Stand Up In Wrestling

[Erminia Scharnberg]

Inmy Sophomore year at Iowa, we took second at the National Tournament and as a team, we struggled a bit throughout the year. I was the starting 158 lber that year and was having a season with some ups and downs. My biggest weakness was the bottom position and it caught up to me one night in Minneapolis.

The devastating effects of not being prepared in the bottom position popped up again my senior year. I had my sights set on winning a National Title before I left Iowa but I had two defending NCAA Champs in my weight class. I wrestled one of them, Mark Branch, in January and lost by Major Decision because of my inability to get away from him. The last month of the season Jimmy Zalesky taught me some rock-solid strategies for staying out of and clearing legs and Coach Gable put everyone we had in the room that ever threw a leg on top of me. He would have them shark me and at first it WAS NOT FUN.

The bottom position can be a thorn in the side of many wrestlers and coaches. This is typically most obvious when a wrestler moves up a level. It is almost expected for middle school wrestlers going to high school and high school wrestlers moving to the college ranks to all struggle in the bottom position. An experienced coach sees this coming and will try to find ways to keep this from happening.

Several core principles stand out to me from the bottom position. If wrestlers can understand these wrestling moves and strategies from the bottom they will often overcome their bottom struggles quickly. Many times escaping from the bottom position is a matter of hustle and grit, but it is also like solving a puzzle. If a wrestler is moving frantically, they can often find themselves flat on their belly with arms tied up and fighting for their life. If they hustle with the proper fundamentals in mind their fight will be much more efficient and effective. This is easier said than done, but if this is to be accomplished then simplicity is a major factor.

The Stand Up is the most fundamental method of escaping your opponent. Every wrestler should understand how to execute a Stand Up. More importantly, they should understand the position they should be in once they get to their feet and how to Hip Heist or clear away from opponents. Most wrestlers struggle with the stand up because they are taught to explode off the whistle straight to their head up and all motion shooting to the ceiling. This is the way I was taught and the way I taught it for a long time.

If the top wrestler is bumping or chopping and knocking the bottom wrestler off balance the bottom wrestler may need to post his hands on the mat to keep his balance and keep his hips under him. Returning to hand control as fast as possible.

If the bottom wrestler is broken down one easy thing they can focus on is to dig their hands in the mat. This will keep their arms from getting tied up and allow them to start pushing back into their opponent, slide their hips under them and work other holds from the mat or get back to their feet.

A Sit Out may be a good option for this position. The bottom wrestler can almost always get to their rear into a Sit Out position and has many options from that position.

Rewind to those days when I was a six-year-old prankster. Once he had won my confidence, Bruce began our study with a barren chessboard. We took on positions of reduced complexity and clear principles. Our first focus was king and pawn against king- just three pieces on the table. Over time, I gained an excellent intuitive feel for the power of the king and the subtlety of the pawn. I learned the principles of opposition, the hidden potency of empty space, the idea of zugzwang (putting your opponent in a position where any move he makes will destroy his position). Layer by layer we built up my knowledge and my understanding of how to transform axioms into fuel for creative insight. Then we turned to rook endings, bishop endings, knight endings, spending hundreds of hours as I turned seven and eight years old, exploring the operating principles behind positions that I might never see again. This method of study gave me a feeling for the beautiful subtleties of each chess piece, because in relatively clear-but positions I could focus on what was essential. I was also gradually internalizing a marvelous methodology of learning- the play between knowledge, intuition, and creativity. From both educational and technical perspectives, I learned from the foundation up.

This approach has proven successful in other grappling arts like jiu-jitsu. For example, Nic Gregoriades and Kit Dale both got their blackbelts in only four years (significantly faster than conventional standards) by focusing on the concepts more than the individual techniques. Gregoriades has written about this extensively on Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood and teaches this approach to his students.

Does this mean you neglect to learn actual techniques entirely? Certainly not, but focusing on these principles helps you learn quickly. By understanding not only how to execute techniques, but also why certain techniques work, you can develop an intuitive understanding of what to do in a position despite never having practiced a specific technique in a given position.

