Do what rhinos do

Practice

Curious about what to expect at a Rhino practice? Here is a common practice curriculum we use to keep athletes moving and learning from the time they hit the mat to the time they hit the showers.

  • Before we start learning, this is a chance for young bodies to blow off energy from being in school all day and transition into the room. We typically use the game to sneak in a principle or body movement that we will be working on during practice and prime our athletes for what they will be learning.

  • We center up, take attendance, give announcements, and take a minute to talk about what happened in our last practice or meet and what's to come in tonight's practice.

  • Warmup and stretching is important to avoid injury. We use this time to practice stance and motion, reinforce fundamental movements, and set the tempo for the rest of practice.

  • Athletes are paired up for the evening and work through a progression of partner drills and fundamental tieups, shots, and situations.

  • Coaches introduce the main skill or concept we'll be working on for the night. We start with a game or drill, then athletes break out into their pairs to practice and coaches move through the groups for individual instruction on the technique.

  • Athletes start in common positions and wrestle live on the whistle. Situational goes allow lots of short opportunities to practice what we've been learning in a controlled live environment.

  • A real match structure with 10, 15, or 30-second periods. For new wrestlers it's an opportunity to practice the structure of a match. For experienced wrestlers it reinforces our philosophy of working quickly and creating action.

  • Whether it's freeze tag, dodgeball, chicken fights, turtle fights, crabs across the beach, or bacon battles, we end on a silly competition. Everyone loves to play a game with their friends before we go home.

  • Before we end each practice, we circle up one more time, put our hands in, and cap the evening with a cheer.

Meets

Wrestling meets throughout the year give athletes a taste of live competition with someone they don’t pair up with every night, they give recreation centers a chance to host the community, and they give families a chance to see what we’ve been working on.

  • Coaches from each team work together to match up rosters. Wrestlers are matched by age, weight, and experience, and each wrestler gets 1-2 matches based on that criteria and availability.

    To ensure that everyone gets a match and meets run smoothly, it's important for parents and wrestlers to communicate with coaches as early as possible if there is a scheduling conflict or sickness that prevents an athlete from attending - last minute substitutions happen, but they're often stressful for everyone!

  • Athletes should arrive at the venue between 6:00 and 6:15 for check-in and warmups. Meets begin at 6:30 (or as close to it as possible, accounting for no-show athletes and lineup changes).

    Typically, young athletes and wrestlers who have more than one match go first, and we work through the lineup until everyone has had a chance to compete.

    Meets typically run until 8:00.

  • Matches for wrestlers under the age of 12 are three one-minute periods. For wrestlers 12 and older, matches are three 90-second periods.

    Officials are volunteers from Roosevelt High School and Augsburg College.

    Match scoring is based on the USA Wrestling folkstyle ruleset. There is no team scoring.

    This is a learning league so, based on the time of year and experience of wrestlers in the match, officials may use rules violations such as locked hands or incorrect positioning as teaching moments rather than penalizing, they may be slow to call pins, and they may stop potentially dangerous situations much more quickly than a high school or college referee would.

    The goal, first and foremost, is to give our athletes a safe and encouraging place to learn the sport!

  • All coaches are required to take training on safety and athlete management, and must be certified by the MPRB to be in the corner. If you aren't a certified coach, you shouldn't be in the corner!

    Our team's coaching philosophy at a competition is that, unless there is a behavior or safety issue, it's 100% positive, baby. We emphasize effort and being a good sport and a good teammate, we correct technique mistakes in practice and, win or lose, we're champions for our athletes. We encourage our parents to do the same.