June 19, 2002: Rande Stottlemyer taught my last session of the camp. First we did a move when you move the guys head to the outside of your leg and sprawl. Then we practiced a Front Headlock. Then we practiced a Single Leg Take Down. We practiced picking up their leg and tripping them. Finally we got to practice any move we learned from the camp.

June 18, 2002: Today is the third day of camp. Rande Stottlemyer taught this session. First we did a Fireman’s Carry. Then we did a Tilt. Then we did the High Crotch. We did a Front Headlock and we practiced snapping people down. Then we practiced a Double Leg Take Down. We did live wrestling for 15 minutes. I pinned J.J. 5 times. He pinned me 3 times. Then we took a shower and ate lunch. For the next session, Mark Angle taught. We did Double Leg Take Downs. He showed us how to first penetrate like you were going to do a High Crotch, but you drive up and do a Double Leg Take Down. Then we practiced a Front Headlock again. Then we did an Ankle Pick. Next we did a move when you pick up the persons leg then you trip them. Then Mark partnered up with a kid who goes to school at Pitt and did a drill for 10 minutes. We took another shower and ate dinner. Mark Angle taught the last session. First we did a fake Fireman’s Carry. Then we take them down and snapped their head down. I learned this from Mark when we was teaching a clinic at Quest. Then we practiced a fake Ankle Pick. When you fake the Ankle Pick, then snap their head down. Then we faked that we were going to do a Double Leg Take Down and then came right back and did a Double Leg Take Down. Then we could do any move that we learned from all three sessions. We did live wrestling. I pinned J.J. 9 times and he pinned me 4 times.

June 17, 2002: Today is the second day of camp. Today for this session we have Rande Stottlemyer. He is the University Of Pittsburgh head wrestling coach. He produced 2 National Champions, 22 All Americans and 19 EWL Champions. He is the 2x EWL co-coach of the year. He coached at least one All American 14 out of the past 17 seasons. He’s in the Western PA Sports Hall Of Fame. He’s a 3x All American, EWL Champion and 2x Junior National Freestyle Champion. First we practiced the Five Basics. Then we did neutral position moves. We practiced a penetration drill. Then we practiced a Single Leg Take Down. We then did Penetration into a Single Leg Take Down. Then we got in order from smallest to biggest. Rande gave us all a number. There were 4 teams. My team wrestled against J.J.’s team. Then we had a real match. I won against J.J. 6-4, but his team won the match. Then we took a shower and ate lunch. For the afternoon session, the University Of Pittsburgh Assistant Coach taught. His name is Sanshiro Abe. But everybody calls him Sonny. He is a 1996 National Champion, 4x All American and 3x Big 10 Champion for Penn State University. He was Outstanding Wrestler of the 1996 National Team Duels, a 1996 Olympian for Japan and 3x Japanese World Team Member. In 1995 he was the Asian Games Gold Medalist. First we practiced a Single Leg Take Down. Then we practiced a Front Head Lock, then a Tilt. We did live wrestling for 30 minutes. I pinned J.J. 7 times. He pinned me 3 times. Then we took a shower and ate dinner. For the last session, it was a weight lifting session. The person’s name that taught it was Tim Beltz. He is the University Of Pittsburgh Strength Coach for wrestling, basketball, swimming and diving. He’s also coached numerous NFL, MLB, NBA athletes and competitive Olympic weight lifters. There were 6 groups. I was in the group that didn’t lift weights. We did 45 squats, 50 push ups, 20 squats with a 50 pound thing on. We did a running machine for 10 minutes. We did 30 lunges. 10 lunges with the 50 pound thing on us.

June 16, 2002: I went to the University Of Pittsburgh Wrestling Camp starting today. We have three sessions a day. My teammate J.J. Simpronio came with me to camp. We are only going to have two sessions today with Sheldon Thomas. Sheldon is a 3x All American, NCAA Champion, 3x EWL (Eastern Wrestling League) Champion and a 3x Team USA Member. First we did his Five Basics. This Five Basics are Stance, Motion, Penetration, Shoot and Drive Up To Your Feet. Then we did the Fireman’s Carry for 45 minutes. Then we did live wrestling. I pinned J.J. 4 times, he pinned me 3 times. We have to take a shower after each session. We eat lunch and dinner there too. Then we went back for our second session with Sheldon Thomas. First we practiced his Five Basics. Then we practiced the Fireman’s Carry again. Then we practiced a Double Leg Take Down. We did live wrestling. I pinned J.J. 6 times. He pinned me 4 times.

June 03, 2002: I went to Quest. I was the smallest kid there. I had to work with an 80 pounder and a 70 pounder. First we did any move we wanted in Folkstyle. Then we practiced snapping the person down to the ground. When you are in an inside tie up, you snap their head down to the mat. Then we practiced anything we wanted in Freestyle. Then we did live wrestling for about 50 minutes. I wrestled the 70 pounder. Then I filmed the last part of the t.v. show. But really it was the first part that they’re going to show on t.v. We had to do it 4 times. They will pick the best parts of what I filmed with Steeler Man and put it together.

May 22, 2002: I went to Quest today. I took a month off from wrestling. First we practiced take downs for an hour and 30 minutes. Then we did live wrestling for half an hour. I wrestled 4 kids. I pinned 3 kids. One kid pinned me. I pinned a kid that placed fourth in the Tournament Of Champions.

Return to Tyler's New Angle on Wrestling