David Taylor (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)David Taylor and Kyle Snyder walked away from last week's Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix with gold medals and world No. 1 rankings. While Snyder's victory felt pre-ordained, many in the worldwide wrestling community were less wise to Taylor. After this week that'll all change.
What struck me about Taylor's performance at the Yarygin wasn't that he dominated all his opponents (the Cuban gave him a run), but that he never showed weakness of spirit, self-doubt, nerves or hesitation. Not that he'd shown these before, but his composure and preparedness were obvious to all watching. From the time he landed in Siberia he was the man to beat.
David Taylor is going to run the 86-kilogram weight class in 2018, but he also may take up residence as the weight classes' top performer going into Tokyo in 2020.
Not to be overlooked, Tamyra Mensah continued to show technical improvements and mat maturity en route to winning her second Yarygin title. Like Taylor she was the best wrestler on the mats and showed nothing but strength when competing. Expect her to be waving a large flag in Tokyo as well. She's very special and (as a bonus) is a charming personality!
To your questions …
Q: Am I the only one who finds it ludicrous that wrestlers are occasionally disqualified for stalling, but almost never for dirty illegal moves? Yes, Deluca-Retherford. How many times can you hit a guy well beyond the respected bounds of aggressive wrestling, and not get DQ'd? In many senses, this offers a distinct advantage to the foul-filled wrestler. If you can't match him skill-for-skill, why not throw some pseudo-punches and throat chops to try to get him off his game, or in the very least avoid the tech? Particularly if there is no threat of DQ, there's an intimidation factor. Who wants to set up a shot if it results in a near-punch to the face or slap of the cauliflower ear that doesn't get called? Do you think more wrestlers should be DQ'd for such deplorable tactics?
-- Rick J.
Foley: Collegiate and high school wrestling in America has always tolerated more than a modicum of brutality. The line for what is, and what is not, considered outside the rules has tended to get tighter over the years. I'd expect the rules to continue in that direction.
However, there are still matches in which athletes push the boundaries of this accepted brutality. Like you mentioned, it often doesn't reveal the more technical wrestler, but benefits the offender who would have discouraged the attacks of his opponent. In that view there is something almost sad about referees allowing those types of outbursts, since it only encourages more athletes to act the same way and thus reduces the quantity of more compelling techniques.
American wrestlers take a lot of pride in toughness and often it comes in these extra-curricular post-match slaps, face mushes and out-of-bounds shoves. The agro-behavior is below the sport and should be called out for the shame it brings on the overall product that is our wrestling style.
The solution is to immediately DQ these behaviors, dock team points and issue suspensions. I'm not saying you shouldn't throw someone, or crank a cross face cradle (sans wind-up), but I am saying that the boxing should be left off the wrestling mats.
Q: Help me understand how Richie Lewis can win a U23 world title in freestyle but fall outside the top ten rankings in college? Is freestyle that favorable to him? Are U23 Worlds not as competitive as one might think?
-- Dustin K.
Foley: I think there is an element of truth to both your questions. The U23 is a tournament in its infancy and while the level of competition is very high, it's not quite to the level of the Senior World Championships, or even Junior Worlds. One note here is that the tournament had fewer attending nations because it was announced after the new year and many national federations had already created and passed their budgets.
As for collegiate wrestling not being favorable to Richie, I don't know if that's one-hundred percent the cause, but there are obvious stylistic differences in the two. For starters, wrestling on the mat in the NCAA is basically jiu-jitsu, while overseas there are only a few seconds per takedown allotted to top work. Richie could also have benefited from an out of bounds in freestyle which gave more benefit to his mat control. He also would have faced a narrower variety of defenses since self-exposing your back Is frowned upon overseas.
Richie will be an All-American, which I think rounds out a pretty spectacular year on the mats!
Q: So, I saw this here from the NCAA and noticed that wrestling has the lowest percentage of male high school participants continuing to compete in NCAA. (Less than three percent of high school wrestlers compete in NCAA at any level.) The U.S. wrestling community has certainly been concerned about the decreasing number of college teams over time. But is this a problem, in your view?
Maybe it's OK, there are still a quarter-million kids each year learning about wrestling (and thus, getting the great life lessons that wrestling can teach) on a high school team, what does it matter in the big picture if they compete in college or not? Only 18 percent of Division 1 wrestlers are first-generation college students anyway, and those individuals are certainly not all receiving full scholarships, so it's not like wrestling is providing college access to a large number of young men who would otherwise not be able to receive a college education. Perhaps we'd be better off to focus our efforts on increasing participation opportunities for young boys and girls, and not worry so much about the number of college teams? Just wondering what are your (and the readers') thoughts on this.
