May 8, article on @5PtMove
Lots of great quotes in there, here's one sample:
5PM: That’s where we need to go next. In the past, plenty of this country’s Greco wrestlers were collegiate folkstylers and still managed to compete well internationally, for sure. That line of thinking has gone away, there is now a focus on getting athletes into Greco younger. You make it no secret that you see yourself as a complete wrestler, regardless of style, and have been successful in all three styles. What is it in your estimation that people are misunderstanding about Greco, folkstyle, and this topic?
MM: I think what I said is that I didn’t have a full Greco practice the entire month I had been at the Nittany Lion practices and before that I was hurt. Before that, I was hurt for three or four weeks. My whole point is that wrestling is wrestling. In truth, I think that with all combat sports and martial arts, their philosophies and techniques are intertwined. Not only do I want to become the most complete wrestler, I want to be the most complete combat athlete possible. I think that people get way too caught up in one way and focus on, Oh, I have to train this one style all the time or I won’t get any better, which to me is the wrong way to think. Bruce Lee said, “No way is the way”, meaning no one style, which for him was fighting, is going to make you the best, true warrior
For me, I take that mentality into wrestling. I chop it down to just this corner of the combat sports world and all three styles are intertwined. You can use techniques, to varying degrees — you do have to curtail them a little bit to fit the rules — but pretty much every technique can be used in all of the styles if you are clever enough to work them in. Sometimes, my trap-arm gut is literally a cross-wrist roll-through. I remember in the finals of the Greco Pan Ams my second year, I hit a cross-wrist roll-through to tech him out (laughs). I brought my folkstyle training into the finals of the Greco Pan Ams and tech’ed him out using a cross-wrist roll-through because it was there.
I really think, for me at least, it doesn’t matter. As long as I focus on skills that are universal, that’s the most important part. As long as I hit on all of the fundamental skills that I need to, the style doesn’t matter.
Lots of great quotes in there, here's one sample:
5PM: That’s where we need to go next. In the past, plenty of this country’s Greco wrestlers were collegiate folkstylers and still managed to compete well internationally, for sure. That line of thinking has gone away, there is now a focus on getting athletes into Greco younger. You make it no secret that you see yourself as a complete wrestler, regardless of style, and have been successful in all three styles. What is it in your estimation that people are misunderstanding about Greco, folkstyle, and this topic?
MM: I think what I said is that I didn’t have a full Greco practice the entire month I had been at the Nittany Lion practices and before that I was hurt. Before that, I was hurt for three or four weeks. My whole point is that wrestling is wrestling. In truth, I think that with all combat sports and martial arts, their philosophies and techniques are intertwined. Not only do I want to become the most complete wrestler, I want to be the most complete combat athlete possible. I think that people get way too caught up in one way and focus on, Oh, I have to train this one style all the time or I won’t get any better, which to me is the wrong way to think. Bruce Lee said, “No way is the way”, meaning no one style, which for him was fighting, is going to make you the best, true warrior
For me, I take that mentality into wrestling. I chop it down to just this corner of the combat sports world and all three styles are intertwined. You can use techniques, to varying degrees — you do have to curtail them a little bit to fit the rules — but pretty much every technique can be used in all of the styles if you are clever enough to work them in. Sometimes, my trap-arm gut is literally a cross-wrist roll-through. I remember in the finals of the Greco Pan Ams my second year, I hit a cross-wrist roll-through to tech him out (laughs). I brought my folkstyle training into the finals of the Greco Pan Ams and tech’ed him out using a cross-wrist roll-through because it was there.
I really think, for me at least, it doesn’t matter. As long as I focus on skills that are universal, that’s the most important part. As long as I hit on all of the fundamental skills that I need to, the style doesn’t matter.
