Minutemen Youth Wrestling

Okay - now is your chance to see who you think will bring home the Gold Medal at the State Tournament in March. Choose who you think will win first place.

The Minutemen had 15 wrestlers attend the Bristol Holiday Tournament on Sunday, December 29th and all 15 came away with medals. It was a very good effort on everyone's part and everyone worked very hard. Bringing home gold medals were: Anthony Zovich, Jacob Elaides (2 pins), Jonathan Asal, Mason Powers (3 pins), and Derrick Durity (3 Pins). 2nd Place medals were won by: Ryan Bisson, Jeremy Elaides, Colin and Tyler Cunningham, Cameron and Jack Banks and Kevin Moss. 3rd Place finishers included: Richie Skwiot, Sean Pentalow, Anthony Scacca, David Asal and Tim Norton.

9/13/2002 Ted Witulski/USA Wrestling Wrestlers drill offensive shots. They shoot singles off a touch and go. They post an opponent’s arms and run through a double. They gain elbow control and hit a hi-c. We drill offense very well. But one important area that wrestlers and their coaches can easily overlook is tie-up recognition. Wrestlers have to be prepared for anything the styles, stances and attacks that a wrestler must defend against are complex and varied. So, in the practice room it will often pay for coaches to have wrestlers drill out of a defensive position. Eventually a wrestler will face an offensive minded opponent, who has his favorite position he wants to be in. When this occurs it is important for a wrestler to be able to recognize the tie-up, react, and attack. Getting wrestlers to make that quick identification and attack seamlessly off of a tie-up is an outstanding skill to teach in the wrestling room. Once wrestlers learn a base offense of a sweep single, double-leg and a hi-c then it is important for them to learn how to use these essential shots to attack quickly off of a tie-up. See the opponent’s tie-up, react, and attack. The wrestling room at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, is constantly filled with elite wrestlers. The top wrestlers in the nation rarely take a day-off in their pursuit of wrestling perfection. Wrestlers are always steadily honing their skills and reaction time so that they can earn the number one spot on the national ladder and represent the United States in the next World Championships. Most all of these elite wrestlers have a consistent drilling pattern that focuses on the skill of reacting to an opponent’s contact. As individuals get into their drilling that usually takes about forty-five minutes prior to the beginning of the hard part of practice, wrestlers pay close attention to the particulars of an opponent’s contact. While there are many different ways that a wrestler can attack off of a defender’s tie-ups an elite athlete consistently drills one or two per position. Wrestlers that are attacked by an opponent under-hooking his left arm, will then on a daily basis practice base shots off that position. One of the shots off of an under-hook might be to drop the under-hooked arm straight down reversing the palm and elbow into the under-hook. The turn of the arm in this manner lengthens the arm and blocks the under-hook. At the same time, this creates added weight and pressure on the under-hook. The defender of the under-hook will then step outside of the opponent’s stance and snatch a high-level single-leg. Another way of shooting off an under-hook involves limping the under-hooked arm back into position. Wrestlers accomplish this by elevating the under-hooked arm straight above the attacking opponent. Once the arm is elevated they will turn their palm towards their own body and pull down, essentially jamming their arm back into position. By limp-arming the under-hooked arm back into position the tie is cleared, and the wrestler should see an open shot. This type of maneuver can lead to a near side sweep single, or a hi-c to the opposite side. Regardless of the favored shot of the defender it is important that they consistently practice attacking or shooting on the opponent after clearing the under-hook. The most often used tie-up technique in youth and high school wrestling is the head-tie. Learning to attack quickly off of a head-tie can really help a wrestler’s offensive potential. There is a wide-range of attacks that wrestlers can use to beat the contact created in a head-tie. To learn reaction time wrestlers should pick their two base shots that they will use to defeat a head-tie. Commonly, wrestlers will shoot a hi-c to the nearside off of an opponent’s