Utah Fall League

The USA Wrestling Utah Fall League starts next week, September 6th. Make sure to get registered asap, the cost is $85 and that covers all 7 weeks of matches (every Saturday) at UVU, 7 clinics at UVU on Saturdays and the Preseason Open on October 25th. Practices will be free at Westlake starting on Tuesday, September 2nd at 5pm but we want everyone to register for the USA Wrestling Utah Fall League to get matches. You can register on the state website, www.wrestleutah.com.

Youth Winter Season

We are excited to start the youth winter season. We will begin on November 10th with practices and will go through February 7th. We will be getting additional details out soon but in the mean time help us spread the word and "like" our Facebook page "Westlake Thunder Wrestling Club" so you can stay up to date on everything.

NEWS

This fall starting on September 2nd, Westlake Wrestling will be hosting FREE open workouts every Tuesday and Thursday @ 5:00pm-6:30pm.  Please see the Flier Link here.  All ages invited.

Also we will be starting our Westlake Wrestling Winter Club in November.  It's for ages K-9th Grade.  You can see our Flier Here.

GO THUNDER!

Spring Season

As the Winter season concludes.  I'm excited to get into Spring Season.  Below is some information for this coming spring season.  Remember to check the Calendar above for any new events.  Feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Coach Burdett
cburdett@alpineschools.org

High School Spring/Summer Season Information

Youth Spring Season Information



GO THUNDER!

CLUB INFO:

Practices Times for K-6th grade are Mondays (5:00pm-6:00pm) and Wednesdays (5:00pm-6:30pm)

Practice Times for 7th-9th grade are Mondays (5:00pm-6:00pm) and Tues-Thurs (5:00pm-6:30pm)

Cost: $100 per wrestler.

Every wrestler will get a T-shirt.  We will also offer for sale some fight shorts (board shorts) and compression shirt for sale soon.  I will post a mockup when I get it.

All practices are held in the Westlake Wrestling room (North East corner of the building downstairs).

HIGH SCHOOL INFO:

First week of practice is Two a Days: 6:30am-7:30am and 3:00pm-5:00pm.

Must have tryout packet completed with media waiver, and physical.  Turn it in to Sharon.

Tuesday, Nov 12th we will have a parents meeting in the lecture hall.

Saturday, Nov 16th, we will have our annual hydration/body fat testing.  Meet in the wrestling room at 10am.

Costs:
Mandatory: $100 Participation Fee
Required: $50 Tournament Fee
Optional: Singlet $45, Headgear $20, Apparel can be purchased here: https://westlakewrestling.itemorder.com/sale

Hydration/Body Fat, Lunch and Fundraiser

This Saturday at 10:00am we will be meeting at Westlake High School to complete our Hydration/Body Fat Testing. It is required if you want to compete at any wrestling events. We will be bused to Pleasant Grove and should be returning to Westlake around 1:00pm. Shortly thereafter, we will be having a lunch and then going out fundraising. Below are some important tips about Hydration.

Remember:
1. They MUST have picture ID- no ID no test (coaches may want to bring school yearbooks as a back up)
2. They MUST be in a legal singlet and preferably slip-on shoes
3. They MUST have a legible card filled out on WHITE card stock

Here is a list of recommendations to prepare them for the hydration test:
1. No vigorous activity on the evening before and the day of the test.
2. Avoid any caffeinated beverages on the day before or the day of the test.
3. On the day of the test, drink an additional 17 oz. of fluid (sports drink recommended)
4. Avoid any vitamin or mineral supplements 2 days before and the day of the test.
5. Be awake 3 hours prior to testing.
6. Do not eat 2 hours prior to testing.

If a wrestler fails hydration on this first test he/she will be given an appointment time and card to return for a re-test. They will need to schedule an appointment with the proctor and will need their own transportation there and back.  There will also be a small fee.

New Wrestling Season

Hello Everyone,

I'm am excited to be a part of Westlake High School's Wrestling program.  We have made substantial improvements from our beginning in 2009 to today.  I can attribute much of it to my father, the previous head coach, Guy Burdett, our hard working parents, and our wrestlers who work so hard in season and out of season.

