Team Ruiz Combat Grappling rocked it at the 2013 Utah Freestyle
and Greco Roman Wrestling State Championships yesterday and today!

We had 7 national qualifiers!
The boys qualified for the US Nationals this summer in Fargo, North Dakota. 

We had 3 double champions in Roy Nash (220 Junior),
Aaron Thomson (182 Junior) and Dalton Mortensen (285 Cadet).
Brayden Nuffer placed 5th in Greco and 2nd in Freestyle (182 Junior).
Jonathan Cox was 3rd in Freestyle (220 Junior).
Quain (Steven) Holtey was 3rd in Greco and 4thin Freestyle (285 Cadet).
Richard Larsen was 2nd in Freestyle (285 Junior).
Bryce Gott (120 Cadet) did not place but fought some tough matches and
we hope he will make it next year.

I was very pleased with the effort from each one of them! We had some great
breakthroughs!
 
We are now preparing to send these athletes to the national championships!
I’m excited to be helping such a motivated group! 
 
Ruiz Combat Grappling = The BEST Big Guys in the State! 


 

Over the past few weeks our wrestling club has been making some great strides in their training and competition. Right now we have eight athletes who are getting some of the best coaching available in the state of Utah. Not only do these guys have the good fortune of learning from yours truly but we are getting them super strong following world champion powerlifter Chris McGrail’s strength and conditioning programs. 

One of those young men is Roy Nash and was the ONLY undefeated wrestler in the state of Utah this year. I’m really excited about the athletes on our club right now. Richard Larsen and Aaron Thomson will be competing at the High School Senior Nationals this week and I know they will have great stories to share when they get back. I’m looking forward to our guys getting the chance to qualify for the US Nationals in Freestyle and Greco in a few weeks. 
Here are some quick vids to see what we’ve been up to.

If you would like to know more about our club hit me up here: [email protected] 

Every year it always seems like it takes spring so long to arrive. I love being outdoors and training in the fresh air. One of my favorite activities for training at the Olympic Training Center was going outside and pummeling and drilling arm drags and other standing techniques on the grass. We would work our positioning and our standing attacks outdoors where we could see the sun and feel the breeze. Those were good times. 

Since then I've adopted some unique methods for outdoor training including lifting heavy rocks, pull ups on the local park equipment, and using my bike inner tubes to practice throws and sprawling defensive techniques. Training outdoors every now and then keeps things fresh and helps you adapt to new environments. Obviously there are some techniques that are less effective outdoors but I encourage all of you to take your grappling and wrestling training outside.