head-tie. The near-side hi-c is shot by circling away from the reach of the head-tie. For example, if an opponent head-ties on a wrestler’s left side, the defending wrestler would circle to his right. The circle steps to the right would bring the opponent’s right leg forward. With the leg forward the shooting wrestlers grasps at the elbow of the head-tie and would push it to the outside. This motion creates the space for the hi-c to be shot. Another common near side attack off of a head-tie is a shuck to a single-leg. USA Wrestling’s Coaches Education Program defines a shuck as a push of a control point across an opponent’s body. Using the example of a head-tie, the defender would grasp the elbow as the control point and push it across the opponent’s stance. Shucking the elbow in front of the defender will bring the near leg forward much like circling away from it does. While the elbow is shucked the defender will circle step towards the opponent and shoot a single-leg. Often in wrestling when an opponent gives up the corner of their stance they will attempt to flee forward. In these cases it is valuable for wrestlers to practice running down an opponent’s leg or even ankle. Typically “running down an opponent” will look less like a single leg and more like a chase. Attacking off of a “Russian” Tie is also a valuable skill that wrestlers should consistently drill. Again, there are number of ways which wrestlers can shoot off of a Russian-tie. Two commonly practiced shots at the elite level are a swing single to the far side and a slap-back double. Generally a key error that occurs in the grasping of a Russian tie is the momentary squaring of the stance of the wrestler. When an opponent pulls a Russian tie in often the defender will be able to use their free arm and the momentum created by the opponent to hit an open sweep single. If a wrestler reaches with his left hand, then that arm is vulnerable to being controlled by the two on one or “Russian” tie. When the opponent pulls the 2 on-1 in as a tie-up, the wrestler should look to quickly shoot off of the tie. To do this the wrestlers needs to take a sweeping outside penetration step away from the Russian. At the same time the wrestler shoots the hand of the arm that is being controlled down and away from the opponent. A subtlety that can help develop the feel of this technique is to practice this off of the reach of the head-tie. The wrestler that will hit the shot will start with a head-tie on his partner. The partner will take the head-tie off by using a Russian. The 2 on 1 tie, of course will bring the shooter’s arm down. When the movement is created off of the Russian, the shooter will sweep to a single leg on the far side. Developing quick reflexes to the pull of the tie-up can lead to open single legs on the opposite side. The faster a wrestler’s reflexes the better the chances are for getting the takedown. The slap-back double again requires that a wrestler quickly un-leashes his attack after an opponent gains a 2 on 1 or Russian tie. Once a wrestler ties on the left arm the defender will use his free hand (right hand) to gain head position. To do this, utilize the slap-back technique. This is basically a shove or shuck of the opponent’s head back to the left directly over the Russian tie. While the wrestler is “slapping-back” the opponent’s head, he should be positioning his left leg to split the opponent’s stance. As he moves his left leg into position he should change his level down and drop his hands. The slap back should open space for the shooting of the attacker’s head to the far hip (left hip) of the opponent. With hands dropping after the startling shove of the head and pre-positioning of the lead leg (left leg), a quick double leg tackle should be open. By consistently practicing base shots off of an opponent’s tie-up wrestlers will gain muscle memory that will increase their reaction time. A wrestling match is a steady stream of thrusts and parries of offensive and defensive maneuvers. Wrestlers of course should know how to attack when they are in position to use offensive tie-ups but of equal importance is the ability to react off of an opponent’s tie. Helping wrestlers break down an opponent’s tie-ups and the shots that can be “seen” after a quick tie-up counter is an important way to advance a wrestler’s technique. Many times wrestlers will be faced with under-hooks, head-ties, and 2 on 1 ties. Consistently practicing the counter-shots to these tie-ups will help wrestlers achieve a greater level of success.

