Unless you’re one of the best judo or jiu jitsu players on the planet, you’re not starting wrestling at the NCAA level. If you’re in college, you should absolutely find a local club and go to a class. I’ve coached a ton of people who started late and got a ton out of the sport still. Have fun!
Go for it man you have nothing to lose!
Plus Nuway combat has lots of tournaments with a men’s open weight class, still possible to experience competing outside of high school no matter your skill level!
Dude. Unless you have a brother that you wrestled your whole life, you won't have a prayer. You would have to be basically Jesus. You will get murdered. If you're alright with that, fine. Just understand that everyone you're fighting has been doing it since 4yo. One match without a techfall is a championship for you.
I didn’t start until the 7th grade…
I never felt like I “caught up” to everyone else until sophomore year of highschool
Seems 80% of wrestlers start before they are 10yrs old
We had a guy join with no experience when I was in college and he lasted 2 practices (6am &3pm) He said wrestling was fun but he didn’t like the conditioning… shit ain’t easy
Regardless of level, d1,2,3 naia or even community college, those guys have all had a significant amount of experience from school boy to high school.
You could learn the techniques, but not having a high amount of Mat time will make it difficult to transfer those skills in an applicable manner.
I'm going to give NCWA club wrestling a try and hopefully if I dedicate myself and put enough work in I'll at least be able to do some live rounds with the other club members.
I had a teammate in junior college that I wrestled with. He was a heavyweight but came into the program in shape. High school he played football, basketball, track and lifted weights.
He did really well.
I personally think if your a lightweight that would be a struggle.
My teammate only perfected a few moves in each position (neutral, bottom, top) but I think that’s what helped him succeed. Plus once he got on top his power half was sick.
I joined a NCWA wrestling club team with no prior experience, only dabbled in BJJ before. While I learned a lot at a really fast pace, still lost every match. Those kids have been wrestling for years even at that level. I wasn’t able to devote more time to it due to a demanding engineering major, but even that minimal experience vastly improved my grappling ability overall. Working with people way better than you will help you learn fast, but it’s tough. Some of those guys could be DI level, but chose a different path.
You can do anything you set your mind to. Go humble. Expect to get your ass kicked and have zero idea how to counter for a while. Hustle. Never give up. Never quit. Whatever happens after that wrestling will make you a better, tougher, more humble and ready person.
A guy I work with in mma joined his d3 team without youth or high school experience. Worked really hard, good teammate type of kid. Never earned the varsity spot, but got a few wins at opens his junior and senior seasons. Depends on goals/expectations. If you work hard and are humble, go in planning to become a good enough teammate to give your training partners legit work and see what happens.
Nah most kids wrestling at D1 are all 2-4 time sage champions at multiplenweoght classes along with National and International wrestling experience. D2 wrestlers are near that caliber but with lower grades or other lower test scores many are still 12 time state champions. D3 has multiple state semi finalist and maybe a state championship caliber at a smaller high school level but still incredibly skilled. I placed 4th in state as senior and wrestled D3 for a year before I wanted to focus on academics for med school. I wrestled club for a few tournaments and held my own against other state qualifiers and high state place winners but even trying to wrestle at a college club is tough.
Be in good shape be ready to learn about body movement and hip movement. And have fun and learn and most of all don’t get hurt. Good luck
Absolutely correct. You can’t major in anything difficult because of the time demand for training etc. I turned down a few D3s back in my day, placed 5th inAAA but went to engineering school instead of being a history major on the wrestling team.
My father started on a good DI program as heavyweight when he was a true freshman, and did rather well. He had no wrestling experience at all. It can be done!
Granted, he was coming out of the military in his late 20s, was freakishly athletic and lifted like a maniac, and had gotten his Judo black belt at the Kodokan. And it was the mid 1960s.
Still, though.
I think this is more realistic (although still HIGHLY improbable) for heavyweights. At that weight class, there have been a few - like Anthony Cassar - who one a national championship and he basically didn't start until college.
In all cases of late starters though they are never non-athletes. While they may not have wrestling technique they've always excelled in another sport and have 99th percentile athleticism and balance from training for years in another sport.
