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Injuries & Match counts

It doesn't matter, injuries happen in practice more than competition.

In some practice rooms more than others.

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It doesn't matter, injuries happen in practice more than competition.
But at least practice is controlled chaos (at least it should be) Guys can tell the other to stop a position before anyone gets hurt and PSU has such a deep room, the best challenges are there.

Reality is if you have 15 matches after conferences, you have everything you need for seeding formula at NCAAs. You're going to get 3 minimum at conferences so having 12 going in is all you need.
 
It doesn't matter, injuries happen in practice more than competition.
I think 2021 really changed Cael's perspective on everything. The season started in February basically, everyone was out of shape and Big Tens were within a month and there were significant practice restrictions, let alone match opportunities. Yet the coaches saw everything they needed to and got us ready to produce 4 champions (and would have been 7 AAs if Berge didn't get hurt)

Following year was clearly a different approach as it was the first time (post COVID) we didn't do any major tournament in the Fall (just Journeymen then Collegiate Duals) and boom, 5 champions.

Coaches really saw what worked then while limiting burnout and injuries.

But is it good for growing the sport?
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I think 2021 really changed Cael's perspective on everything. The season started in February basically, everyone was out of shape and Big Tens were within a month and there were significant practice restrictions, let alone match opportunities. Yet the coaches saw everything they needed to and got us ready to produce 4 champions (and would have been 7 AAs if Berge didn't get hurt)

Following year was clearly a different approach as it was the first time (post COVID) we didn't do any major tournament in the Fall (just Journeymen then Collegiate Duals) and boom, 5 champions.

Coaches really saw what worked then while limiting burnout and injuries.

But is it good for growing the sport?
giphy.gif
I did not know when it all started but I did know that the number of matches where declining, thank you for that did bit.

For the record I was being a smart ass about injuries happening more in practice for exactly the reason you posted and yes I know they still happen in practice.

In another thread I was getting torn to peaces for stating that hey happen more in competition. So I just ran with it.
 
I think 2021 really changed Cael's perspective on everything. The season started in February basically, everyone was out of shape and Big Tens were within a month and there were significant practice restrictions, let alone match opportunities. Yet the coaches saw everything they needed to and got us ready to produce 4 champions (and would have been 7 AAs if Berge didn't get hurt)

Following year was clearly a different approach as it was the first time (post COVID) we didn't do any major tournament in the Fall (just Journeymen then Collegiate Duals) and boom, 5 champions.

Coaches really saw what worked then while limiting burnout and injuries.

But is it good for growing the sport?
giphy.gif
It started well before 2021. Cael may have refined his techniques post-Covid, but if you go back and look at how many matches the average starter was getting over the years, it has been in a consistent and steady decline for 10 years now.
 
It started well before 2021. Cael may have refined his techniques post-Covid, but if you go back and look at how many matches the average starter was getting over the years, it has been in a consistent and steady decline for 10 years now.
Inversely proportional to the strength of in-room competition at each weight.
 
These kids come to college any more with over 200 high school matches. It didn’t use to be like that either.
 
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Cael’s prescience is good, but I doubt he foresaw a rash of injuries of top guys across the sport and adjusted the schedule accordingly. I’d love to see data on the rate of injury during practice vs competition though. Probably isn’t a dataset that exists, but it’d be interesting to see.
 
Cael’s prescience is good, but I doubt he foresaw a rash of injuries of top guys across the sport and adjusted the schedule accordingly. I’d love to see data on the rate of injury during practice vs competition though. Probably isn’t a dataset that exists, but it’d be interesting to see.
I don't think you can easily separate the two. Risk mitigation, which is what Cael practices, doesn't prevent injuries, it simply reduces the odds. You can't ever get away from the Nolf and Star injuries. That stuff happens. Joint wear and tear injuries on the other hand, can be mitigated by changing practice regimen in the room and having the guys wrestling at the proper weight. Etc, Etc.
 
I suspect DT will exit CKLV over the coming years.
He may or may not. He might be a guy that thinks you need to wrestle. Cael has a different approach. He may have felt that he didn't need to wrestle 159 matches to be at his peak. Everyone has a different theory. Molinaro wrestled about 150, Taylor wrestled about 140 matches and Nickal was down around 125 and Aaron Brooks was under 100. I think the trend started well before COVID for Cael.

It remains to be seen if Taylor is in the same camp.
 
He may or may not. He might be a guy that thinks you need to wrestle. Cael has a different approach. He may have felt that he didn't need to wrestle 159 matches to be at his peak. Everyone has a different theory. Molinaro wrestled about 150, Taylor wrestled about 140 matches and Nickal was down around 125 and Aaron Brooks was under 100. I think the trend started well before COVID for Cael.

It remains to be seen if Taylor is in the same camp.
I think DT needed his guys to have matches this year. One reason is his guys needed to experience for themselves that what DT is selling works. A second reason is diversity of competition. For many PSU kids you can workout with a different world medalist every day of the week without duplicating partners. As the quantity of high quality competitors begins to call Sillwater home, I would guess a change in scheduling occurs.
 
He may or may not. He might be a guy that thinks you need to wrestle. Cael has a different approach. He may have felt that he didn't need to wrestle 159 matches to be at his peak. Everyone has a different theory. Molinaro wrestled about 150, Taylor wrestled about 140 matches and Nickal was down around 125 and Aaron Brooks was under 100. I think the trend started well before COVID for Cael.

It remains to be seen if Taylor is in the same camp.
It started exactly with the 19-20 season.
 
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Cael may have changed the schedule to sync up with peaking in March.
I’ve always felt that in the first 4-peat, Cael was trying to get his wrestlers to win B1Gs and NCAAs.

In the second 4-peat, I felt he was trying to get his wrestlers to peak at NCAAs and who cares about B1Gs. If they won the latter, great, but it was only a means to the former.

Now they’re so good it doesn’t matter, but it’s still peaking for the latter.
 
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I’ve always felt that in the first 4-peat, Cael was trying to get his wrestlers to win B1Gs and NCAAs.

In the second 4-peat, I felt he was trying to get his wrestlers to peak at NCAAs and who cares about B1Gs. If they won the latter, great, but it was only a means to the former.

Now they’re so good it doesn’t matter, but it’s still peaking for the latter.
Hold up, Clawman, I thought peaking was a state of mind.
 
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