Greetings everyone,

For a few years now I have wanted to put on a series of officiating clinics for individuals who either want to for sure or are potentially wanting to become a wrestling official, and this year I am finally able to make that happen. I am pleased that the Wamego Kids Club has graciously agreed to host this clinic, utilizing their great facilities. This year for the moment I only have one scheduled, but depending on how things go there may be 1 perhaps even 2 more later in the fall closer to the season, there are logistical parts to work out for those.

Our sport has experienced a huge surge in participation the past several years most notably due to women's wrestling becoming a sanctioned sport in the state, but this also has had a residual effect of increasing male wrestling participation as well, so it is a great time to be involved in the sport. By now I am sure most of you have heard or read that there is an emergency shortage of officials spanning across all sports and levels in this country and that is certainly true for a number of reasons, BUT what may surprise you is that wrestling officiating is actually going against that trend, at least here in Kansas and there is a reason for that. We have a number of high quality officials who are helping recruit, train, and mentor new officials in several areas around the state, and so far it seems to be working well.

To that end I am doing a one day clinic (trust me I would make it two days if I thought enough people would be willing to dedicate a weekend for it), where I will spend approximately half the time talking about what I consider to be the "classroom" and procedural topics like what it takes to become an official, how to register and with whom, how to get assignments, and a good chunk of the actual basics of the rules, and then spend the second half going over the practical skills and mechanics of officiating aka how we actually do all of this. This includes proper signaling and mechanics, positioning, dealing with match flows, and a whole lot more. What is absolutely true is that the only way to become a proficient official is to actually be out on the mat calling matches over and over, however the 1st step in doing this knowing how to get there and what to expect when you do and that is where this clinic comes in.

This clinic is open to anyone, men and women entering high school starting with the 2024-2025 school year and older, So for the high schoolers this is a great opportunity for you to get started in a career officiating that can offer many benefits like increased confidence, extra spending money, etc. For those already out of high school its a great way to stay involved with the sport. This clinic is being offered at no cost to attendees as I am doing this out of a sincere desire to increase our numbers, and pass on the years of knowledge and experience I have, just as several of my own mentors did for me. If attendees follow through with the information provided at the clinic there is even an opportunity for them to have the costs of their registrations with our two sports organizations KSHSAA and USA Wrestling, along with some of all of their uniform reimbursed, so really you have nothing to lose.

So here is a link with more information.

2024-25 Wrestling Officiating Clinic Info

You'll come dressed in comfortable clothing, and you'll be on the mat so shorts are fine, non-marking tennis shoes or wrestling shoes, lunch is on your own when we break, there are several places within two blocks of the high school.

If you are interesting in attending or are for sure, please contact me by email or text asap so I have an idea of how many people to expect. I'm hoping to have 10+ individuals, but if we get more even better.



William Nigel Isom
KSHSAA # 14274
USAWKS: #577
Cell: 785-201-5405
Email: williamisom@hotmail.com