I have seen many of these coaches in action. Reik is the man! Church is great! Slyter may be a little fruity.....kidding, but not really. All these guys take time away from their families to support Kansas Wrestling and should be commended for it.

These coaches are put in a slightly unique and tough position as they do not coach most the kids wrestling on a regular basis. Knowing what a wrestler needs to work on is easy. Getting him to actually do it, can take months or longer. So to say team Kansas is horrible at gut defense is one thing. To say there defense is horrible because of coaching and we need to get new coaches is REDICULOUS. A 2 - 3 day camp before fargo is not long enough. I know some of these states are training a full week or longer together before they step on the Fargo mats. If costs do need to increase (whatever). Let's have a longer camp.

It would be cool to see our club teams somehow get more unified. In Wichita for example it seems there are 5-6 (maybe more) Freestyle/greco clubs all working out seperate from one another. I do know that sometimes the numbers at these practices can be pretty pathetic. If they could combine to maybe 1 or 2 clubs, numbers would be better, and kids would get better competition at practice. The word gets out that this is the place to be and BAM! You've got a Bada$$ club.

Just thought but what the hell do I know.

Lazyman 1... I am actually working on stuff to combine workouts in Wichita so it's nice to hear some input in regards to that. I would like to start a MWWTC (Mid-West Wrestling Training Center). Somehow make the cost as minimal as possible (Such as a USA Card) and then optional gear and singlets. I think KCTC is a great idea and great way to get kids in the room to train. I just think $200 for a club fee is high. But they might have a reason for those cost. I am not judging them, but F/S and Greco has to be as low a cost as possible to keep kids involved. And if I can save them $150 to use towards Southern Plains, Duals or Fargo... then that would be the goal.

I would gladly donate my time to coach this group. However, March-May is hard with the restraints KSHSAA has on us! I would need to figure out what others do. I also would love to coach side by side with ALL coaches from the Mid-West or anybody else and learn together, from each other etc. It would also be great to bring in clinicians such as World Team members etc to do mini-Clinics that touch things like gut defense, handfighting and sparring, lifts, etc.

I am going to do what I can... I just hope I can get everybody within driving distance to get involved with me as well. Again, my goal is not to be the "HEAD COACH" of this type of program. Instead, it is to work side by side with HS Coaches, Club Coaches, Moms and Dads, and athletes to make Kansas wrestling great!

I believe it would also be great to stay in close Contact with our friends from the East and West and work on practice plans and techniques. Maybe one day I drive up to KC and do a clinic (For Free) and in turn Brandon Jobe comes to Wichita and does a clinic (For Free). etc.

We are capable of being great. Rassler was wrong in one fashion about thing for sure. I beat the streets hard for summer wrestling. Up until last year, I held FREE training centers for NHSCA VA Beach Senior Nationals. We would train 3-4 days a week from the end of high school until Nationals and have huge rooms of kids training for this. I did them from 2005-2010. However, my room was destroyed and I currently have no facility until December as they are rebuilding and remodeling our room to a 2 1/2 mat length room with restrooms, drinking fountains, and plenty of space to hold large effective training sessions.

I am not resigning from the National Team b/c of the birthday incident in Fargo. That was a horrible, embarrassing situation, but a learning experience as well which put in place some necessary safeguards from it ever happening again. Instead, I am going to work side by side with All of those coaches listed above, Mike Juby, Will Cokely, Big Randy, Eric Johnson, Russ Hermreck, Danny Grater (who I accidentally left off but love to death), etc. I don't know a person who is in this game for the wrong reason honestly! We are going to get it right and we will improve. Feel free to email me or private message me with any extra input you can think of that might help put these processes into place! It's time to become a true, "Team Kansas". Learn from our team and personal mistakes and failures and get it right!

I also propose that in early March, right after high school state or maybe during Kids state etc, we meet as a National Team staff and air it all out, come up with game plans, ideas, etc that will do nothing but make us better!

I won't apologize for any long rants or ideas. I guess if you really don't like them, you don't have to keep reading Hopefully we all realize we are always students of this game and never have it mastered! We will all continue to grow and get better and for that I will promise, "Team KS will be better next year at the National Level".

Have a good one my wrestling family!

Here is a training program I set up for Neil Erisman back in 2003. Like Church said it is going to take all of us not just a few. But we also need wrestlers who are willing to commit to the training it takes to be good/great.

