Today’s fun information, as voted on by the discord server, concerns Irish Collar and Elbow wrestling. Collar and Elbow is a more than 300-year-old form of jacket wrestling in which the goal is to pin the opponent’s shoulderblades to the ground for 3 seconds. While you and your opponent are standing, you are not allowed to let go of each other’s collar and elbow, as the name suggests. Here’s a video about leglocks used in collar-and-elbow and another about going for pins. Of course, what you’re really here for is video of people doing the actual wrestling. I would be more than happy to oblige.

Watch this video and compare the bout at 6:30 to the one immediately following it. That first match features the wrestlers throwing themselves onto their backs in order to throw their opponents, which is a dangerous maneuver. The second bout is far more focused on leglocks, sweeps, and tests of strength. If you want to see all these techniques used at a top level, go to 14:10 in the video. If you’re interested in wrestling Collar and Elbow yourself, here are the modern rules.

See you all at practice,

Lev Bernstein

Secretary, Quiz Bowl at NYU, 2020-2021