The spladle is a wrestling technique commonly used as a counter and pinning move to single leg take downs.
Commonly employed as a counter to a single-leg takedown, the maneuver involves trapping and splitting the opponent’s legs to effectively neutralize their offense. When pulled off correctly, the spladle can be virtually impossible to escape.
HOW TO
Drop your weight to prevent the takedown. As your opponent shoots in, bend your knees and sink your bodyweight.
Lean your torso down over their back to put yourself in position to trap their leg.
Thread your arm behind your opponent’s opposite leg. Take a half step back and to the side with your free leg so that you’re turned at a slight angle.
Reach across the opponent’s back with your controlling hand (the one that’s on the same side as the leg targeted for the takedown) and snake it under their far-side leg.
Lock your hands. Bring your free hand around to meet your controlling hand on the backside of the opponent’s calf.
Step behind your opponent’s same-side leg. Brace yourself on your support leg and slide the other between your opponent's legs.
Fall backward to initiate the roll. Drop your weight while simultaneously folding your free leg underneath you.
Pry the opponent’s legs apart. Once you’ve got them on the mat, hug the far-side leg tight to your chest. At the same time, extend your lower body to push your opponent’s same-side leg away.
Use your free leg to pin down your opponent’s same-side leg.
Grab the opponent’s heel with your free hand. Readjust your grip on your opponent’s opposite leg so that you’re immobilizing it with your right hand. Then, wrap the fingers of your left hand around the back of their Achilles from the opposite direction.
Plant both feet on the mat.
Keep your shoulders off the mat. Rather than lying flat on your back, which puts you in danger of being your pinned yourself, turn into your opponent and scoot your hips back so that your weight is over your side.
Watch the following short video to learn how to hit a spladle: