A Proper CACC Match
By Jon Strickland
A proper CACC match back in the day between two equally skilled, sized guys is going to be a more micro match than today's amateur styles. Let me back up, parts of that match will be very micro and to today's collegiate guys, its going to look a lot more like stalling.
The two combatants will determine the match overall than a ref or rule book. It's more of a grappling on the mat in tight spaces match than on the feet. If a man locks hands on bottom its going to be up to the other wrestler to change this if he doesn't like it. The takedown was only important back then if it lead to submission or pin. In fact it's very unlikely the match will be won on the feet. Rather it's going to look more like Jiu Jitsu on the mat than the limited very limited mat wrestling we see today.
Techniques were developed for the early moments but also, if not more, the long game match. Meaning some moves will work better later in a match where the athletes are not near as fresh. Not only were there different techniques but far more diverse strategies and philosophies. The "rotary ride, deep waist far ankle ride" are now more quick explosive break downs rather than rides. Hence the term rides in old text if you didn't have experience around some old timers to know this. In today's wrestling, having a side roll as your bottom go to isn't strategically as wise as a stand up. There's reasons for this.
Coaching high school I push stand ups far far more and coaching CACC you need to be able to reverse opponents as reversals are just easier today in a long game with little ref involvement. Also why I wouldn't teach a throw over a single leg to high school kids, if I could only choose between those two.
In a long match, a wrestler is just more likely to be more upright than in a 2 minute period. Today a lot more of the grappling public is aware of CACC or have at least heard its name. However, most cases I typically hear "it looks like amateur wrestling with JJ holds." Yes and no. A lot of the moves in amateur are certainly in Catch but how they were developed, executed, and the philosophy behind them are different. I can always tell a new guy who wrestled amateur. It's a much more spastic approach than a relaxed one. Again there's great reasons they're philosophically different and yet similar. It's more static than amateur and less static than JJ. Of course this is based on my 16 years around Billy Wicks and 10 years talking with Dick Cardinal. I can only speak from my experiences.
Jon Strickland is the head coach of American Hook Wrestling. Find them easily on Facebook.
