Multiple-time Greco-Roman world teamer Joe Betterman joins the show to talk with Tim Hands and Dennis Hall about life after competition and the World Team Trials.

The second episode of the Five Point Move Podcast is up and ready. For our first guest, we wanted to get a Greco-Roman athlete who accomplished big things on the mat, big things off the mat and more than anything, is just a genuinely great person — that’s why it’s two-time Olympian and six-time World Team member Spenser Mango. Now an assistant coach for the Army/WCAP, the team in which he finished his career and experienced plenty of high points with, Mango opens up about how he has felt so far in his early post-retirement along with some of the challenges (and advantages) he faces in his emerging coaching career.

Also involved are USA Wrestling’s new modifications to the United World Wrestling Greco-Roman rule-set. This includes the new emphasis on “hooking” as well as the new caution-and-two on the table for the second call on finger-grabbing. Needless to say, co-host Dennis Hall has some reactions to this topic that are worth the price of admission. Other aspects of Mango’s career and a couple of stories bookend the program/

The Five Point Move Podcast is being brought to you by the Mat Talk Online and a very special thanks goes out to Jason Bryant for his assistance in both the production and distribution of the podcast.

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After a good deal of planning and some confusing yet necessary on-the-job training, the very first episode of the “Five Point Move Podcast” is finally here. Myself (Tim) along with co-host 1995 World Champion and 1996 Olympic silver medalist Dennis Hall decided this was the right time to get going in this direction, what with everything going on currently.

The maiden episode includes some thoughts on the 98 kilogram weight class in the United States ahead of the World Team Trials and banter regarding how Hall helps age-group competitors get comfortable with Greco. Also brought up is the college system and why it is often difficult to motivate collegians to participate in the classical style. Here, Hall reflects back on what his approach was when he qualified for the World Championships while a student at Wisconsin. Of course, other topics are tossed in occasionally for good measure.

The sound quality is decent, but not perfect — that will be improved going forward. There are various miscues, background noise, etc. But all in all, we feel this was a pretty good starting point and we look forward to continuing to build on this initial effort. In the (very near) future, guests will be part of the program as we try to highlight the athletes, coaches, and figures who help make Greco-Roman such a wonderful sport.