Cade’s skill roadmap

Where he is now, and the order the pieces should come. Folkstyle wrestler, age 12, 95 lb — built around the strength and toughness he already has, not a generic checklist.

Cade is a strong, tough, athletic wrestler who's just started setting up his shots. The strength and the toughness are strengths and don't need building. He's held back by being one-dimensional: one shot with no setup or follow-up, no escape from the bottom, and fading in the third period. This roadmap turns a strong one-shot kid into a wrestler who scores from every position.

The fastest fix is making the shot he already has actually land.

• Hand-fight-to-the-shot reps — no naked shots, every attempt off a setup.
• Chain wrestling — a stuffed shot flows into a second attack.
• One rule in matches: set it up, and never stop on the first shot.

The measure isn't a drill — it's a match where his double lands on a kid who stuffed it before.

The bottom is where he bleeds points. This block makes it a place he scores.

• Stand-up reps — hand control, foot up, drive up, face him.
• Escapes and reversals under a live ride.
• Learning that bottom is an offensive position, not a survival one.

His strength carries the early going; the next step is the part where matches are won.

• Grind rounds — keep attacking when tired, not just surviving.
• Conditioning built into live wrestling, not separate from it.
• The mindset that being tired is normal and the attacker wins late.

By next season the pieces should combine into a wrestler who scores from anywhere.

• Set-up offense with a second and third attack in a chain.
• Scoring off the bottom, not just escaping.
• Wrestling a hard, offensive third period as a habit.

Don't chase all of it at once — that's how a strong kid stays a one-trick wrestler. One horizon at a time, in order. The setups first, because they make the shot he already has land, which builds confidence for the rest. Revisit every few months; as one piece locks in, the next one sharpens.