JULY 2017
TO: SOUTHERN PLAINS COACHES & STATE LEADERS
FR: RUSTY DAVIDSON
RE: NATIONAL COACHES COUNCIL
Coaches and Leaders,
I hope you and your family had a safe, mindful and happy Independence Day. I know all are in the middle of, or have recently finished Intensive Camps, in preparation for Fargo.
Congratulations, and Thanx, for your part in June’s National Duals competition. Special Thanx to the Oklahoma and Tulsa organizing committees, for their presentation of the Junior Duals. It’s been a long time since we saw the type of Athlete Friendly, Volunteer Appreciating, Good Old Fashioned Hospitality Tulsa provided. It’s nice to see the enthusiasm of youth and the experience of “Experience” work together to Get It Right.
USAW is just finishing our premier training camp for our age-group elite. It’s called 2024 Camp, and runs alongside our first Senior Preparation Camp for Paris. Coach Hagerty, Missouri, has taken one of the lead positions in these camps. Coach Hagerty picked my brain, about a few officiating issues, for presentation during the camps. I’ve included my comments for you to pick through, as you prepare for Fargo.
Please realize that my comments belong to me and don’t represent any group of published position. Read with a critical eye and form your own conclusions. My purpose is to help us all create more well-rounded, thoughtful athletes… nothing else. I’ll offer the same comments to anyone, nation-wide, that asks. If you like the ideas presented, feel free to incorporate them. If not, fell free to trash them.
SKIN CHECK REMINDER
As mentioned in my June update, please Take Every Reasonable Action to protect your kids, as they arrive at weigh ins in Fargo. Communication with Kid and Parent is vital.
FARGO SCHEDULE
Please find time for these important opportunities to contribute to the Greater Good of our Profession, while we’re in Fargo ! We start with Free Food, at the Coaches Burger Bash, SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 4:30, upstairs, in the Dome. MONDAY NIGHT AT 8:00, we have our first full National Coaches Council Meeting, IN THE TEAM ROOM, downstairs, behind the competition floor. Your attendance and opinion matters ! Our second Council Meeting is WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 7:00. This should suit our Greco Coaches, just getting in.
I’ll be on the floor, all day, every day. Please feel free to pull me off to the side, if you have an idea or issue.
HERE’S WHAT I SENT HAGERTY
FOR COACH HAGERTY, 2024 CAMP
THREE QUESTIONS: OUT OF BOUNDS; FLEEING; PASSIVITY
One answer… our elite athletes and their coaches must continue to update their lists of “Things I can Control” and “Things I can’t”.
For this conversation, we need to think Toughest Scenario… we’re matched against the second best competitor in our particular universe, and it’s going to be close. We know that, to take our opponent out of contention, we need to be six points ahead. Against a quality opponent, this is not likely. So, our opponent will stay in it. Good for them. Good for us. Attack responsibly.
The officiating team is a bit more pesky. The good news is, we only need a three point lead to take them out of the equation. To do so, we have to manage Time, we have to manage Space, we have to manage Contact.
THINGS WE CANNOT CONTROL
We don’t get to pick our referee. We can’t dictate their experience at this level. We can’t choose who Judges and Chairs the match with them. We can’t control the “Points of Emphasis” they heard in the two hour meeting they were in, last night, nor the half hour meeting they had this morning. We can’t control the perspective they use to interact with what they think they heard. We can’t control their fatigue, nor the stress they have dealt with over the last several hours. We cannot control whatever promotion, demotion, reward, assignment, appreciation they feel like they have at stake.
OUT OF BOUNDS
Just when we got used to the idea that stepping out costs a point, the whistle slowed down and options were considered. Our answer has to be, WRESTLE THROUGH THE EDGE, not just TO it. Referees are being instructed to “Hold the Whistle” for an attack to be completed. “Completed” is in the eyes of the beholder. Do NOT stop competing until the whistle has blown.
MY SHOT, MY OFFENSE: Stay Greedy ! If my opponent has stepped out, I THINK I’m assured ONE point. Capitalize on the delayed whistle. Let’s snag TWO, maybe FOUR, because our opponents quit early.
YOUR SHOT, MY DEFENSE: Stay Greedy ! If I have stepped out, I must now limit my loss to ONE. Make the same fight you would in the center. Stuff head, fight hands, deny hips. We cannot quit early, then have our opponent LOOK LIKE they finished.