If we become better at the gutwrench we will get better at defending it; its simple logic. Please read through it and give me your thoughts and let me THANK all those involved back then one more time, I could have never done it alone. I am willing to set up developmental systems for kids again if they are willing to put in the work. I don't charge a price or let us say money I just don't want my time wasted the kids have to be willing to pay the price Not the DAD's.

Guaranteed Gut Wrench
By Tom Peterman


The number one used move in the par terre position is the gut wrench. Freestyle or Greco-Roman the gut wrench is the go to move once you get up top. In this day and age of guaranteed ads for weight loss, strength training, or even financial freedom, I am guarantying a better gut wrench in one simple summer. Well maybe six weeks of hard work is more accurate of a description.
The circumstances I was faced with as a coach during the summer of 2003 was having a national caliber wrestler who was good on his feet but was just above average in the par terre position. He was able to turn most people with his gut wrench, regular or trapped arm but would have difficulty with the move against the best. It would work all the way up to the medal rounds or finals. Since takedowns are hard to come by against the best we figured we wanted to set a goal to be able to gut every opponent.
We believed that if he could stay close in the takedown department and win the par terre battle, the war of Fargo could be won. There would be many factors involved in making this become a reality. Starting with technical education we increased our knowledge by watching video, going to the OTC, and getting a few tips from some great wrestlers. Second, we worked on increasing strength and endurance or the physical part of the task. Last, whenever we had practice we made sure of spending at least 1/3 to one half of it in the par terre position.


Technical Input
I started by reviewing gut wrench techniques from the USAWrestling Coach’s Syllabus II with Bruce Burnett, Tape 1: Freestyle – “Par Terre Wrestling”. I then started on videos from camps I have gone to in the past. These ranged from the 1992 Olympic Camp that was at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, MO to the 3 Joe Seay Camps I have attended in the Kansas City area. Clinicians showing gut wrench technique were Kenny Monday, Gary Mayab, and Tom Erickson. Like Joe Seay says, “If you want to be the best you have to learn from the best.” Last camp I will mention is the 2000 Olympic Gold camp at Blue Springs, MO with Bruce Burnett. Two of the clinicians at the camp were Sammy Henson and Lincoln McIIravy.
This leads me into the next educational device being the trip to Colorado Springs for four days of training at the Olympic Training Center (OTC). Lincoln was the developmental coach at the time and it was great to see my wrestler working hard and learning in such an awesome atmosphere. Other clinicians at the OTC that week were Gary Mayab, Doc Bennett and Ike Anderson. This was right before the Cadet National Duals so it was in great timing to try out a few of the things he learned at the OTC in Greeley that weekend.
Last are the tips and practice partners the good Lord allowed him to work with that summer. We are both members of the East Kansas Wrestling Club in Overland Park, Kansas. This club has a great tradition of producing champions. Coach Kevin Klemm who is a coach for the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club has had a tremendous positive effect on wrestling in East Kansas. He helps with Eric Akin who also came to practices and helped my young wrestler. Other coaches and wrestlers who played a big part were Chris McCormick, Shawn Bunch, and Joe Johnston. All are NCAA Division 1 wrestlers. High school practice partners that helped were Tyler McCormick, Stuart Boogart, Conner Fitzgerald, and Ryne Sondregger. Like the African proverb says, “it takes a village to raise a child”, well it takes a group of people to help produce a champion. I would like to thank all of the people responsible. Thank you, all of you.


