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Abstract/Description

The sport of wrestling dates back as far as recorded history. Folk style is a subdivision of that ancient sport, considered the most popular form of wrestling in U.S high schools and universities. An important skill used by Folk style wrestlers is the snap down technique. However, there is a lack of scientific literature that examines the kinematic motions of the snap down technique bilaterally. Understanding athletic ambidexterity is an important factor in athletic performance and injury prevention, particularly in wrestling. Therefore, the purpose of the research study was to bilaterally examine the kinematic motions of the upper extremity in the snap down technique. A standard two-dimensional kinematic motion analysis was conducted with six male collegiate wrestlers. The results showed no significant statistical difference between right and left side in relation to elbow joint displacement (0.09, p < 0.05), angular velocity (0.51, p < 0.05), angular acceleration (0.99, p < 0.05) and shoulder joint displacement (0.55, p < 0.05), angular velocity (0.16, pp < 0.05). These findings indicated that upper limb ambidexterity was achieved by all college wrestlers in the study. Further examination of the video analysis in this study, it revealed that some wrestlers performed the skill using their shoulder and elbow as “prime executors” of the technique while other wrestlers utilized their hips as the point of technique execution and used the shoulder and elbow joints as stabilizers of the opponent. Upon this discovery, future studies are warranted to investigate the kinematics of lower extremity motion in the snap down technique.

Note on the Author

Nicholas DeCastro is a senior Athletic Training major. His research project was completed in the summer of 2014 under the mentorship of Dr. Tom Wu (Movement Arts, Health Promotion & Leisure Studies) and made possible through funding provided by an Adrian Tinsley Program Summer Research Grant. Nicholas was previously published in The Undergraduate Review during his freshman year.

Rights Statement

Articles published in The Undergraduate Review are the property of the individual contributors and may not be reprinted, reformatted, repurposed or duplicated, without the contributor’s consent.

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