"Wrestling is a tough sport", that simple statement makes anyone who's battled on the mat nod in agreement.  But why is wrestling a tough sport?  Most wrestlers immediately conjure up the images of sweat soaked clothing, burning lungs, and the occasional mat burn.  However, wrestling is a tough sport for more than the tremendous dedication and desire that it takes to get your hand raised in victory.  On a whole other level, wrestling is a tough sport because the learning process is a scrambled mix of moves and strategies, which blend and bounce from offense to defense almost seamlessly.   Therein lies the challenge for coaches to have an organized system of instruction for their participants.      In its finest and thrilling moments wrestling becomes a brutally astounding ballet of moves and counters that were rehearsed endlessly in the practice room.  To the uneducated observer of wrestling, what appears to be an accidental win usually was the result of a tireless honing of skills and techniques that are broken down to minute detail.  Again, therein lies the challenge for coaches.  Coaches must organize their technical instruction into an understandable set of techniques so that their wrestlers are more apt to win the thrilling scramble that is the highlight of a successful match.      All successful wrestling coaches center technical instruction to one area or another.  While one team is practicing a low-single series, another may be working hard on its vaunted upper-body throws.   Each team in any location has a unique imprint on its wrestling style, which is usually a direct reflection of the coach's philosophy of what works technically.      When the philosophy works, the match is an easy victory.  The low single was unstoppable, or the opponent never saw the toss coming.  But, as all coaches know eventually something goes awry on the mat and a wrestler has to be prepared to counter the counters.      When the planned offense runs afoul of the specified result it seems that most wrestlers wind up in an all too familiar position.  From the neutral position when one wrestler attacks the most common occurrence in a failed attack is the extended position or broken stance.  The attacker that took the risk no longer has his head up, his chest is brought past his knees, and he is stretched out.  The defender of the attack is in position to affect a simple go-behind for the score or lock up a front-headlock.  Any wrestler that would nod in agreement to the statement 'wrestling is a tough sport' probably has first hand knowledge of the feeling of a failed attack and a broken stance.      At this point in a match, it doesn't matter what offense a coach favors as an original attack, chances are the coach has narrowed the team's focus to four basic techniques.   To counter the counters that have got the attacker in the unsavory position of being stretched and in a broken stance, wrestlers need to effectively learn to back-out safely, sucker-drag and kelly effectively, and peek-out quickly.  These techniques are the most common counters to the counters that have the attacker sprawled out.      Often when dealing with wrestlers, who are just beginning to learn the tactics of the sport, coaches will notice that a wrestler will sellout completely on a shot.  Shooting on an opponent becomes an all or nothing gamble.  Of course coaches want to have a roomful of Brands-like clones that would mimic the Gable philosophy of the "more I'm in on his legs the less he's in on mine."  But it is difficult getting competitors to recognize when their shot was not successful at breaking through an opponent's defenses.      Wrestlers need to be tactically coached into recognizing at what point an attack failed and when to change to a secondary offense (counter the counter-peek-out, sucker-drag, kelly), or simply and safely back out of the shot.  Coaches who begin to discuss the tactic of when to change to a new attack might first explain to their athletes when an attack has failed.      Most wrestlers wouldn't argue that the attacker in the black singlet had failed in his initial attempt at penetration (Click here to see the still picture of the failed attack.).  The attacker is stretched and extended, totally flattened, with no room for movement because of the overwhelming pressure applied by the defender, NCAA runner-up Tommy Rowlands from Ohio State.  When an attack fails to this degree even previous tactical coaching likely will not help the offensive wrestler in giving up points.  Prior coaching should allude to this "total failure" scenario and encourage wrestlers to recognize the signs of a bad attack before reaching this point.    In discussing with members of a team when an attack has failed a coach may want to speak about timing and position.  Engrained in a wrestler's thought processes should be the idea of, "How quickly can I finish this attack?"  Generally coaches instruct wrestlers on the principle of set-up, shot, and finish.  These three distinct parts of an attack occur in succession and in an ideal situation should happen with deliberate speed.  Coaches may find it useful to condition a quick rhythmic mental cue into their athletes' minds.      A coach can help develop recognition in the need for speed on attack, by snapping his fingers three times in succession.  A repetitive process of talking to wrestlers about setup---snap----shot----snap----finish---snap will help wrestlers understand the expected speed that an attack should have.  Accordingly, a one-time reliance on the "snapping technique" will not develop the stimulus to conditioned response that coaches are looking for with timing.      The coach will need to make a consistent commitment to condition athletes to the expectation of speed in finishing an attack.  However, once kids realize that there should be deliberate speed in finishing an attack it will also enhance their skill in recognizing when an attack has failed to meet the expectation of a quick finish.      Once coaches have endeavored to teach timing.  Then, coaches may want to instruct their wrestlers on the tactical recognition of when an attack has failed.  Essentially, a failed attack is failure of position.  Wrestlers need to intuitively recognize the warning signs that lead to the "total failure" of an attack.  Before an attack reaches the total failure point, the attacker's position begins to fail in three basic respects.      First, athletes should be self-aware of their body alignment.  In a solid stance on most attacks the head, chest, and hips of an attacker are in vertical alignment.  But, when an attack begins to fail this body alignment fails and the attacker's position becomes parallel to the mat, stretched out or broken.      The second critical area of recognition is to understand when a wrestler has extended his reach to far.  This is commonly seen in youth wrestling when kids first begin to attend tournaments.  Coaches might want to instruct their athletes about shoulder contact in relation to their reach.      A key component of any penetration shot is the contact of an attacker's shoulder/s to the target area of an opponent's body.  If an attacker shoots a head outside double, his shoulder would be in solid contact with the defender's hips or trunk of his body.   In a high level single, the backside shoulder of the attacker would be in strong contact to the lower ribs of the defender.      Additionally, coaches again may want to reference what is correct head position on shots.  Coaches generally do this very effectively, but adding the idea of contact position gives coaches another way to express what is the expected position on an attack.      As wrestlers attempt an attack, their reach will extend as the contact position fails.  The correlation between these two parts of an attack is something that a coach should verse his/her athletes in.  It's more than saying, "don't reach" to a wrestler.      Wrestlers that understand that they don't have strong contact position to finish their attack will begin to realize that the natural impulse is to extend the reac