Distribution of gripping strategies will remain mixed, with weight towards secondarily effective gripping strategies. In other words, the best players in the repechage use a gripping strategy that may not be effective against elite players but it will win through to a chance for the bronze. Elite rounds include quarterfinals, semi-finals, bronze medal matches and finals. Distribution of gripping strategies, during elite rounds, heavily favors the most effective approach. The tables, below, represent the distribution of gripping strategies.
Distribution is reported by percentage of matches contested using each gripping strategy.
It is likely that the competitors, observed during this research, developed their personal gripping strategies spontaneously. The lack of a consistent approach to gripping suggests that the national coaching structures did not focus on, or even address, gripping skill development. A gripping strategy is the most important tool that a player develops. After all your gripping strategy determines your ability to attack and, more importantly, how well you defend yourself. It is a major Coaching error to leave something as important as the development of gripping strategy to chance.