Hip Cover Freeze Tag
Top Control
Legend
- player
- movement path
How it works
Introduce young wrestlers to top control by teaching them to cover and maintain contact with the bottom wrestler's hips as they try to move.
What you need
- wrestling mat
Your focus
Hip control is the most fundamental element of maintaining top position, and teaching it through a game-based format makes it accessible and fun for young wrestlers. When wrestlers learn that following the hips is the key to staying on top, they develop the basic awareness that underpins all future top-control skills. This drill also builds the agility and reactivity needed to stay connected to a moving opponent.
Bottom wrestler starts on hands and knees; top wrestler starts with both hands on the bottom wrestler's hips.
On the coach's signal, bottom wrestler tries to move in any direction to get their hips away from the top wrestler's hands.
Top wrestler must keep both hands on the hips at all times, moving wherever the hips go.
Play for 20 seconds; give one point to the top wrestler if they maintain hip contact, one to bottom if they escape. Switch roles.
Goal
You've got it when you stay on your partner's hips no matter where they move, attached, not just covering.
Helpful cues
- Watch the hips, go where they go
- Stay light on your feet so you can move fast
- Two hands on, don't let one slip off
Adjust the challenge
Make it easier
Strip it back
Bottom wrestler can only move left or right, restricting the direction of movement to simplify the tracking task.
UpLVL it
Add the next challenge
Bottom wrestler is allowed to sit out and roll, requiring the top wrestler to move in three dimensions to maintain hip contact.No account needed
Build a practice plan
Add drills, keep the plan in this browser, then share a link with your staff or parents.This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.
This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.After every practice, UpLVL automatically surfaces the drills each player needs to work on most. See it for yourself.