If it's a Friday night, or Saturday morning in the fall, there is one place Jeff Wichern loves to be, other than inside a wrestling room.
And that's at a football field, watching wrestlers he currently coaches, or has coached in the past. Wichern owns and operates the JJ Trained Wrestling School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and is the youth wrestling director for Eden Prairie Youth Wrestling. Eden Prairie High School is a traditional Minnesota football powerhouse. The Eagles, coached by Mike Grant, son of legendary Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant, has won 10 Minnesota large school state titles, with many Eden Prairie wrestlers making an impact on those teams over the years.
"We want all of our wrestlers to play football," says Wichern. "I love going to a park on a Saturday afternoon to watch my wrestlers play. Football is a great break from wrestling also and the kids have a ton of fun."
Wichern's dad was also a wrestling and football coach in Minneapolis.
"I remember as a kid my dad's best wrestling teams all had football players on it, and vice versa," said Wichern.
It's no secret football coaches love wrestlers. It's been well chronicled at all levels. Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is a former wrestler, and his dad was a wrestling coach.
"I think you learn more from wrestling than any other sport," Zimmer said in the USA Wrestling article Going The Extra Mile. "You find out so much more about yourself and about competition. When it gets down to it, it's you and the guy across from you. When I was wrestling, for the six minutes that you're out there, it is one of the toughest, most demanding sports that I've ever been around. I think guys that can go through that and compete with all the different things going on, it really defines who you are."
Alabama head football coach Nick Saban has commented on how he loves recruiting wrestlers. So has Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer. In fact, former Ohio State center Pat Elflein, winner of the 2016 Rimington Trophy given to the nation's best center, was drafted by Zimmer's Vikings in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Elflein (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North) was also a multiple time state tournament qualifier and 2012 Ohio high school state wrestling champion. Elflein once said this about how wrestling helps his football:
"If you've ever watched a wrestler practice, it's all the drills we do that just makes you athletic, about (using) your hips and leverage," he said. "That's where it's all at on the offensive line and defensive line, just getting under people and (using) your hands too. And just using your hips and driving your hips into somebody."
(Editor's Note: The goal of this article is not to get into a long list of NFL players who wrestled. It's a long one, but a completely different topic and article.)
USA Football is the national governing body for amateur American football in the United States. Coaches and leaders with the organization see the impact wrestling has on the development of football players.
"Balance and control against an external resistance, leverage and positioning and the ability to move a non-willing opponent are skills needed for all football positions," said Andy Ryland, Senior Manager of Education and Training for USA Football said. "Wrestling does a great job teaching this."
Dr. Bill Welker, author of The Wrestling Drill Book 2nd Edition (Human Kinetics Publishing Company, Champaign, Illinois) points out how even though football is a team sport, it requires each individual doing their job to succeed. Wrestlers learn at a young that it's up to them, and only them, to do their best on the mat, and in the case of football, on the field. A wrestler knows "he must perform his duties at all times, and not lean on his teammates for support when fatigued," says Welker.
Joe Stabilito, President of Pennsylvania USA Wrestling and assistant head coach at Upper Dublin High School (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania), points out a laundry list of skills learned in wrestling, that apply to football, including: Agility, balance, quickness, flexibility, discipline.
"Wrestling teaches a lot of skills used to become a better football player," says Stabilito. "Wrestling also helps develop muscular and cardio stamina and helps with coordination and power by teaching how to combine strength and speed together to succeed."
Wrestling also demands focus and attention to detail, and requires mental, as well as physical, strength. And that transfers to the football field.
"Wrestling helps you develop a good attitude and makes you a better sport win or lose," said Stabilito.
Wrestling helps develop footwork, positioning, technique, and hand fighting -- all important to offensive and defensive lineman. Many wrestlers excel on defense, because they have good form and technique, learned from practicing takedowns, in wrestling. It's not uncommon for a smaller/lighter defensive back with a wrestling background to be one of the best tacklers on the team, and show no fear against even the biggest and most bruising of running backs because they are technically sound, and skilled at wrapping up. At the same time, football helps wrestlers, because football players are taught to run through tackles and finish strong.
"I always tell my wrestlers to run their feet on a double like a linebacker making a tackle or a running back running through arm tackles," says Wichern. "And any wrestler good at shooting on the legs will make a great defensive player with their tackling ability, especially in the era of guys not wrapping the legs on tackles like they should."
It's not uncommon for wrestling coaches to recruit football players to come out for wrestling. Stabilito thinks that may get easier now with the rule changes at the high school level, where a newtwo-piece uniform will be legal for the 2017-18 season and beyond.
"I also think that the uniform change this year may help get some football players involved in wrestling," said Stabilito. "I know they didn't like wearing a singlet."
Stabilito encourages coaches of both sports -- wrestling and football, to work together, to keep numbers strong and kids interested in both sports.
"If more football and wrestling coaches could knock down the barriers and agree to work together to share these athletes I believe both sports would grow, especially wrestling," said Stabilito.
Danny Struck has coached with the Jeffersonville, Indiana youth and high school wrestling program for 20 years. But this is also his 15th year as a football coach with the Southern Indiana school located directly across the Ohio River, just north of Louisville, Kentucky. Struck's father also coached football for 25 years, so it's been something he’s been around his whole life. Struck is always working to promote the benefits of wrestling to football players. During football practice, he incorporates wrestling-related hand fighting and takedown drills. But in wrestling practice, he also works to incorporate some football specific drills to let those football players new to wrestling know that the things they do on the football field can also help them on the mat. Wrestling coaches should work to make football players comfortable on the mat, not just promote wrestlers as football players, says Struck. The cross promotion and working together can have a long-term benefit.
"As wrestling coaches, we love to say football should send kids to wrestling," says Struck. "But what about the reverse? Are we pushing kids to play football? Don't just show the football players what wrestling can do for football. Show what football can do for wrestling."
Struck continued: "We often times tell others 'football is taking all our wrestlers’ time,' but last I checked we spend the spring in Greco and Freestyle, summers at camps and Fargo, and then go to football. What about learning to split time year-round to benefit the kids?"
Struck, who is also the sports performance coach at Jeffersonville High School - is a big believer in the mutli-sport athlete, and even gives a t-shirt and trophy to every fall sport athlete that comes out for wrestling - a multi-sport athlete shirt/recognition.
"We make doing both sports a big deal," says Struck. "Kids are willing to try new things to broaden their athletic base."
While coaches often encourage football players to join wrestling, Struck reminds coaches to have wrestlers who play football share the benefits of wrestling with football players who could join the wrestling program. Friends influence other teammates and classmates, and can get others to come to a wrestling practice, or try it out.
"If we want more athletes to join wrestling, wrestlers have to show them we will play football, or soccer, or cross country -- anything that helps their team, and in turn, they can come help our wrestling team," says Struck.
One thing is certain, with football starting this fall, many wrestlers will be making an impact on the gridiron. These are among the many reasons why.
Posted by Matt Krumrie at MatBoss.com