Precise Guide to Freestyle Wrestling for Beginners Explained

Freestyle wrestling is an Olympic kind of sport, in which athletes are allowed to use various skills such as throws, holds, lift-overs, and so on and so forth. The main goal of the given sport is to pin an opponent to the mat. Although this kind of sport seems to be rather straightforward, there are still a few rules that can make it quite difficult for beginners to understand all the peculiarities of freestyle wrestling.

General Rules

Freestyle wrestling fights take place on a special carpet i.e. is a square mat with the sides of 12 meters covered with vinyl. Its minimal thickness should be 4 centimeters. The carpet is not homogenous in respect of its layout; it is divided into particular areas, each of which is represented by a specific color.

So, the protection area (in which an act of wrestling actually takes place) is represented by the yellow circle with a diameter of 9 meters. The smaller circle of a 1-meter diameter is located in the center of the protection area, and it is colored in red. If a fight is stopped, the wrestlers should take a position on it. All the wrestling activities occur within the central wrestling area that is 7 meters in diameter; it is of the yellow color. This yellow circle is surrounded a the 1-meter-thick circle that is known as the passivity zone.

For competition in the Olympic Games, the World Championships, and the Continental Championships, the mat is installed on a platform no greater than 1.1 meters in height. If the mat lies on a podium and the protection margin (covering and free space around the mat) does not reach 2 meters, the sides of the podium are covered with 45°-inclined panels. In all cases, the color of the protection area is different from the color of the mat.

A freestyle wrestling fight consists of three 2-minute period with 30-second intervals between them. At the end of each period, its winner should be announced. An overall victory is given to an athlete who manages to win 2 periods. If a winner becomes known over the first two periods, there is no necessity for the third period to be held. The fall automatically results in the end of a fight despite the fact which period is taking place.

Ways of Winning in a Fight

In fact, there are a few scenarios of how an athlete can beat his opponent in a freestyle wrestling event. To be more exact, they are as follows:

1. Win by Fall. This scenario arises when a wrestler manages to hold both of his opponents’ shoulders on the mat simultaneously. This state of affairs should be lasting for enough time for the referee to count 21, 22 (this is an obligatory requirement for the fall to be confirmed. If the fall is going to take place in the passivity zone, the opponents’ shoulders should be completely pressed down to the mat within this zone, while his head should not touch the protection surface. The fact here is that the fall cannot be confirmed on the protection surface. If a wrestler touches the mat with his both shoulders as a result of his own mistake or a wrong movement, his opponent is said to win by fall.
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2. Win by Technical Superiority. This scenario occurs when a wrestler manages to gain a ten-point lead over his opponent at any stage of a fight.
3. Win by Injury, Disqualification, Forfeit or Default.
4. Win by Decision. At the end of each round, any of the wrestlers can gain 1-to-5-point advantage over an opponent. These points are then summed up to determine a winner.
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If a wrestler manages to perform a throw of grand amplitude as in the 5-point throw, he is announced to be the winner of a period despite actual scoring. Two 3-point throws performed in a single period will result in the same consequences for the opponent. When it happens that both wrestlers have scored the same number of points over a period (for instance, 2-2, 3-3, and so on), a winner is determined on the basis of the last point scored in the given period.

If wrestlers violate the rules and obtain warnings, a victory is given to the athlete who has the smallest number of them. If a period ends in a score of 0-0, there should take place a 30-second fight for the wrestlers to determine a winner. As for warnings, it is necessary to consider the whole fight. Thus, if a wrestler obtains three warnings over three periods, he should be disqualified.

Considering the fact that the result of a whole fight can depend on a single point, it is necessary to know what actions can result in earning a particular number of points.

1 Point is Given:

• to a wrestler who manages to bring his opponent in ground wrestling and gain control over his three points in this position (two hands and a knee or two knees and a hand);
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• to a wrestler who manages to perform a correct standing or ground skill, in the result of which his opponent, however, is not placed in a danger position;
• to a wrestler who manages to gain a control over his opponent staying behind him;
• to a wrestler who blocks his opponent or makes him place his one or two straight hands on the mat, with his back facing it;
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• to an attacking player if his opponent fails to correctly repel his skill;
• to an attacking player if his opponent leaves the borders of the mat, refuses to begin or perform cruel actions;
• to a wrestler if he manages to hold his opponents in a danger position for 5 and more seconds;
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• to a wrestler if his opponent steps over the protection surface;
• to a wrestler if a fight is stopped because of his opponent’s injury without bleeding.

2 Points are Awarded:

• to a wrestler who manages to perform a correct grounding hold that results either in a danger position for an opponent or in the direct fall;
• to an attacking wrestler if his opponent rolls on his shoulders;
• to an attacking player if his opponents leaves the mat escaping from a danger position;
• to an attacking player if his opponent exercises a banned hold that creates serious hindrances;
• to a defensive player if an attacking player finds himself directly in the fall;
• to a wrestler who blocks his opponent while the latter is trying to perform a standing hold, which results in a danger position for him.
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3 Points are Given:

• to a wrestler who performs a low-amplitude throw that places an opponent in a danger position;
• for all the low-amplitude holds that result in an opponent being pulled away from the mat even if an attacking player has his one or two knees on the mat (a defensive player should find himself in a danger position after it);
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• to a wrestler for a grand-amplitude throw that, however, does not place an opponent in a danger position;

5 Points are Awarded:

• for all the grand-amplitude throws that place a defensive player in a danger position;
• for a grand-amplitude throw performed from a ground position that results in a danger position for a defensive player.

Apart from everything mentioned above, there are a few actions and holds that are prohibited for the wrestlers. Thus, the list of the most common “not-to-dos” looks as follows:

• to pull opponent’s hair, ears, and genitalia;
• to munch, bite, twist the fingers, and to do everything in order to inflict pain and make an opponent surrender;
• to kick an opponent with feet and the head, throttle, and push him i.e. to exercise holds that can result in serious danger for an opponent’s health and life;
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• to use the knee or elbow to put pressure on the opponent’s stomach;
• to make a snatch at the mat or opponent’s singlet;
• to speak during a fight;
• to organize a fixed fight.

Equipment

First of all, a wrestler should either be carefully shaved or have a long beard that is not hard for the skin. Then, wrestlers’ equipment consists of the following elements:

• A singlet is a one-piece wrestling garment that should meet the official requirements. Singlets can be either red or blue. The color for a particular wrestler is determined with the help of a coin toss. It is strictly forbidden to combined both red and blue colors for a singlet. Wrestlers are allowed to have one or a few sponsors’ names on the singlets if it is not the Olympic games.
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• A special pair of shoes is necessary to result in an additional support for the ankle. It is prohibited to use high-heel shoes or shoes with any metal elements. In addition, wrestling shoes should be without open laces; they should be covered under tapes. The shoes should be carefully checked by an official before a wrestler appears on the mat.
• Some wrestlers can wear headgear that is used to protect their ears. This piece of equipment should be free from any metal and any other hard elements.
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Officials

Every official fight between two individual wrestlers is served by a jury (or team) of three officials. Each of these officials has his own responsibilities, and they are as follows:

1. The referee controls the action in the center, blowing the whistle to start and stop the action, and supervises the scoring of holds and infractions.
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2. The judge sits at the side of the mat, keeps score, and occasionally gives his approval when needed by the referee for various decisions.
3. The mat chairman sits at the scoring table, keeps time, is responsible for declaring technical superiority, and supervises the work of the referee and judge. To call a fall, two of the three officials must agree (usually, the referee and either the judge or the mat chairman meaning the referee has a bit more weight in this system).
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History

England is said to be the motherland of freestyle wrestling. It appeared a bit later than Greco-Roman wrestling, and the main difference between the two was that freestyle wrestles were allowed to apply dangerous grips, to twist joints, and create other dangerous conditions for opponents’ health and life.

In a while, freestyle wrestling was brought to the United States of America where there were two kinds of it – wrestling itself and freestyle wrestling. Sporting freestyle wrestling was popular in American colleges and universities. It was this sporting activity that created the rules for international freestyle wrestling competitions.

In 1904, freestyle wrestling became an officially Olympic kind of sport and was included in the schedule of the Saint-Louis Olympic Games. All 42 athletes represented the USA, which was a result of the situation that no other country was familiar with the given kind of sport. In other words, the USA decided to hold their national wrestling championships under the auspices of the Olympic games.

Freestyle wrestling was said to be the sport of the Americans because athletes from this country managed to obtain 99 Olympic medals from 1904 till 1996. No country could impress with the same achievement over the same period of time.

From 1904 till 1912, there were no limitations as to how many wrestlers could represent a single state in one weight class. At the 1920-1924 Olympic Games, however, a single country was allowed to have no more than two wrestlers in a single weight class.

In 1921, the International Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF) was created. The first European Championships took place in Paris in 1928. It was in that very year, when the rule appeared that only one wrestler could represent a country in a single weight class. 1951 saw the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) appear. It is this body that governs all the modern official wrestling tournaments and competitions.