University of Virginia Head Coach; 2010 ACC Champions; 2010 ACC Coach of the Year;
All-American Wrestler at Virginia; 2000 ACC Wrestler of the Year; member of the 50th Anniversary ACC Wrestling Team
The cradle position can be hit from anywhere-not just from the top. In this highly instructional presentation, Steve Garland shows a complete cradle series from all positions. He teaches a variety of cradle techniques from a defensive position in the neutral position. He then covers cradles from an offensive position on your feet, and cradles from the traditional top position. Finally, Coach Garland shows drills to be used for cradles and pinning in general.
How to Cradle Your Opponent when They Shoot on You
The most common attack in both folkstyle and freestyle wrestling is the single leg. Learning baseline defense is the most important skill but being able to go straight for points will give you a massive edge over the competition. Coach Garland demonstrates how to turn your opponent's offense into your offense, enabling your wrestler to score in bunches. Cradle finishes are covered from the single leg defense with the head inside, head outside single defense, and off of a low single leg attempt by your opponent. All his attacks come from a philosophical change of getting the legs back to attacking into the man. This change allows you to score almost at will from your feet.
Cradle from the Offensive Neutral Position
In the second segment, Coach Garland demonstrates how to offensively attack from the feet with the cradle. This includes options from a front headlock and a re-shot. The front headlock is a game changer in itself but when you add Coach Garland's cradle series to it, you can become unbeatable on your feet. He shows how to use the body's natural movement patterns to set up the cradle. Once you get down the positioning, you can almost always score.
Cradle from the Top Position
Finally, Coach Garland demonstrates the traditional approach to scoring with a cradle from the top position. This segment includes breakdowns, setups and finishing techniques for cross-face and near-side cradles. Although there is one dominant way to attack with the cradle, Coach Garland demonstrates his spin on hand positioning and where the legs are relative to the bottom man so that he gets a fall every time.
All positions in wrestling require drilling and muscle memory in order to make them work. Coach Garland does a fantastic job of showing this throughout the presentation. You'll see drills from the feet as well as drills from the classic top position. There's also a series of pinning drills that focuses on an "always look for the fall" mentality.
This was a fantastic set with a lot of useful information that allows coaches and wrestlers to become prolific cradling wrestlers. Coach Garland brings great teaching style to the presentation, making it easy for everyone to understand the subtle nuances that make this series unique. The tech fall and pin points resulting from these techniques will help your team become at better dual and tournament team.
60 minutes. 2015.
WRD-04758B: with Jordan Leen, University of Virginia Assistant Coach;
2008 NCAA Champion at Cornell; 3x All American; 2x EIWA Champion; 2005 Ivy League Rookie of the Year
Though I have been a coach for 10 years, I competed at a time when "funk" wasn't very popular. The style and moves have always been exotic, mysterious and misunderstood by me. This is the first video where I feel "funk" has really been demystified. - Chester Chen
Funk wrestling is starting to dominate wrestling, frustrating coaches and wrestlers at every level. NCAA Champion Jordan Leen demonstrates several techniques and the importance of position when it comes to beating the funk wrestler.
Coach Leen is one of the most prolific clinicians in the country and does an amazing job of breaking down even complicated techniques and positions so even inexperienced wrestlers can understand. He maintains beating funk has less to do with technique and more to do with positioning. He covers the basics of good positioning from leg attacks that will eliminate that threat. His positioning - with your head and chest high, hips underneath you and protecting your feet - allows wrestlers to come out on top over many of the improvised positions caused by scrambles.
Coach Leen covers exactly what the funk wrestler is looking for and how to protect against it. He explains the importance of position as well as how to wrestle from scramble positions and how to win those positions. He talks about protecting your feet and ankles so your opponent cannot get to their position of advantage. The "leg pass" is the most common of all funk techniques, and learning how to deal with it is a key skill that will make you more confident in not only defending funk, but also in attacking to start with. Grabbing ankles is another common funk skill that is developed to counter leg attacks. Coach Leen shows how just sitting back on your heels is not enough. He also shares some excellent strategies to make this an easy position to counter.
Once in a scramble position, Coach Leen demonstrates how to get back into good position. Strategies for staying out of "the funk" are given for high single legs, high-crotches and low single leg takedowns.
Finally, Coach Leen shares real-life examples of how to use good positioning to stay out of scrambles, and how to get back into good position once your position has been broken. With a partner, he demonstrates scrambles from all positions covered in the presentation. They start by showing the worst-case scenario, and then work backwards, one step at a time, until they get back into good position.
Coach Leen adds several drills that, if used during regular practice, can help protect against funk wrestling This presentation not only helps you defend scramblers but it can also be used to teach some funk.
Keeping good position will keep you out of scrambles, enabling you to stop the funk. When caught in funk, these principles will help you get back into solid position and win the scramble.
50 minutes. 2015.