Chael Sonnen is a passionate wrestling fan who follows the action at all levels. Below is his take on the 2016 NJCAA Wrestling Championships which will be LIVE on FloWrestling this Friday and Saturday Frebruary 26-27.

I'm like every other Division I coach in the country. I scout athletes for the future by keeping my eye on 3 tournaments: (1) FARGO, (2) FLO NATIONALS, and (3) the NATIONAL JUNIOR COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP. The Junior College Nationals kick off this weekend, and I see several hungry wrestlers hoping to catch a scout’s attention and gain the opportunity to extend their careers to the next stage. Is there another T.J. Williams, Brock Lesnar, or Tyrell Fortune in this year’s field? Perhaps.

I think it's a four-team race: Iowa Central and Ellsworth from the central region, NE Oklahoma from the Midwest region, and Clackamas from the West. Iowa Western is a fringe team that could place very high. So could Nassau from New York.

I would say 141 is the toughest weight class this year. It includes the defending champ, except now he’s ranked #8 due to several losses earlier in the season. The current #1-ranked wrestler is from North Idaho, but unfortunately, he can’t compete in the tournament due to a suspension, so that opens things up a bit in terms of expectations. That weight class should be a great one to watch.

Scott Norton is the head coach at Highline and a former teammate of yours truly. He is very big on a relatively unknown kid at 133 named Andrew Ramirez, who was not ranked prior to the National Qualifiers, but should be in the rankings before Nationals commence. He is very good, and I would not be surprised to see him reach the semifinals, possibly even the finals.

In my opinion, the best guy in the NJCAA this year is Jacob Smith of NE Oklahoma. He won the tournament last year and is looking solid again this year. He's got speed and "go to" attacks when he needs to score. I’ve only seen him forced to come from behind once this season, and he always shows up on game day.

But the storyline to watch out for is the team race. I see several in the hunt and expect a competitive event with the top score changing hands multiple times throughout the first day and perhaps early in the morning session on Day 2. Can Ellsworth break through as a legitimate championship team? Can Iowa Central repeat? Can CCC turn its third straight national duals title into a team title rather than finishing 2nd or 3rd?

In full disclosure, I am not a writer who is confined to journalistic integrity. I'm a fan who calls it as I see it. You’d be wise to follow me blindly. With that said, GO COUGARS!

origami posted:

... it mostly sounds like you're just unhappy at your gym.

Tezcatlipoca posted:

You aren't married to your gym.

fatherdog posted:

I don't follow wrestling enough to even slightly have an opinion on the NJCAA nationals, but here's Chael's. Thoguh, your thoughts?

Thoguh posted:

The ACC is looking surprisingly strong this year and has a really good shot at having more Champions/All Americans per team than the Big Ten.

Kekekela posted:

Any Hokie-specific thoughts?

Thoguh posted:

They're pretty cool and Dresser might be the best coach in the sport right now. Top five for sure. If they stay healthy through conferences and NCAAs they should have at least 1 national champ (Gwaizdowski) and possibly 2 (Epperly and Dance both have a decent shot at it) plus a couple other All Americans. I don't think they've got a great shot at winning it all, but I think they've got a really good shot at being in the top three.

Tezcatlipoca posted:

You aren't married to your gym.

ch3cooh posted:

just kidding, the politics of BJJ are absolute bullshit find an academy where you like the instructors and the vibe even if that means trying a few different ones

Seltzer posted:

I finally fully signed up to a good gym after sorting out my hamstring issues. I asked some beginner questions earlier but I'd like to ask a few more. What's the cup consensus, last time their was a split iirc. I was planning on doing no cup 4 lyfe until my second lesson where my partner kneed my balls twice during a toss drill. As for my other questions, what's a good amount of times to train each week to make significant progress. I want to get competetent but I don't want to burn out so I'm planning on three times a week because I play soccer/basketball, weightlift, etc. Hard to fit in a 4th time doing all that but I've seen posts of new students wanting to get in 6 times a week. Lastly I'm completely green having never done any grappling before so I'm obviously feeling a bit slow compared to other white belts who have wrestled etc. Are there any fundamental fundamental movements to get down that I can practice in my own time so I don't have to figure out the extreme basics during drills. Lastly how long is it usually before gyms let beginners spar? I did a drop in at one place where I sparred without incident my first session. At my actual gym the instructor had me sit out but later told me the gym is generally pretty lenient compared to most gyms when it comes to letting white belts spar. Obviously they have to size up that you don't panic, spaz, or try stupid stuff and that's not in my character but I understand that's hard to get across until they've seen me on the mats for a bit. How long did it take most of you to start sparring a week, 6 months?

