Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School Topeka Tourney officiating

We were @ Topeka this past weekend and I must say that the officiating left much to be desired. It almost seemed like MMA fights out there! Cross-faces thrown like hooks, slamming forearms into the back of necks from top position, etc. I saw only 2 calls the entire tournament. It was several occasions and alot of parents were getting upset. I know it wasn't Basehor or Newton, but each and every tournament deserves quality officials.

The problem is that there are not enough people wanting to be oficials out there. Here in the North East we see the same officials over and over, some are quality officials and do their job to the bes tof their ability. Others are not as good but they are all we can get because there is not a group of young up and coming officials out there to restock the numbers.

We need to encourage all former wrestlers who still want to be a part of the sport to become officials. Someone who was once a wrestler has a better chance of understanding the ins and outs of our sport. In no other sport is the officals responsible for as many many judgement calls as wrestling, they are human and prone to mistakes. They cannot and do not see everything, trust me all you ahev to do is be a coach/parent and you see a flagrant move or any illegal locked hands etc. but the ref is not in postion at that time.

This sport is about as fast paced as you can get and mistakes will be made, at least we have officals. This is a problem an the KWCA is addressing the issue.

And as always if you don't like the ways things are then get out there and change them. Become an officals yourself or encourage your athletes to become an offical.

Just my two cents!
Coach Brown

I do appreciate what they have to do out there and I do agree that as a former wrestler and coach, I probably do see more than the official and most parents. The actual officiating wasn't too bad. I think overall, they let that tournament get too rough. Wrestling is an agressive sport...a controlled agression...and when that starts happening things can get ugly. I actually have been contemplating becoming an official and then I think there has to be alot more opinionated people out there just like me! LOL!

I'm telling you it's not easy as everyone might think. This is my first year officiating and my 16 yr old son is doing it also.

haven't been a ref too long myself, but i think the main thing to keep in mind, for everyone, is someone has to lose. i have always coached, and been hard on refs, and tried to sway calls from my chair. however i rarely argued anything too seriously. i mean if you want the ref out of the equation, leave no doubt. my wrestlers know that i will go to bat for them when they are getting hosed, but i will not argue petty judgement calls. they know that they had better leave no doubt.

as far as the roughness goes, we tell them that if you come out without a blackeye, you better be winning.lol

again i haven't been at it long, but i know two things you need to be an official:
1- thick skin- because you are going to get called out!
2- asbestos shorts- because you are going to get your a-- chewed!!

that's only a small percentage of matches, the rest is really pretty fun. if you're in it for the money, you're in it for the wrong reason.

I like good hard wrestling. I personally believe that, here in Kansas we call unnecessary roughness way too much. It is a contact, physical sport. From the post it sounds like the "parents" were upset, not the "coaches". So it must have been within the rules. I do not know who said it, but my favorite post of the year was; "Unnecessary roughness is necessary"

I like good hard wrestling also. I believe that you can't...and shouldn't step on the mat...if you are soft. However...this is different. I know you weren't there and are only going by MY take, but there were coaches that were taking issue with it. I don't believe reaching from behind your back and "clubbing" your opponent is a good, hard version of a cross-face. I believe it to be unsportsmanlike. I am all for shooting it from the hip and putting the opponent into as uncomfortable a position he can be in. I don't believe that dropping an elbow from almost 2' down into the base of the skull is aggresiveness. What it did was cause the other wrestlers to also wrestle ugly. As I said MMA. Now, it was only in a small handful of matches and wasn't limited to one wrestler, school or ref. I don't know. I am not trying to make a mountain from a mole hill. Maybe there was someone else there that took notice to it also. I just don't like seeing that in the sport I have loved for 30+years.