NATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED
THE WRESTLING DRILL BOOK HAS SECOND EDITION
Dr. Bill Welker, West Virginia’s most decorated wrestling official and writer, has again been commissioned by Human Kinetics Publishers (Champaign, Illinois) to pen a second edition to The Wrestling Drill Book.
Due to the success of the best-selling drill book’s first edition (nearly 22,000 sold), Welker was informed in July of 2011 of the publisher’s desire to print a second edition. It was a challenge in which Welker was more than willing to accept. After a year and a half of chapter additions, expansions, and revisions, the writing project has come to fruition.
The Wrestling Drill Book: 150 technical and tactical drills (2nd Edition) will hit bookstores nationwide on December 1st.
“It’s been another exciting experience putting together the second edition of the book. I am so pleased and humbled by the success of the first edition and the publishers requesting the need for a second edition,” said the former national official of the year and national wrestling sportswriter of the year. “It has been another great writing endeavor promoting the sport I have loved all my life.”
Welker has 55 years of wrestling experience as a competitor, coach, official, tournament director, motivational speaker, and writer. In fact, he has written over 600 articles on the art and science of wrestling since 1974.
A seven-time West Virginia Wrestling Writer of the Year award winner, Welker has been inducted into four halls of fame, including the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (West Virginia Chapter) and the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame. The second edition includes two new chapters on footwork and advanced throws, as well as expanding the original chapters with nearly 90 more wrestling and conditioning drills.
Cael Sanderson, head coach of the Penn State “Nittany Lion” two-time Division I National Championship wrestling team (2011 & 2012), applauded the volume. He stated that “To reach your greatest potential as a wrestler, you must be willing to work hard in the off-season. The Wrestling Drill Book offers some great training activities to help you do this.”
Bridgeport’s wrestling legend Bobby Douglas, a former two-time U.S. Olympic wrestler and head coach of the 1988 Division I Arizona State National Team Champions, emphasizes that “The Wrestling Drill Book assists coaches from
youth to college levels in developing success-oriented wrestling programs. It’s a
must-read, mat-sport resource.”
The list of contributors is very impressive indeed, starting with Zeke Jones, who wrote the forward of the book. Coach Jones recently guided the U.S. Freestyle Olympic Team to its best showing since 1996 as head coach, producing two gold medalists. Jones is a former World Champion and Olympic Silver medalist. He now serves as USA Wrestling’s top freestyle coach at Colorado Springs, CO.
Other contributors include the following.
Chapter One: Essential Movement Drills was scribed by Bill Archer. Coach Archer, a three-time state coach of the year at Huntington High School, was named the 2001 National Wrestling Coach of the Year. He is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (WV Chapter) and received the “Master of Wrestling” award from Wrestling USA Magazine.
Chapter Two (New): Footwork: Agility, Quickness, and Balance & Chapter Four (New): Advanced Throws and Takedowns (including the rarely discussed Pancake Takedown Series) were developed by Bill Welker and Larry Shaw. Coach Shaw, Oak Glen’s most successful wrestling coach ever, produced over 50 individual state champions and a record 13 state titlist teams in a row. Among his many illustrious coaching accolades was his induction into the prestigious National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame in 2011.
Chapter Three: Takedowns was authored by Dave LaMotte. A Bridgeport native and highly successful coach in Arizona, Coach LaMotte was a NAIA national champion for West Liberty University. LaMotte guided the Bridgeport “Bulldogs” to a 1988 Ohio Division III state championship and was named Ohio Wrestling Coach of the Year.
Chapter Five: Escapes and Reversals was written by Pat Pecora. A two-time NCAA Division II Coach of the Year at University of Pitt-Johnstown, the former WLU mat standout has coached UJ-P to a pair of national championships. Coach Pat Pecora is a member of five different Halls of Fame.
Chapter Six: Rides to Pinning Combinations was co-authored by the late Edwin C. Peery, former head coach of the U.S. Naval Academy wrestling team, and Bruce Burnett, the present wrestling coach at the Academy. Both mat mentors have enjoyed much success with their well-disciplined “Midshipmen” student-athletes.
Chapter Seven: Advanced Pinning Combinations was the work of Coach Jim Akerly and Coach Craig Turnbull. The founder of Quest School of Wrestling in Canonsburg, PA, Akerly was a Division I NCAA All-American wrestler at WVU. His collegiate coach, Craig Turnbull, has been named the Eastern Wrestling League coach of the year three times and is the winningest mat coach in WVU’s history.
Chapter Eight: Conditioning was the creation of Coach Ken L. Taylor. A Colorado coach and official for 35 years, Taylor was an NAIA All-American and named as the Colorado High School Wrestling Coach of the Year as a scholastic mat mentor at Fort Collins, CO.
Chapter Nine: Effective Practices and Off-Season Activities was the brainchild of Bill Welker, who has added even more specific practice formats and evaluation strategies. A former Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) state champion, Welker was cited as one of the nation’s top coaches by Scholastic Wrestling News. He has coached wrestling on the high school, middle school, and youth levels for over three decades.
Drawing from his extensive experiences in the mat sport, Welker has one point of emphasis in mind regarding the book. “The key to wrestling is proper hip positioning or ‘center of gravity’ in all phases of the sport. It’s a theme that runs throughout the entire book.”
The OVAC demonstrators – Eric Banks, Tyler Brown, Josh Cornell, Jonny Davis, Geremy Paige, Doug Eddy, Nathan Kirk, Matt Shurina, and Josh Sokolowski from Buckeye Local, Harrison Central, Oak Glen, and Wheeling Park – spent nearly 20 hours over a two-day period in July for the photo and video sessions.
“I can’t say enough about our area wrestler-models. They were just as excited and energized at the end of the second day’s shoot as they were at the beginning of the first day’s session,” praised Welker.
Welker appreciates the fact that the Administration of Oak Glen High School allowed Coach Larry Shaw and him to use their wrestling room, which is a perfect facility for photo and video shoots.
One of the volume’s most unique features is the “Drill Finder” section in the front of the book. It not only provides quick access to any drill, but also rates a drill’s difficulty to help coaches match each drill to the individual wrestler’s skill level. The drills are categorized as Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced.
Welker, an OVAC Mr. Mat, explained, “A lot of books I’ve reviewed rank their drills by age - youth. middle school, high school, and collegiate. However, there is naturally a difference between a high school athlete who has never wrestled before as compared to a middle school wrestler who has years of experience. That is why we classified each drill by ability level, not age. And astute coaches know their wrestlers’ skill development best.”
With the help of this second, much more comprehensive, edition of The Wrestling Drill Book, coaches will be even better equipped to develop championship wrestlers and teams.
The Wrestling Drill Book: 150 technical and tactical drills (2nd Edition) can be purchased online at www.humankinetics.com or www.Amazon.com in print or ebook form. You can even contact Dr. Bill Welker at mattalkwv@hotmail.com or by phone (304) 218-1950 to purchase a book.