It's a game of close quarters combat. A mixture of take-downs, grabs and pins. In the Olympics there are two ways to wrestle, Freestyle and Greco-Roman.
Jason Kraft, wrestling coach at Dethrone Basecamp in Fresno is familiar with both. "Wrestling is an individual sport, it's like you're the only one out there, it's you and him and nobody else."
He calls Greco-Roman a traditional style. It dates back to Athens 1896 and it's all about upper body wrestling. Shooting or grabbing the legs isn't allowed, and points are scored through brute force take-downs.
"Explains Greco point score."
In Freestyle, legs are fair game. Take-downs still score points, along with quick combinations on the mat. And it's the best of 3 rounds to win.
"One two three champions."
At Dethrone Basecamp, the kids learn collegiate wrestling, similar to freestyle but unique to our country. At 9 and 8, Emilio Martinez and Marco Florez are already two time state champions.
"I always want to beat him because we are even in records."
They have dreams of gold, and hope to wrestle in college, but at the moment, they are focused on learning.
"I like that you can keep working hard till you get the move and when you get the move, you can just work on stuff."
The determination will likely pay off, like it has for so many Olympic wrestlers, who all started at a young age.
Some have become house hold names. "Many of these wrestlers that you're seeing out there now are eventually going to go into the world of MMA and become big names."
You can catch all the wrestling action beginning on August 5th. The competition runs through the 12th. You can catch all the Olympic action on NBC's Olympic website by clicking here.
TXT 24
Twitter
Facebook