The Power of the Arm Drag


Midorifuji is on the left. On the right is current Yokozuna Terunofuji. Both won technique 
prizes at the January 2021 basho. In the middle is Daieisho, who won the Emperor's Cup.


I was watching the latest Sumo basho and witnessed a beautiful arm drag that I thought would provide a nice lesson. The artist is called Midorifuji (which means Green Wisteria in Japanese). He has the distinction of being one of the smallest wrestlers in Sumo's top division. 

He is listed at five-feet-seven on the card, but, yeah, sure. 

Below is a video of him performing an arm drag to perfection against an opponent who is 125 pounds heavier and at least five inches taller:




I've told this story over at ILLINOISmatmen.com, but it deserves repeating. The proudest day of my life involved a number of arm drags. You see, my boy was a wee tyke back in the day, and he had joined the local wrestling club. 

I enjoyed the practices, sitting against the wall, watching him roll around. In his first practice match, he was told to shake hands with his opponent, and he did so, saying, "Nice to meet you." 

Well, the novice tournaments were something. He lost more than he won. Nothing, even Dairy Queen and Chicken McNuggets, could stop the tears. I had resolved not to interfere, but the bawling, those red eyes and the sniffles! 

So, I taught him the arm drag.

This was just in time for the last tournament of the season. During his first match, he hit the arm drag, and I started jumping up and down and screaming like a crazy person. He kept hitting it all day until he took home the biggest trophy. 

That smile has never left my face. 

So, my friends, take my advice and the example of Midorifuji and put the arm drag into your arsenal. Perhaps teach it to your boy or girl. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ILLINI Wrestle-off Results, Seth Mendoza and Baby Wrestlers!

Image
THE REASON FOR THE WRESTLE-OFFS The ILLINI had their first wrestle-off in years yesterday at Huff Hall. The likely reasons for this are discussed in a preceding post here . The long and short of it is that the Brawlnagels are likely going to use the Olympic Redshirts that they earned over the Summer. Additionally, 2xAA Lucas Byrd is still injured.  In fact, Byrd is the Wyrd was at Super 32.  What a great ambassador for the ILLINI! He's instantly recognizable and relatable and fun and you can bet the kids love him. Since the image below was on IMAR's instagram account, can we assume that he led this expedition?  RESULTS OF THE WRESTLE-OFFS We don't have the full results for the wrestle-offs but were told that the ultimate winners included the following: Justin Cardani at 125; it was reported that Anthony Madrigal looked great, and that Kole Brower looked tough, but it was Madrigal who came out on top for the 133 spot.  Danny Pucino won; while Kannon Webster beat Jake Harrier
Read more

The ILLINI Midlands Preview

Image
That's right. The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus will be a Corporate Sponsor of the 59th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Tournament WHAT :  The 59th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Tournament WHERE :  NOW Arena, Hoffman Estates, ILLINOIS WHEN :  Friday, December 29 at 9:30 am (Central) WHEN2 :  Saturday, December 30 at 11:00 am (Central) WHO :  48 Teams including ILLINOIS, 8 B1G Teams; Women's Tourney TV/STREAMING :  BTN+ (subscription streaming service) BOUT BOARD :  Trackwrestling TICKETS :  Ticketmaster ($102.00 for both sessions) TEAMS ENTERED There are 48 teams heading to the Midlands Tournament this year including these full squads (with their current Wrestlestat.com rankings): THE ILLINI, #13 Rutgers, #19 West Virginia, #22 Penn, #28 Arizona State, #30 Virginia, #33 Princeton, #36 Wisconsin, #39 Michigan State, #43 Cal Poly, #46 Ohio, #49 Cleveland State, #51 Harvard, #52 George Mason, #53 Northwestern, #63 Franklin & Marshall, #64 SIUE, and #65 Buffalo. A
Read more

Clues to the 2023-2024 Fighting ILLINI Lineup? And Wrestle-Offs!

Image
We found a clue to this season's Fighting ILLINI lineup at Trackwrestling. That organization keeps records on who on the various NCAA teams has certified at the various weights. Because this is the first cert of the year, most of the guys are above their likely weights that they will end up wrestling.  Most significantly, though, there were some omissions from the certification process. Will these omissions mean that the individuals won't wrestle during the season? Hmmmm. We will be interviewing Coach Poeta before the season starts so we'll have a better idea about what's going on.  In the meantime, who is missing from this Trackwrestling list : If you said Zac and Danny Braunagel, you win! Additionally, Lucas Byrd is not listed as "eligible," whatever that means. I had thought that the Braunagels would think about an Olympic redshirt, as they qualified through the USA Wrestling national tournament process.  As for Lucas Byrd, the last picture I saw of him sho
Read more