How to win at Cadet Freestyle Nationals

Five tips to win at Cadet Freestyle Nationals.

Every wrestler has two main goals, become a state champion and become an All-American. Well in order to be a legitimate All-American you must win in Fargo. In this article I will give you five tips on how to win in Fargo, but first a little bit about what Cadet and Junior Freestyle Nationals is and how you qualify. So please, read on.

*What Is Cadet Freestyle Nationals?*

Cadet Freestyle Nationals is the Official Freestyle Wrestling National Championships for 9th and 10th grade boys and girls. It is officially called "Asics/Vaughn Cadet Freestyle National Championships." However, it is more commonly known as Fargo or the Fargo Wrestling Tournament. There is also a Juniors tournament and a tournament for women all held at the same time and place.

For full Cadet and Junior Wrestling National Championships and full Fargo Wrestling results from past years check out Fargo Wrestling Results. We have archived years of results there that you will really enjoy.

*How to Qualify for Cadet Freestyle Nationals*

Cadet Freestyle and Greco Roman Nationals are for 9th and 10th grade boys and girls. (Girls currently only wrestle Freestyle.) Junior Nationals is for 11th and 12th graders typically.

Step 1Become a USA Wrestling Member.

This can be done through your state's USA Wrestling Website or it can be done through any sanctioned USA Wrestling Club. It is best to sign up through your club because that benefits the club financially.

Step 2Place at Your State's USA Wrestling State Championship

Place at Your State's USA Wrestling State Championship

To qualify for Fargo you must place in the top three at your Freestyle or Greco Roman State Championship. Each state can bring three wrestlers per weight, per style, per age group. Most states don't fill anywhere near all of their spots so even if you don't place in the top three you can typically petition to get in if you wan to go. Talk to the Chairperson or someone on the Board of Directors for your state's USA Wrestling organization for full details about the qualification process.

How to Win in Fargo?

5 Tips to win and become a national champion at Cadet and Junior Freestyle and Greco Roman Wrestling Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.

Tip 1#1 Train Like You Would for High School State.

Many people just kind of go to Fargo because it is the thing to do. Everyone is doing it. Most kids look at Fargo Nationals as a fun vacation where they can get all kinds of cool wrestling gear from around the country, eat Dip - n - Dots and follow girls around the arena and hopefully catch a few Pokemon while they are at it.

So, that said, if you can take your nationals training a little more serious and work as hard as you would during the high school wrestling season then you will have a huge advantage over the 80% of Fargo goers who are just there for a good time.

What if I need a break? Believe me, I know that value of a good break from wrestling better than anyone else so be sure to take a break, but do it right after state in April. Don't do it right before Fargo. Give yourself a good two months of training an camps leading up to Fargo.

#2 Get Your Mind Right.

90% of wrestling is mental and 10% is physical and yet we tend to spend more than 90% of our time on the physical and less than 10% of the training time on our mindset.

So how can you get your mindset right? Well, that is a long discussion and for that reason I recently did a podcast about it with a former Greco Roman World Team Member. You can watch the replay below.

#3 Run. Run. Run.

Running is the most under rated training method for training for wrestlers because wrestlers hate running. Well, if you will push past the pain and learn to run correctly you will begin to enjoy it. As you enjoy it more and more you will run more and more. As you run more and more you will see your cardio go way up and this will make you a better, more physical wrestler that can wrestle like a beast for the entire six minutes.

So stop reading this and go run. But first watch the video below about correct running form for wrestlers because if you run correctly you will hurt less. If you hurt less you will run more.

#4 Get Good Work Out Partners.

You have got to be wrestling with guys that will push you. Hopefully you can find those guys in your own club. If you can't then from time to time you need to go visit another club. It is USA Wrestling season so you are not limited to your high school team mates for training.

So go find a couple workout partners that will help you and that you can also help out.

#5 Learn New Technique

Though you are trying to do well at Freestyle Nationals you are also trying to get better for next year's high school wrestling season so don'r forget to learn new wrestling moves. This is the time of year that you should be learning new skills, drilling them and figuring out how to make them your own so that you can actually use them in a real match. Don't be afraid to try stuff and don't be afraid to lose. It's all practice.

Here is a really solid wrestling moves video that I recommend you start with. Then if you want more free online coaching head on over to HighSchoolWrestlingMatches.com and take a look around in the wrestling moves section. There is a huge library of wrestling technique videos.

I hope you found this tips, tricks and hacks useful. Good luck in your pursuit of greatness.