Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, commonly referred to as folkstyle wrestling, is the form of wrestling practiced at the post-secondary level in the United States. This style of wrestling is also practiced at the high school, middle school, and elementary levels with some modifications.
The rules and style of collegiate/folkstyle wrestling differ from the Olympic styles of freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Collegiate and freestyle wrestling, unlike Greco-Roman, also both allow the use of the wrestler's or their opponent's legs in offense and defense. There are collegiate wrestling programs in almost all U.S. states, and one university in Canada.
Women's wrestling at the U.S. college level uses two different rulesets. The National Wrestling Coaches Association, whose women's division is now recognized by the NCAA as part of its Emerging Sports for Women program, uses the freestyle ruleset as defined by the sport's international governing body, United World Wrestling. The National Collegiate Wrestling Association, a separate governing body that conducts competition for colleges and universities parallel to but outside the scope of the NCAA, uses collegiate rules in its women's division.
Organizations that oversee collegiate wrestling competition are NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, the NAIA, the NJCAA, the CCCAA, and the NCWA. Wrestling scholarships are offered to student athletes in NCAA Divisions I and II, the NAIA, and the NJCAA.
Contrast with the international styles
Collegiate wrestling differs in a number of ways from freestyle and Greco-Roman.There are some scoring differences. For example, in collegiate wrestling, "exposure" points are not given to a wrestler for simply forcing the opponent's shoulders to quickly rotate and be exposed to the mat. Instead, for example, a wrestler must control one of the opponent's shoulders on the mat and have the opponent's other shoulder forced to the mat at an angle of 45 degrees or less for two to five seconds to score. The points generated in this situation are called "near fall" points. This shows a difference in focus: while the international styles encourage explosive action and risk, collegiate wrestling encourages and rewards control over the opponent.
This emphasis on control was present in collegiate wrestling from its earliest days. Since 1915, collegiate wrestling officials have recorded the time that each participant had in controlling his opponent on the mat. Early on, this was the major way to determine the winner in the absence of a fall. Over time, the significance of such timekeeping has declined, and now such "time advantage" only counts for one point in college competition at the most. As in both of the international styles, a wrestler can win the match by pinning both of their opponent's shoulders or both of their opponent's scapulae to the mat.
In collegiate wrestling, there is an additional position to commence wrestling after the first period, and also to resume wrestling after various other situations. All three styles begin a match with both wrestlers facing each other on their feet; known as the neutral position with the opportunity given to both to score a takedown and thus gain control over the opponent. In collegiate wrestling, once a takedown is scored, the wrestler under control in the inferior position remains there until they escape the move, until they reverse the position, until the period ends, or until various penalty situations occur. The inferior position is one possible choice for a starting position in the second and third periods, known as the referee's position. The referee's position is roughly analogous to the "par terre" starting position in the international wrestling styles. In the international styles, the "par terre" starting position is not utilized as often as the referee's position is in collegiate wrestling. In the two international styles, the inferior position in the "par terre" starting position is now used to penalize a wrestler who has committed an illegal act.
In collegiate wrestling, there is a de-emphasis on throws, or maneuvers where the other wrestler is taken off their feet, taken through the air, and lands on their back or shoulders. This lack of emphasis on throws is another example of how collegiate wrestling emphasizes dominance or control, as opposed to the element of risk and explosive action. A legal throw in collegiate wrestling is awarded the same number of points as any other takedown. In freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, points awarded for a wrestler's takedowns increase with the level of explosiveness seen in the throws. Well-executed throws can even win a period in the international styles, especially when a throw is of grand amplitude. In collegiate wrestling, some of the throws seen in the international styles may even be illegal, such as a full-back suplex from a rear standing position. However, many collegiate wrestlers still incorporate some throws into their repertoire of moves because a thrown opponent often lands on their back or shoulders and thus in a position more conducive to producing near-fall points or securing a fall.
Generally, rather than lifting the opponent or throwing them for grand amplitude in order to win the period as in the international styles, the collegiate wrestler most often seeks to take their opponent down to the mat and perform a "breakdown". With the opponent off their base of support, the collegiate wrestler in the offensive position would then seek to run pinning combinations, or combinations of techniques designed to secure a fall. Failing to gain a fall could still result in an advantage in riding time and potential near-fall points.
