Steve Garland – Wrestling Technique – Cradles from anywhere

with Steve Garland, University of Virginia Head Coach;
2015 and 2010 ACC Champions; 2010 ACC Coach of the Year;
All-American Wrestler at Virginia; 2000 ACC Wrestler of the Year; member of the 50th Anniversary ACC Wrestling Team

The cradle position can be hit from anywhere – not just from the top. In this highly instructional presentation, Steve Garland shows a complete cradle series from all positions. He teaches a variety of cradle techniques from a defensive position in the neutral position. He then covers cradles from an offensive position on your feet, and cradles from the traditional top position. Finally, Coach Garland shows drills to be used for cradles and pinning in general.

How to Cradle Your Opponent when They Shoot on You
The most common attack in both folkstyle and freestyle wrestling is the single leg. Learning baseline defense is the most important skill but being able to go straight for points will give you a massive edge over the competition. Coach Garland demonstrates how to turn your opponent’s offense into your offense, enabling your wrestler to score in bunches. Cradle finishes are covered from the single leg defense with the head inside, head outside single defense, and off of a low single leg attempt by your opponent. All his attacks come from a philosophical change of getting the legs back to attacking into the man. This change allows you to score almost at will from your feet.

Cradle from the Offensive Neutral Position
In the second segment, Coach Garland demonstrates how to offensively attack from the feet with the cradle. This includes options from a front headlock and a re-shot. The front headlock is a game changer in itself but when you add Coach Garland’s cradle series to it, you can become unbeatable on your feet. He shows how to use the body’s natural movement patterns to set up the cradle. Once you get down the positioning, you can almost always score.

Cradle from the Top Position
Finally, Coach Garland demonstrates the traditional approach to scoring with a cradle from the top position. This segment includes breakdowns, setups and finishing techniques for cross-face and near-side cradles. Although there is one dominant way to attack with the cradle, Coach Garland demonstrates his spin on hand positioning and where the legs are relative to the bottom man so that he gets a fall every time.

All positions in wrestling require drilling and muscle memory in order to make them work. Coach Garland does a fantastic job of showing this throughout the presentation. You’ll see drills from the feet as well as drills from the classic top position. There’s also a series of pinning drills that focuses on an “always look for the fall” mentality.

This is a fantastic set with a lot of useful information that allows coaches and wrestlers to become prolific cradling wrestlers. Coach Garland brings great teaching style to the presentation, making it easy for everyone to understand the subtle nuances that make this series unique. The tech fall and pin points resulting from these techniques will help your team become a better dual and tournament team.

60 minutes. 2015.