RBY documentary

[SocraTease]

The documentary on RBY that FLO dropped today is well done and worth a watch.

In some ways, it is less directly about RBY's wrestling (style, technique, big matches, story) and more about his background, upbringing, family, and community support system as well as they challenges he faced along the way.

One thing occurred to me about RBY's absolute obsession with video games when he was younger is that it might have helped to cultivate and hone his hand-eye coordination, his perception of very small changes immediately around him (especially his opponent's moves and body), his focus and mat awareness, and has ability to attack and counter-attack at the right time.  He apparently was/is very good at numerous video games and was considering a professional "career" playing these games for money rather than going to college.

He has an unbelievable cat-like quickness which may be reinforced by his habit of playing endless hours of these games.   It's speculative, but there could be something to it.

David Taylor likewise apparently grew up riding horses and that may have helped encourage his body awareness and even his ability to ride and chain wrestle.

Similarly, Dake seems to have a background of some kind in gymnastics, which seems to have aided his athleticism and proprioception.

Nolf ran cross country in high school and has really good endurance and an incredible "gas tank". 

And I'm pretty sure there are other examples out there of secondary pursuits and sports that help turn a very good athlete into an elite one: Mason Parris and football? Ben Askren played very high level competitive disk golf.  Spencer Lee's mother influence with martial arts?

Edited February 1, 2023 by SocraTease

[MizzouFan01]

Very good documentary. I especially liked the part about his coaches finding out Cael was on a visit recruiting Brandon Courtney, and his grandfather and coaches taking RBY to that practice and him subsequently putting it on Courtney. Apparently Penn State wasn’t recruiting him prior to that. Amazing how things work out. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, SocraTease said:

The documentary on RBY that FLO dropped today is well done and worth a watch.

In some ways, it is less directly about RBY's wrestling (style, technique, big matches, story) and more about his background, upbringing, family, and community support system as well as they challenges he faced along the way.

One thing occurred to me about RBY's absolute obsession with video games when he was younger is that it might have helped to cultivate and hone his hand-eye coordination, his perception of very small changes immediately around him (especially his opponent's moves and body), his focus and mat awareness, and has ability to attack and counter-attack at the right time.  He apparently was/is very good at numerous video games and was considering a professional "career" playing these games for money rather than going to college.

He has an unbelievable cat-like quickness which may be reinforced by his habit of playing endless hours of these games.   It's speculative, but there could be something to it.

David Taylor likewise apparently grew up riding horses and that may have helped encourage his body awareness and even his ability to ride and chain wrestle.

Similarly, Dake seems to have a background of some kind in gymnastics, which seems to have aided his athleticism and proprioception.

Nolf ran cross country in high school and has really good endurance and an incredible "gas tank". 

And I'm pretty sure there are other examples out there of secondary pursuits and sports that help turn a very good athlete into an elite one: Mason Parris and football? Ben Askren played very high level competitive disk golf.  Spencer Lee's mother influence with martial arts?

Mason Parris was the Indiana high school version of Bo Jackson. 3x state champ in wrestling, 3x first team all-state linebacker, 3x defensive player of the year, 2x state qualifier in shot put, 2x state qualifier in 110m hurdles.

[dragit]

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

2x state qualifier in 110m hurdles.

!!!!!

[1032004]

4 hours ago, MizzouFan01 said:

Very good documentary. I especially liked the part about his coaches finding out Cael was on a visit recruiting Brandon Courtney, and his grandfather and coaches taking RBY to that practice and him subsequently putting it on Courtney. Apparently Penn State wasn’t recruiting him prior to that. Amazing how things work out. 

That was interesting, I also didn’t realize coaches go to practices to recruit…

[MPhillips]

1 hour ago, 1032004 said:

That was interesting, I also didn’t realize coaches go to practices to recruit…

Practices, duals, tournaments, homes, etc. Coaches go everywhere...

[PortaJohn]

2 hours ago, 1032004 said:

That was interesting, I also didn’t realize coaches go to practices to recruit…

 

1 hour ago, MPhillips said:

Practices, duals, tournaments, homes, etc. Coaches go everywhere...

