Training Camps

Ivorian Wrestling Federation Hosts Training Camps for Francophone Countries

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 14:37 By UWW Development

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About thirty French-speaking wrestlers gathered towards the end of 2020 in Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory Coast, at the prestigious National Sports (INJS) for a camp entitled Camp de la Francophonie and placed under the banner of friendships, for a week of knowledge sharing and skills development with regard to international standards.
le camp de la francophonie 2020

The Wrestling Federation of Ivory Coast led this project, organised under the auspices of the Union of Francophone Wrestling Federations and with the support of United World Wrestling, represented by M. Vincent Aka, Development Officer at UWW.

In addition to the training of coaches, the preparation of athletes and the training of technical officials and referees, the camp hosted competitions of olympic wrestling and beach wrestling, and the Nordic system allowed for a maximum number of bouts in each weight category. Round-table debates of the elected representatives of the attending Federations provided for discussions and exchanges about what directions to take with the Union of Francophone Wrestling Federations. 

Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Togo took part in the courses and the olympic wrestling competition, while the beach wrestling tournament – comparable to African wrestling - saw the further participation of Burkina, Niger and Mali. 
Les officials

The camp was led by experts from United World Wrestling, namely Vincent Aka, Development Officer, Alexis Rodrigues, Coach-Expert and Danga Christian, Instructor. Thus, as Coach-Expert Alexis Rodriguez took care of the program and the intensive training of athletes, Danga Christian instructed the referees and technical officials towards both competitions (olympic and beach wrestling), while Vincent Aka briefed the attending coaches.

Olympic training enabled Togo to make its return to the world stage while beach wrestling let Niger and Burkina follow a new path towards the olympic world. 

Media coverage was wide and the event was broadcasted to all the partners of this French-speaking event ; the camp fostered involvement, mutual assistance and sharing amongst athletes, coaches and referees.

Equipe de CIVEquipe de Togo Equipe de Conarkry

As a grand finale, each entity was able to put its assets to use during the two competitions that closed the week at the Camp de la Francophonie. 

Mr Didier Sauvaire, President of the Union of the Francophone Wrestling Federations on site on the Saturday 26 December, congratulated all the participants (athletes, coaches, referees and officials) and encouraged them to pursue their training pathway, so as to be worthy representatives of Francophonie.

Didier Sauvaire

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British Wrestling hosts Level 3 Coaching Course following first-ever GB Grand Prix

Monday, January 8, 2024 - 14:29 By United World Wrestling Press

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MANCHESTER, England (January 8) – British Wrestling organized the first-ever Great Britain Grand Prix December 2-3. This competition was part of the UWW Development Department’s REDT programme and conducted in conjunction with Olympic Solidarity and British Wrestling. The REDT (Regional Education Development Tournament) is a programme designed to partner education activities with a competition to help develop wrestling across a region. Prior to the competition, a Level 3 Coaching course was conducted for 15 coaches from Great Britain (GBR), Austria (AUS), and the Netherlands (NED). This course focused on developing a coaching philosophy and an introduction into periodisation principles. 

The course was conducted by Mr. Zac DOMINGUEZ (USA). Coach Dominguez is a Gold Level Coach for USA Wrestling and has coached at numerous Continental and World Championship events. He also runs a top club and was able to relate very well to the coaches as many of them were coaching at their own clubs. “My favorite was discussing philosophy, because many of them had their own clubs and I could relate to their “problems” very well,” said Dominguez.

In addition to helping the coaches develop their philosophy for coaching, the course also targeted performance planning for wrestlers through video analysis, periodization principles, nutrition, and better understanding the rules of wrestling. The sessions included theoretical and practical sessions. Dr. Saam FALAHATI (Chief Medical Officer for British Wrestling) led the training on Nutrition and Hydration. Mr. Vaclav SCHEINER (CZE) was the assigned Referee Delegate for the competition and a certified UWW Educator. He conducted a session with the coaches on better understanding and using the rules of wrestling.

“The participants were very competent and understanding of the course materials. They were prepared very well from Level 1 and 2 UWW Certification. I was very pleased because we had great conversations and practical sessions” said Dominguez.

“British Wrestling targeted the level 3 UWW coaching course to help develop our coach’s knowledge of performance planning and developing athletes over the longer term," said Craig Anthony, Chief Executive Officer for British Wrestling. The course was expertly delivered and incredibly well received by our pathway coaches. Zac, Saam, and Vaclav provided expert knowledge and a fun learning environment that benefited everyone in the course. We are excited to see how this learning translates into improving our young developing athletes."

“After successfully finishing both levels 1 and 2 of the United World Wrestling coaching course, I was eagerly anticipating the opportunity to engage in the UWW level 3 course held in Manchester. During the program, I gained valuable insights into periodization in planning, video analysis, coaching philosophy development, evaluation of holds for Freestyle, Greco-Roman, and Women's Wrestling, as well as nutrition and hydration for wrestling," said Steve McKeown. "I extend my gratitude to UWW Educator Zac Dominguez from the USA, UWW Referee Václav Scheiner from the Czech Republic, UWW Doctor Saam Falahati from Scotland, and British Wrestling for hosting this event.”