This training session marked the first step towards preparing for the Australia Cup. I've been preparing individual training programs for the wrestlers and we started putting them into practice today. We were mainly concerned with identifying strengths and weaknesses today. This gave the wrestlers a good understanding of the training path they would have to take over the next few months in order to address those weaknesses.
We will continue with drills and light sparring until the X-Cup at the end of March. That tournament will be a good indicator of match fitness. After that tournament, we will use its momentum to continue getting match ready for the Aus Cup.
22-Feb-09
As we wind down the short training phase leading towards the Oceania Games, there are a few noteworthy lessons to be taken away from it. The first is that there is no better way to get in shape than to do lots and lots of sparring. That is, don't save the sparring training till later in the training phase. Introduce sparring early on but keep it flowing and light. The heavy match practice can come later once the athlete is in decent competitive shape.
The second is that the peaking phase is extremely important. I was amazed at how the athletes could perfectly execute techniques in practice, but fail to seize the opportunity to use them while sparring. The peaking phase involves visualisation, timing and reflex training. It is quite easy to see how a week's worth of "peaking" training trims away so much wasted movement and hesitatation. I've incorporated a lot of mental drills for this Oceania training plan and it is having a tremendous effect. Having great technical execution was simply not good enough. I could see that transitioning from one move to another was the area where a lot of time was wasted *thinking* about what move to go to next. Mental training, flow drills and developing a good strategy had a great effect towards solving this. However, "peaking" is also the phase that requires the greatest coaching resource. While it is relatively easy to drill a large class on basic techniques and making them spar, every wrestler has individual problems which must be solved by developing mental drills etc which are suitable for that individual.
9-Feb-09
Today we discussed the importance of getting everyone in the class to consolidate the basic moves that we spent so long learning last year. I stressed that learning a single leg attack, a central penetration attack and the snapdown-go-behind attack.
Since these techniques are pretty familiar to everyone in the class, it is important to drill them at a fast pace and high intensity. This allows the move to be done as though it was in a real wrestling match. If a mistake is made, then the timing will be out and the move will not "flow" nicely. These drills are also great for fitness. We will continue to drill these moves often in class. Practice makes perfect....especially when it is for these important basic techniques.
New techniques should be drilled at a slower pace to learn the subtle details. We also did those sorts of drills today. Once the moves can be done smoothly, then the pace of the drills should be increased.
18-Jan-09
We've started the new year with a bang. The first week of training was very successful, with the main focus being getting back in shape for the Oceania Championships in March. Friday's session concentrated on revising and drilling the centre penetration shots vs. the side-angle shots. There is no better illustration of the single leg attack from a side angle than this: Smith vs Bohay.
Smith demonstrates just about every trick in the book to get the single leg takedown on a very tough opponent. He scoots out to the side, gets out from under the sprawl and stands up. He elevates the leg well and puts tremendous pressure with a tight grip. He steps in and tries to trip the opponent, who manages to defend very well. Smith also tries to change direction and drag the opponent down using the "round the pipe" technique. Finally, he re-elevates the leg and successfully trips the opponent.
After that, Smith goes for a hi-crotch and this time, he stays in the centre. He gets a deep, penetrating shot and drives his rear leg in to continue his forward momentum. He gets into a good position, straightens up and lifts. He turns while continuing to drive and gets his opponent down to the mat.
Jul-Sep 2008
May-Jun 2008