Freestyle and Folkstyle Wrestling

Right now, all summer wrestling is just mat time no matter what style. That mat time is quite valuable when you seek out good coaches, practice partners and good competition.You USED to gain a competitive advantage by wrestling FS / GR in the summer because of the rules that were in place. The rules in the 70's to mid 80's were much different. You could not back up, your hips had to be forward or present and you could not block opponents hips. What that means is that you had to maintain great position or be thrown. Now in FS. You can run away and block etc...that is why you see very few throws now. Passivity used to be called in FS and the officials gave the top wrestler more time in partier so you had to learn to maintain position on bottom or get turned. The summer competitions were a bit better in that era because there were not many folk style events at all. All the kids who wanted to improve wrestled FS/GR. now the talent pool is watered down between all the folk events in addition to the FS/GR events. Now, many top kids never wrestle FS /GR because the rules suck and are confusing and the folk tournaments are in better places like Disney, VA Beach instead of FS event in Iowa.I would love to see the rules changed back. FS/GR would then be used to teach better technique and position like it used to. I actually liked wrestling FS better than folk. Unfortunately, now it's all just may time.

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exactly!! you cant hit a good shot with out a good set up. and how do you set up those shots? arm drags, under hooks, snap downs, ALL GRECO WRESTLING!

Right on I find those matches so unfair to the guy who is working his butt off, with wrestling I've noticed through the years the better guy does not always win the match, with a staller but we can blame some of that on the refs too, I don't think we should allow someone that never wrestled to ref, just my opinion.

Lots of good points on why you should wrestle Greco/Freestyle in the summer. One point I'll add is seeking out the best competition, which in the summer you can find them wrestling the international styles.

the reason for the lack of attendance at those events is because you have individuals going to compete. you don't get the OSU or iowa croewd following their former favorites to the US Open. The NCAAs have fans that follow their teams. You know which wrestlers are showing up for three days. There is a season to follow and team titles on the line. I agree, you cannot compare the US Open to the NCAAs. As for competitive excitement and having to constantly wrestle to win, I have to five the nod to freestyle and Greco.

everyone has an opinion on this one. The birth of the team camp has pretty much become the biggest dent in the freestyle/Greco world. Once coaches realized they could get their kids 20 matches in folkstyle at various team camps around the country, they suddenly took the emphasis off of becoming a well-rounded wrestler. I don't think the college coaches intended this to happen, but with making so much money on these camps, they could not pass it up.There are many great benefits to freestyle and Greco. Freestyle and Greco still offer some of the best matches kids can get in a year. They both teach wrestlers how to be more controlled with technique, take better shots with better technique and faster finishes, wrestle with the lost art of using the upper body, improve toughness on bottom, and expose kids to opportunities they may have never had otherwise.To say that focussing on one style is a good thing is absurd. The fact of the matter is, folkstyle is exclusive to America. If anything, shifting to freestyle and Greco year-round would be much more prosperous for our country on the international scene (that will never happen though). Not only that, It would offer more kids an opportunity to compete and become champions. This would mean growth in participation for our sport. Imagine having a kid who loses the freestyle wrestle-off by one point, but he decides to focus on Greco and goes on to win state there.Overall, every coach has a different belief and focus. I happen to think that a mix is the best option due to the fact that folkstyle exists.

Getting better as a wrestler is relative. It's relative to the style of wrestling you want to do and your goals in terms of wrestling.If your goal is to get better at folkstyle and wrestle in college then you should be wrestling folkstyle. There are many ways that cross practicing in freestyle can help such as simply changing things up and getting a new feel for something, it also promotes finishing your takedowns fast and a more aggressive and risk taking style. However, folkstyle should be the focus.On the other side of the equation, if your dream is to be an Olympic champion, wrestle internationally, or wrestle for a longer period of time then freestyle is where you should be focusing. Freestyle is the international and olympic style and after college wrestling, if an athlete even wrestles in college, freestyle is pretty much the end all be all in terms of your opportunities to wrestle. So if you like freestyle and plan on excelling there then dedicate your summers to freestyle.Also @ anonymous coward....mat wrestling is not crucial. Not that there have not been many successful mat wrestlers in college but in terms of furthering USA wrestling goals of building more olympic and world champs neutral should be the focus. A wrestler that is quick out of the bottom and good on their feet I believe is better than a guy that's a good rider.

