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Team Kraken Interview Part II

Posted by Sam Kressin in Catch Wrestling, Martial Arts

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Kraken_Fight_TeamLast year I had the pleasure of having Brandon McCleese, Jay Grooms and Joey Thornsberry of the Kraken Fight Team based out of Kentucky in town for a week to train at the inaugural 2015 Scientific Wrestling Camp with Wade Schalles here in San Diego. While the guys were here I took some time to sit down and chat with them about their Journey into Catch Wrestling, training with the late Billy Robinson and more. I published the first half of the interveiw here. This is part two of that same interview almost a year late it’s still just as relevant now as it was then. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

With Billy Robinson Circa 2009

Posted by Sam Kressin in Billy Robinson, Billy Robinson Photos, Catch Wrestling, Martial Arts Photos, Personal Journal

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What Do I remember about this camp? We trained for 16+ hours over the course of the weekend. We spend the morning covering stance, movement and footwork then hand fighting and the pivot. The afternnon was all take downs the Half Halch, Flying Mare, Knee Tap, Single Leg, Standing Achilles Ankle Lock, Front Headlock Take Over, Front and Rear Lateral Drops, Grovit, Standing Double Wrist Lock were some the take downs but the Pivot was what Billy was most concerened about. I can vividly recall Billy Instructing that day. The second day was spent on mat work. We did Positional drills, about 5 Different Toe Holds, Double Wrist and Top Wrist Locks, Key Lock, Short Sit Outs, Standing Up from a Defense Position, Arm Rolls, Texas Clover Leaf and a bunch of other stuff.

Training With Billy Robinson Circa 2009

What’s On My White Board

Posted by Sam Kressin in Billy Robinson, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Catch Wrestling, Martial Arts, Opinion, Personal Journal, San Diego Martial Arts Seminars

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Sams_White_Board

Not too long ago I posted here about how useless and annoying white boards are when it comes to martial arts coaching. Since I am also guilty of having a white board in my private studio I thought I might as well post a current picture of what it looks like. Below is a brief and somewhat incomplete transcription of everything on it. What you’ll notice is I made a lot of lists. This is because the brain is attracted to organization and order and people have been trying to organize techniques for training purposes since the dawn of martial arts. In reality nothing in fighting is organized and response needs to be based on real internalized skill and application not just a theoretical list.

  1. UPCOMING EVENTS that have not been updated in nearly 2 years! Yes at one time I would write upcoming events such as seminars, workshops, we use to even set up training sessions with other gyms whose owners  / coaches I’m friends with. Nowadays if something’s coming up I’ll just email everyone or tell them in person.
  2. Below UPCOMING EVENTS is BILLY’S SADDLE RIDE This is a list of techniques Billy taught me and wanted me to have down all pertaining to the Saddle Ride. I wrote them up there nearly 2 years ago as a reminder. Maybe I should practice that stuff.
  3. Next to UPCOMING EVENTS is Sparring Rounds. I have two younger kids training with me 17 / 18 yrs old who I required to do 50 rounds of sparring before I would teach them anything more in boxing. As you can see I checked off about 10 or 11 rounds before I just stopped keeping track. Today they’ve done hundreds of rounds and have learned a lot of new stuff.
  4. Next to SPARRING ROUNDS is Triangle Finishes. This is a list of about 7-8 ways to finish a triangle choke once you’ve captured your opponent in the position. Triangle chokes are one of the most difficult submissions to get really good at and also one of the easiest submissions to get caught in so I like everyone to have a real thorough knowledge base of it.
  5. Below TRIANGLE FINISHES is a list of fundamental boxing techniques I required those two young kids to learn first before doing their 50 rounds of sparring. It would be a good idea to make everyone do all that stuff again.
  6. RIGAN WORKSHOP Is a list of techniques we learned while attending a Seminar with Rigan Machado nearly two-years ago.
  7. Below RIGAN WORKSHOP is Submissions. This is a list of 6 submissions you can do from a triangle position in the event that you cannot finish the triangle. This was required knowledge and I’m pretty sure everyone who trains with me has forgotten all of it.
  8. Below SUBMISSIONS is the number 185. I have a client that trains with me privately once a week. He trains regularly at another gym chalked full of triangle masters. One of his goals is to be able to hit the triangle more often in sparring and get caught in the triangle less often. So I’m making him rep out a very specific triangle set up and finish one thousand times! So far he’s gotten to 185 yes we are still keeping track of this I’ll let you know what happens when he gets to a thousand.

The Great Gamma

Posted by Sam Kressin in Catch Wrestling, Comic Books, Strength Monsters

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The Great Gamma one of the most feared wrestlers of his day holding his golden club / mace presented to him by the Maharajah of Patiala. Look carefully and you will find this same club makes an appearance in my stand alone comic book Strength Monsters Issue # 1 which you can download a digital copy of for free just fill in the box below and I will email you a copy.

Schwingen Folk Style Swiss Wrestling

Posted by Sam Kressin in Catch Wrestling

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Schwingen is a folk style of wrestling native to Switzerlan. The wrestlers are required to start with holding on to each others “breeches”  the potato sack looking things they wear. Billy Robinson wrestled and beat a Schwingen champion once and said the Schwingen style is one of the toughest he’s encountered. I have never formally trained in the style but here is a cool play list with a lot of techniques that could be studied.