Essay On American Wrestling

Wrestling matches were described by the Greek poet Homer, and wrestling became the final and decisive event of the pentathlon, the five-fold contest of the Greek public games.

Wrestling was the most popular event in the ancient Greek Games, and lists of Olympic wrestling winners have been recorded since 708 B.C.

As part of its responsibilities for education and for promotion of the sport, USA Wrestling conducts national championships each year in folkstyle, freestyle, Greco-Roman and women's wrestling, presents an extensive series of clinics on coaching, officiating and sport medicine, and produces a large number of books, films and video tapes.

Such competition usually is wrestled under international rules, subject to modifications adopted for the

Of the two styles of international wrestling, freestyle is by far the more popular in the United States, because it more closely resembles the folkstyle practiced in our scholastic and collegiate programs.

(If both shoulders are held to the mat for one-half second, it is a fall and the bout is over.) If, from a standing position, a wrestler throws his opponent directly into a near fall, the action is worth 3 points.

Except for the ban on use of the legs by either wrestler, the rules for freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling are identical.

The rules for collegiate and scholastic wrestling in the United States vary sharply from those of international freestyle, placing emphasis on control of the opponent rather than on physical dominance.

As in international wrestling, the folkstyle rules strictly forbid brutality and emphasize the physical safety of the