Spicing Up The Classics With Nate Jackson
Ever hear someone say “you don’t mess with the classics”? A phrase for when people or large corporations try and take an established franchise and tweak it to fit their motive or product. There are many forms of art that should be left alone. Paintings are a prime example, the cringe factor when a company attempts to use the Mona Lisa for their own purpose is through the roof.
What about wrestling? This is not a place for keeping to the classics. A classic attack will lead to a skillful defense because they have seen it before and are prepared for it. Sometimes a few modifications are required to make a specific move work for a wrestler due to differing body compositions.
Those are slight modifications and are commonplace in the wrestling room. There seems to be a fine line with creativity in wrestling though. In some cases you end up with cool concoctions like roll throughs from the crackdown, or a new variations on a duckunder.
Yet sometimes these experiments do not go well and you end up flat on your back or worse. So how do you know when you have tweaked something just enough? Or if what you are doing is ok? The key indicator is “Does it work?” and “Does it work consistently?”
Sometimes it is best to let those at the highest levels come up with the new entries or attack series and let them work the kinks out. Coaches and NCAA DIV.I wrestlers seem to be the mad scientist behind all the new fun stuff coming out recently.
One person who knows how to “Spice Up” Classic moves to his advantage is Nate Jackson. The Current assistant coach for the Princeton Tigers. He is also a Multi Time Division I All American.
Nate has an approach to take downs that is quite simple and different, and that is why it is effective. Nate uses movement and setups that might not be commonplace on the mat, so at one point in time an opponent feels safe. They have no clue about the impending danger.
Not so sure what I am talking about? Check out Nates set up for a classic takedown, The ankle pick.
Nate explains that instead of using the overhook pull which relies on his opponent to take a step to regain balance, Nate sidesteps slightly but uses his collar tie to push his opponents head into his chest. When Nate changes levels it plants their lead leg to the mat which is so much closer because of that lateral step he took earlier.
Next what we see is that high level wrestling mind at work.
Sure a wrestler could do the come drive forward and pull but what if they have already started to try to wrestle out of danger by backing away? Simple use your back leg to re shoot!
Re shooting is the concept of once you are in on a shot, your partner has created some sort of space but is not quite back to a neutral position. Instead of giving up the attacking wrestler gets on their toes and takes another penetration step to reengage the takedown.
In This case Nate is reshooting with his back leg into the highcrotch position. He can run the corner or fight for both ankles. Either way Nate is in DEEP on a shot and is closer to a takedown than his opponent is to escaping.
Nate has a great takedown system he calls the CRAMM, and has created a instructional outlining how it works. If spicing up your takedowns is what your looking to do, look no further. Check it out!