methods.
First, we teach a man to push up his
opponent’s arm and slip around be-
hind. Then we show him how to ex-
ecute the single arm drag. Then we
teach them how to take the oppon-
ent to the mat when they are behind
the opponent. All during this instruc-
tion, we coach each man how. to fall
and to protect himself at all times.

The next step is to show both men
the referee’s position on the mat and
to instruct the offensive man how to
hold his opponent down with one
definite hold. I usually let a man
ride his opponent for a period of one
minute during this drill and then
make him get up and start over a-
gain. After repeating this three or
four times I ask the men to reverse
positions and go over the same thing,
with the fellow who was underneath
now starting on top. The next step
is to teach another definite ride or
hold down combination and have both
men carefully go over this second
maneuver the same way and same
length of time with which they at-
tempt the first.

Now we are ready to try some de-
fensive wrestling. The first practice
is to teach the defensive man an es-
cape from the referee’s hold and have
him practice going through it with
his cpponent purposely offering very
little resistance, repeating this. six
to ten times. Then when the men re-
verse positions with the under doz
starting on top and repeat. The men
learn holds from both right and left
positions or your opponent will soon
learn that you can’t work a hold
from your “blind side” and he will
beat you because of it.

After three or four good standard
oe are taught and two or three
pin holds, the boys will be eager for
a short wrestling match.

We like to start them off with
three-minute bouts, gradually in-
creasing them one minute each day

 

Published by the Cramer Chemical Co.

until soon they
minute matches.

We concentrate on how to teach a
boy to wrestle instinctively. He must
learn to work a take-down, a hold, a
ride, or an escape, until it becomes a
reflex action with him. In order to
do this each maneuver should be
tried six or eight times when it is
shown and repeated the same number
of times for the next ten days or two
weeks, so the boy will become famil-
iar with it before he ever uses it in
a match.

During the first three or four
weeks of work, I have my men finish
their day by running three miles in
sweat clothes. They start by running
a half mile the first day and increas-
ing it a quarter of a mile each day
until the three miles are  reached..
This serves two purposes. First, it
gets the man in good condition and
builds up his heart until he can wres-
tle ten to sixteen minutes at top
speed, Also it keeps his legs and body
more supple so that he can move
faster and more cleverly.

After the first four weeks, I find
my men in pretty good _ condition.
Meanwhile, I have had time to find
out what style of wrestling comes
most naturally to each fellow, so I:
start in trying to help him build up’
the wrestling equipment best suited’
for that particular style, the feints,
checks, take-downs, rides and escapes
that best blend with it. In other
words, I try to make each man be-
come thoroughly acquainted with the
machinery of his own style, to smart-
en him up in all its phases until
through mastery of it, he becomes a
wrestler formidable enough to win’
a conference championship or if his
balance, speed, strength and know-.
ledge is well enough developed, Be.
national champion. a

Here is a typical weekly schedule
for a Sooner wrestler after four
weeks of training already prescribed.
On Monday take a light work out of °
about forty-five minutes and finish
with a jog of three miles. Tuesday
and Wednesday are about the same.
Have the men warm up by tumbling,
rope jumping, rope climbing, chin-
ning, dipping, etc. for fifteen min-~
utes, then have something new to
work on for ten minutes, a new hold
or a freak combination of holds, The
next ten minutes can be spent by
dividing the men off into pairs and
having them go through holds that
they know or are trying to know.
Then have two men put on a sixteen
minute wrestling bout. Let them
rest for ten or fifteen minutes then
run a mile or mile and a half, and go
in. Make them take a warm shower,
followed by a brisk rub down with a
rough towel, and then make them
habitually go through the training
room to see that scratches, mat
burns, or injuries are taken care of. |
Their work out should be timed so
that each man rests at least one hour
before eating dinner. eee

are wrestling ten-

If a man has tender feet or feet :

that tend to become tender from ~
running, paint them good two Or.