I want to thank all of the wrestlers who participated in our summer camp this year.  We had over 16 wrestlers there and they all worked tremendously hard.  We learned a lot and many wrestlers got as many as 15 matches!

I want to remind everyone that most of their summer camp matches are online here.  Please text or call me if you need the password (801.471.6525.  We also have the banquet video and previous seasons' matches on there.

School is upon us and soon it will be wrestling season.  The best way to prepare for wrestling is a combination of lifting, aerobic conditioning, calisthenics and of course...wrestling.  Call me or come see me in the wood shop if you need more information on how to prepare.

Also I have some news about this years' spirit pack.  We will be getting a more customized singlet this year.  We will be using dye sublimation instead of screen printed singlets.  This will make it so we can do unlimited amount of colors.  I will be designing it soon so come talk to me if you have any great ideas. Again we will get the under armour hoodie and sweat pants. We also will be getting headgear for those that don't already have one.  I will be getting them at a significant discount so I will pass that on to all of you.  Besides the cost of the spirit pack, the district charges a "participation fee" of $60 and there will be a $50 wrestling tournament fee.  Hopefully though you won't need to pay for any of the above if you fundraise!

The cost to wrestle should be between cheap and fee....IF....you fundraise.  Last year I did a lackluster job of helping the boys raise money so I'm going to change that.  This year we will be partnering with ESPN to sell their magazine..."ESPN THE MAG".  This is a great deal because for every 2 year subscription you sell, the school keeps $30 of the $40 dollars.  I will be expecting all wrestlers to sell at least five.  If they sell more, they will receive rewards!  Wrestlers can get started right away so they can get it out of the way before the season starts.

The only thing that Westlake doesn't provide that is recommended for wrestling are shoes.  I suggest going to Scoreboard sports in Orem, or visit their website "http://www.scoreboardwrestling.net/".  Make sure to look at their closeout page because they usually have some great shoes for under $40.

I also want everyone to know that Coach Hatt will be returning for a second year to help our program.  He is extremely dedicated and I thank him (and his wife) for his help.

Give me a call or text me if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Coach Burdett

Schedule This Week

Hi Parents/Coaches,

First of all I want thank all the parents for their patience last weekend with the tournament. We got back Friday night about an hour later than I had planned. But I was very happy with our third place team finish.

This week we have two events. Tomorrow we have our home dual vs Skyline. Tomorrow no practice after school. I just need all the wrestlers in the wrestling room to prep for weigh ins at 3:30pm. I expect managers to help setup at about 4:00pm in the main gym. JV and Extras start at 5:00 and Varsity starts between 6:30 and 7:00pm.

On Friday we have a tournament at Juab High School in Nephi. We leave our high school at 9:00am. All wrestlers (V, JV, Extras) are expected to come to this tournament. I need to know if anyone cannot go. I am going to call wrestlers and managers out at 8:30am and have them meet in the wrestling room. Below is the Varsity Match schedule:

VARSITY DUAL SCHEDULE

1:00pm WL vs Payson

2:30pm WL vs Altamont

5:30pm WL vs Manti

7:00pm WL vs Independent Team

Weigh Ins 7:30-10:00pm

JV SCHEDULE

4:00pm Friday: Start JV Matches in Jr High

8:00am Saturday: Continue JV Matches

We will weigh in as soon as we finish our match vs the Independents and hopefully return home at a decent hour. I'm hoping we back to Westlake between 9:30-10:30pm. I need all the wrestlers to meet at 5:45 on Saturday morning. The bus will be leaving at 6:00am on Saturday. I someone isn't there, we will leave them! Wrestling should end around 6:30. We should be back at the high school before 8:00pm.

Remember all matches thus far are posted on our website: Wrestlingthunder.com. Go to the "Video" team. Click on the High School, then 2011-2012 season and you can choose which event to watch.

Let me know if you have any question or concerns.

