Went to Wichita, everything was great except for the last match of the day. My son (12u 190) was going for first. We expected and a good hard match that was engaging and tuff, the kind of match that you walk away proud of both competitors, for wrestling so hard. We did NOT get that, due to stalling.
The match was a crime! Once the other kid got ahead in points, he was instructed by his coaches and parents to “stay away from him!” He was called on stalling once and only once.
It is a shame that this kids coaches and parents are teaching him to wrestle like that. It is effective but dirty. When it comes to winning, it should be done with full engagement not by stalling when you are ahead.

That isn't wrestling...that's running and so many get away with it.

Mike's Mom

Sounds more like a ref issue then a coaching issue. I see nothing wrong with teaching a kid defense (not focused on enough) & how to use warnings i.e. false start warnings & stalling warnings. IMO, if your up by several points, your job from that point forward is not to get caught & protect your lead, especially if you are in there with a dangerous opponent. Stalling may have been a big compliment to your wrestler twisted sister. Sorry it didn't end in your wrestlers favor.

Part of wrestling, did the other wrestler stall to score his points? Every coach teaches his wrestlers how to protect the lead. Same thing happens in b-ball and football, running down the clock when you are ahead in points.

Your right..There is a time when a smart wrestler is going to stall. When your ahead of another good wrestler then why not..
Sounds like the kid was just doing what he had to do to get the win.

Twisted Sister... My son has had them literally lay on top of him for what seems like an eternity - of course they throw in some leg holds so that unless he learns how to levitate and flip them over there is no way he can get up. This usually happens when they have scouted him out and realize what could happen. It does sound like a compliment to your son as he must be some pretty tough competition that they are afraid of what he'll do. Unfortunately, it happens and there isn't anything we can do about it... unless he learns to levitate...

There is something you can do, score the first points in the match. What is wrong with leg holds? If you are ahead in points why would you engage or tie up?

A. To give your coach a heart attack
B. Because you really like running in practice
C. Your not old enough to gamble legally
D. All of the above

E. Lose the match.

When a football team is up and goes to a run offense to kill time do you start yelling "stalling"? When a basketball team is up and holds the ball to kill the clock to you yell "dirty"? When a baseball team walks a guy so he can't get a hit do you get upset? A version of stalling is in every sport. No one says a wrestler has to wrestle how you want.

I pick....D.All of the above(including E.)

Stalling is good smart wrestling when my sons are ahead. On the other hand it is bad low down cheating when they are down.

One of my sons found an interesting way to stall about a month ago. He didnt ride low enough and got reversed. He was able to watch the rest of the match more comfortably, laying on his back, fortunately the match was over with one quick slap on the mat and a shrill whistle blow. He did however stall as the match was over long enough to finish crying, and blowing a couple of snot bubbles!

Stalling is real simple and not even worthy of discussion. If you don't like it change the rule. That is what happened in basketball.

I think its important to know the boy who won the championship match is a first year wrestler, who has a tendency to get himself in bad positions quite quickly.

He was ahead by 8 or 9 points at the end of the match. What he was doing in the end was stalling, and he got called for it once, and probably should have again, but I don't know that another stalling call would have changed the outcome.

maybe we need a shot clock

The way this post is heading, maybe we need to move it to the freestyle forum.

My son had the same problem. The kid stalled the whole 3rd period, but no points were awarded to my son AND the kid was already warned once. Needless to say my son lost by 1 point. Ironically the kid was from Wichita!! UMMMM.

I was not taking sides on this. Just trying to say stalling dont bother me as long as my wrestler is ahead. It does kind of irratate me when my wrestler is behind. My youngest son has had a point taken away for it once. I learned that you have to switch your hips from side to side every so often to aviod the call. I am talking about working from the top position. My son was ahead 3-0 & the kid did not base up so he was laying on him running the clock. He lost a point & It ended up 1-3.

That's still another win for Mr. Methodical Isaiah.