Coach Dick Cardinal was my first legitimate CACC coach. He was also the first Head Coach for the Scientific WrestlingCoaching Coach program.
Dick Cardinal, respected American At Show catch-as-catch-can wrestler, passed away on Christmas Eve, 2020 at the age of 93.
He was a great wrestler, a great man, and a great friend. I included a lengthy interview with Coach Cardinal in my 2011 best-selling book Say Uncle! too.
My friend Mark Hewitt wrote an amazing eulogy here. Please enjoy this clip of Coach teaching keylocks from 15 years ago (he was 78 here!):
From 2007. Me, Coach Cardinal, my newborn daughter Leona, and my wife Sondra.
I am so happy that BJJFanatics.com has given the sport of CACC a broader platform from which to share it’s bag of tricks with the grappling world at large! I was honored that they asked me to do some instructionals for them. My most recent instructional, The Nelson Family, is the very first comprehensive application of the Nelson hold for grappling (special thanks to SW CoachJesse Marez for all the help)!
Volume 1 covers Standing CACC and is absolutely jam-packed with takedowns and throws.
Volume 2, Catch Wrestling Submissions, picks up where Vol 1 left off, showing you how to finish the match On-Top via scores of submissions and pinning set-ups and combinations. Additionally, I cover Underneath escapes and reversals too!
I am very proud of these DVDs. I hope you pick them up (and if you do, please leave a review on the BJJ Fanatics site)! This is CACC specifically for grappling although any in either martial arts or professional wrestling will radically benefit from studying these as well.
Check these other brilliant CATCH-AS-CATCH-CAN WRESTLING instructionals over at BJJ Fanatics too!!!
Yoshiaki KUMICHO Fujiwara is the only person that Karl Gotch personally recommended that I learn Karl’s methods from. He called him his “greatest student”.
Josh Barnett’s impact upon keeping CACC alive cannot be overstated. The WARMASTER is perhaps the most technical and successful heavyweights to ever wave the catch-as-catch-can banner!
Erik Paulson is quite literally a human encyclopedia of martial arts and his depth of knowledge of CACC is always impressive. Check out this legend from Shooto!
Mr. Miyato from Japan is the only other person I know that spent as much time learning the art of coaching catch-as-catch-can directly from Billy Robinson as I did. Highly Recommended!
Neil Melanson is great instructor, innovator, and representative of the Gokor/Lebell line of CACC.
Melanson is a master at keeping CACC techniques relevant to the broader MMA/grappling game.
Gokor Chivichyan is one of the greatest grappling instructors of all time, in my opinion. I was able to spent 6 month at his North Hollywood dojo circa 2004 and was absolutely blown away by his prowess and technical efficiency. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Harry Grech is a successful athlete and instructor. He’s also one of the few people to earn the approval of Josh WARMASTER Barnett himself.
If you have a few hours to burn learning about catch-as-catch-can grappling related stuff I have been a guest on a few podcasts since we’ve been locked down.
First, listen to the brilliant Sonny Brown interview me on the Sonny Brown Breakdown here.
Then I was on Kaleb Planks’InfernoCast , on Coach Brian’sTeach Me Grappling, Chris Marten’sBizJitsu podcast about my DVT and discovery of my carotid artery dissection/mini-Stroke last September:
Then it was awesome the Josh WARMASTER Barnett gave me a shout out on the Joe Rogan Podcast (at about the 59:30 mark):
The most fun are the podcasts I do with friends and younger athletes that I admire like Josh STARLORD Leduc:
…and Emil Fischer on his Baking Cookies, Taking Limbs podcast:
Hope you all are doing ok during Lockdown. Hit me up if you have an questions or ideas for me! Thanks.
And if well-sourced, well written scholarly articles on CACC aren’t your cup of tea, sit-in on these exclusive RARE but lengthy audio conversations with “God of Wrestling” Karl Gotch himself:
Also, one of my gonzo journalistic endeavors where I cobbled together scraps of lost footage from my 7 year apprenticeship with Billy “The British Lion” Robinson:
Also, please subscribe to and listen my new podcast, “Do It Again” with great guests like Wade “Pinisher” Schalles, Guy Mezger, Josh “Warmaster” Barnett, D.B. Smith, Brandon Ruiz, Marty Jones, and many more:
Thank you so much for your support over the years! Those that have attended our Certified Catch Wrestler camps in the past can come to our upcoming (and UPGRADED) 3-day camp for only $250 when you use the special discount code “loyaltyreward” (without quotations) at registration here:
“These days, almost everybody’s coming into combat sports through the Japanese style of learning, with the belt system. That’s what is great about Jake’s and my idea about the certification. It wouldn’t have been necessary in the old days, but it’s necessary now. It helps create an interest among all those people who want to come to a seminar and get a certificate, so we can actually teach them the old catch-as-catch-can way – to learn how to learn. And I can’t blame them for wanting to have their names noted as part of the history of catch-as-catch-can.” –Billy Robinson, Physical Chess, p. 139-140
Experience the ONLY coaching certification co-designed and explicitly endorsed by the legendary Billy Robinson!!
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
-CACC Coaching Best Practices
-Rule Set Variations
-Conditioning Drills
-Principles of Wrestling Scientifically
-CACC Concepts, Techniques, and Chains
-Reverse Terminal Takedown Chains
-Punishing Rides
-Defense
-Reversals
-Hand fighting
-Pinning Combinations
-CACC finishing holds (neck cranks, strangles, leglocks, wristlocks, etc)
-…and so much more!
WHAT YOU WILL RECEIVE
-Become a member of the most prestigious & proven catch wrestling coaching certification in the world, the only with a curriculum co-designed by Billy Robinson.
-Certification and listing on the CoachingCatch.com site.
-Lifetime access to ScientificWrestling.com (value: $$$ thousands)
-Do It Again: The Coaching Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling Manual by Jake Shannon
-The Billy Robinson Signature package (over a $235.90 value!)
-The exclusive, limited-edition Scientific Wrestling rashguard ($60 value)
-Discounted memberships to PIN and SUBMIT, USA Catch Wrestling, and the International Catch Wrestling Federation events
!!!!NOTE!!!!: If you’ve ever attended a Certified Catch Wrestler camp in the past (going all the way back to our beginning in 2007) you are eligible for our LOYALTY REWARD discount! You’re 3-day Coaching Catch camp experience is only $250!
Also, IF you bring more than yourself, you will receive $100 for every new attendee that registers and attends!!