High Crotch To Double Leg By Dan Vallimont
A high crotch is a basic takedown in wrestling that you can see in both folkstyle and freestyle at all levels of competition. Being able to hit a high crotch is a valuable skill because it allows you to transition to a single leg or a double leg finish. Traditionally, a high crotch is done by taking a center penetration step, but in this video Dan Vallimont shows us a slight variation to a high crotch by taking an outside step.
Let's break this video down to better understand what exactly is going on.
First, let’s look at Dan’s starting position. To set the shot up, he has an inside tie on the same side that he has head position; having an underhook on the same side of the head would work as well. It is very important to have correct head position before you take this shot because if you are forehead to forehead or if you opponent has head position on the side you want to shoot, as soon as you take the shot your opponent will use their head to down block you and stop you before you even get a chance to shoot the shot.
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So once you have the inside tie and correct head position, make sure your feet are in the correct position. Even though this is an outside step high crotch, when you are in your stance, you should have a center step lead leg.
When you have gotten to the correct position, use small steps to move forward and start pressuring into your opponent to bait them into pressuring back into you. When you feel their counter pressure, lower your level and clear the arm that you have an outside tie on and secure the leg with the opposite hand. When you clear the arm, be sure to keep it tight to your body. If you leave your elbow out, your opponent will hook it and use the hook to defend the shot. Dan does a great job of keeping his arm tight to his side in the video so be sure to pay attention to this detail.
The foot work in very important to set this shot up. Instead of taking a deep penetration step with the center leg, you will take a small step with the outside leg and do more of a knee drop with the center leg. Because you opponent is already pressuring into you, they should come right to you. A huge component to hitting this shot successfully is getting the timing and pressure correct.
Once you have gotten in on your shot, your outside leg should be posted on the mat with the knee up. Be sure your head is up and your ear is tight against their side and your hips under you. From this position, switch the outside hand to the far leg and transition to a double leg. Be sure to block the far leg at the knee and not to bring the hand up to the hip. Use your outside foot that is planted on the ground and drive straight across.
This isn’t a fancy shot, but if you drill it and get the timing and positioning down, it will really improve your takedowns. Understanding pressures and clearing ties to get to shots is a very important aspect in wrestling from your feet, not only for hitting this high crotch, but also when hitting double legs or single legs as well.
A couple things that you may have trouble with when drilling this move are starting at a proper distance and clearing the inside tie correctly. So if you feel like you are having difficulty when drilling the shot, go back and watch exactly how Dan does these in the video.
Dan Vallimont was a two-time NCAA All American for Penn State and an NCAA finalist. He has a great instructional video series titled “The Russian Tie Formula”. Russian ties are a very effective for setting up many attacks that all wrestlers should know.