On Saturday, December 14, 2002, eleven Berlin Minutemen traveled to Coventry High School for the third annual "King of The Hill" Takedown Tournament. There were two divisions: Novice & Advanced so that begining wrestlers would compete against others of the same ability. Winners were determined by best of three takedowns. All eleven wrestlers placed in the tournament. Placing first in the beginner division was Jacob Eliades and Mason Powers in the advanced division neither were taken down once during the tournament. Also placing first was Jack Banks. 2nd place in the Beginner Division were: Jeremy Eliades, Matthew Cotes, and Bredan Butler (who wrestled up two age groups due a bracketing problem). 3rd Place were won by: Sean Pentalow Cameron Banks, Kevin Moss and Ritchie Skwiot. After all the individual trophies were handed out they held the "King of The Mat". This event gives everyone a chance to stay in the middle the longest by getting a takedown. If you get a takedown you stay in and at the end the person with the most takedowns is crowned king. In the Novice Division, Ryan Butler won the king of the mat. He had 7 takedowns before he lost. The 7 takedowns where good enough for "Longest Reign". Although he stole the trophy from his brother. Brendan was the leader of longest reign with 4 takedowns until Ryan came along. There was about 15 wrestlers in between Brendan and Ryan and Brendan's reign stood until Ryan got his chance. The coaches were very pleased with the effort and hope the medals keep coming and each boy gets better throughout the season.

Summary of document items- Click on title to take you to website if you wish to print a ciopy. Winter Folkstyle Tournament Guidelines 2011 - 2012 o Middle school division made-up of 7th & 8th graders born in years 1997-1998 & 1999. o Tournament sanction forms must be submitted at least 4-weeks prior to event. o All tournaments are pre-registration only. Absolutely no walk-ins. o Only sanctioned USA clubs may pre-register wrestlers. Out-of-state wrestlers / clubs must contact the tournament director. o Tournament registration fees are $16/individual with a $27 family cap. The qualifier registration fee is $17/ individual and the State Championship is $20/individual. o Madison weights will be used for all tournaments with the following exceptiono Intermediate, Novice and Middle School division state qualifier and state championship will follow the USA Wrestling weight classes for their age group. o 5-man round robin bracketing will be implemented in order to improve tournament efficiency and allow every wrestler to get four (4) matches, which should also be more competitive. o Only Intermediate, Novice and Middle School wrestlers will need to “qualify” for the state championship the weekend of February 19, 2012, three or four Sites to be determined and assignment of Clubs to each site will be determined by Mid January 2012. USAWCT is combining the Schoolboys and Cadets into a single category labeled “Middle School” division. This will reduce the confusion about the two age groups competing together or separately. This is applicable to only those wrestlers who are both born in 1997 and are in the eighth (8th) grade. The Middle School division will therefore include only those wrestlers who are presently in the 7th and 8th grade and have a birth year in 1997, 1998 or 1999. All coaches will be required to have both a current USA Wrestling coaches card and be at least Copper certified to be able to participate in this years State Championship Tournament. Copper Certification can be done online http://www.asep.com/asep_content/org/USAW.cfm. To get more information about the Coaches Certification Courses you may visit the website (www.usawct.org) or email Coaches Director John Knapp jknapp125@yahoo.com Coach’s Certification is NOT mandatory during the regular season tournaments however; a current USA Wrestling coach’s card is required and must be displayed on the coaches upper body when coaching alongside the mat. Wrestlers are permitted to only register and wrestle in one (1) bracket regardless of staying within their own age group or not. Tournament Sanction forms should be submitted at least four (4) weeks prior to the tournament date, please indicate the number of mat surfaces you plan to run. You’ll need at least one (1) more official than the number of wrestling surfaces that you will be using. Forms may be obtained from the State Chairperson, Sarah Jadach phone number evenings (203) 735-7175 or by e-mail sjadach23@aol.com Tournament sanction fees are $150 for normal tournaments