I guess I'll have to be the whistleblower on this.  Cael used to work with Julian Assange.  The WikiLeaks organization used to hack into a recruits email and compile key data for Sanderson. This enabled him to weigh the pro and cons on recruits and whether or not to continue to pursue them.  Another example of the dirty side of college wrestling 

[headshuck]

!!!!!

He ran through the hurdles?

[Idaho]

I mowed lawns to earn money as a kid, probably helped me with pushing stuff... maybe pushing the pace in a match as well. If the push out rule was around when I was wrestling, the lawn mowing definitely would have been to my advantage.  I also played Atari as a kid... the action in teh video games was pretty slow compared to today. I attribute my slowness to that. I feel cheated that the games I grew up on did not prepare me for wrestling as it did RBY. 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

8th grade was the best three years of RBY's life...

[1032004]

The doc sounds like he only did 8th grade twice now

edit:  shoot I think I misunderstood that video he did with JerseyJerry.  He just said he “did 8th grade twice,” not that he “got held back twice”

Edited February 1, 2023 by 1032004

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

23 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

The doc sounds like he only did 8th grade twice now

edit:  shoot I think I misunderstood that video he did with JerseyJerry.  He just said he “did 8th grade twice,” not that he “got held back twice”

Interesting.  Here is a question:  Is it really doing 8th grade twice if you are just wrestling, gaming and not attending school at all?

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, Idaho said:

I mowed lawns to earn money as a kid, probably helped me with pushing stuff... maybe pushing the pace in a match as well. If the push out rule was around when I was wrestling, the lawn mowing definitely would have been to my advantage.  I also played Atari as a kid... the action in teh video games was pretty slow compared to today. I attribute my slowness to that. I feel cheated that the games I grew up on did not prepare me for wrestling as it did RBY. 

Atari? Luxury, sheer luxury.

 

 

[Scouts Honor]

great post.

many of your points are good.

but i think that elite people are just elite.  they are good at whatever they do. they have the drive to excel.

i know lots of kids who are obsessed with video games and good at them who can't do anything with their bodies of an athletic nature... and no they aren't overweight couch potatoes

 

its like saying playing multiple sports helped someone reach the NFL. no they are in the nfl b/c they are a freak of nature and were driven to be the best. they did all those other sports as well, b/c they realized they could dominate them as well in high school.

I saw derrick henry play in a high school game... didn't know who he was, and wondered why the game was on espn. then i saw this giant. i realized what was going on. henry would have dominated almost any sport he played.

Edited February 1, 2023 by Scouts Honor

[JVStateChamp]

I do not believe that NFL players decided to wrestle because they realized they could dominate in high school. They probably used the tools and skills that wrestling inherently develops to use on the football field such as balance, hand fighting, and fighting for position. I am sure their are plenty of high level football players that wrestled for their high school that did not dominate, just as someone who is very high level in wrestling does not always dominate at football. But the skills they are able to enhance doing multiple sports expands their athletic ability.

[ionel]

2 hours ago, Idaho said:

I mowed lawns to earn money as a kid, probably helped me with pushing stuff... maybe pushing the pace in a match as well. If the push out rule was around when I was wrestling, the lawn mowing definitely would have been to my advantage.  I also played Atari as a kid... the action in teh video games was pretty slow compared to today. I attribute my slowness to that. I feel cheated that the games I grew up on did not prepare me for wrestling as it did RBY. 

If the push out rule had been around then we would've been paying our neighbors just for the privilege of mowing their lawn.  

Also check out the kid most interested in the rule change:

https://www.wrestlestat.com/wrestler/79261/mower-benjamin/profile

[MPhillips]

5 minutes ago, ionel said:

Also check out the kid most interested in the rule change:

https://www.wrestlestat.com/wrestler/79261/mower-benjamin/profile

Does he cut it close?

[ionel]

1 minute ago, MPhillips said:

Does he cut it close?

WS shows 86% bonus rate so I'd say NO.

