U.S. Beach and Sombo Nationals offer new chance to test wrestling skills

This week, USA Wrestling announced the site and date for two new national championships. The U.S. Beach National Championships and the U.S. Sombo National Championships have been awarded to Palm Beach County, Fla., Aug. 19-20.

For many in the wrestling community, these events will be brand new. In fact, two years ago, FILA, the international wrestling federation, did not host competitions in these styles. However, a closer look reveals that both of these forms of combat have roots in today’s sport.

Beach wrestling can be traced to the beginning of wrestling, and to the early civilizations. Check out all of the ancient wrestling literature, and you notice that matches were competed outside in the dirt or sand. The invention of the wrestling mat has only happened in the last century. The long history of our sport features various forms of “beach wrestling.” Many nations around the world currently have traditional styles of wrestling in the sand. Beach wrestling has centuries of tradition, and is also currently being practiced in many places. FILA embraced beach wrestling with an announcement during the 2004 Olympic Games.

Sombo is a form of jacket wrestling which was formed in the former Soviet Union. The sport has similarities to wrestling and to judo, two sports that are contested in the Olympic Games. FILA, the international wrestling federation, recognized Sombo for many years, but separated from the sport in the mid-1980s. The sport continued under a variety of federations until FILA announced last year that Sombo has been restored as an international form of wrestling.

USA Wrestling, as the governing body for amateur wrestling in our nation, is responsible for the development of the international styles of the sport. With the addition of Beach Wrestling and Sombo to the wrestling family, USA Wrestling will now be actively promoting and developing these sports at all levels.

You might ask why hold the Beach Wrestling and Sombo Wrestling national championships at the same time and place? There are many good reasons why they will be together in Florida this summer.

FILA will host the World Beach Wrestling Championships and the World Sombo Championships in Antalya, Turkey, Oct. 13-15. The U.S. Nationals in these styles will serve as the qualifying event for the American team at the World Championships. It makes sense to hold the qualifiers at the same time, giving enough time to organize and prepare the teams for competition.

In addition, putting the tournaments on the same weekend allows athletes who have a desire to try something new a special opportunity to compete in both styles.

The U.S. Beach Wrestling National Championships will be hosted at the Hilton Singer Island Waterfront Resort on Singer Island in Riviera Beach, Fla., Saturday, August 19. The U.S. National Sombo Championships will be at the North Palm Beach Community Center in North Palm Beach, Fla. on Sunday, August 20 (with weighins on Saturday night). Wrestlers will have the ability to compete in Beach Wrestling on Saturday and Sombo on Sunday under this format.

USA Wrestling will also be hosting two of its most important activities for leaders in Palm Beach County at the same time. The USA Wrestling Board of Directors will meet at the Hilton Singer Island Waterfront Resort during the weekend. In addition, the USA Wrestling State Leaders Conference will be held at the same time, with the organization’s grassroots leaders from across the nation getting together for education and planning. Basically, key USA Wrestling leaders will have an opportunity to see and learn about the new styles of wrestling, and can become more involved in building the new sports within the organization.

So, why should an athlete come down to Florida to participate in these events? A simple answer is that wrestling is wrestling. An athlete who competes in folkstyle wrestling, freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling will be able to test themselves on the beach and on a sombo mat. The skills needed in these sports are related to the skills used in the other forms of wrestling.

Also, based upon previous events that USA Wrestling has held in Beach Wrestling and in Sombo, participating in these styles can be fun and rewarding. These styles offer another opportunity for those within wrestling to further enjoy the sport that they love.

There will be age-group divisions at the Beach Nationals, allowing younger and older athletes both an opportunity to wrestle in the sand and challenge themselves. An entire family could participate together in this event, and also share a summer day at the beach. The details of the Sombo Nationals are being determined at this time, but you can expect that at some point there will be youth Sombo opportunities available within USA Wrestling.

Why Beach Wrestling?

