So the new changes for next years wrestling season are out, and there seems to be some pretty good ones this year. The most significant one that caught my eye was the awarding of a 3 point near fall if the defensive wrestler indicates injury or bleeding. The injury (cry-baby) rule has been in efect for some time now. The rule revision is as follows. Before this rule change the following would happen. If in the opinion of the Referee a near-fall is about to occur on the defensive wrestler and injury (not cry-baby) or bleeding occurs prior to this, then the match is stopped and the offensive wrestler is awarded a two point near fall. However if a near fall is occuring and the referee has made his two count and injury or bleeding occurs then a three-point near fall is recored so basically a free point. The rule change this year excludes the two-point critera wording. So as it stands now if near fall critera is met (meaning the shoulders are held at a 45 degrees or less to the mat or both scapula held at 4 inches from the mat) if injury or bleeding occurs at any time after that critera is met then a three-point near-fall is awarded and 1 point for cry-baby if the situation warrants it. It shall be interesting to see how many times this gets brought up. I know for certain that many of the kids coaches/parents are not goin to understand how this new rule works. Some situations where I think this might be a problem include wrestlers who use the bar-arm to turn kids, Hard returns to the mat where the wrestler goes straight to his back, and a few more. So what does everyone else think about these rule changes?

I think that it is a move in the right direction, however it does nothing to change the case of the wrestler that indicates injury when in danger of being pinned, and as soon as the match is stopped, it becomes rather obvious that there was no injury. At least it does appear that such theatrics employed to avoid a loss by fall will at least result in a certain 3 point penalty. It's a good start, and about as far as you can go as an official, due to the liability inccured when action is permitted to continue in an apparent injury situation that turns out to be real. No one likes to see a wrestler injured, but it kinda tightens up your shorts to see a kid fake an injury that saves him from being pinned and then comes back to win.

I've seen it happen many many times and it kind of disgusts me and then there are times when younger kids do it and it makes me laugh. THe biggest one that happens is a kid will claim that they are being choked when they really aren't and my response has always been "If you are talking then you are breathing."

I'd be interested in thoughts on the weight class changes which are apparently on next year's agenda. A possible changing from 14 to 12 classes was mentioned. I'd hate to see the number of classes cut, but I would like to see a more even distributions of weights, such as possibly closer to the same number of pounds between classes from top to bottom. A dead even spread would probably not be too practical, but I think in general, there are a lot more big kids today than there used to be and it's much tougher for these wrestlers to pop up or down a weight class than it is for the wrestlers in the first nine classes.

Actually, we had 12 weight class for years prior to the inception of 14. As a coach I would love to go back to 12 weight classes. There are some definite advantages to it. One is that it is much easier to fill 12 weights than 14 and it would do away with some of the forfeits in dual competition. It would also shorten the length of the tournament day. With 12 classes there would not be as much jockeying of weights with kids and I think this is an overall health advantage. I’m sure that one arguments will be that less kids will get the opportunity to wrestle at the varsity level, but this is just a fact of life. Not everyone is meant for the varsity level. I think you will also find that by having 12 weight classes it will make the practice room more competitive.

Maybe they could have two more classes (7a & 8a) to make up for it........

I disagree with any change in the weights. I don't see any reason to eliminate weight classes. The most obvious weight class to eliminate would be 215, and that would force a lot of athletes to cut some real serious weight, or to wrestle people that outweigh them by possibly 80+ pounds. To eliminate another weight class one in the middle weights would probably be cut which makes no sense because that is where the majority of your wrestlers are statistically speaking. The weight classes are good how they are. The last time they were messed with was a disaster, only lasting 1 year in Kansas. One positive that came out of it was the creation of 215, but I don't see any reason to cut down to 12 classes. All it would do is eliminate opportunities for some wrestlers.

215 can not be cut. Having the option of wrestling heavyweight or 189lbs would make for a very unequal heavyweight bracket. Kids would be outweighted by 70 plus pounds.

Combine 135 and 140 or 125 with 130. At least the weight distribution would be within 10 lbs.

Scott, I agree, cutting back to 12 classes would make a lot of sense. As we saw at our Regional in Hiawatha, 103-pounders are getting harder and harder to find and there might be a way to redistribute things in the middle weights.

And Mike, great idea about adding two more classes; you know, I heard there were like three or four 6A and 5A wrestlers who DIDN'T make it to State. This injustice must be addressed!!!

Missouri has passed a new rule allowing for a sixth tournament this season. Grandview High School is looking to get into a tournament with some class 3 and 4 schools from Kansas. The open dates we have as of right now are December 11th and January 22nd. Please contact me asap if there are any leads to openings. Thank you!

Greg Linhart
Grandview High School
glinhart@csd4.k12.mo.us
816-674-7381