Physical Training Regiment
You can say that this is the meat and potatoes of working towards a better gut wrench. Without the other two parts though how could we have known if he was getting better or doing the right training. We made a big chart to put on the wall to keep track of progress and make sure all exercises were done each week. It is also great to have something materialistically visible to see what you have done for preparation before you head off to the big show.
For endurance the main exercise was hanging on a 65-pound punching bag for an allotted time. We started out at 30 seconds and worked our way up to two minutes, which is what a Cadet period last. The first time was 5 sets, 30 seconds each and at the end in July we were doing 10 sets of 2 minutes each. One of the three keys of a good gut wrench as stipulated by Bruce Burnett in the Coach’s syllabus tape is to maintain pressure on the lock throughout the gut wrench move.
The bag hanging was to simulate constant pressure for a whole period. I felt this would give my wrestler the physical endurance but also the mental courage to go hard for gut wrenches when on top. I didn’t want him to dread the possibility of not scoring and then getting put back up into the neutral position very arm weary and not able to defend off attacks.
The other two keys Coach Burnett prescribes are to keep your chest tight to your opponent’s back and keep your elbows in. Strength and endurance was increased for these two situations by mostly weight training. Dumbbell work, which focused on the shoulder and lattimus dorsi muscles were performed to help keep the elbows in and forearm work to help keep the chest tight to your opponent’s back. One other exercise that was performed was gut wrench dips. In a Roman chair put your elbows on the pads, your hands on your chest and lower and raise yourself by your elbows. It is kind of like doing the funky chicken with your body weight making your elbows go up and out. Stay in control throughout the movement. Come up forcing elbows in tight with the body and go down slow to the point where your upper arm is parallel to the ground.
We also worked on the lower part of the body to help in loading up the opponent, being able to roll and hold or roll and arch to finish the gut wrench in good position, so not to be scored upon defensively. Mountain climbers, hip heist, and squats were all good exercises used to increase strength and endurance in the hip region. One of the best drills that I felt helped a tremendous was a good bridge routine. Besides strengthening the neck, it also helped strengthen the lower back while improving balance and power in the hips.


Par Terre Position
Allotting time for drilling and wrestling in the par terre position can be difficult sometimes. Top wrestlers get bored and frustrated when they cannot turn their opponent. Bottom wrestlers just want to get out of there and with no official to let you up maintaining a good defense can be exhausting. Creating some rules while live wrestling can easily solve incorporating more par terre action during practice. Other factors that can help are situation games and starting live wrestling periods in the par terre position.
I have a basic rule when going live takedowns with a partner or during old man, iron man, 3 on 1 rotation, what ever you want to call it. Once you take your opponent down the bottom man counts to ten out loud. If he gets to ten without getting turned he is let back up. If the top man turns him, the bottom man has to start over counting again from 1, once he gets back to his belly. If the top man scores 10 points in a row, just like in a technical fall, he lets the bottom man up. This helps keep the action going and the wrestlers thinking once a takedown is scored.
I like the relentless style that Dan Gable has instilled in the Iowa Hawkeyes. Great hand fighting while pushing and battling into their opponents but why stop after the takedown. To many times do wrestlers let golden opportunities fly by because they were too busy celebrating on a takedown they had just obtained. Each point you score in the top position is one less takedown you have to earn to score points in the match. Don’t rest and don’t allow your opponent time to establish a defense on bottom. Score on the man you just mentally broke while also physically taking him down. While being discouraged from getting taken down your opponent may also be off balance or out of position. A prime time to score.




Conclusion
I have had the great privilege of coaching this young man since he was five years old. While experiencing many great triumphant championships and disappointing defeats he has always impressed me with a great work ethic. I knew if I could organize, simplify, and instill the work needed, so as to be in the position of winning a Cadet Freestyle National Championship this young had the guts to do it. Congratulations Big Dog, you did it! Neil Erisman, you are a Cadet National Champ!

Last I would also like to Thank Scott Reick, he helped out alot later when Neil got too big and strong for me to go live and scramble with.

Jumping to the thought of paying the price! Our only double AA junior was Javier Vieyra. It was no secret to me. He paid the price, he found the time. He went out to San Francisco for the Greco World Duals he came home and went straight to Southern Plains and did Greco only because he has a job at Red Lobster there in Salina. He did duals and he trained all summer long. He found the time and did it while working and paying his way with hard work. I am so impressed with this young man. We keep asking dads and coaches, we need to get some input from the wrestlers they are the key to the process of success.

Tom Peterman

Fire everyone, give Will total authority to reshape Kansas

wrestling. I would imagine that a lot more opportunities would open up for the kids in Kansas, Rassler was right it is time to prune out the old dead wood, Kansas needs young hungry coaches not a bunch of guys looking for a free trip to fargo. Who cares if Blue Chip doesn't maintain its current level of business with Kansas wrestling I didn't think we were here to subsidize Gonzs business. All of the coaches who read this thread and got angry are the problem. Quit B@@ching and promote this sport or step aside and let the young guys take over.

Young Dumb and full of .....

Tom Peterman

Don't get me wrong we have some good young coaches but just because they are young does not make them good. They are good because they are putting in their time getting better what are you doing Rufus?