and $100 for small invitational tournaments and $100 for Beginner’s tournaments. Anyone submitting a sanction form with less than 30 days will be assessed a $50 late fee penalty. All Tournament sanctions must be accompanied by a USA Wrestling Policy on Abuse and Harassment, signed by the tournament Director. Tournament Director will also need to fill out an Evaluation Form after their tournament to report tournament information and Issues. The form should be emailed to the State Chairperson no later than 3 days after the tournament. In addition, the USAWCT Sportsmanship and behavior policy must be posted at the entrance to the facility and read aloud prior to the start of wrestling for each session. Regular Season- December 2011 thru February 12, 2012 exclusive of the qualifiers on February 19, 2012, however, tournament dates may recommence after Feb 26, 2012. Each Club’s director or designated person for that club will check in with the tournament Director and inform the director of any known NO SHOW wrestlers and pay for their team’s entry. All WRESTLERS and only Wrestlers will check into the tournament at the skin check location, which will be separate from where the Club Director or designated person(s) check in area. Wrestlers must have proper forms completed by a Doctor at skin check. Please see website for proper skin condition form (www.usawct.org) WRESTLERS THAT DO NOT CHECK IN AT THE SKIN CHECK AREA WILL NOT BE ENTERED INTO THE TOURNAMENT. Club Directors or the designated person for that club, will check with the head person running the Skin check in area to see if any of their wrestlers have not checked in, by 8:15am for the morning session and 11:45am for the afternoon session. Registrations: ? All tournaments require pre-registration. Absolutely NO Walk-ins will be permitted. ? Only Directors, or their appointee, of sanctioned clubs will be allowed to pre-register wrestlers. Wrestlers who are not club affiliated or are from out-of-state are requested to contact the Tournament Director directly by the Thursday immediately before the event. ? Only the data base on our web site will be used to register for tournaments, this will ensure that all wrestlers are proper USA wrestling members and allow for a uniformed format to process entries. ? Each wrestler’s weight must adequately represent the weight that they will be come tournament morning. Every wrestler will be required to check-in the morning of the tournament to check-in and get a skin check. o Tournament registration fees are $16 for each individual with a family-cap of $27. All club directors are to collect their wrestler’s registration fees and pay the tournament director the morning of the tournament. Payment should not be made with more than one (1) check. There are NO refunds for no-shows. o All wrestlers are required to have a current USA Wrestling membership. o Wrestlers in need of a card should contact their club director or Sarah Jadach at (203) 735-7175 or sjadach23@aol.com . Arrangements must be made by each Wednesday prior to a Sunday Tournament to allow proper issuance of cards, NO EXCEPTIONS Weight Classes: ? A Madison weight class system will be followed. All wrestlers will be grouped relative to both their age and weight. There are no published and strict weight classes to follow during the regular season. The maximum weight distribution will be no more than 5 lbs for weight classes up to 120 lbs and no more than 10 lbs for weight classes over 120 lbs. ? There will be random weight checks at normal tournaments with a 3 pound allowance given to each wrestler. Random checks will be determined at check-in, by the tournament Director. Any wrestler that violates the three (3) pound allowance will be disqualified and removed from that tournament, if the tournament director believes that this was a typo error, the wrestler can be re-bracketed. In addition, any wrestler disqualified as a result of violating the three (3) pound allowance will be reported to the State Chairman and that wrestler is to be identified (Flagged) on the web site and must be weighed in at every subsequent tournament to verify their weight. ? Weight challenges during a tournament are performed at the tournament director’s discretion. When a wrestler’s weight is challenged by another wrestler (Coach or Parent), then the challenging wrestler will also be weighed in. ? The tournament director must notify Kids Director, Dave Kanute within 2 days of event in which there was a weight issue or challenge in which a wrestler violated the three (3)pound allowance and or a violation of USA