Wrestling drills at home for 8 year olds

An 8 year old can practice conditioning, escapes & reversals and pinning at home with 21 wrestling drills picked for the age. Keep a session to about 25 minutes, up to 3 days a week, with rest days between. Why: Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week (NATA youth sport specialization recommendations).

A parent's page for an 8 year old: the drills that work at home, one session to follow, what changes this year and how much is healthy. Free, no account.

By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated November 5, 2026

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A parent's page. Free to read; no card to start; running a team is always free.

At a glance

At 8: 21 wrestling drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.
How long: One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.
How often: At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.
What you need: Most used: mat (16 of the 21 drills), rolled blanket or dummy (7), mat or grass (2), mat or open floor (1), mirror (1), open floor (1), pile of cushions or dummy (1). 2 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.
Safe at home: One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

21 at-home drills

Wrestling drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

conditioning

Conditioning

escapes & reversals

Escapes & Reversals

pinning

Pinning

riding & control

Riding & Control

stance & motion

Stance & Motion

A 21-minute session

A home wrestling session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 21 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1Wrestling Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for wrestling players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then wrestling moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2Stand-Up ShadowBack up, hands busy.8 min
3Wrestling Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for wrestling players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and lower back, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in wrestling training at 8

The app opens the same 21 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting wrestling into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.

The research behind it

Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.
Côté and Vierimaa 2014
Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.
NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers

What wrestling drills can an 8 year old do at home?

21 drills the app opens at 8 work at home. A few to start with: Log Rolls and Crawls, Sprawls and Shots and Balance and Coordination ABCs. One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

How long should an 8 year old practice wrestling at home?

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old. At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What do you need to practice wrestling at home at 8?

Most used: mat (16 of the 21 drills), rolled blanket or dummy (7), mat or grass (2), mat or open floor (1), mirror (1), open floor (1), pile of cushions or dummy (1). 2 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

What changes in wrestling training at 8?

The app opens the same 21 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.