Tom Peterman

I am working on my comeback dont mess with me or the freighttrain will run you over

Bunch of guys looking for a free trip to Fargo? Yes that must be it! What a clever bunch of conmen we have here, putting in all that time and effort to spend an Expense free week in beautiful Fargo North Dakota, Americas playground.Thanks Rufas for exposing these scam artists

This started with a well written and thought out post on how to improve. Even though some are trying to keep it on track, some are trying to degenerated it into another version of ‘The Housewives of Kansas’ with everyone watching hoping to see some cleavage or someone say something bad about another one of our fellow wrestling people. This is too bad. It needs to stay on its original purpose. Insteading of addressing the comments in particular, I would just say this. As a parent who has probably sat and watched as many or more practices over the last 2 years as any other parent and as someone who was on the floor as a volunteer at Fargo this year, I believe the criticism of the coaches is uncalled for. I think we have a very good group. I understand there might be bigger names, but that does not necessary make them better. I was really impressed with Tom Peterman (who was assigned to my son) during Fargo. I had never seen him coach mat side before and was impressed. So, stay in their Tom. In fact, my son really likes this group of coaches. He feels comfortable with them and believes they help him. You have to wonder why anyone would want to step up if they are going to undergo this after giving alot of their own time to coach our kids.

Is there room for improvement, yes, but Coach Church stated that in his #5 on this original post. Getting out of the dorms might be a good suggestion. I understand many kids, who were not use to the heat, got very little sleep. However, was this an unusual year???

Finally, leave the gear alone. My kid loves it and so do most of the kids that go. They are proud that Kansas has some of the best around. In my opinion, they have earned it from a long, hard season.

PS: Please let Doug know the 'Housewives of Kansas' is not a show about novice moms.

Thank You John
and yes just like Javier you guys paid a price; Jared with his hard practices and preparation and you driving him from Levenworth to Olathe and St. James. He was not given that Stop Sign he EARNED IT!

Oh by the way Rufus who ever you are, remember I'm the old dog I grew up on All-Star Wrtestling, its the Pork Chop not the Freight Train and you need to find Handsome Harley Race and Danny Little Bear to start your come back.

Good Luck to all and I still would like some input on the Gutwrench development we need to get our state into.

Tom Peterman

Here's a recommendation that I would like to see...

Problem: As a club coach, if you don't get a chance to go to Fargo, Junior/Cadet/Schoolboy duals you don't get a chance to see the latest technique. How other states are wrestling etc. Therefore at the club level (which is the basis from which our state teams are built) we potentially aren't teaching the most current technique. If you are fortunate enough to live near Kansas City or Witchita this get mitigated a little because we can attend the different training sessions with the state coaches. We get on this board every year and talk about it but frankly it doesn't help the club coaches that are trying to coach the younger kids in this stuff. It would be nice if we did a clinic or something after Fargo so the rest of the coaches could learn.

Recommendation: Develop coaches clinics where folks can come and learn from the coaches that coach at the national events. This could do a couple of things....

1. Allow the state coaching staff to impart a baseline of technique that gets taught throughout the state.
2. Get more clubs supporting and competing in freestyle/greco.

We could align them somewhat with the regional training center concept. I would also recommend that we do a set of DVDs that shows the technique and how to teach it. This would also include some drills. Anyone who attends the coaches clinic would get a free set of these DVDs. That way coaches who have not wrestled freestyle/greco could review them at their leisure and use them in their practice rooms.

In my opinion, if we get club coaches teaching, encouraging, and promoting freestyley/greco then we will get the younger kids starting to wrestle those styles more. If we get the younger kids working in those styles then they should be more proficient when they get to the older levels and the national level tournaments.

Shawn Budke

Could not agree more... That is a great recommendation Coach Budke!
Keep em coming! USAWKS

Sorry Church, but if Herman Cain is the candidate, he gets my vote. If he isn't around, Michelle Bachman gets it. For her beliefs, and for her looks........I know one of the two that you can't compete with her on.............

The freight train was his finishing move, which was triggered by something similar to the Incredible Hulk's anger problem. Endure unimaginable violent punishment, then something clicks...........

The Pork chops were just the "vicious" slaps he wore his opponent down with.

Southern Plains attendance would double if the Gross Coliseum would install air conditioning..........

Sounds like Fargo needs to do the same. If you are sleeping in hot dorm room, your body can never get ahead of the dehydration...........

I haven't spent much time thinking about it, but after helping set up and tear down the FSGR tourneys in Andale this summer, and seeing the pathetic attendance, I was totally frustrated. A tourney that close to Wichita should have had 150-200 wrestlers minimum. Instead I believe it was in the 60-80 range.