Thanks,

Coach Cody

Nov. 28th - Dec. 3rd Schedule

This week is busy so I wanted to let everyone know what the schedule is.

Monday/Tuesday: Practice as usual. We will be having a few wrestle offs that weren't completed last week.

Wednesday: American Fork Dual at Home. No practice at 2:30. Wrestlers need to meet in the wrestling room at 4:30pm on weight! Weigh ins are at 5:00pm. Most of our wrestlers should get a match no matter where they are on the depth chart. It is also Parent Teacher Conference so we are pushing back everything. JV, 3rd string, 4th string, etc will start at 6:00pm. Varsity will follow at the conclusion of the JV/Extras matches (probably between 7:45-8:15)

Thursday: Normal Practice.

Friday: We will be attending the Skyhawk Showdown Tournament (Friday and Saturday) located at Salem Hills High School. We will meet at the Westlake wrestling room at 9:30am. The bus leaves with or without you at 10:00am. We will weigh in at 11:30 (a 1 pound weight allowance will be give. Which means if the weight is 106, the wrestler can weigh 107) and wrestling starts at 2:00pm. Wrestlers attending will be all Varsity, JV, and maybe a few extras. If your wrestler doesn't know if he is going, he needs to ask me. Each wrestler will be placed in a pool and will wrestle 4-5 matches on Friday. Weigh ins for the next day will be the same (Friday) night. A 2 pound weight allowance will be given (108 instead of 106). We will go home on the bus as soon as weigh ins are complete.

Saturday: Wrestlers must meet at the high school Saturday morning at 7:15am. The bus leaves with or without you at 7:30am. Wrestling continues at 9:00am and all wrestlers are guaranteed two matches. We will go home as soon as all matches are complete.
--

Coach Burdett

Win against Timpview!

The Westlake wrestling team came out strong on Tuesday against the up and coming Timpview Thunderbirds. The Thunder racked up 11 straight pins to beat the T-birds 78-0 in the varsity dual. The highlight of the night came on the final match. It featured John Poulsen from Westlake and the 220 lb varsity wrestler from Timpview. The match was close as each wrestler fight for position. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 4-4. The match continued into double overtime where John eventually escaped and took his opponent down to his back. It was a thrilling victory for John and all Westlake fans.

Make sure to check out all of the matches wrestled against Timpview here.

To see the match summary go Here.

Wrestling Nutrition

Wrestlers Diet

With the start of every season, there is always renewed interest in nutrition. Whether the

focus is on dropping to a lower weight or staying strong through a proper diet, wrestlers

always have many questions on what they should eat.

Step one: All Vegetables, All the Time

Eat a vegetable at every meal and for most of your snacks. The higher the fiber

vegetable the more full you will feel.

Step two: 3 – 4 Servings of Fruit

Bananas and oranges are very important because of the Vitamin C they provide.

Melons are high in Vitamin A and blueberries are also great. So, when adding fruit to a

diet variety can be an important factor to consider.

Step three: Water over Juice/Pop

Pop provides nothing of value to for a wrestler’s body to run off of. There are no

nutrients to digest. Further, youthful consumers have gotten hooked on oversized

drinks. A wrestler should definitely consider the numbers before they grab a soda. Eight

ounces of pop has about 140 calories. The “average” pop serving has increased in size,

with many people drinking as much as 24 ounces of pop in one sitting. Using a caloric

intake of 4200 calories a day, 24 ounces of pop would be 420 calories or nearly 20

percent of the energy intake for the day. Throw in the fact that it has no nutritional value,

coaches and wrestlers should see that fruit juice is a much better beverage to reach for.

The problem with Juice is most are very high in sugar with little of the natural vitamins

left in them. Instead of juice have some water and an apple.

Generally speaking water is overlooked as an important part of good nutrition. One old

standard is 64 ounces of water consumption a day. Clearly wrestlers work hard and

perspire significantly so wrestlers should work to replace the lost fluid. Water

replacement is a critical part of a nutritional plan for a wrestler.