Wrestling Policy on Abuse and Harassment or the USAWCT Sportsmanship and behavior policy. Failure of the Tournament to follow this rule will result in forfeiture of their right to run a Folk Style Tournament in the 2010-2011 Season. ? When weighing-in, each wrestler must weigh-in wearing a competition singlet. Age Categories, Start Times & Period Length: A minimum of 20 minutes must be allowed between wrestlers matches, unless agreed upon by the coaches for a shorter time. Boy/Girl Division Times Schedule Category Year of Birth Check-in Time Start Time Period Length Paperwork Color Mighty Mites 2006-2007 7:45 – 8:30 9:00 AM 1-1-1 Pink Bantam 2004-2005 7:45 – 8:30 9:00 AM 1-1-1 Yellow Intermediate 2002-2003 7:45 – 8:30 9:00 AM 1-1-1 Blue Novice 2000-2001 11:15 – 12:00 12:30 PM 1.5-1-1 Green Middle School 1997-1999 & in the 7th or 8th grade 11:15 – 12:00 12:30 PM 1.5-1-1 White TECH FALLS will occur when a 12 point margin is achieved; this rule applies to all age groups Tournament Results: ? It is the responsibility of each tournament director to forward the results to the State Chairman sjadach23@aol.com by Wednesday morning immediately following the tournament. The top three (3) wrestlers in each bracket must be identified with the following information- ? Wrestlers name by placement with- • Age category • Weight class • Club or town Officials: ? Only certified officials may be used at USAWCT tournaments, which are to be selected from the USAWCT pool of Officials or CIWOA officials, however, the CIWOA official must have a membership with USA Wrestling, either as a USA wrestling coach’s card or USAW Official’s card. ? Tournament directors are required to contact Mark Cammisa, Officials Director 30 days prior to your event date (preferably by e-mail) and request from him the number of Officials that you will require. E-mail markcammisa@comcast.net phone number Home 203 790-9209. Mark Cammisa the officials Director will make the assignments for the officials. ? You’ll need at least one (1) more official than the number of wrestling surfaces that you will be using when wrestling on seven(7) surfaces and you’ll need at least two (2) more official than the number of wrestling surfaces if the wrestling will be on eight (8) or more surfaces. ? You will provide free of cost to all officials and the supervisor official lunch, have water available at the tables at all times and provide a dinner meal if the tournament runs beyond 5:00 pm. Officials will be paid $15.00 per hour for 2011-12 ? You will also pay the Supervisor Official $150.00 for their services that day. Coaches and Spectators Conduct--- This code of conduct has been established to ensure that there is a defined method for the handling of unacceptable conduct by coaches at USAWCT sanctioned wrestling events. The responsibility of the assigned officials and the USAWCT Board of Directors is described in this document. Yellow Cards will be given to a coach by the official if a coach is issued a Warning. Warnings are given for: 1)Questioning Judgment 2) Improper Action of a Coach o As described by the current season tournament guidelines, policy on harassment and abuse or other applicable state or national guidelines. Red Cards will be given if a Coach is issued a Flagrant Misconduct. If a Coach is issued a Red Card that Coach will not be able to participate in the next USAWCT tournament that their team is attending. Flagrant Misconduct is: 1) An act the Official judges serious enough to remove offender from the premises 2) As described by the current season tournament guidelines, policy on harassment and abuse or other applicable state or national guidelines. 2-Yellow cards in the same day will be considered a Red Card in which the Coach will not be able to participate in the remainder of the current or the next tournament that their team is attending. 3- Yellow cards during the season will be an automatic Red Card in which the Coach will not be able to participate in the next tournament that their team is attending following the day the third yellow card is issued. If the Coach received 2 Red Cards in the same season this will be grounds for an Automatic Due Process Hearing as defined in the USAWCT Bylaws. If the Coach refuses to participate in the Due Process Hearing their coach’s card will be automatically suspended for an entire year without appeal. Officials will fill out a form explaining the reason for either a yellow or red card. Each club will be asked to designate a Head Coach for each Session of the Tournament for that Day. This will be done at registration. Head Coach