New Delhi, June 3 -- Germany to Nottingham to Liverpool to Wales to London to Greece - Ian Butler is globe-trotting with a schedule that involves delivering wrestling seminars with British MMA star Paul Daley, coaching age-group national teams, and building grassroots structures. Indian wrestling's newly-appointed High-Performance Director is yet to visit the country or speak to senior coaches, but has his plans in place for a systemic overhaul. "Indian wrestlers are awesome, but they are not world beaters yet. I feel the Indian freestyle team has the potential to be in the top five and women are good enough to be in top three. I won't settle for anything less," Butler told HT from Nottingham. His enthusiasm is appreciable, but working in the complex Indian system has tested quite a few. Fellow American Andrew Cook left with a bitter aftertaste a little over a year into his contract while the likes of Woller Akos and Shako Bentinidis - the latter is back as the men's coach - have barely had anything encouraging to say about the wrestling federation. "Every sporting system has its intricacies and I am willing to study them in detail. But from a distance, I feel a lot of work needs to be done at the grassroots level. That's my speciality," Butler said. "I am keen on data, analytics and scientific intervention. I want to introduce a few things to the junior structure. Unfortunately, the nature of my job involves meddling with existing, age-old practices, and I am up for it." Butler, 37, is also banking on his experience as a trained jiu-jitsu and MMA fighter to upskill Indian wrestlers. Having observed Indian wrestlers from a distance for a few years, he reckons they need to be better equipped in technique and skills. Mental strength is another of his focus areas. "At the elite level, there's very little that separates the best from the rest, and Indian wrestlers sometimes miss that cutting edge," he said. "You need to be stronger, technically, physically and mentally. A wrestler draws confidence from his/her strength and conditioning. Then comes the technical skills and tactical acumen. And then comes the execution on the mat. If your fundamentals are not correct, no matter how good you are, you'll struggle in big matches," he said. While India has traditionally done well in lighter weights in both men and women, the heavier classes have failed to produce any significant success. "A lot of your heavier weight guys are slow, whereas if you look at USA or Iran, their heavyweights are as agile as the lightweights. Your legs give up too quickly. That's down to skills, training, muscle fibre and technique," he noted. Butler will be in India in for "3-4 weeks leading up to the Asian Games". He'll also have the flexibility to carry out his other assignments while co-ordinating high-performance programme with Indian coaches virtually. "I'll fly down 3-4 weeks before every major event and I'll also take some promising wrestlers to my facility, Silverback Wrestling Club, for better exposure," he said. Butler also impressed upon the need to find the balance between efficiency and training. Most Indian wrestlers grow up training twice a day, six days a week, with a session each early morning and in the evening. Tell that to Butler, and his eyes pop out. "Seriously?" he exclaimed. "There has to be a smarter way to train. Rest and recovery are as critical as training and overtraining does more harm than good. Wrestlers should get enough sleep...," Butler added....