The World Team Trials still has more drama in store with plenty of extended intrigue and, yes, you got it … face mushing.
To your questions …
David Taylor and J'den Cox trained together leading up to the 2016 Olympics (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Q: How do you see the (potential) David Taylor vs. J'den Cox matches playing out this weekend? Competitive? Will it go three matches?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Before we delve into who wins and by what rationale, let us first acknowledge that David Taylor needs to wrestle past a field of opponents during the World Team Trials challenge tournament.
(Wiping hands) Great, now that's out of the way …
I'm taking David Taylor in three matches.
1. David Taylor has beaten everyone he's faced in 2017 and most of those victories have been by technical fall or fall. His closest match was with Richard Perry at the Paris Invitational. He has wins over two Olympic champions.
2. Whatever conditioning issues plagued Taylor in sizing up for last year's tournament is no longer an issue. He's physically capable of fueling his body for full matches and has shown himself to often be in better shape than his opponents.
3. Scrambling positions tend to favor Taylor in general and he's gotten savvy at putting his opponents in those positions.
4. Where Taylor has been exposed most is hand fighting with Yazdani. However, this is not an area where Cox has a discernible advantage.
5. Cox's flub at the Olympic Games where he failed to see he was losing can be explained many ways, but one place it hints is that he still lacks a ton of senior level freestyle match experience. Taylor now has gobs of gamesmanship he can tap into while in the heat of battle. That'll be vital to his success.
Q: Patrick Duggan announced that he's transferring out of Lock Haven and to Iowa. He blasted the Lock Haven coaches on his way out. What do you make of his comments?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Patrick Duggan was released from the Lock Haven wrestling team after failing to meet many of the coaching staff's well-reasoned and clear objectives. Duggan, who transferred into Lock Haven, proved to be unreliable in attending and finishing workouts and didn't want to be an active member of the team.
I was teammates with Scott Moore at Virginia. He's smart and kind and all that stuff, but more importantly he's 100 percent honest, trustworthy and fair. When comparing the career of Scott Moore and the commitment he's shown to his wrestlers at Virginia and Lock Haven to that of twice transferred Patrick Duggan, it's clear that this complaint is sour grapes magnified by the megaphone of this online resource.
Wrestling success has no shortcut and part of what makes it an incredible sport is that when you fail the first and only person you should blame is the one staring back at you in the selfie cam.
Q: Can folkstyle youth wrestling organize nationally like soccer with uniform, age-appropriate rules for each developmental level? #progress
-- @caroten_158
Foley: My major frustration with the sport of wrestling is how poorly we prepare our young athletes for the next level of competition. We currently treat every age bracket as though the stakes of winning and losing are the same as though they were in the Olympics.
I firmly believe we shouldn't organize any large scale competitions for wrestlers younger than 12 years old. Before that we should be building an athletic base, learning techniques and being introduced to competition in a non-tournament format.
Tulsa makes me cringe.
Q: I want David Taylor to beat J'den Cox this weekend. Will I drink because I'm happy or because I'm sad?
-- John G.
Foley: Happy. When you drink you should try an Old Fashioned
Q: Why is wrestling unlike other sports where it is rare to see coaches climb levels? For example, Division II to Division I, or high school to college.
-- Tanner G.
Foley: Because I'm a contrarian at heart, I'd have to at least point out the cases where we've seen a jump: Kevin Dresser from Christiansburg to Virginia Tech (now Iowa State) and Steve Martin from Great Bridge to Old Dominion.
One reason they were capable of making the jump was proximity to an existing university in need of a coach. Both lived in the same city as their future college employers. Both were also successful Division I wrestlers at the University of Iowa.
Take those factors away and I agree it would be difficult to imagine the head wrestling coach at Buchanan High School being offered the Minnesota job. Also, I think that most hires are in some ways self-selecting. Not many non-Division I coaches would apply for these jobs since they seem to be premier. Lastly, those who do apply need to overcome any biases that might exist about their coaching level based on current school.
Still, I'd like to think that if they apply the most talented coaches will get access to opportunities at other colleges and universities.
