USA Grappling Round-up #2
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USA GRAPPLING ROUNDUP: What's the guard, and who's Miesha Tate?
This week's USA Grappling Roundup explains the guard position, tells about World Team Trials winner Miesha Tate and looks at the teams expected at the World Championships.
What is the "Guard?"
If you watch the UFC, Joe Rogan will undoubtedly comment at some point about the "Guard." In Grappling or jiu-jitsu you will often hear about someone pulling guard or having a great guard. This position is very important in understanding how to defend yourself effectively on the bottom.
This guard gained initial popularity after Royce Gracie made it a mainstay in his repertoire in the first installments of the UFC. It was the first time many people even conceived that the bottom man could be a danger to man in obviously dominant top position. After Royce Gracie choked out the much bigger wrestler Dan Severn with the triangle choke, the guard became an integral part of the evolution of Mixed Martial Arts. This ultimately made Royce Gracie's guard legendary.
The guard utilizes the legs of the bottom athlete by locking them around the waist of the top athlete in order to negate the top man's pressure and his ability to gain a more dominant control position, which the top man needs to execute a submission move or in MMA's case, reign down effective strikes. In Grappling, this position serves as the neutral ground position, and neither athlete is said to have control in this position. The guard player can use this position to set-up and execute a variety of submission moves or escapes.
The top athlete must first "break the guard" and then "pass the guard," which means getting past the leg defenses of the bottom guard player. The last place you want to be when competing against a great grappler is in their guard.
What's new at USA Grappling?
USA Wrestling has released a full-length DVD of the 2007 U.S. Grappling World Team Trials. This event was held in Las Vegas, Nevada and featured the nation's best grapplers battling for a chance to represent the United States at the first FILA World Grappling Championships.
This DVD features the nine Championship final matches, plus a tournament highlight reel and seven bonus matches.
On this DVD, you can see Grappling and MMA stars like Jeff Monson, Dennis Hallman, Matt Horwich, Cub Swanson, Bryan Vetell, Jeff Glover, Alberto Crane, Bill Cooper, Ricky Lundell, Darren Uyenoyama, Sim Go, Don Ortega, Denny Prokopos, and Scott Bieri.
The cost for this exciting DVD is $19.95 plus $5.00 Shipping and Handling, for a total of $24.95
Grappling Around the Globe:
The biggest surprise thus far in the registration for the World Championships has been the inclusion of two teams from the African continent. Nigeria and Congo have both registered teams to compete in Lucerne, Switzerland on December 20-21. The athletes from these countries are unrivaled in their physicality and both countries have very rich wrestling traditions.
Who's News at USA Grappling?
This year in the Women's Division, USA Grappling had some newcomers that made an immediate impact at the World Team Trials. At 72 kg, Miesha Tate of Victory Athletics defeated Angela Poe of Grappler's Edge and returning U.S. World Team Trials and World ChampionVal Worthington to take the title. In the finals, she outpointed Worthington in a tight position battle, in which Tate utilized her advantage in wrestling to come out with the victory. On June 6, Tate won her STRIKEFORCE debut against 2007 U.S. Grappling World Team Trials runner-up and MMA veteran Elaina Maxwell. Miesha Tate sports a 2-1 professional MMA record and will be looking to take home gold from the Grappling World Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland on December 20-21.
For more information on USA Wrestling's Grappling program, contact Manager of Developing Styles Jason Townsend by phone at 719-598-8181 or via email at jtownsend@usawrestling.org
This week's USA Grappling Roundup explains the guard position, tells about World Team Trials winner Miesha Tate and looks at the teams expected at the World Championships.
What is the "Guard?"
If you watch the UFC, Joe Rogan will undoubtedly comment at some point about the "Guard." In Grappling or jiu-jitsu you will often hear about someone pulling guard or having a great guard. This position is very important in understanding how to defend yourself effectively on the bottom.
This guard gained initial popularity after Royce Gracie made it a mainstay in his repertoire in the first installments of the UFC. It was the first time many people even conceived that the bottom man could be a danger to man in obviously dominant top position. After Royce Gracie choked out the much bigger wrestler Dan Severn with the triangle choke, the guard became an integral part of the evolution of Mixed Martial Arts. This ultimately made Royce Gracie's guard legendary.
The guard utilizes the legs of the bottom athlete by locking them around the waist of the top athlete in order to negate the top man's pressure and his ability to gain a more dominant control position, which the top man needs to execute a submission move or in MMA's case, reign down effective strikes. In Grappling, this position serves as the neutral ground position, and neither athlete is said to have control in this position. The guard player can use this position to set-up and execute a variety of submission moves or escapes.
The top athlete must first "break the guard" and then "pass the guard," which means getting past the leg defenses of the bottom guard player. The last place you want to be when competing against a great grappler is in their guard.
What's new at USA Grappling?
USA Wrestling has released a full-length DVD of the 2007 U.S. Grappling World Team Trials. This event was held in Las Vegas, Nevada and featured the nation's best grapplers battling for a chance to represent the United States at the first FILA World Grappling Championships.
This DVD features the nine Championship final matches, plus a tournament highlight reel and seven bonus matches.
On this DVD, you can see Grappling and MMA stars like Jeff Monson, Dennis Hallman, Matt Horwich, Cub Swanson, Bryan Vetell, Jeff Glover, Alberto Crane, Bill Cooper, Ricky Lundell, Darren Uyenoyama, Sim Go, Don Ortega, Denny Prokopos, and Scott Bieri.
The cost for this exciting DVD is $19.95 plus $5.00 Shipping and Handling, for a total of $24.95
Grappling Around the Globe:
The biggest surprise thus far in the registration for the World Championships has been the inclusion of two teams from the African continent. Nigeria and Congo have both registered teams to compete in Lucerne, Switzerland on December 20-21. The athletes from these countries are unrivaled in their physicality and both countries have very rich wrestling traditions.
Who's News at USA Grappling?
This year in the Women's Division, USA Grappling had some newcomers that made an immediate impact at the World Team Trials. At 72 kg, Miesha Tate of Victory Athletics defeated Angela Poe of Grappler's Edge and returning U.S. World Team Trials and World ChampionVal Worthington to take the title. In the finals, she outpointed Worthington in a tight position battle, in which Tate utilized her advantage in wrestling to come out with the victory. On June 6, Tate won her STRIKEFORCE debut against 2007 U.S. Grappling World Team Trials runner-up and MMA veteran Elaina Maxwell. Miesha Tate sports a 2-1 professional MMA record and will be looking to take home gold from the Grappling World Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland on December 20-21.
For more information on USA Wrestling's Grappling program, contact Manager of Developing Styles Jason Townsend by phone at 719-598-8181 or via email at jtownsend@usawrestling.org
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