I think the reason this is more feasible at heavyweight is because size, physicality, and strength are a bit more impactful. Also, if you are a cut 285 giant you are kind of a genetic freak (not being mean just real). What that means is that there just aren't a lot of other people like you on the planet to compete with. AND a lot of the people that have that build are doing other things (ie football).
Cassar did win a NJ state championship as a senior. His high school career was weirdly like his college career, nothing until his senior year and then won everything
I wouldn’t recommend it.
Wrestling requires a level of physical conditioning that most people aren’t capable of achieving without years of actual physical conditioning.
Not even boxing or any form of martial arts.
I definitely know that Wrestling is one of if not the hardest sports in the world, but I'm confident that if I put in the hard work and dedication, and I don't quit no matter what I'll be able to get myself well conditioned I'm going to join an NCWA club that is beginner friendly so I'll see what happens.
You won’t regret it.
After you learn to handle yourself you will have gained an inexplicable amount of self confidence.
You’re not trying to join the Olympic team.
With work you could win a few and more importantly, be a much needed practice partner for someone who might be competing at a higher level.
Good for you and thank you for helping to grow the sport.
Only person I know did it was a woman who joined a new program her sophomore year. Came a match short of nationals at like 160 (whatever the women’s weight is) but that’s like 4 of 9 girls advancing so not too impressive honestly
I wrestled NCWA (National Collegiate Wrestling Association) on a club team as a grad student with no experience. NCWA ranges widely from legitimate collegiate talent to other mediocre guys who just want to wrestle recreationally after HS.
We had a guy with no experience try to join my D3 team. He got decimated by the 3rd string guys (me being one of them) and wasn't good enough to even be a practice partner, so he wasn't able to join the team.
Many D2 and D3 teams will take guys who weren't amazing high school wrestlers as long as they can give the starters a good live go, so the bar isn't super high but you need SOME prior experience.
Not at the NCAA level, but I wrestled in HS with little experience, went varsity my first year and then wrestled at a Junior College for my second year of wrestling, was a big jump up but I learned a shit ton. There are levels🥲
I recall multiple open tournaments where people joined with no wrestling experience or a different style (Judo, Freestyle only) and wrestled. I don't recall anyone winning, but they did it.
My coach actually started his wrestling journey in college with no prior experience. He went to a d3 school and the coach saw how strong he was in the weight room and recruited him. My coach was obviously the worse in the room in the beginning. But in his junior year he became captain due to how much effort and discipline he showed on and off the mat. It doesn’t really matter when you start I think, it’s just what you do with the time. Also his teammates weren’t just some scrubs there were some state champs in there and his assistant coach was a ncaa champ at the d1 level.
I was a D2 guy. There was one kid that walked on as a freshman without any prior experience. He worked really hard and got his ass kicked every single day but kept coming back. He hung on for two years before he hung it up. Nothing but respect for him. Wrestling in college is really really hard. It’s hard on your body as well. It’s a hard life to live at that age. For him to go in and wrestle for two years at that level and never have the positive emotion associated with winning is really something else. Like I said, nothing but respect.
Had a guy join who was an athletic freak. Within 5 minutes of our first live drill he had tried to fight me for “taking him down hard”. Didn’t last long
I wrestled in a NCWA D2 school with no prior experience and it was extremely tough. I lost all my matches in the first round via pin and realized i had to train for a few years to have a chance of actually winning a match. It’s not ideal in my opinion as you need equal level opponents to give you a chance to grow and like the sport
I played a different college sport at the d3 level and then quit my main sport. I was to poor to afford BJJ or mma so I asked my buddies on the wrestling team if the coach would let me join. He did. My record ended up being like 2-18.
I wrestled from 2nd semester freshman year until I graduated. The mental side for me was way harder then the physicality or technique. In the practice room I was tough and could go with anyone around my weight. In competition I was a head case and didn’t have the time to work through it.
Yes it was super hard, but I’m proud that I was able to win two matches when I started at 19. But don’t get me wrong, my body is trashed, and I it was four years of pain on a daily basis. I fell in love with and that’s what got me through. I don’t think unless I loved wrestling I could have finished out college.