Step four: Eat Three Well Balanced Meals a Day

Breakfast: Oat meal and fruit is a great way to start your day. You can have a high fiber

cereal and add some fruit.

Lunch: Pack a lunch with some protein, carbohydrates, vegetables and fruit.

Dinner: Eat a hot dinner at least 3-4 hours before you go to bed, again a well balanced

meal. For a late night snack eat some raw vegetables.

Step Four: Stay Away from Fried Foods

Fried foods are generally not very healthy and will put on the wrong kind of weight. Fried

foods have been associated with obesity, but that’s not the only problem. Chronic

diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease,

celiac disease, and cancer have been associated with fried foods.

Step Five: Refined Sugar is not your Friend

Refined sugar is like that person who is nice to your face but will stab you in the back as

soon as you turn around. Candy bars, pies, doughnuts, high sugar foods act all nice but

they really want you to lose every match you wrestle.

Simple sugar absorption into the bloodstream causes an excess burst of insulin.

Athletes are concerned with the quick insulin “spike”. We’ve all experienced this quick

burst of energy followed by the ensuing “crash” characterized by fatigue, lethargy, and

mood swings.

Step Six: High Fiber is Highly Important

Again variety is certainly important for wrestlers focusing on proper nutrition. Fiber is

one part of a good daily diet. Make a high fiber cereal part of their daily food

consumption. Cereals like All Bran and breads can be good sources of fiber. In

checking the nutrition panel on cereal or bread try to find a product that has at least

three grams of fiber per serving. Don’t be deceived by the packaging or the name,

make sure to check the nutritional outline.

Step Seven: One, Anything You Want Meal Each Week

Allow yourself one meal a week that you eat anything you want. This is for your mental

health as well for the special family activates like Birthdays, Sunday dinners etc. But

let’s not have that meal the night before weigh-in.

Tips

Baked Potatoes

Baked potatoes are an easily prepared food that should become a staple in a wrestler’s

diet. Don’t forget to eat the skin though. The baked potato has almost no fat and a

minimal amount of sodium with a good supply of complex carbohydrates.

Of course a wrestler’s nutritional training can run afoul if the potato is loaded down with

condiments like butter and sour cream. A wrestling secret in eating a potato is adding

water to the potato. Wrestlers know that baked potatoes can be dry, so the best thing to

do is re-hydrate it. After breaking it open and smashing it with a fork pour a little more

water on it and it won’t taste as dry.

Maintain Variety.

No one food has everything a wrestler needs. Variety in food, even in a specific food

group is important. Don’t rely on one food, to supply all of the vitamins and nutrients

needed for day to day health. Remove the junk from the diet, but maintain variety.

Egg Whites

Wrestlers need to understand where hunger pains come from. Foods that are high in

sugar, for example, are broken down quickly after consumption. So, while a candy bar

might taste good, its satisfaction is limited because it is broken down before other foods

that contain higher amounts of protein.

If wrestlers want to maintain a fuller feeling for a longer duration they need to look to

having a diet with good protein. Egg whites are a common source of quality protein.

Additionally, egg whites contain no fat. Throw the yolk away, that’s a whole other topic.

Wrestlers can prepare egg whites easily by boiling up a dozen eggs and storing them in

the refrigerator. Egg whites contain about 3.5 grams of protein each. Encourage

wrestlers to make use of this source of protein.

Switch to skim

Switching to skim milk can make a dramatic difference in caloric and fat intake for any

individual. In an eight ounce glass of reduced fat 2% milk there is 122 calories with 4.7

grams of fat. In low fat 1% milk, there is 102 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. A wrestler

that switches to skim milk takes in 86 calories and .4 grams of fat per eight ounce glass.

Clearly there is a benefit in switching over to skim milk. An eight ounce glass is

generally smaller than what most people consume in a sitting these days. So, the

benefit can be even further magnified.

Plan for after the weigh-in

Wrestlers after making weight need to focus on foods that will help recover and won’t

adversely affect performance. Foods with fat are definitely slower digesting.

