I agree with Coach Ed, the most important thing to teach a female wrestler is to use their hips. We don't ride legs for that reason, hips are way too high. It's pretty easy to swim a girl to their back when they throw the legs in. Keep the hips back and ride tight body. In our experience, most girls have a real hard time getting out of a good tight body. Most girls aren't real good on bottom, so teaching a good ride will win alot of matches for you. Also, having a good bottom game is a must. You just don't see girls sitout, cutback, scissorkick, etc. You will see some granbys and switches, but mostly just standups. Regarding takedowns, most girls wrestle above the waist. So you see ALOT of headlocks and arm spins. My opinion is, you live by the head, you die by the head. Teach your girls to shoot. But not down the middle, girls are hard to take down shooting doubles and inside singles. Those HIPS! Shoot to the outside, use sweep singles, high croutches and heel picks. Against the top girls, getting caught underneath happens alot. Teach reshots. Use your shot to set up duck unders and throw bys. And FREESTYLE as much as possible. It cuts into their summer break, but to take it to the next level you have to freestyle, period. I agree with Coach Ed again, the hardest thing about coaching girls is to keep them motivated. Girls hate to do roadwork. We swim 3 times a week. The main thing to remember is these girls have a huge battle to just be accepted in the wrestling room. They need more support from their coaches and parents than a boy wrestler does. Good luck!
Steve Martin
(brute552001@earthlink.net)