Again, another disclaimer, there are thousands of strategies. This section is going to cover really basic strategies.

The Goal

In all VT matches there are generally some good signs that things are going well. here's a list off the top of my head:

VT scores the first takedown of the match

VT scores at the end of the period, widening/cutting into leads

VT wrestlers escape quickly from the bottom position expending as little energy as possible

VT wrestlers move their opponent around the match, creating angles and forcing accurate footwork

VT wrestlers accumulate a net 1:00 minute ride time and lock it up

Opponents wear down in the third period allowing VT to widen leads/close gaps

With that in mind lets examine each individual statement and talk some more about strategy.

First Takedown

A bit Cliche, but the first wrestler to score usually has a big advantage in the match. At the collegiate level, and particularly in Folkstyle(college style) wrestling, it requires a good deal of energy to escape the bottom position. As a result, the wrestler who scores first usually has a chance to rest momentarily while their opponent has to work extra hard to get back to neutral position.

Now the natural question becomes, how does tech score first? And the answer is as varied as any other sports strategy. Tech does in my humble opinion have a style so we'll cover the three biggest offensive characteristics:

Good Short offense at the lower weight classes

Short offense is based on handfighting and position leading to lightning fast takedowns. Its a bit like the offensive line play of wrestling, underappreciated, but the core fundamental of the sport. There's a lot of different positions and attacks, but ive highlighted 3. The first is a go behind. In this gif devin will use pure strength to pull the outer armpit/tricep of his opponent and will move his hips behind to earn the TD. The shrug on the other hand starts with an underhook position (hand and arm under the armpit) Dance will pull the shoulder forward and shrug by to end in the same position. Its lightning fast. The final attack is a duck. This deal with a little trickery. Here Joey feints an attack with his right hand, taps and launches off the mat back to his left side, ducking under his opponents arm and sliding behind for the TD All 3 when executed are things of beauty. They rely on both good personal balance and position as well as throwing and opponent off balance. These moves are also what make wrestlers excellent linemen, as they deal with shifting weight explosively. Good High Crotch attacks at the Upper weight classes

At the upper weights (and with sal mastriani) our go to leg attach is a high crotch. The wrestler pulls on the collar or back of the neck to create separation and fires his inside arm high on the leg, above his oppnents knee cap. Sal demonstrates a committed attack: To finish this attack, there are two methods. The standard is to power through, driving the legs to end up on the hip or behind your opponent. At the heavier weights however this can be a little dangerous, as a mistake leaves you trapped under a very large man. For that reason Walz and Haught often prefer to "Run the Pipe". This involves lifting and pulling the leg back towards your chest, either elevating your opponents leg or causing him to fall on his but. Ty demonstrates: Excellent in head to toe situations especially at passing legs at all weights A more recent trend in wrestling is the method of "scrambling" or very fast very fluid rolling around without traditional position. Called "spaghetti wrestling" by old vets, this often leads to head to toe situations. In either defense or attack, head to toe situations are often decided by the higher hips. In this gif watch how ty defends, attempting to maintain height before his opponent breaks. Pretty much every wrestler in our lineup wrestles very well in head to toe situations. We drill it hard and it shows. Now the previous example showed ty on the defensive. When the hokies create head-to-toe situations on offense, the go to move is to hook one of the two ankles to square off and finish the TD. Watch how Ty uses his right ankle to trap his opponents left leg (a move called a turk). This frees his arm to finish the TD In a dual, the steps are usually first to gain height then to hook one of the legs and square off. A more dangerous and advance version of this is called a funk roll. Its a roll of the dice, as the defensive wrestler dives at his opponents leg, then willingly exposes his back for a split second to roll into a head to toe situation. Dance is a master of this, though it gives you heart attacks when he does it because its an easy way to get pinned if you get caught. Dance has now gone from a very bad defensive position to one where he can go through the steps and score.

End of Period

Scoring and preventing scores at the end of the period is common sense, but its what separates average wrestlers from very good ones. Its akin to wanting to score before half time in football. A TD in wrestling is worth 2 points and an escape is worth 1 pt. So really unless you ride your opponent, you only improve 1 point after a TD-escape exchange. The end of the period doubles this value as you opponent has no chance to escape. With about 30 seconds left in each period, watch the hokies pick up the pace, firing their best attacks with about 10-15 seconds left. Here brascetta scores with 4 seconds left in the period:

You Can see the visible frustration by his opponent because its that demoralizing.

On the flip side of the coin, its also critical that the hokies avoid giving up a TD at the end of the period. Watch Joey do the splits for about 10 seconds to finish the period.

Ultimately this is common sense, but the hokies always want to finish periods scoring, whether it be earning a TD or escape or avoiding giving up a TD or escape.

