Most male wrestlers have an upper body strength advantage in a contest with females of equal size and weight. Some female wrestlers may have an advantage in lower body strength. Grapevining allows girls and women to use belly, hip, buttock and thigh muscles to control and perhaps eventually weaken male opponents as does leg riding from the top positon. Female wrestlers with backgrounds in judo, bjj, or other grappling styles will know how to tie up an opponent's lower body, and may well adapt this ability when pinning in folkstyle wrestling. Personally, I was surprised that such a large % of respondents reported pinning with a cradle, where the legs are used primarily to maintain balance once the pin is applied rather than to control, exhaust and eventually immobilize an opponent. My bet is that coaches teach the cradle pin to all team members, male and female, early-on and that girls use it simply becasue they know it rather than because it is particularly well suited to their strengths.
Posted on May 27, 2009, 12:29 PM from IP address 128.220.159.62