Eleven Warriors

Yup work on your new stuff in all those summer camps and tournaments. Then bust them out in season after they are well practiced second nature.

I didn't catch mention of your weight. That dictates a lot of the strategy you will use and  defend against. The heavier you are the more tie ups and head wrestling you will deal with. The lighter, the more shot defenses you will have to implement. I will pass on a few tips and I hope it helps out. As you probably know by now there is no way anyone can give you everything you need in one blog post but I can try to help send you in the right direction.

Your first priority above everything else is conditioning and maintaining a healthy diet. Strength and speed is wonderful but if you can't apply it during every period then you are screwed at districts and state. Your conditioning can be used as offense against your competition. Maintaining a healthy a regulated diet will keep you strong and resistant to injury throughout the season. Binge eating after duels and dehydration will sap your endurance and strength in a hurry.

Strategy wise, this is all dependent on the weight class and skill of the wrestlers that you compete against, become skilled at takedowns first (highest priority) and escapes next. As a Freshman you are laying ground work for the next three years. Understand that you are likely behind the curve if you have no previous experience to rely upon. (I assume that due to the question coming up in a Buckeye forum) Living in Massachusetts this is probably not as big a concern as if you were in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Save your matwork for emphasis after you master these two. If you are better than your opponent at takedowns then that gives you a one point advantage over him once you accomplish the TD and let him back up. There is no guarantee that you will always be better than your opponent so get used to not giving up back points and earning an escape point to start you back into your strength, neutral position.

You can use an abundance of set ups depending on the tendencies of your opponent. Simply popping the head or shoulder is very effective. Head displacement begins to misalign the body and will make your opponent have to adjust to defend against your shot. The shoulder is effective for balance displacement. On your opponents step backward or toward you is the exact time that you should take a shot. If leg shooting is not your style and you want to wear on your opponent then two on one head wrestling is the way to go. It fatigues your opponent and  you can effectively use that to wear them down and make it a low scoring defensive match up similar to the style that Nick Heflin uses. The only reason I don't like his style is because it become hard to score points, if needed, when you are a true defensive wrestler. I like being proficient at both, of course that is easy to say but requires a lot of sacrifice and dedication. If it was easy then everyone would be a state wrestler. (Trust me, in military every other Marine claimed to be a state champion from somewhere.)  

On your shots, definitely have your shoe laces up so you have power behind them. Also, change levels quickly while not getting out of your form. As to setups, I found success in smacking their head toward the mat, or getting them out of stance (momentum) and taking out the support of their leg usually with outside singles. I hope any of this helps you, just don't quit. It gets easier as the time goes on!

Good call Silverstate on the Jordan Camp.  Jim and Jeff Jordan were awesome at Graham back in the day.

The Jordan Camp is pretty good. I am a former coach and the best advice I can give is try to wrestle as much as you possibly can. The best wrestlers don't think about what moves to use the feel it. I can remember my senior year not really being able recall much of the match because I was just feeling it.  The only way to reach this level is wrestling as much as possible.  Treat these summer matches as learning experience. This the best time work on new stuff!

12-14 sound pretty darn good for a first year wrestler. Keep your head up and earn it!

Attend open mats wherever you can as much as possible and wrestle with the best wrestlers.  If you want to become as good as the best you need to train and wrestle with the best.