Q: I saw that both Kaori Icho and Saori Yoshida won't compete at the World Championships this year. It feels like Yoshida is done competing and focusing on coaching, but about Icho? Will she go for a fifth Olympic title in Tokyo?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Tough to confirm Icho's retirement until she does, but I'd think it is highly unlikely we'd see Icho in her fifth Olympics. As for Yoshida, she also leaves the door open, but as you can tell in the interview below, she has all but retired and began her career as a coach and TV personality.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Saori Yoshida is back on the mats
Mike Pucillo on organ and tissue donation
Q: How about an article on added head protection in wrestling?
-- @LDRRich
Foley: Innovation is vital to the growth of many markets. From automotive to housing, energy to tourism, industries rely on new technologies to create sellable upgrades to previously existing items -- often with a benefit.
In sport there is a reduced, but important place for technological innovation. Sports like golf, cycling and sailing rely on technological innovations to provide a competitive advantage to those who utilize the gains. Technological improvements for athletes (not the consumption of sports, ie live streaming) has also been introduced to many other sports, which traditionally didn't require much of a tech edge to find peak performance. Baseball bats, football helmets and running shoes have all become tech-driven products.
Wrestling has been absent from technological change in part because it doesn't require much equipment. In most countries, where freestyle and Greco-Roman are the recognized styles, personal equipment is limited to shoes and a singlet. Shared equipment includes a mat and potentially training equipment like Bulgarian Bags and dummies.
In the United States there has -- for the last 50 years -- been a requirement to also wear equipment to protect ears from cauliflower ears. The technology there has grown a bit over the years to allow for better hearing, air circulation and comfort but has otherwise remained consistent. Most of the headgear being worn today looks like the headgear worn 50 years ago.
Recently there has been a push by American companies, including LDR, to create a headgear which protects wrestlers from head injuries, specifically concussions. The ear protection thus morphed from simple ear coverings into a full helmet with a look more closely associated with football and NASCAR than with wrestling.
While technological innovation is always encouraged, the inclusion of these wrestling helmets on high school or college mats would be incredibly harmful to both the health of the individual athletes and the numbers of wrestlers encouraged to compete in the sport. There are several issues with these helmets, which need to be understood before any school, individual or association looks to approve their use.
First, the helmet lends to a wrestler feeling a sense of invincibility. The cushion provided means that athletes will be MORE encouraged to use their head in competition and in practice. As has been proven in football (as opposed to helmetless rugby), the protection of the head turns it into a weapon in the field of play. That increase in major and minor impacts is proven to be bad for the developing brain.
Second, the appearance of the helmet tells parents, schools, associations and the general public that wrestling is a sport where head-to-head contact is often seen and where it has become a major issue. While concussion rates for wrestling remain far too high, the focus on improving those numbers should be in setting tough penalties for the use of the head in competition, not in creating a mechanism by which those head-to-head contacts are bound to increase.
Third, the high cost of these helmets will restrict wrestlers from joining the sport. Wrestling is low to mid income sport and requiring a $100-$150 helmet for participation will stunt the sport's growth.
Fourth, history has shown us that less is more. Allowing the human body to function inside its original design is the most beneficial thing we can do. The problems of football stem from it being a completely non-natural format for human competition. Wrestling has been in existence since the start of human history and until the 1960's didn't even require ear covering, much less a helmet.
Innovation is wonderful, but in wrestling simplicity is the brand, not gear. There is money to be made in creating new youth-friendly two-piece uniforms, updating the wrestling surface, or making better shoes. However, there should be no market for the creation and sale of unnecessary and harmful products. Ours is the oldest sport in the world because it's a part of who we are as people -- conflict, toil, skill sharpening, survival. That spirit requires no innovation or extraneous equipment.
RANT OF THE WEEK
By Nick H.
You know why wrestling is never going to be primetime in U.S.? Because racists, sexists will never allow for broader public appeal. Unsolicited opinions from white dudes on how people of color and women should behave in society are not good recruitment/retention strategies.
Sadly, lots of strong opinions, often unwelcoming ones, come from people associated with the sport. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but nobody should be surprised when opinions that alienate the potential athlete/fan bases are publicly volunteered & folks avoid the sport.
I love wrestling, but wading through hateful, old-fashioned opinions even wears out the existing fans. How about teenagers and their parents? Show me a sport with overly-opinionated pundits like wrestling. I'll show you a cult sport with limited growth/public appeal.
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