Just when you think you have the start figured out, somebody comes along and makes you think again. Case in point, Brad Tandy.
We were working on trying to get Brad an outside pole on the start and he came up with this crazy looking thing. Part crossover, part stride, part jump. But it worked! We’re still trying to figure out how he does it.
Brad has become quite good at it now, but when we first started working on it, he was struggling to figure it out. We tried flying start prototypes that I had often used on big flights to push my jumps further. But Brad was struggling to jump with any force as he had his hands out to the side and was surfing on his technique. We kept working on it till he figured it out.
Tandy’s Start at the NCAA Level
Brad Tandy stunned the college wrestling world when he burst onto the national scene in 2010. As a true freshman, Tandy had never been told just how good he was. That changed when he went out in 2009 and qualified for the NCAA Championships.
He had a 10-5 record as a freshman, but he had never wrestled in the postseason. As a result, he went undrafted for the 2009 World Team Trials. He went into the 2010 NCAA National Championships 100% determined to prove he was one of the best. As it turned out, his start was absolutely ridiculous.
At the 2010 NCAA National Championships, Tandy was one of the youngest competitors. He won three matches up to that point in the tournament. In the quarterfinals, he took on defending NCAA Champion Derek St. John. The match was over in 29 seconds.