The season doesn't decide who wins
Folkstyle season is a few months long. The wrestlers who climb every year are the ones training the other nine, and freestyle and Greco are where that work happens.
What the offseason actually changes
During folkstyle season, wrestlers compete constantly and have little room to change anything fundamental — you don't rebuild a stance in the middle of a dual meet schedule. The offseason is the only stretch long enough to fix real problems and add real technique.
Freestyle and Greco aren't just filler until November. They're different rulesets that expose different weaknesses. A wrestler who can't hand fight gets found out in Greco. A wrestler who wrestles passively gets scored on in freestyle. Both problems carry back into folkstyle, where they were hidden.
Our own results reflect that. The largest share of Dead Shot state medals have come in Greco-Roman and Freestyle, not folkstyle — because that's where our wrestlers put in the months nobody sees.
Freestyle and Greco-Roman
Freestyle
Scoring rewards attacking and exposure rather than control. Wrestlers who only wrestle folkstyle often find freestyle forces them to open up — you can't stall your way through a match. It's the style wrestled at the Olympics and at most national tournaments.
Greco-Roman
No attacks below the waist, which forces hand fighting, position, and upper-body throws. Greco builds the tie-up strength and body awareness that show up immediately when a wrestler returns to folkstyle in November.
School-season wrestlers
You don't have to leave your school program to train here, and we're not asking you to. Club and school wrestling aren't in competition — the club is where the technique gets built so the school season is where it pays off.
High school wrestlers with college ambitions especially need this. College coaches want film against real competition, and offseason national tournaments are where that film gets made. If that's the goal, the collegiate prep path starts with year-round training.
Year-round, four nights a week
Monday through Thursday at 1719 N Mayberry Rd, Alton, TX. Style emphasis shifts through the year — folkstyle in season, freestyle and Greco in the spring and summer.
Come train a practice
Your first practice is free. Wrestle with the group and see whether this is the room you want to spend an offseason in.
Questions about offseason training
What is offseason wrestling?
Training in the spring and summer, after the school folkstyle season ends. We switch to freestyle and Greco-Roman — the international styles — which reward attacks and positions folkstyle does not, then carry that back into the fall.
What's the difference between folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman?
Folkstyle is the American school style and rewards control and riding. Freestyle rewards exposure and scoring in bursts, so wrestlers learn to attack instead of grinding.
Greco-Roman bans attacks below the waist, which forces hand fighting, position and upper-body throws. That tie-up strength shows up immediately when a wrestler returns to folkstyle in November.
Does my wrestler have to train in the offseason?
No, but this is where the gap opens. The wrestlers who place in February are usually the ones who kept training in June. If your wrestler plays another sport, come when you can — partial offseason beats none.
Can we join just for the offseason?
Yes. Membership is month to month, so a wrestler can train the spring and summer and stop when their school season starts. Many school-team wrestlers use us exactly that way.
See monthly ratesWill offseason wrestling interfere with another sport?
Usually not, and it often helps — the conditioning, balance and body control carry over. Tell the coaches what else your wrestler is playing so training load can be managed instead of stacked.
Do wrestlers compete during the offseason?
They can. Freestyle and Greco events run through the spring and summer, including TX-USAW tournaments, and competing in a lower-stakes season is a good way to try things a wrestler would not risk in a school dual.
See upcoming eventsClaim your free trial class
Step on the mat. Meet the coaches. See if Dead Shot is the right fit — your first class is on us.