manyak posted:

Theres no good reason not to wear a cup, just wear a cup so your balls dont get crushed, unless you hate the feeling of wearing a cup more than the feeling of your sack getting injured

Youll get plenty better training 3 times a week especially at first. Just train as much as you want, and a good thing with BJJ is once you get to a certain point of competence in moving your body around you can actually get a lot of mileage out of visualization and thinking about techniques off the mat too

Sparring in BJJ is usually called rolling in order to differentiate it from striking arts where sparring means hitting each other. You should be allowed to roll pretty much right away as long as you arent a spaz and there are good training partners who match up size-wise with you. Usually worst case scenario they notice youre being a spaz and get a brown/black belt to effortlessly beat you up to show you what its supposed to look like, its not like boxing where doing that would involve severe brain damage so its pretty easy to rein guys in. You should be rolling very soon

Seltzer posted:

See I think I just got unlucky, but again I was wondering if there was a soft cup, a Crumple Cup if you will.

JHomer722 posted:

In 10 years of wrestling I never wore a cup or mouthguard. I realize they're different sports, so I defer to those who actually practice BJJ, but are there that many more opportunities to get hit in the face and/or balls?

Seltzer posted:

As for rolling yea I've heard different things from different instructors, the first guy was pretty cautious (it was my 1st day) the second guy had no qualms with me rolling at the end but I had cut my foot open from mat burn to the point it was bleeding a lot so I called it quits early. Again he said they're lenient which is cool, he said another good gym in the area requires someone to have two stripes before sparring which seems excessive. My major concern about rolling isn't spazzing out or not respecting people (i did fine the few times I did it) I just feel bad being so useless against higher ranked dudes and basically becoming and instantly submittable grappling dummy and wasting their time (though I assume every new whitebelt feels like this)

JHomer722 posted:

In 10 years of wrestling I never wore a cup or mouthguard. I realize they're different sports, so I defer to those who actually practice BJJ, but are there that many more opportunities to get hit in the face and/or balls?

Seltzer posted:

A few more questions. I already think I know the answer to both but whatever. First off, I've been really soft with my partners to not be that new guy who does something stupid but I was told at least once by my partner and instructor to go harder. I'm assuming people know well enough when to tap even if they're other white belts? I was doing my tosses with some of the force taken out and when we were drilling RNCs I was kinda not full forcing it. We also did some transition that required putting a lot of force on a grounded forearm to use as a lever and I didn't know how much to really drive in. I have no problem when other people toss me into the air or choke me hard but as I said I don't want to be that guy. Second question, I lift three times a week, it's a pretty basic set of routines I rotate every other few months on the advice of a friend who's a personal trainer but I was wondering if there were any lifts to add in take out that would help with bjj (the answer is probably as long as I'm doing normal lifts it should be enough I assume).

Seltzer posted:

A few more questions. I already think I know the answer to both but whatever. First off, I've been really soft with my partners to not be that new guy who does something stupid but I was told at least once by my partner and instructor to go harder. I'm assuming people know well enough when to tap even if they're other white belts? I was doing my tosses with some of the force taken out and when we were drilling RNCs I was kinda not full forcing it. We also did some transition that required putting a lot of force on a grounded forearm to use as a lever and I didn't know how much to really drive in. I have no problem when other people toss me into the air or choke me hard but as I said I don't want to be that guy. Second question, I lift three times a week, it's a pretty basic set of routines I rotate every other few months on the advice of a friend who's a personal trainer but I was wondering if there were any lifts to add in take out that would help with bjj (the answer is probably as long as I'm doing normal lifts it should be enough I assume).

CommonShore posted:

Do you mean that you're doing things like letting go of an arm bar in a drill before your opponent taps?

Seltzer posted:

Nah just not really cranking hard, kinda slowly pulling harder until I get a tap when I could be doing it quicker/with more force. And with the forearm lever thing I was kinda placing my foot on the forearm instead of really driving through.

Mechafunkzilla posted:

Do the drill. If the drill is supposed to hurt, make it hurt. It's the only way you'll learn how to do it correctly. Stay under control, but have some faith in your partners and coaches to keep things safe.