We've already had a big debate about this on the usawrestlingnation forum and I'll restate what I stated there, yes free and GR will help your folkstyle, but not as much as folkstyle.It all depends on what your goals are. If you want to wrestle internationally, of course you should wrestle free or GR. If you want to attain a scholarship, you should wrestle freestyle (not necessarily GR) because the college coaches do indeed go to Fargo and other free tournaments. But if you want to become a national champ in college, I'd think it's MOST important to focus on folkstyle. The one thing that will affect this is that most of the best kids do attend freestyle in the off season but if tournament options and competitors were equal, there is no way to get better at wrestling folkstyle than wrestling folkstyle.Yes level changes and head position can be learned in the other styles but they can also be learned in folkstyle and more to the point one can learn how to utilitze those aspects of wrestling better because you'll be using them to actually defend leg attacks and techniques you see in folk. Sure you can learn the mechanics of a rebar tilt from doing a gut, but not better than you can from actually doing a rebar tilt.It all depends on your goals.

Nobody seems to recognize the fact that GRECO can make a signficant difference in the success of an age-group, HS, or College Folkstyle wrestler. I am not talking about just lateral drops and headlocks!The skills emphasized in Greco directly translate to folkstyle wrestling. First and foremost, the level change essential for the successful Greco-Wrestler will improve your folkstyle leg attacks. You will develop a greater understanding of head position, and you can find college videos on this site where the outcome of the match is directly affected by one athlete keeping superior head postion. Lifting (Greco) and mat returns (Folkstyle) are nearly the same technique with a different finish. The gutwrench is directly related to many techniques on top, the re-bar tilt coming first to mind.I am not saying that if you want to be successful in folkstyle, just train Greco. There needs to be an emphasis on leg attacks in your off-season. But please do not short-change Greco by not acknowledging its place in the development of a folkstyle wrestler.

Do both. How can more mat time be bad for you no matter what style you are wrestling. If you are out of college and training for the Olympics train for those styles... otherwise just get on the mat.

FREESTYLE,FREESTYLE,FREESTYLE

It will be interesting to see where this trend takes us to in 10 years when the kids who are know expsosed to so many oportunities become coach's themselves and have to make that choice. The coach drives the direction of the kids in most cases. In our neck of the woods you have some clubs and coaches that outright refuse to wrestle free/greco. They are missing something special, but regardless wont do it. I can remember the only wrestling their was to do after the HS season was Free/Greco. I wish those options were the only ones that existed. Either way, I think those who want to get better will do so through folk, free, or greco as long as they are on the mat they are getting better

2/3 folk, 1/3 free/greco. If you want to be an NCAA All-American or champ this is the formula. Late in a match if you are down, some good freestyle will come in handy. Folkstyle is all about controlling your oponent while freestyle is about exposure. Freestyle gives you confidence to go for big points if you need to. If your goal is solely to be an Olympian then follow Cejudo and train like the rest of the world.

Freestyle is undoubtedly more important to focus on. If you want to wrestle outside of college, Greco/Freestyle are your only options. It's the only reason we keep getting beaten by the Russians, Iranians, etc. Our college wrestles focus on folkstyle all year and wrestle freestyle to stay in shape, whereas the Russians wrestle Greco/Freestyle their whole lives. If America wants to be a world powerhouse in wrestling again, were gonna have to focus more on the off-season wrestling.

During the summer time there are many options for wrestlers to choose from when it comes to tournaments. There are many freestyle and folkstyle tournaments. Which is more important to focus on to become a better wrestler? How much of the year if any should be focused on one style or the other? does it vary from wrestler to wrestler? Anything Else?