Carbohydrates can be easier on a wrestler’s stomach. Foods like applesauce,

crackers, and cereal can be easily digested and aid in recovery. After making weight

don’t let a lapse in judgment effect your performance, plan ahead and shoot for smaller

portions spread throughout the tournament day.

Reaching a high level of achievement requires mental focus on all aspects of a

wrestler’s performance. Proper nutrition can be an area that can really help a

wrestler attain their goals. Of course being a wrestler, in a junk food culture will hold

anyone back.

Get Physical Before the Season Starts!

Westlake Physical Therapy will be offering sports physicals with the help of The Central Utah Clinic Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at the Westlake Physical Therapy Clinic. The clinic is located at 1305 N Commerce Dr Suite #100. We plan on starting at 6:00 and will end at 7:00. The kids need to bring their blue Alpine school district form filled out and signed by a parent or guardian. The fee is $15 and cash or check is preferred.

Yard Sale Fundraiser

On October 15th we will be having a Yard Sale Fundraiser for the High School Wrestling Team. All wrestlers need to bring as much stuff as possible. On Friday the 14th, the team will be going around with a truck picking up items to sell. We will need every wrestler to help setup on Friday and help advertise around the community.

Thanks,

Coach Burdett

Wrestling Thunder Wrestling Camp

Click Here for the 2011 Wrestling Thunder Wrestling Camp Flyer.  Also here is the online registration webpage.

Team Dinner

This Wednesday, the 8th of June we will be having a team dinner. It will be at Coach Cody Burdett's house. The address is 7939 Ruby Valley Drive, Eagle Mountain. It will be at 6:30 pm. Bring a side or a drink if you'd like.

IT'S NOT TO LATE

You can still register on line or come to practice on Monday at 4:00pm or 5:30pm

NOTE: WE MAY CHANGE THE STARTING TIMES FOR THE CLASSES IF NEEDED. MAYBE FROM 4:00PM TO 4:30PM.

On October 8th Wrestling Thunder Club is coming to the area. Coach Burdett the new head coach at Westlake High School and is committed to building a great wrestling tradition. A major building block is developing a strong youth wrestling program. On the 8th of Oct. you can come to Westlake and register at the north/east school entrance. You can also sign up at wrestlingthunder.com. Wrestling will start on Oct. 12 and 13th. We want the kids to have a great experience so we are limiting each class to 30 wrestlers. Coach Burdett will be the head coach and will have additional coaches and high school wrestlers helping. The following is some additional information
Jr. Thunder
• Starts in October 12th, 13th and runs for 4 weeks
• Kids ages K through 8
• Cost is $65 which includes T-Shirt
• Prizes will be given out weekly for different accomplishments
• Practice two nights a week for 1 1/2 hours
• 4 sessions are available and only 30 wrestlers per session.
• M, W 4:00 – 5:30, 5:30 – 7:00, T, TH 4:00 – 5:30, 5:30 – 7:00
• Introduction to wrestling, some limited competition
• Need: A good attitude and lots of energy
Each Friday all classes will get together and wrestle.

Conditioning

Monday the 28th Coach Cody Burdet and Coach Ric Thomson will run a conditioning program to prepare for the up coming wrestling season. Monday, Wednesday, Friday we will lift weights. On Tuesday and Thursday we will do some buddy conditioning on the mat. We will be using the weight lifting program that the Iowa Wrestling team uses. Any football players interested needs to talk to your coaches to make sure this works in with your football training.
Coach Burdett
Westlake Wrestling is looking for a few good men
No Guts /No Glory

Riding - Ankle Lift

This is an nice riding move that gets us in a position to score back points.

Put More Time Into Defensive Wrestling by Cary Kolat

I'm all for offensive wrestling and I want everyone I coach to put points on the board but I don't want to just win matches, I want to win championships.

The Europeans approach the sport differently and it gives them an advantage. We have trained ourselves falsely to look at defensive wrestling as a lack of guts, lack of hard work, even a lack of character on the part of the wrestler that chooses a defensive style.

