Jason-

I do not have kids of my own, nor will I anytime soon I hope. I have however been an official for 2 years now and wrestled for the last 7 years, so I've seen plenty of wrestlers and their reactions.

So would you be one of the parents in the stands trying to tell me how to do my job then? The one yelling for two when a takedown isn't called? If you didn't/don't know that much I'll gladly lend you my rules book. If our coaches would take the time to read the book and take the test we as officials and the high school coaches must take we would all be better off. The test is a great way to learn the rules, maybe have your son take the test and see if scores the 95% you say he would, I highly doubt it as it's extremely difficult. It's even open book, so you two could take it together.

I'm not saying you have to remove the fire from him but show him the right way to hide it until he's out of sight or at home. There is no need for a meltdown at a Tournament just because he's "good" and he loses. He loses he loses, it's part of it, no one's perfect, ask Dan Gable. Like I said if you don't punish him for his outbursts what's going to make him quit? He'll keep doing it until he's forced to cool off. It's not only embarassing for him but for his teammates as well, I know first hand how bad it is, we had several on our team when I was in school. It makes everone look bad.

I understand being upset about losing but crying everytime makes you look weak. He will begin to understand that as time gets older and he gets to high school. Will he still be crying when he losses? If you don't begin to stop it now it won't fix it's self. It may not be crying when he's older, it may be a fit where he walks off throwing his headgear, cussing, etc. You tell me how that will make his team look?

They will know why you are pulling them off the mat if you explain to them. They will correlate the punishment with their actions. I'm not saying it's the only way but it's a sure fire way to get the point across. If you say they are smart enough to understand the rules surely they can understand the rule of outburst= a week off right?

Actions speak louder than words, so quit talking to the kids and punish them. They aren't going to respond to threats with no follow through, but it's their choice and eventually my choice if the outburst is bad enough as to whether their day is done or not. It's not a choice us as official's like to make but sometimes we are forced too.

Alex