Put yourself within shooting distance. Close the distance on your opponent and get a good feel for how far away from your opponent you need to be in order to fire off a successful attack.

The committee, which met April 13-15 in Indianapolis, endorsed a drop-down rule and the neutral position stalling rule with some tweaks so referees will have a clearer understanding of how both should be applied.

In the recommendation for the drop-down rule, the referee should immediately begin a five-second count for stalling once the offensive wrestler positions himself with one or both hands below the buttocks of the defensive wrestler. The referee will stop his count when the offensive wrestler improves his position, moves his hold above the buttocks of the defensive wrestler or releases the hold.

After watching it being called in that event, the committee recommended that when wrestling is stopped in the neutral standing position for going out of bounds, the referee can make one of the three following calls:

There are several different styles of wrestling. During the regular wrestling season, wYc focuses on the folkstyle method of wrestling. The objective in folkstyle wrestling is to gain control of your opponent and to ultimately pin your opponent by holding your opponent with their back (both shoulder blades simultaneously) on the mat for a period of at least two seconds.

Wrestling matches consist of three periods. These periods vary in length from one minute for younger age groups to 1.5 minutes for our older athletes. Either wrestler in a match can win at any time if they are able to pin their opponent or develop a lead of more than 14 points. Otherwise the wrestler than can accumulate the most points by the end of the third period wins the match. If the match is tied after three periods, it will go into overtime until one of the wrestlers wins.

There are only two positions from which referees start, or continue a match. The first is neutral position, with both wrestlers standing and facing each other. The other is the referee's position, where one wrestler starts on his hands and knees down on the mat, and the other starts on top, behind and in control.

The first period always begins in the neutral position. Each wrestler has their choice in one of the remaining periods, to choose to start from top or bottom referee's position, or in the neutral position.

If the action must be stopped before the end of a period, the referee restarts the wrestlers in the starting position that best reflects the position the wrestlers were in when the action was stopped.

Wrestlers earn points through takedowns, escapes, reversals, back points and penalty points. Takedowns are worth two points. This is when a wrestler goes from a nuetral (standing) position and is able to bring the other to the mat and gain control. The double leg drop, single leg sweep, fireman's carry, arm drag, and pancake are a few examples of takedowns.

Escapes are worth one point. This is when the bottom wrestler is able to break free from the top wrestler and revert back to a neutral position. The stand-up, forward or granby roll, sit-out turn-out, and sit-out turn-in are examples of escape manevers.

Reversals are worth two points. This is when a wrestler on the bottom is able to reverse the control so that the opponent is on the bottom. The switch, side-roll, and peterson roll are examples of reversals.

Back points (Near Fall) are worth two or three points depending on the length of time that the opponent's back is exposed. Back points are scored when the top position wrestler can make the bottom wrestler : 1) spring into a high bridge; 2) lean back on their elbows; 3) expose their shoulders four inches or less to the mat; or 4) have one shoulder on the mat and the other 45 degrees or less above the mat. The half-nelson, cradle, three-quarter nelson, and armbar series are near-fall maneuvers that can ultimately lead to a "fall".

In a Pin (fall), both shoulders are forced to the mat for a period of two seconds. When a wrestler completes a fall, he scores 6 points for his team during the tournament. A fall immediately finishes a match, and no additional points are needs to be scored.

Penalty points can be awarded when the opposing wrestler performs illegal moves or is penalized for excessive stalling. An illegal hold is one example in which a wrestler would receive penalty points. The best definition of an illegal hold would be "any maneuver that could cause bodily harm intentionally or not." Illegal holds are penalized in the following manner: first and second offense - one match point for opponent; third offense - two match points for opponent; and fourth offense - disqualification from the match. Examples of illegal holds are: full nelsons, overscissors, back bows, headlocks (without arm encircled), forceful trips, pulling thumb or less than four fingers, holds that restrict breathing, and any holds that are used for punishment alone.

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