I agree that letting an opponent off their back and letting them up in a pin situation is unsportsmanlike but that is not so with getting multiple takedowns. As a wrestler who has been on both sides of this deal, i believe there's nothing wrong with it. My coaches will sometimes get on to you if you are matched with a greatly inferior opponent and you stick em fast. The main reason many wrestlers do this is to practice. They have no viable threat of losing the match so why waste an oppurtunity to get better. Now toying with an opponent when it really matters, such as regionals or state, or in a tournament when your team really needs points, its stupid to do. You do risk losing the match or getting hurt or something unordinary happening. And when somebody is playing with you it makes you wrestle harder and work harder so you are not embarrassed anymore.

once again, does anyone know how sharky is doing on the record?

I highly disagree with KC Handballer for many reasons. One, if the kid is good enough to repeatedly takedown a wrestler at will then he should use this talent. Also, if a kid can't stop a wrestler from repeatedly taking him down, he needs to work on defending shots. Wrestlers need to use their talent to its fullest on the wrestling mat because that's the only way a wrestler can get better against tougher competition.

i think he told me that he was about 30 takedowns or so from beating the career record.

Sharky had said a couple of weeks ago that he was about 30 or so away from the career record but he only has about 125 or 130 takedowns this year. Just to throw my 2 cents in on this deal, there is nothing wrong with taking a opponent down over and over again, as long as it is not to humiliate him. A lot of times in high school you do not have the competition to give you some mat time. If you go out a stick a guy in 20 seconds then what is the good in that. If you are trying new takedowns or finetuning other ones i think that it is better to do it a match because you are seeing "game speed" and you dont always get that in practice.

I am going to go with 311fan...I went out there every match just to get the pin and get off the mat. Now that im in college that has hurt me. I should of been like sharky and worked on my feet alot like he is doing now. Sharky isnt in the wrong for what he does. That is his style and I hope he stays with it!

Yea i have no problem with taking a guy down and letting him back up if you are doing it for the right reasons though. To get better and sharpen skills is very acceptable. But i dont like it when he puts a guy in a pinning combination and watches the ref and holds his opponets shoulder of the mat then lets him up. Thats just wrong. If you do it for the right reasons, like Sharky does that is okay, but trying not to pin him is unnacceptable and unsportsmanlike.

My 2-Cent Soapbox:
We use takedowns as: extra practice on someone who we don't see in the practice room; an opportunity to practice shots we don't normally take in a match (providing us with live & unfamiliar opposition & reactions); an opportunity to push ourselves physically; and as a mental edge over our opponent by breaking them down mentally. It has nothing to do with showing good/bad sportsmanship, or running up the score, or whatever. A few years ago, a very talented 2X State Champion wrestler went out and wrestled countless matches where he took guys down quickly and was pinning them in 20 seconds or less. What good did that do him at the State Level, against better competition, by having only wrestled :10 - :20 matches for over a month? Consequently, this 3X hopeful ended up just like that - hoping for a 3rd time that never came, as he fell to 3rd place at State. Besides, takedowns are much more fun to watch than some guy putting his legs in and riding for 2 periods!

Just because a guy didnt repeatedly take someone down in his matches had nothing to do with him winning state or not, Come on. If he was wrestling guys that he could pin in 10 to 20 sec for a month then their coach held him back and needs to schedule better competition. Once again if you can repeatedly take someone down over and over again, you are not getting that much more of a workout because it is so easy for you. Most of those shots you are practicing because you rarely get to use in a match are NEVER going to work on a good wrestler anyway.

Well if your afraid to get humiliated on the mat..why even wrestle?

not talking about humiliation, talking about bad sportmanship. I get the argument about repeated takedowns, i understand where you people are coming from, i understand they need to work, i get it. But when you are looking at the ref and the scoreboard and just holding his shoulders off the mat, YOU ARE A PUNK!!, and there is no way around it. It it like staring the pitcher down after hitting a home run or standing over a guy after you just laid him out on the football field. This move is the wrestling equivilant of showboating. If you think it is ok then you are the punk, you are the bully, and you are the guy everyone loves to root against. You are the Barry Bonds of wrestling, Congrats.

You must of been T-falled alot huh?

good one.

never wrestled one day in my life. Watched about 8 years(i mean every week when my brothers wrestle). I concetrated on that baseball scholarship i got, so i want you know that before you say i know nothing about sportsmanship and athletics at a high level. i know a punk when i see one. Not many out there but they are there. I bet Terrell Owens is your idol, isnt he jimmie? No wait i bet you like Chad Johnson too.

Nope, I like Barry Bonds:)

i can see if a wrestler is toying with his opponent where that might not be good. but i wrestled with a kid in highschool that he was superior on his feet but weak on the mat and he won a state title because he could take anyone down and just kept letting them up. did it in the state finals. nothing wrong with that. i dont see a problem with a kid taking another one down time after time. I have a kid in our club that i told him to take the kid down with 3 different takedowns cause the other kid was a fish. that was good for him to learn to use more than one move. I didnt think he was toying with him he was working hard and learning at the same time. but some of you are right if he is doing it and laughing then kick his butt off the mat.

exactly bockman. that is exactly what i am talking about. couldnt of said it better. i am still not a fan of it but i understand and respect the argument.

I would like to start by saying I have no desire to get into a name-calling contest with anyone. But, I would like to express my opinion on several areas of this subject.
1) First, in regards to a takedown record. Not trying to disrespect anyone who aspires to hold this record I feel often records are achieved at the expense of inferior opponents. Many of the greatest wrestlers that have come out of Kansas aren't on any all-time records list.
2) Second, regarding taking an opponent down and letting him up. The ultimate in wrestling is the fall. In my opinion that is what every wrestler should be trying to do each time they step on the mat. I do understand that wrestlers of greater skill sometimes find it hard to find opponents that they just can't takedown and pin, thus, the argument that they won't be ready for the tougher competition down the line because of a lack of mat time. In this case it is the coaches responsibility to a) make sure they have a schedule that gets them tough matches during the year, and b) the coach makes sure they get tougher in practice. If a coach hasn't figured out how to push his wrestlers to the breaking point in practice then no amount of takedowns against a lesser opponent will get them ready for the really tough matches. In my opinion a competition shouldn't be used for practice.
3) Third, there are instances where taking a wrestler down and letting him up is good strategy. Let me give you those situations. a) The object is to score the most points for your team and if you can't pin your opponent then you want to tech fall him or major decision him to gain additional points in a dual or tournament. This might be done by letting him up and taking him down because he is to tough to turn. Also, sometimes, by doing this the other wrestler loses his will and then is easier to pin. b) A wrestler who might be hard to turn can sometimes be more easily put to his back from the neutral position. But, once put there the wrestler should try and secure a fall.
I do believe that sportsmanship is a part of this discussion. I do not believe that someone who gets toyed or played with on the mat and feels embarrassed about it should be questioned about whether they have enough heart to wrestle. We all wrestle for different reasons and most won't ever be champions. But, the real champions will never try and disrespect or embarrass their opponent. Anyone that has the guts to step out on the mat is okay in my book.
Jeff Watkins

Great post Jeff Watkins.

Kc Handballer, how can a takedown you work on repeatedly not work on better competiotion? It's obviously working for Sharky because i watch him in tough finals matches against ranked kids in the state takedown kids at will.