Escaping Bottom

Escaping from bottom is one of the few areas where its 99% effort based. Sure there are techniques to learn, but escaping comes down to will and grit. In most situations it starts with building a base, either a forward tripod position with arms an legs, or a sitting base:

This is by far the most exhausting part of Bottom

Once establishing a base, the bottom wrestler uses explosive effort, mostly with leg drive to escape. Here the vet Brascetta demonstrates:

The Bottom position is where most young wrestlers struggle. Theyve been so good their entire HS career theyve never had to work the skill (much like huge DTs overpowering offenses with no form). Some also need to relearn effort standards.

Its critically important for our wrestlers to escape quickly. The effort required is a compounding effect, and mutliple restarts just drain a wrestler faster. Here Dance takes 15 seconds to reverse his opponent and score 2 points:

Tech is having a good day if theyre escaping the bottom position in the first 10-15 seconds after the whistle. This is also where crowd noise can help urge our boys on!

Movement/Angles

Another simple but critical skill is the ability to move your opponent, especially their feet/weight and create angles. Believe it or not its pretty hard to attack and score a TD straight on. Most college wrestlers have mastered sprawling their hips and creating leverage to break holds. As a result, it becomes critical to get your opponent moving, and time his movements for efficient takedowns. Theres no subtlety here from jared haught. He drives a stiff arm into his opponents chest while circling to create an angle. Then when his opponent reacts and resists being pushed, haught can collect the leg and score:

If there's one single move that tech uses most to create scoring opportunities its a simple snap down. Basically imagine someone puts one or two hands on the back of your neck and tries to throw your face through the floor. Thats a good snap down. Watch the enormous force epperly puts on his opponents neck and back to create his scoring opportunity:

He actually lifts himself slightly off the mat using his opponents neck as a pull up bar.

At the same time counters can be very effective. The opponent fails to score and puts themselves off balance and out of defensive position. Here Norstrem uses a little shimmy to elicit a shot from his opponent. He sprawls his hips while circling and changing angles and then shoots back in to grab a leg:

Riding Time

So i said before I'd cover riding time, but its really hard to convey in a Gif. RT is recorded whenever a wrestler is on top. Imagine it like the center of a tug of war rope. When one wrestler is on top the center move towards his side. If the other opponent escapes and subsequently ends up on top, he starts to accrue riding time, first pulling the tug of war rope back to the center then on to his side.

So Riding time is cumulative, and if one wrestler can accumulate 1 minute more than his opponents net, he is awarded a bonus point.

How exactly does this help tech? Well if the tech wrestler has the RT advantage, they will want to ride for at least 1:00 before voluntarily releasing or cutting his opponent. 1:10-1:15 seems to be our team standard to build a little cushion. Conversely if our wrestler has been ridden for any significant time, they will want to escape before the opponents riding time reaches 1:00.

And in a more complex situation, if the opponent has already reached 1:00, the tech wrestler will want to lower that RT below 1:00 (at least 0:59) before releasing them, even if they are down points and need to mount a comeback.

Its really long winded, but its kind of something you just need to watch to understand

Conditioning

At the collegiate level I'm a firm believer that condition decides more than half the matches. If a wrestler is in shape, they can impose their will in the final 2 minutes. A variety of things go into conditioning. One of the most important and unique aspects is the weight cutting a wrestler does. Wrestlers have to meet their class limit 1 hr before the dual, and will shed water weight gain an advantage. As a result the margin for success is razor thin.

A well conditioned wrestler who does all the bullet points listed will exhaust their opponent by the third period. Here Sal has a 4 point lead late in the third, and his opponent should be charging hard to make a comeback. Instead he's stubling around, looking almost drunk.

Thats the difference conditioning can make.

Conditioning finishes matches. Like a Football team looking for the killer instinct in the 4th quarter, conditioning separates very close wrestlers. In this Gif, there are 10 seconds left in an elimination match. Jared Haught is winning and this is his opponents last chance to tie the match. Haught superior condition alone wins the match.

Other Attacks

So thats that, another chunk of primer. Above we covered some of the offensive moves from the neutral position. Here are some other offensive attacks for reference:

Low Single: From space the wrestler leaves contact with his opponent and reaches to grab the ankle/calf and pul it back to his body.

Ankle Pick: Aimed at the same target as the low single, but the off hand puts pressure on the opponents shoulder to force weight onto the attaches ankle and drive through the opponent for the TD.

Sweep Single: From space the wrestler shoots entirely outside the hips, using momentum to carry onto the opponents hip and out the back for a TD. In this variation Brascetta also uses a trip after tree toping a leg.