3 mats, 6 excellent wrestlers. I couldn’t wait for it to begin!

After one period on each mat….ZERO points.

That’s 6 minutes of wrestling from 6 of of the state’s best wrestlers without a single point between them.

Two kids crawling around on their knees.

Two dancing and not making contact.

Only one shot attempt in the whole thing.

I’ll reserve my suggested rules changes for another time (including: wrestler crawls around on his knees, ref starts counting. 1-2-3, stalling)

instead, my suggestion is for wrestlers to do this:

Adopt the Attack System mindset: put the opponent on defense, keep him there, and attack relentlessly.

Here’s a sure-fire way to see more action:

Take in a freestyle tournament this spring.

Freestyle promotes more action by:

• forcing you finish fast and react quickly
• Attacking and taking chances is rewarded not punished
• Playing defense gets you beat because the sport is built to reward attackers
• a lot of crazy-OMG action!

Freestyle and greco also require a whole ‘nother level of handfight to win.

Its why we focus on it heavily every spring, especially this year because….

I have a surprise in store this spring to elevate handfighting to an art form (details to follow soon so keep reading the emails).

There may also be an Easter egg of sorts here.

If you’re ready to have a ton o’ fun and see some crazy-exiting action (no snooze alarm needed), go here.

Randy

That’s all for now, I’m heading back to the tournament now.

Good luck to all participants!

Randy

That’s when I popped this question: Do you love soccer and have a passion for it?

“Well…. I’ve done it since I was 5 years old.”

My reply?

Well that’s long enough.

Now if he’d have said, “Yes, I love soccer and have a passion for it” my answer would’ve been:

Go play soccer. Follow your passion.

There’s a difference between a passion and an obligation.

That young man was following an obligation.

(Some of my obligations include paying the gas bill and picking up my socks.)

Right now you might be considering whether to continue following a familiar path – like playing baseball for instance.

Ask yourself: is it my passion or is it an obligation?

Here’s how to identify a passion:

• you just lost in districts and are passionate about going to state next year.
• You want to wrestle in college
• You have a burning desire to elevate yourself to higher levels
• You are passionate about leaping ahead of wrestlers who currently stand between you and your goals

If the above apply, follow your passion here

Randy

PS. Lets say you really want to play baseball, You really love baseball! And you also want to further your wrestling.

What’s cool is, you can still train here this spring and also play baseball…or soccer…or track…or even field.

Just follow this link and join Club Simpson – our twice per week option.

This weekend at districts, many matches will be won and lost from 3 critical positions.

Let’s look at each:

Position 1: short offense (aka, scoring off the opponents shot)
When one wrestler fights off a scoring attempt, and then takes down the other, its a strong indication who is going to win the match. Most wrestlers struggle with two key (yet easy to fix) points that make the difference in getting the takedown or not. When they grab your leg, you know you’ve missed one of them – so keep them from grabbing your leg.

Position 2: maintaining a strong base in down position.
If you struggle to keep a strong base, here’s an out of the box fix – wrestle greco. Greco par Terre (that’s bottom position) is one of the hardest positions to defend in wrestling because the rules are so restrictive in what you can do to defend, that you simply have no choice but to develop instinctive hips that shut the opponent down immediately – and those same skills keep you on your base in folkstyle. From there, getting out is a cinch.

Position 3: the deadly over/under throw position.
One of the most common (and devastating) ways to lose a match is by getting locked up and thrown. Its a crushing defeat both mentally and physically when you’ve given your all and built up a lead only to see it evaporate in one single movement.

Its also extremely unnecessary. Its relatively easy to shut down most throws. Your best shutdown tactics make it impossible to get thrown and can be developed in a very short time. Winning from these positions is a key focus in our spring wrestling regimen.

These are a few reasons why spring Olympic styles wrestling makes winter champions.

Go here to join us

And as I was on the examining table, I got to realizing the similarities between my current situation and what a good wrestling trainer does on a regular basis.

You got it….

Fixing things that are a pain in your butt.

Like stopping on shots and buried underneath.

Or getting beat in one of those scrambles where your adversary grabs your ankle and before you know it you’re staring down his dark side instead of his head…

Or just about to finish your shot and get rolled.

Or needing one point on an escape and getting broken down, ridden and maybe even turned instead

Or trying to salt away a well-earned lead but getting locked up and thrown.

If the thought of losing any more matches this way get you feeling constipated…

This solution is way more fun than your doctor’s examining room

Randy

PS. All of the above are situations where wrestlers can gain vast improvement in a very short time. In fact, a group of happy wrestlers have already snagged their spots here. Fix what ails you the painless way

I used to get picked on quite regularly.

