TEAM USA TECHNIQUE TIPS: Outside Single / Whizzer Defense / Inside Shelf

Head-inside singles are trending as a more popular attack, especially in freestyle. As wrestling constantly adapts to the trends, athletes are becoming better at defending these attacks. Landon (short-sleeve shirt) gets to an outside single/sweep. He gets to a power position (head up, chest showing, hips in). Brooks (“N” Sweatshirt), while giving up a leg attack, will go to a common defense.

Brooks uses his hip and a whizzer to improve his
position by weakening Landon’s position. He pressures the whizzer down to the mat and tries to keep Landon’s head on the mat with torque from the whizzer and pressure with his hips. Some defensive wrestlers will whizzer down and grab their own ankle to stalemate the position.

To avoid the stalemate and lose a scoring opportunity, Landon must first re-gain some head position while also getting his attack hand above Brooks’ knee. This is possible by combating the defensive wrestler’s hip pressure with your own! Landon will use his shoulder and outside leg to drive into Brooks. Doing so exchanges Brooks’ weight off Landon and on his outside hand.

The exchange of pressure makes it possible to get height with the attack hand. Landon will continue to pressure into Brooks and then shelf the inside leg onto his knee. Notice that Landon keeps his head up and into Brooks. This pressure does two things. First, it allows Landon to easily get the foot shelfed. Second, the pressure prevents Brooks from getting funky and picking one of Landon’s ankles when he starts getting to his feet.

Landon will continue to pressure into Brooks which will drive him to both feet. Typically, the defensive wrestler’s foot will be outside the offensive wrestler’s body. There are several techniques to adjust and get the foot in front of the offensive wrestler.

After getting the foot elevated, the offensive wrestler now has the ability to score from a finish of their choice. The key components of beating the defensive wrestler’s whizzer are pressure throughout, head position, and
getting the attack hand above the opponent’s knee.

This technique appeared in the May issue of WIN Magazine. Click on the cover or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe.