White , Blue, or Gold? I’m sure you have some questions.
In years past, we’ve split our wrestlers up by grade and weight. From a simplicity standpoint, this served everyone well. However, everyone struggled when it came to teaching and learning the sport of wrestling.
To address those issues, this year we are attempting to group wrestlers by experience and skill proficiency. Our goal with this grouping criteria is that we will be able to teach to everyone in the room at the same time.
In the past, we’ve had experienced wrestlers grow bored when reviewing a simple double leg take down (Hey! You still need to work on yours though!). Contrarily, we’ve had novice wrestler become frustrated when coaches moved onto a more complicated move while they’re still trying to learn their first moves.
So coming back to it – White, Blue or Gold?
Here’s the rough breakdown:
White Group – First year and novice wrestlers. We will be working on a limited number of core wrestling moves. Our goal is to master our basic moves before opening the playbook, so to speak. Focus will be on proper wrestling stance, single & double leg take downs, stand ups and half nelson pinning combinations.
Blue Group – Wrestlers that have demonstrated an understanding of basic wrestling skills. With Blue group we will continue to work on our basic moves while incorporating additional wrestling moves and positioning to build combination wrestling – The ability to transition from one move into another seamlessly.
Gold Group – Experienced wrestlers who have demonstrated understanding of basic wrestling skills, correct positioning during live competition and a full understanding of all wrestling rules and regulations.
Our coaching staff will evaluate your wrestler’s progression throughout the season. It is possible to move up through the season. If a new wrestler starts in the White group but quickly shows the proficiency in what is being taught in the White group, they could be moved up to the Blue Group to continue their learning.
Our goal isn’t to just put our “best” wrestlers in the gold group and only focus on them. Our goal is to create an environment in each group that is most conducive to having fun while learning the sport of wrestling. This approach should allow us to have smaller group sizes with an increased ratio of coaches to wrestlers.
You will receive an email before the season starts letting you know what group our coaching staff will be starting your wrestler off in. Don’t read too much into what group your child is placed into to start. The curriculum for the first 5 practices is very similar across all three groups. If you do have a question, feel free to contact us.
We ask you to be patient with us while we work through any issues with this new approach and if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
– Jason Fellenbaum