At Topeka tourny one of my wrestlers was bitten...not enough to draw blood but some deep teeth marks. I went to the table and showed the official. He said he couldnt do anything about it. After the match (we won) two other adults came to me and told me that the "dirty club" does that kind of stuff alot. bitting, head butting, etc.
After expressing my feelings to the coach and the things he said made me feel he condoned the action. Its not my spot to say the team name but seems everyone but me already knew of the stain on our sport. Is there nothing that can be done.

I have to say, it is not limited to one club. In our 4 years of wrestling we have came across quite a few kids who dirty wrestle. We just tell our son that his talent wins over the cheating everyday. And it does. Tell your wrestler the same and he will not drop to that level!

He knows right from wrong and pushes himself to be as good as he can. Im sure he wont drop to that level. I was just shocked at the coaches reaction. It was a learning lesson and an eye opener to how someone can coach with no respect for my sport.

Coach,

I heard about your situation from the official who was working on that mat. Under the circumstances he told you the truth. If he actually didn't see the bite happen, there is limits to what he can do. Many times a wrestler is crossfaced very hard and their forearm goes into the opponents teeth. However if the skin is broken that is a good indication the bite was flagrant in which case they can be ejected. The best thing you can do hope that he does get caught at some point and maybe he will learn his lessons.

There was a problem with some dirty wrestling in Maize also. I won't mention names. A coach told the kid to knee the other. It wasn't a gentle one either. The kid loaded up three times and rammed his knee into the other ones thigh. At the same time the coach has the attention of the official who "didn't see it" (if you can imagine that). Everyone in the building saw it! Everytime the official blew the whistle, the kid would lighty shove the other one. He was whining like a baby because he was losing at the time. The kid and the father should have been ejected and investigated. I've seen these two before over many years do this and they are the dirtiest 10 and under I've ever seen. His father has no integrity of the sport and that is what he is teaching his son. Personnaly they embarrass me and the sport.

Wrong Nigel. A ref does not have to see the bite taking place. Best indicator is teeth marks on the top and bottom so you can eliminate a hard cross-face that might only show the top teeth marks.

Couple of things, no names or personal identification here please. If you can be that personal in the post, you should have been that personal to go to the tournament director and filed an appropriate complaint. Not trying to ruffle feathers just trying to prevent likely problems that could arise.

Secondly, regarding teeth marks, I have learned this lesson by observation this year. Nigel is correct, just try, hard arm pressure across the face with an open mouth, you will leave teeth marks, upper and bottom. I am not implying this about this incident because I didn't see it, but I have in the past also observed wrestlers who have bitten themselves. An official needs to see the bite or have strong evidence, such as a yell at the time of a bite before making the call. Otherwise, you might be penalizing an aggressive wrestler, much different than a "dirty" wrestler as being dirty. There are brutal components of the sport that hurt, a hard cross face, an aggressive take down, a knee to the bottom to break down a wrestler, to bury the chin or place the head in a temple to help secure a pin, and I could go on an on. All techniques that hurt like heck, but are definitely within the rules.

Well well said Mr. Furches. When I am out there officiating on the mat the last thing I want to do is disqualify a wrestler for something he did not do intentionally. When it comes to biting it is often not that easy to determine whether it was on purpose or not. As Mr. Furches points out im going to need hard evidence before I consider an ejection. Blood is pretty much automatic, very deep marks are pretty good indication, but a kid yelling "Hes biting me" will certainly get he attention it requires. Bites on the forearm are a tricky thing to deal with, and its one of the most flagrant things that someone can do, I would not hesitate to toss any wrestler for it, if I beleive it was done on purpose.

Nigel, when did you become so nice and proper and start calling me Mr. PLEEAAASSSEEEE, just Mike, unless we are matside, then it is coach and your are Sir, like excuse me Sir, or I'm sorry but Sir. Whew!

I try to adress everyone as Mr. or Mrs. or Coach when adressing them in a professinoal manner, But I'll make an exception in your case Mike.

Some kids are good actors. Many times if a kid gets crossfaced you can see just the top row of teeth. If the kid trys to bite then you can see a ring on thier arm.

For the right amount of money I can take out a dirty wrestler! hahahah j.k.

Thank you mike, that was the answer I was looking for....(what I could do about it). its obviously too late now but if it happens in the future I will go to tourney director and file a complaint. My son did have marks top and bottom and both where about as deep as you can go without blood. The official did say he was going to watch for it in the kids next match which he lost and was 0-2 and out... maybe the wresling gods fixed it.

This happened to my son last year. He was wrestling 12U and was bitten so hard that although it didn't draw blood he had a mark for a week from the bite. I took a picture of it a week later and you could still see where he had been bitten. All it did to my son was to fire him up. He pinned the kid within 10 seconds of being bitten. We asked our coach what he should have done and the coach said that if it happened again, my son should tell the ref. We then talked to the other kid's coach and showed him the bite mark on my son's arm. He said he would talk to his wrestler. I hope he did, because we have a great sport and like I tell my boys, "If you have to cheat to win, then the win really isn't yours."

I know a parent from a club who teaches his boy to intentionally break an arm he has done it two times that i know of.

I Think there is alot of coaches out there that dont have anything to do with at stuff.As far as the kids arm being broke yes it happened but it was not on purpose. It got so bad for that family they even recieved threats.So who are the bad ones?

Watched a frustrating match yesterday at Horton... By the way, this incident aside, it was a good tourney.

Also, please note that none of these kids involved are from our club and I know neither of the kids or their coaches. I am just a first year assistant coach who was waiting for a match to begin on an adjacent mat. I was however, very glad IT WAS NOT one of my wrestlers involved.

In the second period of an 8/U match, both wrestlers stopped wrestling due to a nearby whistle. One wrestler is now standing and the other is sitting on his heels as if kneeling when they break contact. The kid knelling looks toward his coach (who is off to the right), but the referee sort of gestures to the standing kid (who has how taken a few steps backward) that he didn't blow the whistle. The standing kid from about eight feet away literally dives shoulder first (from the left) into the kneeling kids ribs. Needless to say the kid on bottom is crying and mad (but not injured), and the period comes to an end a few seconds later. As the bottom kid is getting checked out, the "diver" is called over by his coach given "five" and told "good job" by his coach. {End incident one}

The hit wrestler goes on to lose the match and then proceeds to punch the mat, smack the opponents hand (as opposed to shaking hands), throw his head gear and generally have a fit all the way off the mat. {End incident two)

Some may say the kid had a right to have a fit because of the first incident, but I think neither should have happened. In total, it was a bad picture of our sport on both sides, but I ultimately hold the referee responsible on both occasions. He either lost control of the match or never had it to begin with.
1. At what point does the referee make the judgment call that both kids obviously thought the whistle was for them and reset them; especially, if one is now in a somewhat defenseless position? In this case they were close to the out of bounds line on a “divided 8/Under” mat, so that is probably why they thought the whistle was for them.
2. At what point does a referee write up a kid for un-sportsman-like conduct?

I know I am being tough on the refs but they are ultimately in control of the mat. Correct?

Let me add that maybe the referee did take some kind of action later; I would not know because I started coaching a match on the adjacent mat soon after the incident. When I looked back over there a minute later it appeared the next match started without pause.

You can bet several first-year “wrestling moms” (one of which I am married to) were not impressed by this scene and asked themselves about the values of the sport we all like to talk so much about. What is a first-year assistant coach to tell them; "that's just part of the sport?" I like to think it should not be. I am looking forward to attending some coach’s clinics in the near future to better educate myself on the official answers.