will be the point of contact regarding the conduct of their staff and fans. Site: ? Mats- no less than one-half mats is to be used at any time for any age category. The minimum mat size is recommended to be the equivalent of two (2) full-mats broken-up into three (3) mat surfaces. All Novice and Middle school wrestlers that are in a weight class of 115 pounds or more will be required to wrestle on Full Mats, this is not left to the tournament director’s discretion. ? Sound system- adequate sound systems must be available in each area where wrestling matches are present ? Emergency personnel- it is the responsibility of each tournament director to have on hand one of the following type of personnel (Certified Athletic Trainer only) Bracketing: Tournament committee strongly recommends that Mighty Mites and Bantam wrestle in four man round robin brackets. Intermediate , Novice and Middle School can be four or five man round robin brackets depending on the registration numbers. When the 5-man (Maryland Crab) round-robin format. • All wrestlers will be grouped by both age category and weight into 5-man brackets. Each wrestler will wrestle one-another giving each wrestler a total of 4 matches (round-robin format). There are many advantages to doing this. Everyone gets 4 matches. • When using 8-man brackets with only 7 listed wrestlers the #1 seeded wrestler will only get two (2) matches. Wrestlers with lesser experience tend to only get two (2) matches too. The round robin format automatically gives these wrestlers a 100% increase in the number of matches. Wrestlers of equal caliber can be grouped together providing for more competitive matches. This should give everyone 4 competitive matches versus a #1 seed in an 8-man bracket who usually gets only one (1) competitive match. It is a very easy format to operate. This will allow the tournaments to be operated more smoothly and in a timely fashion. With only five (5) rounds the match-ups will be identical each week, each wrestler gets four Matches. • Round 1- #2 vs #3 and #4 vs #5 with a bye to #1 • Round 2- #1 vs #4 and #3 vs #5 with a bye to #2 • Round 3- #1 vs #5 and #2 vs #4 with a bye to #3 • Round 4- #1 vs #3 and #2 vs #5 with a bye to #4 • Round 5- #1 vs #2 and #3 vs #4 with a bye to #5 With only three (3) rounds the match-ups will be identical each week, each wrestler gets 3 matches. • Round 1- #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3 • Round 2- #1 vs #3 and #2 vs #4 • Round 3- #1 vs #2 and #3 vs #4 In the event of multiple wrestlers with the same record, a tie breaker criteria is as follows: • When only two (2) wrestlers have the identical win-loss record, the tiebreaker will be HEAD to HEAD results, therefore the one who won their match will be determined the higher place finisher. • When three (3) wrestlers have identical win-loss records the following criteria, in order, will apply- MOST Falls, then MOST Technical fall, MOST major decisions (8 more points then opponent). Scoring total- the wrestler who had scored more points in their 3 matches regardless of the type of decision, fall, forfeit or injury default. In the event that each of the 3 wrestlers in the tie breaker all have a fall, then the least amount of time aggregate of the three will be the winner and will break the tie, then the other two placements are based upon head to head results. Qualifiers- Date February 19, 2012 Only wrestlers from the Intermediate, Novice and Middle School age categories will need to Qualify for the State Championship. There will be no exceptions to this policy. There will be a mandatory questionnaire sent to Clubs Director around Mid January 2012 requesting that each report the number of Novice and Middle School wrestlers from their club that will attend the qualifiers for the Kids State Championships. The Club Directors on the BOD will gather this information and remit it to the State Chairperson by January 19th. The tournament committee will then determine which Clubs will be at which Qualifying location. This determination by the tournament committee will be presented and approved or amended by the Board of Directors before January 23, 2012. • A survey will be given at the beginning of January to all clubs asking to give estimated numbers of who will be attending the State Tournament for the Intermediate, Novice and Middle School Divisions. This is to help us make sure each qualifier location is balanced. The clubs will be given a deadline for the estimate and if they have not responded to the survey by the 10th of January then they will not be allowed to register.