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PAWS Wrestling registration begins October 5
P.A.W.S. (Princeton Amateur Wrestling Society) youth wrestling registration begins on Monday October 5, 2009. The program begins in mid-November and runs through early March 2010. PAWS practices are on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 7:00 - 8:30. There will also be practices on Saturdays from 10 - 11:30 a.m. during the months of November & December.
Visit the PAWS Wrestling website for more information:
PAWS Wrestling website
PAWS is open to boys and girls in grades 3-8. PAWS practices are held at Jadwin Gymnasium on the campus of Princeton University.
Beginners are welcomed and encouraged!
The registration packet can be downloaded from the 'handouts' section of this website or picked up at the recreation office beginning on 10/5/09.
Registration Fee: $185 for Princeton residents and $220 for nonresidents
** Uniform Fee: All PAWS Wrestlers must purchase the new singlet. The fee is $60. Samples will be available to try on at the Princeton Recreation Dept. office. If you plan to use your singlet from last year you do not need to purchase a new one.
Please contact Ben Stentz at the Princeton Recreation Department for more information. 921-9480 or by e-mail at stentz@princeton-township.nj.us
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Visit the PAWS Website!
Visit the new PAWS Wrestling website for more information about the program!
PAWS Wrestling
www.pawswrestling.com
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Tiger Cub wrestling for grades K - 2
TIGER CUBS WRESTLING!
The Tiger Cubs program is designed to introduce children in grades K - 2 to the basic fundamentals of wrestling. This is a non-competitive program. There will be ten (10) one-hour sessions on Saturday mornings, beginning November 15. Tiger Cubs will be taught the importance of stretching, conditioning, physical fitness and following instructions. In addition, each one-hour practice will focus on one wrestling concept. Competition will be de-emphasized.
Times: 9 - 10 a.m. in November & December/10 - 11 a.m. in January & February
Mandatory: Each child must have a parent that will participate with their own child in the activities.
Registration Fee: $110 for Princeton residents/$135 for nonresidents
Registration forms will be available at the Princeton Recreation Department and from the 'handouts' section of this website beginning October 5.
If you have any questions, please contact Ben Stentz at stentz@princeton-township.nj.us or by phone at 921-9480.
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PAWS practice plan/philosophy
PAWS members:
Now that our roster has firmed up, at this time I felt it would be important to give you an overview of the structure of our practices and our objectives for same. All of our practices (with the exception of the Tiger Cubs sessions) are 90 minutes in length.
15 minutes – stretching / warm-ups / announcements. The first 15 minutes are very important for the safety of wrestlers. Wrestling is a physical sport, and without warming up properly, the risk of injury is heightened greatly. Some of our wrestlers have been coming in late. Please try to minimize this as it disrupts the team practice and does not allow the wrestler who arrives late to warm up properly. Evening practices start at 7:00 pm prompt (6:45 Lombardi time!). Our practices always start off with the entire team together.
Next we split up the team into 3 groups – Black, Orange and Gold. The Black group is for our novice wrestlers. The Orange group is for our experienced wrestlers. The Gold group is for our experienced wrestlers who really have pushed themselves through commitment and hard work to the point where they now demonstrate advanced skills in the sport. Wrestlers should not be concerned about which group they belong to. Our team is now large enough where we can split it up and instruct at a level which is appropriate for each wrestler. As a result, our wrestlers will improve more rapidly as an entire group. All of the coaches will be teaching all 3 groups so that we each get to know all of the kids and that they all learn to trust each of us.
20 minutes – conditioning – Conditioning is the toughest part of practice so we like to get it out of the way first. It also helps get the goofiness out of the kids so they can focus better later on in the practice. We do pushups, sit-ups, spinning and other aerobic activity. It is really important that the kids get into shape. Sometimes a kid will lose a match simply because he is too gassed to effectively apply wrestling holds that he knows well. Conversely a wrestler can win a match simply by going 110% for the entire 3 minutes, thus wearing out a superior opponent. Wrestling holds are useless if the wrestlers are not physically fit enough to apply them in a match. The kids get out of conditioning what they put into it. Some of our wrestlers like to work hard during this period. Some haven’t quite grasped this concept yet. Wrestling is a physical sport. What makes it hard is what makes it great.
5 minutes - Water break
25 minutes - The teaching portion of our practice is where we teach a new move and review an old move and show the kids how to do it. We then ask each of the wrestlers to pair up and repeat the move over and over, at half speed, so that the body masters the mechanics of the move. Coaches will walk around to instruct on adjustments and to positively reinforce correct execution. Just showing the move is not enough for the body to master it. Wrestling is a sport where repetition and instinct rule the day. The best wrestlers do the same move in practice tens of thousands of times over their wrestling careers. Doing a sit-out becomes as second nature as walking.
15 minutes – Live wrestling. This is where the rubber hits the road. All of the conditioning and teaching comes together at this point in practice. We like to have live wrestling at the end of practice when the kids are most tired. The more adversity we can introduce, the tougher the wrestler becomes. A real match is only 3 minutes long. We want to give the kids 10 to 15 minutes of really hard wrestling at full tilt, with direct coach supervision during the live wrestling. This is the only way we as coaches have of simulating a match condition. The kids are encouraged to be serious and wrestle as hard as they can in different situations.
On Tuesday, we introduced the “pod” concept. Please encourage your wrestler to remember who is in his pod and to remember the location of his pod. The pods have been designed, using a computer program, to pair up the wrestlers who are most alike in age, weight and skill level. By matching up wrestlers correctly, we can enhance the development derived from the live wrestling sessions. This is the first year we have done this, and it is new to all of the wrestlers.
Please discourage your wrestler from wrestling with his “best buddy” during live wrestling. “Buddies” tend not to be matched up correctly and the kids tend to fool around rather than work hard. They won’t get better as wrestlers in this scenario. Wrestlers must wrestle within their pod unless instructed otherwise by their coach. Your wrestler should be able to correctly give you the names of the 3 or 4 other wrestlers in his pod (check and see).
We have also assigned spaces on the mats for the pods. The reason for this is to keep the big boys away from the little boys. During live wrestling, wrestlers can very quickly fall out of their circle and collide with adjacent pods. Coaches should be there to “make the save” but if they can’t, we don’t need the 150 pounders falling on the 50 pounders. The kids should all know their pod location. If they don’t, coaches will have to take up too much valuable practice time setting up matches. We simply cannot afford to do this every single practice! Learn to know and love your PAWS pod!
10 minutes – Games?Dodgeball, capture the flag, snake in the grass. We have divided the entire team into 2 groups (that’s right..more groups) the Gables and Sandersons. The games build camaraderie and are a reward for the hard work in practice. As the year progresses, we will set up intra-squad dual meets and introduce some more competitions for the kids between the Gables and the Sandersons that will be spirited and fun.
We conclude each practice with wind sprints to make sure the kids get a good night’s sleep.
Coach Mark has done a Herculean job putting this all together and he has led the other coaches to follow his example. We can’t begin to tell you how proud we are of this program. We think you will be very pleased to see how our team performs when the season begins. Until then, our coaches will continue to bring our best to honor our commitment to the wrestlers. We only ask that they bring their best as well, to each and every practice.
Coach Ernie[Marker]
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PAWS shows off the "hardware"
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2006/07 Mercer County Champions
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State Champions!
PAWS State Champions: May & Ray Bethea
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