4 Move Checkmates and Know-It-Alls
In chess, beginners often learn a 4 move checkmate that works great against other beginners. They are able to win lots of games with their new 4 move strategy, and they attempt to use it in every game that they play. When they play against intermediate players the strategy never works, and they quickly put themselves into bad position. You see, the 4 move checkmate is actually a bad strategy! It only works against beginners because they don’t know the proper response… Instead of learning a good strategy, the beginner chess player falls into the trap of always attempting the bad strategy and this retards their development……… Drum-roll………… Many, perhaps even most, varsity level wrestling moves are “4 move checkmates”.
As a coach, it is almost impossible to wean kids from their favorite nonsense-moves. They’ve had success with these moves, and they take it personally when I tell them, as gently as I can, that their favorite move sucks. Let’s attack a popular favorite, the double-bar-arm, to try to illustrate my point.
The double-bar-arm is a complete waste of time; the athlete is practicing something that is not going to work against a stud. All you need to turn someone is a bar-arm, you don’t even need a wrist if you know how to use it properly. A bar-arm should be guaranteed back points… But that’s not what usually happens. More often than not, I watch a kid lose his bar-arm because he is busy trying to secure double-bar-arms, or a reinforced-bar, a bar and a half, or other nonsense. You don’t need that stuff, it doesn’t help you, and it is never going to work against someone really good. In fact, it is going to hurt you because you will have not developed an effective repertoire from top. ONLY USE THE MOVES THAT WORK AGAINST THE GOOD GUYS. I don’t care how many pins you’ve gotten with your flying-backwards-ankle-pick-leg-cradle; If you’re beating a bunch of fish it doesn’t matter. The only feedback you care about is what works against good guys.
Unfortunately, when a wrestler gets some success with a nonsense move against a fish, it reinforces the move. Watching good kids use the same move amplifies this effect. Even worse, these nonsense moves take away time that should be spent developing the moves that do work, like the half.
Your half nelson is probably not good enough; I know you don’t think I could possibly be talking to you… but yea, I am. Half-nelson = pin every time… If you don’t get it 100% of the time, you’re doing it wrong… end of story.
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So how do you differentiate which moves are legit and which aren’t? Perhaps the move is good and you’re just not doing it right? Perhaps you haven’t learned the setup it needs?… Perhaps you haven’t invented the setup it needs?… Experimentation against good competition is the only way to find out what works. If it doesn’t work for you, but it does for someone else (against champions), you’re probably doing it wrong. You’re best bet is talking to the best wrestlers you can find and asking them which of their moves work against the best wrestlers they‘ve wrestled. Then ask them to teach it to you. Then continue doing it until you’re NAAAAASTY at it.
Here is my top repertoire:
Half Nelson
Legs (power half and Jacobs only. Cross-body-ride = nonsense)
Crab-ride
Bar-arms (only when they present themselves)
Two-on-one tilt
Ankle lace attacks
That’s it…. I’ve learned at least 10 times that, but most of what I knew in HS turned out to be nonsense in college. DROP THE NONSENSE!
So why do coaches teach the nonsense?
The simple answer is because it works; the team is likely to win more matches as a result. Many nonsense moves, especially at the youth and middle school level, begin working right away against other newbies. If you had a move that would work against 90% of competitors, wouldn’t you teach it? I regrettably am forced to adopt a “team strategy” when I coach my youth team; it is frustrating for me to teach things that I would not teach an individual, but there are no better alternatives.
A counter example is when a wrestler first learns the crab-ride. He is going to lose a lot as a result of attempting to master this difficult ride. I was constantly being reversed to my back during my first 6 months attempting the crab-ride, and from time to time it was quite discouraging… but after a few months it became a huge asset for me. It was worth getting pinned a few times to learn the move that I scored with in almost every one of my college matches. I see so many kids give up on it before they get the benefits; they are too concerned with short-term winning. Also, many coaches don’t like watching their varsity starter get pinned… This is the private coach V.S. team coach can of worms, and I’m not opening it. I tell all of my guys to respect their coaches wishes, and if the coach is against it, you will learn it in the off-season.
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What is more important: winning or improving?
I’ve got 1 kid, out of the 80 or so that I coach at mat-side, who comes up to me for feedback after all of his matches. Win or lose, we talk about what unfolded, and what step he needs to take next to improve. After I show him 1 or 2 things, he grabs a partner and drills the new stuff for about 5 minutes while he’s still sweating. He does not care about the outcome of his match, to him the matches are simply stepping stones on his path of development. The other 79 either leave smiling to get hotdogs, busy gloating over their victories, or sulk about their defeat and don’t want to talk about it. I try to talk to them about what went wrong, but they are not interested in learning right now. I just smile and don’t say anything, but my inner monologue is going “what an idiot.” Needless to say, the one kid who comes to me for feedback is learning faster than everyone else… it’s only a matter of time before he catches them, surpasses them, and leaves them all in the dust. I wish more of you would understand that. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson!
Improving is 100x’s more important than winning…
“Hey coach, can you teach me something you think I need to learn,” If only I heard that more often.