Welcome to Iron Mustang Folkstyle Wrestling
We teach folkstyle, which is the style used at the high school and collegiate levels. Practices will include wrestling techniques, live wrestling, exercises and games. A great way for kid’s to build strength, confidence and self-esteem.
We will practice techniques on Tuesday nights with some live wrestling, exercises and games. Grades k-2, Thursday nights we will review techniques and then divide up into teams and have unofficial dual meets. This will give the kids an opportunity to wrestle in a live match with scoring and also be able to watch their teammates. We will match up by age and weight as much as possible. We will practice the first 3 nights, Tuesday and Thursday and begin the matches on Thursday, January 21. We may do something similar to this in grades 3-6 as well.
*K-2 Program - 5:45-7:00 Tuesday and Thursdays
*Grades 3-6 - 7:00-8:15 Tuesday and Thursdays
Site: Mounds View HS Wrestling room – January 5th, enter front of High School, there will be a registration desk up front. We will have directions to the wrestling room from there.
Practices – times generally stay the same but are subject to change, we will inform you if there are any changes.
Practice formats:
Running warm up on mats, stretching and exercises
Technique session
Live Wrestling and conditioning
Practice rules:
*Be on time
*Listen to coaches
*If parents are doing drop-off, must notify coach
*Parents picking up must be in wrestling room (or outside door) before practice ends
*Parents welcome to sit in wrestling room and watch, but it may get crowded
*Wear a t-shirt with shorts or sweat bottoms
*Wear running shoes or wrestling shoes, make sure if wearing shoes from street they are not wet or dirty before getting on mat
*No climbing on wrestling pads, mats, hanging ladder or other apparatus
*No playing on mats in wrestling room before coaches are in attendance
*Bring water bottle and have wrestlers try to go to bathroom before session
*Must ask coach if you have to go to bathroom
*Hands off each other during warm-ups, exercises and stretching unless a partner drill of some sort
*Clear mats immediately after practice
* Behavior Warning system, if a child is not able to follow the rules, he will be given an official warning by the coach. If he continues to not follow the rules he will be asked to sit against the wall for 5 minutes. Further behavior problems will be dealt with accordingly.
Grades K-2, Thursday Night in-house competition – 6 Thursdays
Each Thursday, beginning January 21, we will have wrestling matches in the wrestling room. We will divide into 4-6 teams and have informal dual meets. The idea is to get the kids some feel for live wrestling with scoring. We will match up by age and weight as best possible.
Tournaments
There are tournaments on Saturdays in various locations that many of us will attend. We recommend a tournament for your child once you think they have enough experience. We will have coaches at select Saturday or Sunday Open tournaments. We will have a hand out for tournaments we will be attending. It is suggested once you feel your son has had enough practices to enter a tournament to give them a better understanding of wrestling. The tournaments are optional and generally will cost anywhere from $8-15 per tournament. We will meet on the mats 30 minutes prior to tournaments starting to see who is there and which coaches or parents will be there to help out and for warm ups. Parents will need to get wrestlers to registration and weigh-ins. Please have your kids wear Iron Mustang Shirts so we can identify them. We may have many kids at a tournament and only so many coaches, so parents, be ready to sit in a corner or ask a coach or another parent with experience to help your child out. Tournaments seem overwhelming at first, but kids generally love to attend them, we strongly encourage tournament participation.
Open tournaments:
Open Tournaments use scratch weight, generally pairing the four closest competitors in weight with each other if possible by grade (for ex: 4 – 1st graders weighing 54-56 lbs). The wrestlers will wrestle each of the three other participants in their bracket. Awards are generally given to each of the competitors.
State Qualifiers and State Tournament:
Some of the tournaments we attend will be qualifiers for the MN/USA State tournament held in Rochester, MN, March 12-14. The qualifiers are run in the same format as the above Open Tournaments. The state tournament is a large event and a great experience for the kids. We will block hotel rooms for our club in a nearby hotel for any qualifiers who choose to participate.
In order to qualify, wrestlers must place 1st or 2nd in their above mentioned bracket at an Open tournament that is designated as a MN/USA state qualifier. Our tournament schedule on the website will designate which are Opens and which are Qualifiers.
The state tournament uses an Age and Weight Division Chart. For example, a wrestler born in 2002or 2003 is in the bantam division. Weight classes run every 5 lbs. A link to the 2010 Age and Weight Division chart is linked on our website.
In order to compete at a MN/USA State Qualifier, club members must purchase a USA Wrestling Card for $36 through USA Wrestling’s website. A Wrestling Card is not required to wrestle in the open tournaments only those designated as State Qualifiers. The online membership application process is linked on our website.
Tournament formats:
Most tournaments are run in pretty much the same format. There is a weigh-in and registration an hour or two before starting. The kids are then paired in groups of four, if possible, by weight and grade. When wrestling begins the kids will be called to a mat by their grade and weight division. Typically a tournament will post wall charts with the wrestler’s names in their grade and weight divisions on a wall in the gym. There will be a table at each mat that keeps score and time with a referee. All tournaments are voluntarily run and each club is asked to help run a table and provide a referee. Parents with more experience, this year we will be required at MN/USA events to run a table and provide a referee, so get out the stripes someone!
Wrestling singlets are the uniforms worn during competition, but a wrestler can wear shorts and T-Shirt as well. If you are interested in purchasing a singlet we will be selling a Black Iron Mustang singlet at practices.
Match format:
Matches are divided into 3 –periods (1:00,1:30 or 2:00 minutes depending on age and tournament). Score is kept through out, the wrestler with the most points at the end of 3 periods is declared the winner. If a wrestler records a pin, the match will end at that time. Winners from each match will then wrestle winners from another match in their weight class. If a wrestler loses they will wrestle again against the wrestler who lost in the other matches. Most tournaments award Trophies, Medals or ribbons for place winners.
Parent help:
There are a few ways parents can help out.
*If you have wrestling experience, feel free to talk with me about helping out on the mats.
*If someone could help organize groups to go to tournaments and get kids to meet on mat before tournament that would be great. Maybe get them doing some warm ups.
* Volunteering to help with a table at tournaments.
*Volunteering to be a referee at tournaments
* Someone to keep track of how our wrestlers do at tournaments by tracking their results on the wall brackets.