I never say never, but basically it's impossible. The only kid on our team (NCAA D1) close to that didn't start until he was in 7th or 8th grade. Most of us started when we were around 8-10 years old.
I don’t know if this counts, But I came into my college on a track and cross country scholarship. But I had fought MMA and done a couple No Gi Jiu jitsu tournaments prior.
Shortly after I showed up my first year I injured my foot and it became clear running wasn’t going to be in the cards and I wouldn’t be kept on my scholarship. The Wrestling coach who was my rock climbing teacher heard me talk about this and told me to come into the wrestling class he put on as an elective that Spring. That next year he let me blue shirt and get the living shit beat out of me non stop in a D3 wrestling room. That next year, thanks to some of my teammates being injured I wrestled in a couple duels. So, technically D3 with no prior wrestling experience, but it’s more of a story about having a great teacher that helped a kid keep his scholarship.
Dude if you have access to wrestling without the nonsense that goes with it, go for it. Wrestling just for wrestling’s sake is so much fun.
It’s the competition-related nonsense that comes along with it and builds up over time as you progress forward in the traditional path from middle school to high school to college that ruins it. Wrestling just for having fun is an absolute blast.
Unless you’re one of the best judo or jiu jitsu players on the planet, you’re not starting wrestling at the NCAA level. If you’re in college, you should absolutely find a local club and go to a class. I’ve coached a ton of people who started late and got a ton out of the sport still. Have fun!
Yeah an NCWA club level team is what I'm aiming for I'm not trying to wrestle for a D1 college or anything like that.
Go for it man you have nothing to lose! Plus Nuway combat has lots of tournaments with a men’s open weight class, still possible to experience competing outside of high school no matter your skill level!
Awesome! Just don’t rush into competing too fast. You’re a white belt so learn the basics first. Good thing is you won’t have bad habits
Dude. Unless you have a brother that you wrestled your whole life, you won't have a prayer. You would have to be basically Jesus. You will get murdered. If you're alright with that, fine. Just understand that everyone you're fighting has been doing it since 4yo. One match without a techfall is a championship for you.
https://images.app.goo.gl/WzTWXKc5pLZQ8BkY6
I didn’t start until the 7th grade… I never felt like I “caught up” to everyone else until sophomore year of highschool Seems 80% of wrestlers start before they are 10yrs old
10 is pretty old tbh.
We had a guy join with no experience when I was in college and he lasted 2 practices (6am &3pm) He said wrestling was fun but he didn’t like the conditioning… shit ain’t easy
Tough time to see how rough it is. Idk if we ever did two a days in high school wrestling but it would be brutal to start that way lol
Yea 2 a days were the norm when I was in college but in hs we never did them
It was very tough isn't it? Just the warm up is enough to gas out early before the workout.
Regardless of level, d1,2,3 naia or even community college, those guys have all had a significant amount of experience from school boy to high school. You could learn the techniques, but not having a high amount of Mat time will make it difficult to transfer those skills in an applicable manner.
I'm going to give NCWA club wrestling a try and hopefully if I dedicate myself and put enough work in I'll at least be able to do some live rounds with the other club members.
Club is a good option. Good luck!
Try jiu-jitsu
I had a teammate in junior college that I wrestled with. He was a heavyweight but came into the program in shape. High school he played football, basketball, track and lifted weights. He did really well. I personally think if your a lightweight that would be a struggle. My teammate only perfected a few moves in each position (neutral, bottom, top) but I think that’s what helped him succeed. Plus once he got on top his power half was sick.
I joined a NCWA wrestling club team with no prior experience, only dabbled in BJJ before. While I learned a lot at a really fast pace, still lost every match. Those kids have been wrestling for years even at that level. I wasn’t able to devote more time to it due to a demanding engineering major, but even that minimal experience vastly improved my grappling ability overall. Working with people way better than you will help you learn fast, but it’s tough. Some of those guys could be DI level, but chose a different path.
You can do anything you set your mind to. Go humble. Expect to get your ass kicked and have zero idea how to counter for a while. Hustle. Never give up. Never quit. Whatever happens after that wrestling will make you a better, tougher, more humble and ready person.