I was the ideal target – smallest boy in my class and – well, you saw the description above.

One day I was on the bus on my way to school, and some lowlife behind me snagged my hat.

I took a quick look around but of course, but all I spotted was snickering.

Bullies always want you to chase the hat and make a fool of yourself. This time around though, I had other plans.

I ignored the snickering behind me, and the calls to find my hat, and pretended like nothing had happened – like I didn’t have a care in the world.

The bus finally came to a stop at the school, and I made my move.

I quickly slid into the aisle, making sure everyone sitting in front of me could get off the bus (nobody in front of me took my hat, after all) – and BLOCKED THE AISLE.

Some of the lowlifes behind me (yes, there were several) tried to push past me – but I had leverage. Both tiny hands grasping tightly to the seats on both sides, and my small 65 lb frame blocking the way.

Meantime, all the kids in the seats ahead of me and across from me had filed neatly off the bus.

About now the low lifes were getting restless, realizing their situation: they were TRAPPED.

Me?

I still didn’t utter a word. Just continued blocking the aisle, despite the growing complaints and shoving behind me.

Finally the bus driver caught on that something was amiss.

“What’s going on?” he roared impatiently.

Some of the lowlifes mumbled something about “he won’t move…”

but I still didn’t budge.

Finally, in a calm, yet loud, squeaky voice, I pronounced:

NOBODY IS GETTING OFF THIS BUS UNTIL I GET MY HAT BACK!

At the moment, there was ONE person in control of that bus – and he wasn’t the guy behind the wheel.

The bus driver then tiredly said, “Give him his hat back.”

Finally, the hat was thrown to me from behind.

I took it, put it back on my head, and triumphantly strode off the bus.

I never knew who took it – nor did I care. I do know that nobody ever took my hat again.

Bullying still exists to this day – it always has and it always will, no matter what we do. Its one of the ugly traits of human nature.

And if you’re the one being picked on, and don’t have an answer, like I did, talk to someone. Don’t let it continue to fester and make you miserable.

And if you see others being bullied – be the cool guy and help put a stop to it.

Believe it or not, wrestlers get bullied too. The incident on the bus happened before I started wrestling – but even after joining the team, I had issues with bullies.

Years later, my daughter was being bullied by girls in her class. I helped her develop some tools for her to deal with it, and once I did, a strange thing happened….

She started to go to school with her head held high – and couldn’t wait for them to try something! Because she was ready. After one go-around, they never picked on her again.

If you have any situations you’d like to share with me, or questions about how to handle situations that come up, send me an email and I’ll give you a hand.

Also if you’d like to hear more, let me know.

Randy

PS One of my former students told me about a time he got suspended from school because he stood up to a bully – hit a double leg takedown on him, got him down, and said, “Now stop picking on that kid.” His parents were proud of him – and I would have been, too. He was a tough guy – he won schoolboy state and wrestled on the Ohio team in the olympic styles of freestyle and greco roman wrestling. That’s what the tough guys do in the spring.
He trained here.

kHere’s one:

I spent significant time on the single leg takedown with this athlete. Workout after workout, I’d have him drill it, along with a healthy array of setups, until it was so ingrained in him, there was no way he was going to miss out on taking people down with it.

Except that he did.

Next session when I asked about his match, he said, “I lost.”

Did you hit the single leg?

His response?

I never got to the single leg.

The opponent got to him first – grabbed a hold of him, shot in, took him down.

I had made the most common of young-coach mistakes. Instead of focusing on winning the position war, I jumped ahead to the attack.

Its like bringing the salsa for the super bowl but forgetting the chips.

I learned an important lesson that day, which became the first focus of attack system wrestling: position yourself so you can’t be attacked.

Today, we emphasize it every session.

And during the summer, we refine it to the highest degree.

If you struggle to stand in the center and keep the opponent off your legs, you will struggle mightily in attempting to impose your will. And instead, you may wrestle scared, afraid of your opponent’s attacks.

There’s no way you can implement any attacking system while wrestling scared.

Instead, if you discover the secret to always winning the position war, you will keep opponents off your legs – even the fast, strong, athletic ones.

Here’s where your success begins

Randy

PS. This week, every athlete who commits to this attacking system of wrestling will gain access to a few special reports that can help you win matches right now – even before learning my system of wrestling.

This one is called the secret to ALWAYS winning the position war. Its an easy read and will change your outlook on your feet by laying out specific keys to shutting your opponent down on your feet with just a few simple movements.

In addition….

You will want to read special report #2 right after that one:

the key to developing a relentless attacking style.

The two fit like a glove and are critical to you winning at peak time.

These reports will be made available to all who are signed up by this Friday.