Young Wrestlers/Beginners Wrestling Games

[kdsmith27 14]

Young Wrestlers/Beginners Wrestling Games

Here is my list, compiled over the last few years.  I'm sure you can pick some out of there that would fit the bill

1. sumo

standard sumo... pushes out of the circle or touch the mat and you are out.

1A. knee sumo

standard sumo on knees... push out of the cirlce

1B. No-arms sumo

Have 2 guys put hands behind their back and lean chest to chest. Then have them try to push the other guy out of the practice circle or get him to hit a knee.

1C. One-Leg sumo

Same as sumo but you hold one ankle while playing

1D. Under/Over Sumo

Same game but with each man having an under/over tie.

3. Flag Takedowns

Pair them up and have each guy take his shirt off and stick half of it into the back of his shorts. The object is to get an angle on your opponent and grab his shirt out of his shorts.

3A. Tail grab

Each wrestler gets a tail (rag or shirt) extended from rear of shorts. The wrestler's square off in take down standing position. No leaving the circle, wrestle until opponent captures the tail of the opposing wrestler.

3B. Tail grab (all in)

Have everyone against everyone. The people who get their tails pulled then stand on boundary of mat; they can pull the tail of anyone who gets too close.  As the number of wrestlers with tails gets smaller, reduce the active area, i.e. announce that now one section of the mat is out of bounds.

4. Ankle tag

Put them into groups of ten or so and have them stay in the competition circle. The object is to tag each other out of the game buy getting to peoples ankles.

5. Mat-Ball

Split your guys up into two teams. Use tape to designate a box (roughly 4 x 4) at each end of the room and a center line across the middle of the room. Players must stay on their knees. The only form of running should be drive stepping down the mat or simply walking on the knees. The object is to move a dodge ball down the mat and touch it into the square for a goal. You'll need to break up a lot of stalemates but the kids love it!

6. Skills relay

You can do this type of game any number of ways. Here are a couple of my favorite ways to do it. Divide the group into four teams. have them stand in single file line. Take two guys out front of each team to start the race. Have them face each other. The guy out in front (facing the rest of his team) shoots through his partners legs, turns and leapfrogs over his back, then sprints to the other end of the room. Then he does five Japanese stand-ups (hands behind back, jumping up to your feet from your knees) then sprints back and tags the next guy on the butt.

Same format: Have the other guy start them out buy hitting a double leg on the runner and finishing with a high flair finish. When the guy flairs him have him do a cartwheel and then take off sprinting. So basically one guy hits a double and finishes by lifting him and rotating his legs by and helping him execute a cartwheel. You get to see some crazy stuff with this one. This is sometimes just as fun for me to watch as it is for them to play! I change the really up allot to keep it new and fresh. I use sprint down/20 push ups/army crawl back.

Sprint down/5 hip heists/drive step back. All kinds of ways to do this. Have fun with it.

7. Secret Man

We have two games we use one is secret man we have each team choose members every thing is done on your knee's standing is not allowed each team tries to pin the members of the other team when one team pins the secret man there team wins.

8. Alligator

You pick two alligators everyone else is standing. 

The alligators try to takedown the people that are standing inside the boundaries of the mat if they do, that person becomes an alligator.

8A Sharks and Minnows.

Pick 2 wrestler's to start, they are sharks. ALL other wrestler's must crawl across the mat staying inside the set boundaries. Capture the minnows and turned them into sharks. The sharks must turn the minnows over on back to turn into sharks. Fun game. No standing up allowed by either sharks or minnow's.

9. Headgear

Half the team defends a headgear in the middle of the mat (easier if you have a ten foot circle). The other half of the team has to try to get the headgear and place in out of bounds. Can be done on knees or feet.

10. Line Tag

If you are lucky enough to have a full mat for practice. Have about 10 to 15 kids line up on the out of bounds line facing in one direction. Usually break them into lower, middle, and upper weights. When you blow the whistle they sprint to tag the man in front of them. If you are tagged you are out. The last couple of guys really have to move to reach one another. The kids usually enjoy it and the imbedded conditioning is there.

11. Turtle

Kids must stay on their hand and knees. The goal is to turn everyone else to their back. Once someone