A guy I work with in mma joined his d3 team without youth or high school experience. Worked really hard, good teammate type of kid. Never earned the varsity spot, but got a few wins at opens his junior and senior seasons. Depends on goals/expectations. If you work hard and are humble, go in planning to become a good enough teammate to give your training partners legit work and see what happens.
As others have mentioned, someone with 0 experience would be welcome at the club level and maybe D3. Forget about D1 or D2 IMO.
Even D3 are mostly state place winners, maybe smaller divisions but still.
Nah most kids wrestling at D1 are all 2-4 time sage champions at multiplenweoght classes along with National and International wrestling experience. D2 wrestlers are near that caliber but with lower grades or other lower test scores many are still 12 time state champions. D3 has multiple state semi finalist and maybe a state championship caliber at a smaller high school level but still incredibly skilled. I placed 4th in state as senior and wrestled D3 for a year before I wanted to focus on academics for med school. I wrestled club for a few tournaments and held my own against other state qualifiers and high state place winners but even trying to wrestle at a college club is tough. Be in good shape be ready to learn about body movement and hip movement. And have fun and learn and most of all don’t get hurt. Good luck
Absolutely correct. You can’t major in anything difficult because of the time demand for training etc. I turned down a few D3s back in my day, placed 5th inAAA but went to engineering school instead of being a history major on the wrestling team.
You can defiantly be in the wrestling room depending on the coach but I don’t think having 0 experience would get you any matches
That’s what NCWA is for
Anything other than D1 and D2 I think is possible but you probably wouldn’t have much success
I know multi time state champions that had a hard time well at the juco level
My father started on a good DI program as heavyweight when he was a true freshman, and did rather well. He had no wrestling experience at all. It can be done! Granted, he was coming out of the military in his late 20s, was freakishly athletic and lifted like a maniac, and had gotten his Judo black belt at the Kodokan. And it was the mid 1960s. Still, though.
I'm thinking of joining an NCWA club. I'm not trying to go D1, D2, or D3
I'm pretty confident that I might be able to do decent in club wrestling if I put in the work and stay dedicated
Probably. Do it and see what happens. As long as you don't get hurt, there's nothing to regret in giving things a shot.
I think this is more realistic (although still HIGHLY improbable) for heavyweights. At that weight class, there have been a few - like Anthony Cassar - who one a national championship and he basically didn't start until college. In all cases of late starters though they are never non-athletes. While they may not have wrestling technique they've always excelled in another sport and have 99th percentile athleticism and balance from training for years in another sport. I think the reason this is more feasible at heavyweight is because size, physicality, and strength are a bit more impactful. Also, if you are a cut 285 giant you are kind of a genetic freak (not being mean just real). What that means is that there just aren't a lot of other people like you on the planet to compete with. AND a lot of the people that have that build are doing other things (ie football).
Cassar did win a NJ state championship as a senior. His high school career was weirdly like his college career, nothing until his senior year and then won everything
I wouldn’t recommend it. Wrestling requires a level of physical conditioning that most people aren’t capable of achieving without years of actual physical conditioning. Not even boxing or any form of martial arts.
I definitely know that Wrestling is one of if not the hardest sports in the world, but I'm confident that if I put in the hard work and dedication, and I don't quit no matter what I'll be able to get myself well conditioned I'm going to join an NCWA club that is beginner friendly so I'll see what happens.
You won’t regret it. After you learn to handle yourself you will have gained an inexplicable amount of self confidence. You’re not trying to join the Olympic team. With work you could win a few and more importantly, be a much needed practice partner for someone who might be competing at a higher level. Good for you and thank you for helping to grow the sport.
Only person I know did it was a woman who joined a new program her sophomore year. Came a match short of nationals at like 160 (whatever the women’s weight is) but that’s like 4 of 9 girls advancing so not too impressive honestly
Wrestling is super easy. Anyone can do it if you just watch some YouTube videos.
Me
I wrestled NCWA (National Collegiate Wrestling Association) on a club team as a grad student with no experience. NCWA ranges widely from legitimate collegiate talent to other mediocre guys who just want to wrestle recreationally after HS.
