SCHALLES: WANT TO BE A BETTER PINNER? COMPLETE THE DEAL
I thought that for this issue I would consider writing a potpourri of snippets on the sport. A little of this and a little of that, tidbits of things viewed from the top down that can be read in short sittings.
So, if one might ask how many technical phases there are to wrestling, the logical answer would be four. Takedowns, escapes, reversals and pins. At least they were the four that I remember our coaches drilling us on. But what seemed to vary from program to program, school to school, was the amount of time that each coach would set-aside for instruction of each phase.
There is little doubt that proficiency on one’s feet is obviously the clarion call of all great wrestlers followed closely by their ability to get off the bottom. Reversals, on the other hand, is just something you did or were taught when the situation or time permitted. Learning how to roll around on the mat was traditionally something a wrestler was forced to do when his escapes failed him.
Then there’s pinning. Most coaches seem to agree it’s an important phase of the sport until it’s time to allocate time to its instruction. Then it’s almost as if putting someone’s shoulders on the mat becomes the redheaded stepchild of technique. They say they love him when clearly their actions suggest only a tolerance.
As a competitor, I put people on their backs because of a decision I made that pinning was important to me and then set out to develop a way for takedowns to coexist with my coach’s takedown, get off the bottom philosophy. So I altered the paradigm that said pinning is one of wrestling’s four instructional phases. Instead I theorized that it’s not a separate function of wrestling at all, but merely a component part of takedowns, escapes and reversals.
If you want to learn how to pin, then add a half-nelson to the end of a double leg or a headlock to the conclusion of a fireman’s carry. As you put the finishing touches on a switch, lock your hands in a near cradle. Pinning is nothing more than the last or sixth phase of what is typically thought of as five-part movements.
Takedowns consist of stance, movement, level change, penetration and finish up. Five parts that when done in order equates to a two-point takedown. By adding a sixth part, in this case attacking his head as his butt hits the mat on a double leg, works out to be six team points.
It was rather easy to see the value in this form of attack, “six parts, six points.” What’s difficult to understand? Every takedown I ever drilled wasn’t complete until I heard a muffled sound coming from somewhere underneath me. Taking an extra two seconds to finish a movement in practice meant two fewer minutes I had to wrestle in a match.
If you want to learn how to pin think, “six parts, six points.” Every reversal, every takedown ends with muffled sounds.
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