Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-09
WRESTLERS DEVELOP HOLDS
Methods of Attack More Highly Va
ried Than in Fighting Game.
eOTCHs STYLE IS UNCHANGED
Champion Keeps 90 Old Tactics OF
Keeping His Adversary out Of
Plumb Untu lie Finds an
OpeninR for rail-.

NEW YORK. April S.--Contrasted with I
boxing wrestling has proved through the /
last few months that matches are often /
won with a great variety Of holds. whereas !
boxing matches are generally won BY
limited number Of we'll known punches.
The favorite methods Of attack OF the diff y,
ferent prominent grapplers have become
familiar this winter and are being copied
by the amsteurs Perhaps the combina-
ton Of locks that wins the most matches
Is a crotch and front-nelson, which usually
begins with an inside leg hold and half
nelson Every one Of the wrestIers usually
resorts to these tactics wherever il is pos
sible, and the majority Of matches are
won with holds above the wrist
George Hackcnsehmidt in the last two
months. has been very successful In the
development Of the toe hold with its eN-
treme leverage on the knee and thigh.
IIackenschmdt also employs the hammer
lock freely and is remarkably successful
at II. In some instances he has earned
falls with double hammerlock and is also
exceptionally strong on the bar arms and
the arm locks
GOtch Holds speed.
Gotchs style has remained substantially
unchanged. The champion has won the
majority Of his matches by his ability to
keep his adversary out Of plumb. In other
| words. he succeeds i'm making the other
/ fellow so extremely busy trying to right
| himself that he never gets quite ready TO
/ wreste Gotch has maintained his speed
| and skill throughout the season, although
/ he was not i'm good condition from tho
| wrestling point of view when he again
| went on the mat in January Working on
| the farm was right so far keeping the
| big wrestler in health and strength went
! but pitching hay and operating farm ma
chinerv did not give his long wrestling
| muscles any exercise. Gotch was Off the
mat for period OF nine months and It
! took at least six weeks of good hard work
in the arena to put him back in form
| This fact may have had considerable to
do with the failure to bring Gotch and
Hackenschmidt together. The foreigner
had tho advantage OF two months work
over the champion, and by the time Gotch
was shaping up again Hackenschmdt was
in the hardest and best condition
Small Men Speediest.
The employment of the different scissors
holds seems to have been relegated very
largely to the middleweight and welter-
weight classes. Such grapplers as the
Mysterious Conductor and Walter Will
/ lOuEnDy are pIOuLlG IN Nne use u biicAl
@legs in the execution Of great variety Of
locks. II may be assumed that these
smaller men have greater speed than any
OF the big men could hope to have. The
deadlock and its twin, the chancery, have
not gone out of vogue, and are employed
by number Of wrestlers. The closing OF
the season demonstrates above all things
the kindness Of fate toward the rough con-
tingent, such as Leo Pardello and the Mys
terious waffles. 1t is a marvel that they
succeed in getting away, without broken
bones or cracked spines. The advent OF
so many amateurs in the professional
square has brought about casualty list
greater than that Of any other season for
many years. A number Of deaths have
been reported and serious injuries have
been of frequent occurrence. Ambition has
usually been back OF most of these re-
suits. and the younger wrestlers do not