I wrestled in PA for 13 years but I am really having trouble translating that into teaching. I wanted to ask if anyone has any easy exercises or anything I can use for total beginners. Please don't give me crazy heavyweight stuff we are talking takedowns and control which I don't know how to teach it's more natural to me.
First thing you need to do is stance drills. Get those balanced stances and circling under control before adding anything else to the equation. If they can't move and stay on balance, they'll never learn to take a proper shot or execute a proper sprawl. Next, you introduce the shot walk. Obviously, 90% of the guys will have issues early on with the concept of falling on their front knee, so give them tricks like the 'split step' to help them lower their level and to make the initial penetration step a little less heavy and off-balancing. After making them walk all over the mat in their stances and making them do their shotwalks in lines back and forth across the mat (this is the time for you to watch each athlete and trouble shoot with them), it's time to pair them off and make them actually perform a double leg. Emphasize things like penetrating with their foot actually between their opponent's legs, the concept of impact and off-balancing the opponent with the shot, and the idea of leg drive and finishing at an angle. Next, teach the sprawl. Make sure they know the lines of takedown defense: Head hands, elbows, hips, and make sure the learn the cross-face and spin. Spin drills work cardio, and reinforce the proper positioning and direction changing that is vital to good takedown defense. This should get everyone started, and should honestly be the first several days of practice. Eventually, start adding the single leg, the front headlock, the high crotch etc. Once they have basic mechanics down, return to the basic stance and double, this time emphasizing basic ideas of hand/head control from neutral and how to make the opponent step, stand straight, fall forward (basically, everything that sets upa shot). I wouldn't even introduce referee's positions for a week or two. Hope this helps, good luck coaching. It's a blast.
Well first teach the penetration step. What are we talking about teaching here? I'd go standup, penetration and some arm cut breakdown from top and have them drill it a few times as well as very basic positioning so they don't get pinned. Shoot in lines too that works well make sure you watch the kids closely and help them. The sprawl my team is taught very early and a bunch of them are warmups.
Thanks, I think it will be fun but the language barrier and the fact that they are mma fighters makes patience a little low. I'll work them out for a week and see how it goes.
Ah, mma fighters, not amateur wrestlers? That's a little different, but basics are still basics. Incorporate mma-relevant things like attacking the turtle off a sprawl, preventing the triangle from a single leg takedown etc. etc., but also don't forget about the good under-used wrestling stuff like a solid shuck from top of turtle to open up the back.
Break it down and have them work on individual components for one or two techniques. Be careful about introducing too many things too quickly, they'll do much better if they can one thing well - and the experience of learning it and then succeeding at it will teach them the need to be technical in their training for other things ... the first techniques (ie the basics) are always the hardest to learn properly, and tend to be boring to practice (ie fighters want to move on to "cool" moves, but moving to new things will in the long run lead to more frustration (that of not being able to do techniques when sparring) than the boredom of drilling a couple of basics.