Beach Wrestling is a very basic form of the sport. The wrestlers enter a 20-foot ring and attempt to take their opponents down to the ground. It is basically takedown wrestling. You can attack the legs like in a freestyle or folkstyle bout, or you can lock up and toss the opponent like a Greco-Roman match. Similar to the new international wrestling rules, you can also score if your opponent steps out of the ring. There is no “mat wrestling” as the wrestlers are returned to their feet if they are both down in the sand without scoring with control.

Watching a beach match is quite interesting. The sand tends to slow the athletes down a bit, and offers different challenges in terms of strength and position. Those who have found success in the other styles will be tested on the beach, using their skills and experience in some new situations.

USA Wrestling helped host one big Beach Wrestling event last year, the ASICS East Coast Beach Nationals, organized by the Metropolitan Wrestling Association in Long Beach, N.Y. More than 220 participants of all ages showed up and had a very good competition. Thousands of people on the beach and boardwalk stopped to watch the wrestling.

You might ask who wrestled in Long Beach? In addition to many local athletes, there were top young stars like the Grajales brothers from Florida and Nicole Woody of Maryland who competed in New York last year. The college division was large, and included athletes who were competitive on the NCAA levels. The Open division attracted some adult wrestlers who were top college wrestlers and international competitors in their day, and have stayed active in wrestling as coaches or parents.

Since Beach Wrestling is so new, nobody knows who will be the best at the sport, and what it will take to excel. This is a great chance for anybody to give it a try, and help develop the style here in the United States.

Why Sombo?

When it comes to Sombo, there is already considerable knowledge about the sport in our nation. Many of the athletes, coaches and officials within Sombo in recent years are also active within USA Wrestling programs. You should not be surprised to learn that some of the referees you may know from freestyle and Greco-Roman events also are involved in Sombo. In addition, there are coaches and former athletes within the wrestling community who also were active in the sport back in the 1980’s and beyond.

The most prominent name within wrestling who also had success in Sombo is the great Greg Gibson of the U.S. Marine Corps. Gibson won an Olympic silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in Greco-Roman and also captured a World medal in freestyle. His versatility was complete, when he won a World gold medal in Sombo, the highest level of achievement in that style as well. Gibson was legendary for his strength and his competitiveness, and he was able to transition from wrestling into Sombo very well.

A Sombo match is six minutes long, contested on a wrestling mat. You can win a match a few ways. A “total victory” ends the match, either with a perfect throw of a submission hold. A 12-point difference is a technical superiority, which also ends the match. At the end of the match, if there is no total victory, the points decide the bout. For a tie, there is a one-minute overtime, and if that is still tied, a referee’s decision. Wrestlers will feel very comfortable with these rules, especially when they learn the technique and the scoring regulations.

There is a Sombo wrestling community that participated in the sport through other organizations in the past. However, based upon the recent USA Wrestling qualifier held in Washington, D.C., as well as experience from the sport when it was part of wrestling prior to 1983, there is a tradition of wrestlers doing very well in Sombo after getting some basic instruction.

One of the participants at the event held at American Univ. was Steve Biedrycki, who competed for the USA on the world level in Greco-Roman but was also a World Cup champion in Sombo. He is now a coach, and plans to teach his young athletes how to do Sombo, to encourage them to expand their wrestling knowledge and skills. From people like Biedrycki, this sport can grow within USA Wrestling.

Sombo also fits nicely in the current trend of wrestlers who are interested in the mixed martial arts competition that have grown in popularity. Those that either watch these events, such as the UFC and Pride, or have intentions to get involved in those kinds of combat, would get a great deal of benefit from trying Sombo.

So, check your calendars and make plans to come to Florida this August. It will be a great chance to participate in different styles of wrestling and enjoy the company of friends in the overall wrestling community. See you on the Beach, and at the Sombo mats…

Gary Abbott is the Director of Communications and Special Projects for USA Wrestling and is a founder of the National Wrestling Media Association and is a 2005 recipient of the NWCA Meritorious Service Award.

Gary Abbott