Stalling is a part of the sport.....A good coach/wrestler knows how to use this tactic. I love to see a match where both wrestlers are getting after it from the beginning until the end....But that is not always the case......I have seen wrestler who attack, attack and attack and lose. Not because the other wrestler is better than him/her, but because the other wrestler has great defense and a good understanding of position, time, and mat awareness. He/she knows where the edge of the mat is, when the other wrestler takes a bad shot, or when there is short time...And then you have wrestlers who are not particularly great at anything, except for stalling. These are the wrestler who are boring to watch/coach, because they do not try to win, they wrestle not to lose. They will not do well in freestyle or greco, b/c they would be penalized for not engaging. These wrestlers are the ones who lose when they have to go get a take down.......Stalling is a problem w/ folk style in Ks, but the wrestlers who win while stalling usally are good wrestler, but know how to use the tactic. Do not get mad at staller; just know how to attack a staller. If you are in the lead let them stall, they are losing. When a match is officiated correctly, the best wrestler normally wins, now that we are in districts, the bad refs should be done. It is the coaches’ job to teach his/her wrestler to adjust to the ref he/she has. We know there are certain refs who call stalling, and refs who will not call it, ever! A bigger problem is the ref does who does not call stalemate. Keep in mind a period is either 1 min. or 1 1/2 min. I have coached matches and the wrestlers were in the same position for 35 seconds of a one min. match. That is ridiculous!......I am an official too, so I know how critical the decision making process is....So, parents teach your wrestler that they are going to get a bad call in every match, so when it happens they won't be surprise and will continue to work through it.