The defensive wrestler could counter such attempts for a takedown, or when once taken down try to escape their opponent's control or reverse control altogether. In a last-ditch attempt to foil a fall, the defensive wrestler could also "bridge" out of their opponent's control. Overall, a collegiate wrestler in their techniques would most likely emphasize physical control and dominance over the opponent on the mat.
History
American wrestling in the early colonial era
There were already wrestling styles among Native Americans varying from tribe and nation by the 15th and 16th centuries, when the first Europeans settled. The English and French who settled on the North American continent sought out wrestling as a popular pastime. Soon, there were local champions in every settlement, with contests between them on a regional level. The colonists in what would become the United States started out with something more akin to Greco-Roman wrestling, but soon found that style too restrictive in favor of a style with a greater allowance of holds.The Irish were known for their "collar-and-elbow" style, a variant of jacket wrestling, in which wrestlers at the start of the match would grasp each other by the collar with one hand and by the elbow with the other. From this position, wrestlers sought to achieve a fall. If no fall occurred, the wrestlers would continue grappling both standing on their feet and on the ground until a fall was made. Irish immigrants later brought this style to the United States where it soon became widespread.
The Cornish were well known for their style of wrestling, Cornish wrestling, and this style became very popular in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and South Africa. Many world champions came from the US, such as Jack Carkeek.
Other British wrestling included the backhold styles and what became known as catch-as-catch can wrestling, which had a particular following in Great Britain and the variant developed in Lancashire had a particular effect on future freestyle wrestling.
18th and 19th century United States
By the 18th century, wrestling soon became recognized as a legitimate spectator sport, despite its roughness. Among those who were well known for their wrestling techniques were several U.S. presidents. Since catch-as-catch can wrestling was very similar, it gained great popularity in fairs and festivals in the United States during the 19th century. The collar-and-elbow style was also refined by later Irish immigrants, and gained great ground because of the success of George William Flagg from Vermont, the wrestling champion of the Army of the Potomac. After the Civil War, freestyle wrestling began to emerge as a distinct sport, and soon spread rapidly in the United States. Professional wrestling also emerged in the late 19th century. By the 1880s, American wrestling became organized, with matches often being conducted alongside gymnastics meets and boxing tournaments in athletic clubs. The growth of cities, industrialization, and the closing of the American frontier provided the necessary avenue for sports such as wrestling to increase in popularity.20th century
In 1903, the first intercollegiate dual meet took place between Yale and Columbia University.Two years later, in 1905, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association held its first tournament, which sparked many more wrestling tournaments at both the collegiate and high school levels.
Edward C. Gallagher, a football and track and field athlete at Oklahoma A&M College, launched wrestling as an official university sport just before World War I and with his team launched a dynasty, with undefeated matches from 1921 to 1931. In 1928, the first NCAA Wrestling Championships took place on March 30 to 31 on the campus of Iowa State College.
The rules of collegiate wrestling marked a sharp contrast to the freestyle wrestling rules of the International Amateur Wrestling Federation. From then on, collegiate wrestling emerged as a distinctly American sport. College and high school wrestling grew especially after the standardization of the NCAA wrestling rules, which applied early on to both collegiate and scholastic wrestling. More colleges, universities, and junior colleges began offering dual meets and tournaments, including championships and having organized wrestling seasons. There were breaks in wrestling seasons because of World War I and World War II, but in the high schools especially, state association wrestling championships sprung up in different regions throughout the 1930s and 1940s. As amateur wrestling grew after World War II, various collegiate athletic conferences also increased the number and quality of their wrestling competition, with more wrestlers making the progression of wrestling in high school, being recruited by college coaches, and then entering collegiate competition.
For most of the 20th century, collegiate wrestling was the most popular form of amateur wrestling in the United States, especially in the Midwest and the Southwest regions. The 1960s and 1970s saw major developments in collegiate wrestling, with the emergence of the United States Wrestling Federation . The USWF, with its membership of coaches, educators, and officials, became recognized eventually as the official governing body of American wrestling and as the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee, in place of the Amateur Athletic Union.
Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada has competed in NAIA wrestling since 1977, consistently producing individual champions, All-American awards, and winning the team title twice. In 2009, SFU became the first non-American NCAA member school, with their wrestling program participating in U Sports for Olympic styles and NAIA for collegiate.
Collegiate wrestling teams compete in the NCAA national wrestling championships every year in each of the three divisions. The NAIA, NJCAA, and NCWA hold annual national wrestling championships as well. National Champion and All-American individual honors are awarded at the national championships in each of the 10 college weight classes, as well as a team title.