Two Thousand Ducks

by Beasey Hendrix

When I first started coaching I did as most young coaches, I followed the coaching model that my coaches had used in teaching me. They were moves- based coaches who taught complete moves as the secret to scoring. You started here and ended here. Start-to-finish was a compete move which had to be done as a whole-- in proper sequence --to be successful. As I became more experienced as a coach and moved to higher levels of competition I began to see different approaches to coaching. In the late 1970’s I was introduced to the seven basic skills, being promoted by USA Wrestling’s newly developed coaches Education program. This approach was the result of a scientific approach to analyzing and identifying the major components of successful wrestlers’ skills. The research identified seven basic skills: stance, motion, level changes, penetration, lift, and two throwing skills: back arch and back step that were consistently utilized by the world’s best wrestlers.

My eyes were opened. I could now see a new way of teaching, a way that would allow me to better reach my students.

I searched for information on this skills-based approach. USAW had pamphlets that explained the approach, and were offering a bronze level certification seminar that included instruction in this approach. I attended one of these three-day seminars in Waterloo Iowa and was overwhelmed by the amount of coaching information and ideas exchanged there. The seminars promoted the idea of being a total coach, working on more than just learning wrestling moves and being in good condition. They also reminded us that nutrition, mental skills, and strength play important parts in our athletes’ tool boxes.

After I became Bronze certified I returned to my program and began refining my new approach. I saw where I could now teach wrestling without relying on the move approach. I noticed that most athletes learn whole moves and had drilled them as such in practice, therefore learning the concepts as whole units. A problem would often occur in matches when an athlete tried his move, and the move was disrupted before completion. Many athletes then had problems with knowing what to do if their sequence was broken. They had trained their movements as a step by step progression where step two followed step one. If they were halted in the midst of a step, it became hard for them to know what step to do next. They had lost their place and needed to go back to the start to get a fresh attack!

The more I watched, the more of this I noticed. It was a common problem among athletes taught by many different coaches. Was there a way I could help my students become better skilled, more successful wrestlers by changing my methodology? Could I train them differently to help them overcome what might be a flaw in what is considered our sport’s normal teaching progression?

I soon began studying sport psychology. One of the aspects of sport psychology that intrigued me was the modalities or learning styles of students (athletes). I learned that some students were global thinkers. They liked to chunk things together into wholes. They often have problems breaking things down into the parts. Other learners are analytical. They like to learn step by step progressions. BOING it hit me. We most often teach using a global style. The students don’t learn the parts; often because many coaches didn’t know how to label the basic parts (skills) that USAW had discovered. I wondered how I could incorporate this discovery into an approach that would assist my athletes in overcoming this common problem?

I began my skills-based coaching. It is an approach that focuses on learning wrestling by learning the seven basic skills as opposed to learning 1000 moves. This approach opens up an athletes’ scrimmaging and competition skills and allows him to understand that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

So, what are the differences between move-based coaching and the skill-based approach?

The philosophical explanation would take too long, so please allow me to clarify what I mean. I’ll compare the two approaches using a common move most coaches teach. I like to use my duck-under approach to show the difference.

Let’s say you were teaching a duck-under using the move-based approach. How would you do it? Many coaches start with stance, then they have their athlete make contact with a collar and elbow tie-up. They then move into a drop-step and corner movement to get behind the foe. When they have successfully introduced the skill and its parts they allow the students to practice the unit and pick up speed of performing (master the move) by drilling. The student would now have the knowledge of how to complete a single duck-under, probably a monkey swing type, which is a common first duck-under taught by most coaches.

I start at the same place by introducing the move and showing my athletes what it is and what it is called. But I immediately go into a different labeling system. We talk about attack side and weak side. We also mention the concepts of freezing a side and making a window.

I show my athletes the idea that they can duck from anywhere as long as they freeze a side, make windows and then hit their penetration and corner skills. The possible combinations leave us with over 2000 potential duck-unders!

Don’t believe me? Then watch as I do a little mind control and show you over 2000 ducks! We are going to learn a set of moves called the duck-under series. It is based upon the idea of freezing the weak side while making a window on the attack side, we make contact, lower our level, and then you penetrate with a go- behind motion on the attack side. Watch as I do a basic duck-under. Stance, motion to a contact point. I Freeze his collar on the weak side, I take inside control of his elbow on the attack side, I make a window, lower my level, and then explode and turn the corner to go behind, and then finish with a knock down.

Which is one of about four major finishes.

Now let’s look at the series. I originally froze his collar. Is there anywhere else I could freeze to make this move work? Yes, there are many places. I could freeze his head, neck, trap, shoulder, triceps, weak-side elbow, forearm, wrist, he could have my wrist, underhook, lats, waist, hip, attack side knee (high crotch)--good, and what about the window; how many different ways can I make a window on the attack side? Cup of water. Underhook. My Elbow out. My elbow up. Wrist up. My wrist up. Head bump.
Great. Now you can see that we can hit a duck from many different situations. Let’s see how many possibilities we have.
Stances (3)
Finishes x (4)
Sides x (2)
24
weak x 14 side freeze points
336
windows x 7 openings
2352

Of course you probably have other things you can do. We have explained and listed +2300 ways, but in real life there is only one way. Freeze, window, drop, penetrate and turn. This should become your way of thinking. It doesn’t matter what you touch, or how, if you do your skills you will be able to take control of the situation anytime you can freeze the weak side and take advantage of an opening on the attack side.

A note to coaches system builds for transfer as your athletes soon see the same situations occurring on double leg--anytime they feel a freeze side and then have an opening they learn to turn the corner. I teach this concept by chunking the cornering techniques into a term I call peeking. My athletes soon learn that when I yell ‘Peek’ it means to look around the corner towards their foe’s far shoulder, and then follow their glance and turn the corner, going around and behind.

You will soon start to notice your wrestlers scoring with those ‘non-moves’ from scramble situations. This approach also allows your more advanced athletes to move towards the concept of stacked or layered series where they put several movements together to form a complex attack-react-to-counter-movements approach in their wrestling. This approach offers a suggestion that helps answer a common question put forth at my coaching clinics, and that question is: how do we teach the wrestlers to move to the next level of being able to flurry or use more than one move?

Now my approach resembles yours closely, but instead of my athlete learning 1 duck-under, he ends the practice with the ability to complete over 2000 duck-unders, and he has learned this in the same amount of time that your kid learned ONE!

So, by being exposed to new ideas through USAW’s coaches certification program I gained a new way of looking at coaching and a new method of teaching that improved my coaching skills, thereby improving the performance of my wrestlers. Of course this approach took some time and effort to organize and implement into my scheme of things, but I can say that it has helped me become a better coach and it has helped my athletes move up the ladder of success.


Beasey Hendrix is a USAW gold level certified coach. He is a two-time USA Olympic Team trials finalist, and has been the mental skills coach for Team USA Greco since 1995. Junior wrestlers from his local programs have made the USAW Junior National finals nine times, and twice have been named outstanding wrestler of the event. His clients have won 16 World or Olympic medals, including six golds and 7 silvers! He is the author of Wrestle to win! and Wrestle Your Perfect Match!, both books which explain and describe psychological skills preparation of wrestlers. He has presented over two dozen seminars for coaches and athletes at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO.