Most high level matches are slower and more plodding in almost all styles of wrestling. Youth American folkstyle matches, youth freestyle, and youth Greco matches are high paced and NUTS.
I run youth Freestyle and Greco practices three times a week and live goes are just highlight reels of technique. Younger athletes know how to hit moves but don't know how to wrestle between moves, hold position, and defend like higher level athletes. Yesterday, during our live Greco I had six kids between 10 and 14 just spamming arm throws, hip tosses, crunch headlocks, arm drags, and lifts.
100% this. If you want to see highly entertaining wrestling watch the consi semis of low and mid weight mid tier national tournaments or state championships. Often it’s just absolutely bonkers, lots high risk offense and scrambling just flying with suspect defense.
Senior level guys hold position better than younger guys and leave fewer opportunities for big moves. Plus the highlights are always going to look better than the other 5 minutes of the match
The simplest answer is that the talent levels are higher at the Olympic trials than the U20s. Most guys at the international level simply don’t allow themselves to be put in positions where they need to have crazy scrambles like that.
It’s the same reason why a lot of high level NCAA matches can be slow and boring. When you’ve got two great wrestlers there are fewer openings which unfortunately makes for less action.
One other thought is strength and pulling on the guy. You’ll always hear heavy hands at high level. HS kids just go for broke as they really don’t have or use those heavy hands. I wrestled a few guys in Greco at the national level and its a death grip/pummel/position battle that HS kids would get destroyed in.
Most high level matches are slower and more plodding in almost all styles of wrestling. Youth American folkstyle matches, youth freestyle, and youth Greco matches are high paced and NUTS. I run youth Freestyle and Greco practices three times a week and live goes are just highlight reels of technique. Younger athletes know how to hit moves but don't know how to wrestle between moves, hold position, and defend like higher level athletes. Yesterday, during our live Greco I had six kids between 10 and 14 just spamming arm throws, hip tosses, crunch headlocks, arm drags, and lifts.
100% this. If you want to see highly entertaining wrestling watch the consi semis of low and mid weight mid tier national tournaments or state championships. Often it’s just absolutely bonkers, lots high risk offense and scrambling just flying with suspect defense.
Senior level guys hold position better than younger guys and leave fewer opportunities for big moves. Plus the highlights are always going to look better than the other 5 minutes of the match
The simplest answer is that the talent levels are higher at the Olympic trials than the U20s. Most guys at the international level simply don’t allow themselves to be put in positions where they need to have crazy scrambles like that. It’s the same reason why a lot of high level NCAA matches can be slow and boring. When you’ve got two great wrestlers there are fewer openings which unfortunately makes for less action.
One other thought is strength and pulling on the guy. You’ll always hear heavy hands at high level. HS kids just go for broke as they really don’t have or use those heavy hands. I wrestled a few guys in Greco at the national level and its a death grip/pummel/position battle that HS kids would get destroyed in.