WRESTLE THORUGH THE EDGE. WRESTLE THROUGH THE WHISTLE.
PASSIVITY
Again, for the sake of argument, we’re going to play out a 0-0 match, in which the officiating crew will basically decide who wins. Under the current rules, if the athletes are not scoring, the officiating team must. A match with no offensive, technical score, no caution, no step out, will end 2-1. At the end of a minute two minutes, twenty seconds, it’ll be 1-0. Going into the second period, around 4:15, it’ll be 1-1. Before we get to 5:20, it’ll be 2-1. That’s how it’ll finish, if there’s not a Fleeing the Hold Call.
We simply cannot care who gets put on the Activity Period Clock first. I might have an opponent making me look bad. I might get lucky. The officials might just guess.
If I’m on the clock, I need to stay within myself and manage my offense. Nothing crazy. If my opponent is on the clock, I need to stay in bounds and capitalize on any error.
It’s the thirty seconds after the first Activity Period that make a big difference. I’ve got to either score, before the end of the first period, or make my opponent eat a first warning. I need them on the clock, as early as possible, in the second period.
But, be careful what we wish for ! Things went well. It’s 1-1, at 4:20 and I scored last. Now, I have to manage over a minute and a half, knowing that the referee needs the final score to be 2-1. Pace is everything now. I have to stay in the center and either attack or create the illusion of attack. If I don’t, guess “Who’s Turn” it is to go on the clock.
FLEEING THE MAT
What we know is that every referees’ clinic is preaching, “Make ‘em wrestle in bounds”.
Does it matter where the attack began ? Yeah, kinda’. Does it matter who’s ahead ? Yeah, kinda’. Does it matter how we went out ? Yeah, kinda’. Will they, maybe, just guess, because of the pressure of whoever is watching ? Good chance !
We have to defend shots with our butt to the center. Gotta’ be able to get off our opponent’s corner and dictate direction. And… in that weirdest of possible scenario, we have to take what the rule gives. Today, it’s better to give up TWO, than TWO and A CAUTION.
So, we eat a bad call. What now ? We better have some pretty good experience with time management, a Plan A and A plan B. If we let ourselves be blindsided, shame on us !
FLEEING THE HOLD
Maybe, the call of the year… or not-call. All of us know that our viewing audience, whether in the seats or on TV, do NOT want to watch matches end ugly. They heard the commentators brag that we are a sport of constant risk. If you don’t have a well-rehearsed plan of staying in contact, in the center, and being willing to brawl, you really deserve whatever you get.
Don’t act surprised that officiating teams are highly sensitized to Fleeing, in a One Point nut-cutter, inside forty seconds. Know the difference in the commands you hear. If the referee is saying the words “ACTION” or “ATTACK”, they are working on setting up a Passivity Call. When the command changes to the word, “CONTACT”, they’re setting up a Fleeing the Hold Call. If they stop the match and warn you, anywhere over 15-20 seconds, they ARE coming after the call. ADJUST !
Redefine your “Bread and Butter”, your “Go To” attack. Can you penetrate a Single, and not get tilted, lifted, or gator rolled for two ? Can you go double unders and not get thrown ? Can you pull down a Two On One and dominate the center of the mat ? Just know that the world takes a dim view of you skating backwards, pumping your victorious fists in the air. Ask the Mongolian !
WRESTLE SMARTER, NOT HARDER
We are not a meat-head circus act ! We are some of the most brilliant tacticians in any athletic endeavor ever known to mankind ! Much of any wrestler’s success is based on PSYCHOLOGICAL conditioning. Just like PHYSICAL conditioning, we have to take ourselves past exhaustion, and then perform at our peak.
With the help of your coaches, design ways to attack, protect, appear, disappear, stay with the plan, panic productively. Make all of these psychological skills a part of every workout… just like you make your cardio stress part of very work out. Overcome bad calls and admit when you get lucky.
Tax every rule. Do not be taxed by any rule. Make them all work for you. Don’t consciously allow any to ever work against you. Find ways to control your environment, ethically. It’s what we do.
THAT’S IT. Travel Safely ! I look forward to sharing some great experiences in Fargo. Thanx for all you do !
Ciao,
Rusty