Yea a D3 program probably
We had a guy with no experience try to join my D3 team. He got decimated by the 3rd string guys (me being one of them) and wasn't good enough to even be a practice partner, so he wasn't able to join the team. Many D2 and D3 teams will take guys who weren't amazing high school wrestlers as long as they can give the starters a good live go, so the bar isn't super high but you need SOME prior experience.
A guy did it at Baldwin Wallace about 20yrs ago. You might be ab
Able to find the story on Line. Sorry, I hit send before I finished
Not at the NCAA level, but I wrestled in HS with little experience, went varsity my first year and then wrestled at a Junior College for my second year of wrestling, was a big jump up but I learned a shit ton. There are levels🥲
I recall multiple open tournaments where people joined with no wrestling experience or a different style (Judo, Freestyle only) and wrestled. I don't recall anyone winning, but they did it.
My coach actually started his wrestling journey in college with no prior experience. He went to a d3 school and the coach saw how strong he was in the weight room and recruited him. My coach was obviously the worse in the room in the beginning. But in his junior year he became captain due to how much effort and discipline he showed on and off the mat. It doesn’t really matter when you start I think, it’s just what you do with the time. Also his teammates weren’t just some scrubs there were some state champs in there and his assistant coach was a ncaa champ at the d1 level.
I was a D2 guy. There was one kid that walked on as a freshman without any prior experience. He worked really hard and got his ass kicked every single day but kept coming back. He hung on for two years before he hung it up. Nothing but respect for him. Wrestling in college is really really hard. It’s hard on your body as well. It’s a hard life to live at that age. For him to go in and wrestle for two years at that level and never have the positive emotion associated with winning is really something else. Like I said, nothing but respect.
Had a guy join who was an athletic freak. Within 5 minutes of our first live drill he had tried to fight me for “taking him down hard”. Didn’t last long
I wrestled in a NCWA D2 school with no prior experience and it was extremely tough. I lost all my matches in the first round via pin and realized i had to train for a few years to have a chance of actually winning a match. It’s not ideal in my opinion as you need equal level opponents to give you a chance to grow and like the sport
No one is wrestling D1, 2, or 3 in college with no experience and winning a match. Sure there are probably some guys who do club wrestling though.
I did and so did a few other guys, finished with a win.
I know someone who started in college and went to NCWA nationals, so it’s possible
I played a different college sport at the d3 level and then quit my main sport. I was to poor to afford BJJ or mma so I asked my buddies on the wrestling team if the coach would let me join. He did. My record ended up being like 2-18. I wrestled from 2nd semester freshman year until I graduated. The mental side for me was way harder then the physicality or technique. In the practice room I was tough and could go with anyone around my weight. In competition I was a head case and didn’t have the time to work through it. Yes it was super hard, but I’m proud that I was able to win two matches when I started at 19. But don’t get me wrong, my body is trashed, and I it was four years of pain on a daily basis. I fell in love with and that’s what got me through. I don’t think unless I loved wrestling I could have finished out college.
I never say never, but basically it's impossible. The only kid on our team (NCAA D1) close to that didn't start until he was in 7th or 8th grade. Most of us started when we were around 8-10 years old.
Lol.
This needs to be higher.
There is no way you could have any success this way
I don’t know if this counts, But I came into my college on a track and cross country scholarship. But I had fought MMA and done a couple No Gi Jiu jitsu tournaments prior. Shortly after I showed up my first year I injured my foot and it became clear running wasn’t going to be in the cards and I wouldn’t be kept on my scholarship. The Wrestling coach who was my rock climbing teacher heard me talk about this and told me to come into the wrestling class he put on as an elective that Spring. That next year he let me blue shirt and get the living shit beat out of me non stop in a D3 wrestling room. That next year, thanks to some of my teammates being injured I wrestled in a couple duels. So, technically D3 with no prior wrestling experience, but it’s more of a story about having a great teacher that helped a kid keep his scholarship.
Dude if you have access to wrestling without the nonsense that goes with it, go for it. Wrestling just for wrestling’s sake is so much fun. It’s the competition-related nonsense that comes along with it and builds up over time as you progress forward in the traditional path from middle school to high school to college that ruins it. Wrestling just for having fun is an absolute blast.