Hi. I am considering training with the wrestling team at my college and I have a few questions before I make the step. My school Div II. I don't know that makes a difference.
1. Are college wrestlers and coaches accepting of people training with them? I never wrestled before so highly doubt I would make the team.
2. I read in another thread that coaches and athletes won't really care about "outsiders" because they're too busy doing their own thing. Would I learn anything? I don't wanna do it if I'm gonna learn anything. I think this is the most important to me.
3. How hard is the training? I heard its hard but if its way too hard I'm not sure I can do it since I need the energy to train in BJJ and boxing as well.
4. How are wrestling sessions set up? is it like judo or BJJ where you warm up, the coach shows you a few techniques, you drill them with others, and then spar?
I'm gonna email the coach this week. Thanks
Someone posted you are in Kirksville, MO, so I'm taking it you go to Truman State U.
1. It's a yes/no question; they are willing to let "outsiders" in the room but you have to remember this is a college sport & sporadically showing up isn't going to cut it unless you are a former wrestler at that school or stud from another U. Another thing is Title IX, many colleges are limited to the number of people they can have in the room, if you are in the room & a student then the NCAA considers you an athlete (that is another thing, you might have to be cleared through the NCAA clearinghouse to even be in the room) so some colleges regardless of how friendly the coach is just will not let you in the room.
2. As I said in my answer to #1, it is a college sport, they are there to compete and win. The athletes now the sport and at the college level what happens is their coaches refine their techniques, skill sets, improve their training habits. They don't go "okay, here is a standup, first do this, then this, then, etc.". The kids know a stand up, what they learn is subtle changes, setups, breaking of bad habits. There aren't new moves introduced at the college level; note this is not the same as getting wrestler A to do certain moves that he rarely did in college.
3. The training is very difficult & it doesn't start and stop with the practice sessions. The other wrestlers do a lot of training outside of the scheduled team practices: conditioning, strength training, extra drilling, etc. I don't see anyone practicing wrestling full time then boxing & doing bjj. To quote an olympic track coach after he watched a few Oklahoma U practices "wrestlers go through the toughest training I've ever seen except maybe pro boxers but they punch each other in the head so I don't really count them."
4. Practice sessions vary with the coaches and change throughout the season. Again it is competition so the practices are geared to get you ready for that and the end of the season: conference & national tournaments.
In general you warm up, coach goes over a few things--maybe moves he sees people making mistakes on, he pulls from situations in an earlier match, moves upcoming opponents use. Then drill whatever that is.
Then a lot of drilling. A lot of coaches have the wrestlers break off into pairs & drill takedowns, then rides, turns, escapes/reversals, etc. At the college level it tends to be specialized per wrestler unlike high school. For example, a lot of high school coaches go "each of you shoot 30 double legs". In college its "takedowns for X minutes". Then the coaches go around and do their job.
then live wrestling. Now some colleges the drilling & live wrestling roll into one & sometimes it is basically just going live and the coaches go around and make adjustments, they might have wrestlers A & B drill a specific position, move, counter.
And generally practices end with some conditioning drills: sprint/jog on the mats, push ups, sit ups, up downs, etc.
