I know that people have complained about this before, but when will it start making a difference??

When spending the extra money to sign a kid up for a "national" tournament, you would think that it wouldn't be too much to ask to have officials that are competent enough to officiate at that level. I'm not saying they were all bad, but there were a few on the younger mats that were just terrible.

We are the first to tell our boys "Don't leave it up to the official. Go for the pin." However, when there are two good kids wrestling each other you expect a battle. And with that it is up to the official to make sure that they call a safe and fair match.

This stems from a match today at the Midwest Showdown where my son was wrestling in the consolation finals. Down 4-0 he hit a Granby/Peterson and held it for a two count. Ref either had no idea what a Granby/Peterson was and was too embarrassed to admit it or his ego got in the way of admitting he was wrong. We had our coaches, other parents/coaches from teams that didn't even have a dog in the fight, one of the scorekeeper's, and even the head official trying to explain this to this official. But ultimately it was "his call" and my son lost a match that should have been tied, and cost him the possible opportunity of challenging for 2nd (which the other kid went on to do and won.)

I would be more than happy to post the video and let anyone give an insight they may have.

Bottom line is if you are going to advertise your tournament as a "national" level tournament and want to bring in "national" level wrestlers, then return the favor and provide us with "national" level service.