The Slingshot From Over Under by Nate Jackson
Welcome to the “SlingShot”, a high powered takedown that will surprise your opponent and earn you big points in Freestyle or Folkystyle wrestling. The advantage of a Slingshot is that it is deceptive. Your opponent believes they are safe in an over under position and will look to match your pressure with pressure of their own, which will be their undoing.
Today we have Princeton Tigers Coach Nate Jackson working with Dan Vallimont at the Rhino Training center. Where they recorded Nates instructional series “The Cramm Takedown System”
Which has made Nate Jackson one of the top athletes at the competitive New Jersey Regional Training Center (NJRTC) while he is pursuing Olympic dreams.
Setting up in a very common position, The over under control is where both you and your partner/opponent have an underhook and an overhook. This becomes what is often referred to as a neutral position as both wrestlers have equal points of leverage and control.
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It is to be noted that if the wrestlers have different dominant sides (right vs left side dominance) that the wrestler who has their dominant side controlling the underhook will have a more natural advantage. For the most part an over under position is 50/50 with who will win.
Nate makes a point to create as much sag pressure (a sag is where you let your weight pull down or sag your opponent's side) on the overhook side. This will naturally create a mechanical advantage on the underhook side.
The wrestler whose underhook is higher has the advantage. This is not relevant to the slingshot but all over under echanges. So if you find your underhook being dragged low, get it back up!
Once that sag has been created Nate starts to pressure in by taking a step to the overhook side. This puts all the weight on Dan's underhook side. Nate also shrugs his underhook up which will help make Dan feel heavy on one leg and feel off balanced. His instinctual reaction will be to drive back in to recover the position he is losing.
If Dan does nothing Nate could continue his pressure eventually causing a “Pancake” throw turning him over. Most wrestlers will have the wherewithal to pressure back into the attacking wrestler to recover position. This reaction is exactly what Nate is going for.
Now the Slingshot is loaded, it's time to let it go!
As Dan has started to drive, Nate is going to use that underhook and pull in on Dan's lat muscle. This will start a shift in momentum toward the underhook side. When Nate starts to pull he steps his overhook side leg forward and reaches his overhook for that backside leg which should be trailing as Dan's upper body is being pulled forward and down.
If done quickly and correctly Dan will not have a base and will fall to the Mat scoring two points for Nate. Because Dan Falls on his side and Nate still has an underhook, Nate can continue to drive forward and the near fall points/ back exposure points will begin.
Done right this two point take down can turn into 3-5 points very quickly or result in a Pinfall which no one will complain about except the guy with his shoulders on the mat.
What if things don't go correctly? What if you are dealing with a wrestler who has a very strong base and can square up as you are trying to slingshot them to the ground?
When you fail on the first slingshot attempt don't just bail out, you have created a scoring opportunity and are still in an offensive cycle.
If you have the knee properly secured, you will still also have the underhook. Staying on that low level Nate continues to “Run” in the same direction that he started with. This effectively creates a far side knee tap takedown.
The far side knee tap is not going to get you those bonus back exposure points but you will still get two points and an opportunity to wrestle from the top position.
Nate Jackson’s CRAMM Takedown system is a technical and methodical approach to chaining takedowns together as seen in the above video. The First part outlines how Nate uses leg attacks and the variations on each.
The second part in the series touches on Short offense from the headlock position. He has options for upper body throws and transitions to finish with leg attacks. The last section is all about close tie situations. Over under and bodylock positions. He covers the Slingshot and much more.
The best way to be competitive in any sport is to have a system. Many instructionals throw a bunch of fancy moves at you, but Nate has a step by step system for attacking. Essentially a Plan A,B and C for all three common takedown situations, far, short and tie.
This approach to attacking is most likely why Princeton brought him in. It was said on the Princeton Tigers website that “we knew the second he walked out of the interview, he was the guy”. Princeton has the financial ability to have any coach and assistants they want. They chose Nate Jackson to coach their team. If Princeton has him coaching them, you might want to consider having him show you a few things too.
Check out the Cramm Takedown system by Nate Jackson here!