-- Irv O.
Foley: The mantra has always been that "more is better," and to an extent that is true. If wrestling can prolong the careers of its wrestlers there is a positive outcome: fan creation, wrestler retention, and improvement of our overall athletic communities through a diversity of experiences.
You have a point that in a resource-limited sport its always important to revisit where you spend money, time and energy. Will more Division I wrestling programs create a cultural shift significant enough to generate more revenue, fan interaction and awareness of the sport? What resources would be necessary to generate enough lift to even start a brand-new program at a marquee school.
I've always been an advocate for women's wrestling and the smart investment seems to be the creation of opportunities for female athletes at the high school and college level. For too long the wrestling community has all but ignored half of the U.S. population. Women are also responsible for 80 percent of all household purchases. So from a business standpoint it would make more sense to target a new market which would drive organic coverage of the sport, while also creating the potential for real monetary gains.
The expansion of opportunities for women's wrestling is underway, but more can be done. We need to expel the notion that for every women's spot granted a man loses theirs -- in fact, the opposite might well be true. Even if you or your wrestling friends can't be compelled to support women because it's morally right to allow women to choose their outcome, certainly you could see that it's a cultural and financial positive for the sport overall.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Yarygin gold-medal matches ...
David Taylor
Kyle Snyder
Tamyra Mensah
Q: A lot of big-time MMA stars came up through the JUCO ranks but never went further. How do you think guys like Anthony Rumble Johnson, Cung Le, Vladi Matyushenko, Jon Jones, and others would have fared in Division I? Most guys I can think of who actually went from JUCO to DI did well. Guys like Chris Weidman, Colby Covington, Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, and others. Who is the best/most successful wrestler to come from a JUCO start? Jamil Kelly? Daniel Cormier? Matt Lindland?
-- M5
Foley: When you add together collegiate success, international titles and success in MMA, the bet JUCO product has to be Daniel Cormier.
There are certainly guys who didn't make it out of JUCO who would have won matches at the NCAA level and maybe even become All-Americans, but Division I tends to be as much about the off-the-mat requirements as the on-the-mat techniques. Whether a JUCO guy who didn't make it DI or a DI guy who couldn't stay focused enough to complete four years on the team, the simple act of staying eligible and in the good graces of a coaching staff is hard work in and of itself.
Q: What is so special about the Yarygin tournament? If this is the toughest open tournament in the world, why do we only get a handful of U.S. competitors entering every year?
-- Dustin K.
Foley: You know how people complain about jet lag after a trip from New York to California? And then you know people who really moan when they travel to/from Tokyo? The Ivan Yarygin is in just about the toughest place to fly to with most itineraries from the states requiring two stopovers and accumulating 30 hours.
So, in short, distance and what I can confirm is just about the worst jet lag I've ever experienced.
Other factors: The tournament is actually TOO good to bring the whole team, since there is a higher likelihood of one-and-done. Also, the costs of the flight and possibly the fact it was -40 degrees!
As for what's special, basically the cold, the distance and the fact there are so many Russians competing! Cuts both ways type situation.
Q: Seth Gross bumped up a weight class to take on Bryce Meredith in a battle of top-ranked wrestlers. Gross lost a close match. Does that take him out of Hodge Trophy contention? Should it?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I don't know that it would be a major ding to his chances, but unless your name rhymes with PAIN, you aren't winning the Hodge.
Q: It seems like every week someone is writing in to complain about the negative way that riding time affects the potential for high scoring and viewer-friendly matches in college wrestling. In general, I think they are right. Do you see any way that the powers-that-be in the NCAA, the rules committee and the head coaches, would ever even consider changing such a fundamental rule in their current version of the sport? Or is this the "third rail" of college wrestling?
-- Ed B.
Foley: Sure. I don't think it's a third rail topic in the sport and with the gamesmanship of that point increasing year-over-year we are seeing a larger chorus of voices speaking out against the point. We are nearing a place in the discussion where a change is just too logical. No matter what we want to believe, or want to protect, the riding time point is very obviously leading to less exciting action on the mat.
I think the rules committee will revisit riding time at some point in the next three years. And I expect it to be removed before 2022.
Q: What was your biggest takeaway from Tulsa Nationals? Were you surprised by the 12 and under, 80-pound results?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Ha! You kid, but I'll take this moment to once again remind parents, friends and anyone else reading that you should not allow your child to compete in these tournaments! There is no upside to winning a "national title" at 8 years old. Taking gymnastics classes would provide multiple times more return on investment come time for high school and college.
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