What is eventually going to happen is what is happening in Illinois, where the kids that want to be good, are going to have to drive to the Overtime training center to get the partners and coaching they need. Right now it seems like if practice isn't a block away, or parents can't find someone else to take their kids, they aren't much interested in pushing their kids into it. That goes back to the kids running the household in today's society. "Dad, I'm no good at FS GR, I don't want to" "OK son, whatever you say, now, do you want me to go get you another popsicle?" Until we get parents that will MAKE (yes I said it) their kids do it, we're swimming against the current.

We have some parents that are like that, but not nearly enough. How many great wrestlers do you know that have parents that are "ok honey, just try your hardest" type of people? Corner one of the Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania parents and ask them what the REQUIRE of their kids. You'll shake your head in disbelief. I am an absolute pantywaist dad compared to some of these parents.

I'm not saying we have bad parents, but I am saying that we don't have enough parents willing to take the chance on their kid not liking them by pushing them.....And in these same parents' defense, how do we expect to increase interest in our sport, when the largest showcase of FSGR wrestling that we see in this area, at Southern Plains, requires these parents to sit in a muggy, hot gymnasium, for 3 days?

My two cents worth..........

One thing about the dorms at Fargo. Kansas is not the only team to stay in these dorms. I would say the majority of teams stay at the dorms. It has always been this way. You bring a fan and tough it out. I can only imagine the headache and extra cost of getting a hotel for everyone and supplying meals for everyone offsite. Cost just doubled for team Kansas. Not to mention our numbers are already low.

Using the dorms as an excuse or contributer as to why a wrestler was beaten - Seriously... Thats just life! Get tough, this is wrestling. Back in the day when I was a young lad wrestling at Fargo and was beaten out. The last thought on my mind was - well the dorms were too hot, poor me. This kind of goes back to the mentality Church was talking about orginially.

On the other side, if a parent wants to take their child into their own hands while at the tourny. Then that is the families right to do so. Let's face it this is not a High School wrestling team and even then it is borderline OK. If my kid wanted to stay in the hotel with me for a night and I knew Kansas Coaches might have a problem with it. I would have just done it and dealt with the coach the next morning, without my kid being involved.

Peace Out

I was aiming more towards FSGR participation, not excuses for losing. Pointing out little things that hack people off, turn people off, run people off, and hurt our sport.........

Is the Division 1 NCAA championships wrestled in an oven? No, they try to make it comfortable for fans............And if there aren't going to be fans, there aren't going to be very many participants either.

Studies have found that in general, the optimal temperature for sleep is quite cool, around 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

How Air Temperature Affects Your Sleep
Experts agree the temperature of your sleeping area and how comfortable you feel in it affect how well and how long you snooze. Why? “When you go to sleep, your set point for body temperature -- the temperature your brain is trying to achieve -- goes down,” says H. Craig Heller, PhD, professor of biology at Stanford University, who wrote a chapter on temperature and sleep for a medical textbook. “Think of it as the internal thermostat.” If it’s too cold, as in Roy’s case, or too hot, the body struggles to achieve this set point.

That mild drop in body temperature induces sleep. Generally, Heller says, “if you are in a cooler [rather than too-warm] room, it is easier for that to happen.” But if the room becomes uncomfortably hot or cold, you are more likely to wake up, says Ralph Downey III, PhD, chief of sleep medicine at Loma Linda University and one of the specialists treating Roy.

He explains that the comfort level of your bedroom temperature also especially affects the quality of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the stage in which you dream.

What’s the Best Temperature for Sleeping?
Recommending a specific range is difficult, Downey and Heller say, because what is comfortable for one person isn’t for another (explaining how Roy’s wife slept blissfully in the chilly 60-degree room). While a typical recommendation is to keep the room between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, Heller advises setting the temperature at a comfortable level, whatever that means to the sleeper.

Roy plans to keep a close eye on the thermostat, even if the heat bills are a bit higher.

There are other strategies for creating ideal sleeping conditions, too. Experts from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, for instance, advise thinking of a bedroom as a cave: It should cool, quiet, and dark. (Bats follow this logic and are champion sleepers, getting in 16 hours a day.) Be wary of memory foam pillows, which feel good because they conform closely to your body shape -- but may make you too hot. And put socks on your feet, as cold feet, in particular, can be very disruptive to sleep.