I can wrestle any style I choose to wrestle. I can be on the attack, I can run the middle road and shift gears offense to defense, or I can be total defense. most defensive wrestlers like to frustrate opponents and get them to force action and then capitalize on their mistakes with counter offenses. this is their game and this is where americans fall short in international competition against the best wrestlers in the world.

Not that I like to remember these days, but when I was in college wrestling in open competitions John Fisher consistently beat me with a defensive wrestling strategy. John would sit back and look for mistakes while I continued to press the action. Each time I lost to him the bout was 1-0 or 0-0 at about the 3-minute point. Eventually I got so frustrated and tired that I made the mistake of forcing action. John Fisher was an experienced wrestler on the senior level and he understood defensive wrestling and how to use it to his advantage to take me out of my comfort zone.

Defensive wrestling or counter offensive wrestling, however you refer to it, is very important in high-level competition. This strategy will apply to all athletes with few exceptions, maybe John Smith (6x World Champion) or Satiev (9x World Champion) are extraordinary competitors with a total offense style. But even Satiev was beaten by Brandon Slay of the USA in the 2000 Olympics with Brandon’s defensive strategy. In international competition on the open level this strategy must be studied.

Wrestler 1 spends: 80% of his time on offensive wrestling and 20% on defensive wrestling. He works on 50 different takedowns offensively and then your normal sprawl, stance, re-shot. Offensively there are so many attacks on your feet and set-ups that it takes years to master these and perfect them.

Wrestler 2 spends: 80% of his time on counter offensive wrestling and 20% on true offensive wrestling. He focuses training on defending the shot and then countering the attack. He spends this time on his stance, sprawl, and the other elements of defense, which are not as hard to grasp as the offensive positions. His offensive 20% is focused on the high crotch, double, single, and snap & spin. These are the same moves he will use in his counter offensive wrestling.

The elements of defensive wrestling are so much easier to master than the offensive elements. What if wrestler 1 & 2 are even when it comes to speed, balance and strength. If they both start wrestling tomorrow and prepare to compete against each other in 6 months, who will win? To be fair, lets say that wrestler 1 is only going to focus on 20 moves on his feet. Wrestler 2 has built his defense and focused his re-shots on the same techniques he used in his offensive training. So wrestler 2 can focus more time on wearing you down, frustrating you, defending leg attempts and re-shooting.

How many repetitions does wrestler 1 have spread over 20 shots for 6 months? Has he really mastered all 20 shots? I don't think there would be a drastic difference between these two wrestlers and if they wrestled 10 matches I think it's 6-4 in favor of the defensive wrestler (it’s my blog so I'm winning this argument) being all things equal when they start. If 3-2 represents the score of one match then you stopped one takedown in there during the bout and scored one more of your own on counter offense, winning the championship. Does it really matter if you win the World, Olympic, or NCAA title by a 2-point margin or one takedown?

How do you shift gears and build into both an offensive and defensive wrestler? You build offense over years, not in a season, not in months, and not overnight. If you learn to shoot a single with two set-ups then you have two single legs not just a single. Next season, you add three more set-ups and now you have five singles. You get the point and this is true for all your offensive takedowns.

When I created KOLAT.COM a friend who has more NCAA titles than me (I won't mention his name) said, "how does your single leg series have 75 clips in it?" I gave him the breakdown that I just gave you in the paragraph above and he understood. He already knew this but needed to be reminded. Wrestling comes easy to some of us and we don’t think of it in terms of a different takedown with each set-up but that is truly what it is when you change the set-up or as they say, "there is more than one way to skin a cat."

This article is meant for those who are interested in aiming for the highest level of wrestling competition on a world stage. It will be beneficial to all wrestlers, but if you are attempting to become one of the best in the world, defense wins the championships.

Now don't read this blog and run out and change your training to 80/20 on the defensive side. But do take note and realize that defense is an integral part of the sport. If you are a beginner wrestler in the sport 80/20 might be a good rule for you to get started in the competition and then begin building your offense over time. If they can't score on you, it's going to be really tough to beat you!

cary kolat