Does having a wrestling program benefit football programs?

[carbo]

I heard Cov Cath is possibly starting a wrestling program. I see where Highlands has no program and does quite well on the gridiron without one. Does having a wrestling program benefit the football program for those kids participating in both? Have there been outstanding football players that may have wrestled?

[C-BOY78]

I have talked to a couple people at Ryle and they think it is very helpful to lineman.

from what they tell me, it helps with foot work.

I personally think it can be worked into winter workouts.

[oldjarhead]

I have talked to a couple people at Ryle and they think it is very helpful to lineman.

from what they tell me, it helps with foot work.

I personally think it can be worked into winter workouts.

In 2010 Ryle had its best Football team. That same year they had their best Wrestling team. Many of their best wrestlers were on the football team

[jolmstead]

I heard Cov Cath is possibly starting a wrestling program. I see where Highlands has no program and does quite well on the gridiron without one. Does having a wrestling program benefit the football program for those kids participating in both? Have there been outstanding football players that may have wrestled?

 

I am very familiar the folks trying to start wrestling at Cov Cath. Wrestling is a great complement to football, especially for linemen as it promotes agility and footwork. The benefit is narrowed though as the window for downtime in Football is as little as 5 - 6 weeks for some programs. If you are HHS for example, you play all the way up until December, then you start conditioning for the following year in January. IMO, you have to weigh the need for a mental break with the benefit of what amounts to only about an additional 4 - 6 weeks of conditioning.

 

My kids swim in the off season. Swimming is great also, but in different ways than wrestling. Swimming is simultaneous strength and conditioning exercise and uses muscles in a completely different way than football. The contrast in movements keeps them engaged in the sport, but provides a break from the constant stress of movements with weight resistance.

 

A big difference between the two however is injury risk. The injury risk in wrestling is significant. In swimming, for a seasonal swimmer, there is almost no injury risk.

Edited October 3, 2012 by jolmstead

[carbo]

When does the wrestling season start and finish?

[jolmstead]

When does the wrestling season start and finish?

 

Wrestling season is relatively short compared to basketball. Pre-season conditioning is probobly already started and the season runs through mid February. If you would like the contact info for the fellow starting the program at Cov. Cath, send me a private IM.

[coldweatherfan]

I played football and wrestled through middle school and high school. I do believe that wrestling made me a better football player, but it is very tough to do both. I built up weight to play football and then lost it to wrestle. I played linebacker at 195-205 I wrestled 175. It was very tough to get down to weight by Jan 1.

 

That being said. Including myself, there were only 4 football players on the wrestling team.

[AAATC]

In my opinion, there are many sports that compliment a football program very well, and wrestling is definitely one of them.

 

Consider the strength, footwork, conditioning that go into a wrestlers training and that makes it worthwhile by itself.

I think that the greatest benefit is the mental toughness of the one vs. one competition.

The physical aggressiveness in wrestling has a tremendous transference to the football field, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

 

With all that being said, it is not something that I would want my "blue-chip" players participating in.

For the average HS athlete, fantastic.

 

I'm very interested in seeing what happens at CCH because I know that there have been efforts to get a program started for years that have met with resistance.

[uk#1fan]

Simon Kenton has always had kids that did both. I think it helps for both sports.

[John Anthony]

SK coach is a friend of mine very good guy.

[OlDog75]

In my day, football players were very much encouraged to join wrestling.

[Hellbird]

Wrestling is great for linemen, it helps in their footwork and balance. The one big problem with wrestling and football is the weight issue. There is a player I talked to this year who has always played both but this year he isn't goikng to wrestle because one of the reasons is he is a defensive player on football, plays LB and now is getting time on the D-line and if he wrestled he has to stay too light and that is a problem when it transfers to football. He isn't huge but he isn't small either. If he wrestled and didn't have to worry about making weight and wrestle in a higher weight class then he'd be going against guys with 20 lbs on him.

 

He was a very good wrestler, but in the past he'd go to football too small and have to put the weight back on and would take some time to physically get used to carrying that weight on the field.

 

If you are a wrestler and can play both sports at your weight then it's no problem and it can deffinatley help if you are a lineman.

[rjs4470]

Ask Roddy White and Ray Lewis if wrestling helped them...they were two time state champs (South Carolina and Florida respectively). Bob Stoops looks for football players who have wrestling backgrounds. I know he's not well liked, but look at the success Matney has at Johnson Central...he's also the wrestling coach. Do a google search and you can find hundreds of NFL players who have wrestling backgrounds. It helps with conditioning, footwork, keeping low, using your hands, and most importantly aggression and self confidence. Nowadays there isn't such a huge emphasis on cutting weight, so that argument is gone. Also, the risk of injury is much lower in wrestling than one would think. At any football game, at least 3 or 4 kids get hurt and have to miss a play. Rarely do you ever see wrestlers have to quit a match because of injury. In 25 years of being around wrestling I've only seen one serious injury. I can't say the same about football.

 

Full disclosure....I coach wrestling and football so I'm a bit biased.

[Harry Doyle]

Without a doubt. Hands down.

[LoyalFan]

This topic gets discussed every once in while on the Kentucky Wrestling forum. Here's a few articles that have been referenced over there.

 

NFL Players That Are Former Wrestlers In High School or College

 

NFL Players That Wrestled

 

 

As far as injuries Wrestling is one of the least injury incurring sportsin high school. Actually less than swimming!

 

11 Injury-Prone High School Sports - ABC News