I have decided to test the college waters again and possibly make a career change. To my dismay, the community college I signed up for told me I had to retake Eng. 112 because the Eng. 112 at Miami of Ohio is their Eng. 113. I know this is just a money grab, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

Anyway, I have an assignment to write a 3-5 page compare and contrast paper. I decided I would write it on the differences between folkstyle and freestyle wrestling. I know the scoring and the areas of the world where each is more popular. What I don't know is the different strategies used, since I have never wrestled freestyle.

Anyone know of any books or articles that I can reference for the strategies? I figured some Americans who have made the transition might have written something on it, but I don't know where to look. Any help would be appreciated.

"Silent Gladiators" talks a lot about the training and the mental component of Olympic freestyle wrestling, but is a little light on on-the-mat tactics.

I haven't really wrestled much folkstyle, but a few tactics that are common in freestyle:

1: Clean, well-executed shots with good setups are important. You don't see a lot of diving into a sprawl, which seems to happen in folkstyle matches. A bad shot is just too easy to counter for an exposure.

2: Scrambing happens a lot, but it is more controlled than in folkstyle because you have to keep your back up and your feet in bounds all the time. Freestyle wrestlers have great mat and body awareness.

3: Because of the short periods and tie-breaker rules, close matches can get pretty cerebral. Do you score early and sit on a 1-0 lead? Do you save your energy for a last second flurry? How comfortable are you clinching? And so on... yes, this can lead to stalling. Good freestylers are great at holding position while doing nothing- you can hand fight all day but if you start backing up, you can get hit with a "fleeing the hold" caution.

Hope that helps I suggest you look at some great freestyle matches and find some differences for yourself

Thank you. I have just ordered Silent Gladiators from Amazon. (ironically, if I would have paid more attention to the kindle discussions, I could have just downloaded it!)

And I have been watching the freestyle matches on the "good matches" thread. I have been going through them for several months and have learned a lot. I just wish they would scan over to the scoreboard every once in a while, so I would know if I scored the throws correctly.

I love the greco matches, too. As long as you post them, I will watch.

Also try flowrestling interviews. A lot of guys, especially Askren and Herbert, comment on the differences.

Thanks Spider. I was wondering about the control thing when I watched the Askren-Herbert match. When Askren is hanging over the back and grabbing ankles, couldn't Herbert get 3pts. in freestyle if he just leaned back so Ben's back hit the mat?

Those are the types of things I find confusing in the scoring, but also would really change the strategy of a match, too. Ben's funk may not work in freestyle as much.

Herbert would score either 2 or 3 pts in the scenario you mentioned, depending if he went feet-to-back or knees-to-back.

There is a similar scenario in this bout where Askren hands points away hanging over the back (1:29).

Or this can happen (4:45)

Thanks for the videos arm-spin. Now I have a question for you. Could you score this match as if it were freestyle and not folkstyle. I realize the pushouts aren't really pushouts, but I scored them as such to try and see if I could score a match correctly. So here is the match.




I scored it either a 9-9 tie or 10-9 Herbert. I wasn't sure about the exposure at 2:18. Here is my score breakdown.

1:35- 1pt. Askren (A) PO
2:04- 1pt. Herbert (H) TD
2:18- 2 or 3pt. (H) Back exposure
2:36- 1pt. (H) PO

(3:14, no points but Herbert could have fell backwards and scored)

3:33- 1pt. (A) TD
3:50- 1pt. (H) PO
5:39- 1pt. (H) PO
5:56- 1pt. (A) TD
6:29- 1pt. (A) PO

(7:01, no pts. but Herbert could have fell backwards)

7:20- 1pt. (A) TD (questionable since no knee hit. Is it a td?)
8:39- 3pt. (H) Back exposure
9:20- 2pt. (A) Back exposure
9:39- 1pt. (A) TD
10:39 1pt. (A) TD

Just wondering if I would have scored it right.

Looks like you got the hang of it!

At 2:18- 2 pts if refs think Askren threw himself to his back, 3 pts if refs think Herbert initiated
@ 3:33 no takedown unless Herbert's knee touched the mat, but they did go out of bounds
@ 5:56- grabbing both ankles doesn't get you a TD in freestyle (I don't think) but Askren then goes behind for a freestyle TD afterwards
@7:20 no TD. knees did not touch.
@8:15 Askren goes out of bounds. It's one foot, not both feet for a pushout.

Some of those scrambles could be scored differently by different refs, but you seem to have the hang of it. Now try scoring this The way I would score it is different from the FILA ref's interpretation.