[Scouts Honor]

4 hours ago, JVStateChamp said:

I do not believe that NFL players decided to wrestle because they realized they could dominate in high school. They probably used the tools and skills that wrestling inherently develops to use on the football field such as balance, hand fighting, and fighting for position. I am sure their are plenty of high level football players that wrestled for their high school that did not dominate, just as someone who is very high level in wrestling does not always dominate at football. But the skills they are able to enhance doing multiple sports expands their athletic ability.

to some extent im sure that wrestling enhanced their play in football... but there are many people in the NFL who didn't wrestle . probably some who only played football ...

so are you saying that bball is what made another guy great? was it soccer? ballet like lynn swann? no. they can enhance.

but these people are elite b/c of something else... not b/c they learned leverage in wrestling. they could have learned leverage playing football. or rugby or maybe they never did and have another way to win the one on one in the trench.

[mspart]

I like the description "freak of nature" to describe these guys.   What distinguishes between freaks of nature is how hard they work at perfecting their craft.   And how long they continue working at it.  Freak of nature might get you to college but there are a lot of freaks of nature in college, most of them probably.   It is those that work the hardest or are the freakiest of the freaks that make it beyond.

mspart

[RYou]

20 hours ago, JVStateChamp said:

I do not believe that NFL players decided to wrestle because they realized they could dominate in high school. They probably used the tools and skills that wrestling inherently develops to use on the football field such as balance, hand fighting, and fighting for position. I am sure there are plenty of high level football players that wrestled for their high school that did not dominate, just as someone who is very high level in wrestling does not always dominate at football. But the skills they are able to enhance doing multiple sports expands their athletic ability.

While the kids were in grammar school, we moved to a town that was consistently ranked in the top ten in the state, and No.1 a couple recent years. Almost all of the wrestlers 140 and up were crossovers to football. It consistently produced state champs and placers but were mediocre in football. Then when the eldest was in 8th grade the HS hired a new football coach and staff.  Just before wrestling practice was to begin, the football coach gave an ultimatum, forget about wrestling, basketball baseball and lacrosse; if you want to start next fall you have to be in the weight room during winter and spring.  It devastated the wrestling team turnout.  Almost allk were kids that had spent years in the town youth wrestling program and would have been future placers and some champs. The wrestling staff which included a state and USA hall of fame coach complained to the AD.  He did nothing.  We even contacted NFL players and college football coaches and asked them to call or write letters to the AD about the benefits of wrestling had on their football careers.  The AD ignored all of it. At the end of the season, the wrestling coaching staff resigned after leading the program for 20 years.  It killed the wrestling program.  Word spread and the participation in the youth program started falling since that HoF coach was no longer running the program. It's been 30 years now and it still hasn't recovered even though that football coach is long gone. 

Side story....that football coach, now there about 10 years..... was out jogging after school one winter evening and UPS van driver didn't see him, backed up and road over him.  Busted up his hip and one leg pretty good.  He never returned to the school.  The replacement coach had an entirely opposite philosophy and encouraged the FBs to wrestle and play other sports.

[Jason Bryant]

Speaking of Atari … these were delivered from back home last week. Still gotta spend the time to get the consoles working/plugged in to see if they work.

[Idaho]

5 minutes ago, Jason Bryant said:

Speaking of Atari … these were delivered from back home last week. Still gotta spend the time to get the consoles working/plugged in to see if they work.

Very cool .... I also have my original atari... Pitfall was a great one. There are a lot of sites out there with resources. 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Idaho

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

The full 1 hour film is here for free:

 

https://www.flowrestling.org/collections/10273249-rby-straight-outta-tucson/video?playing=10461363

[Scouts Honor]

15 hours ago, mspart said:

I like the description "freak of nature" to describe these guys.   What distinguishes between freaks of nature is how hard they work at perfecting their craft.   And how long they continue working at it.  Freak of nature might get you to college but there are a lot of freaks of nature in college, most of them probably.   It is those that work the hardest or are the freakiest of the freaks that make it beyond.

mspart

i agree!!