Rules, Rules, Rules

There are two main governing bodies that make rules recommendations for Collegiate Wrestling in the United States. The first is the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee for college and university wrestling, the second is the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee for high school wrestling. One is innovative in their rules recommendations and truly wants to make wrestling better for everyone involved. The other is stuck in the old ways and has the attitude “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. The problem is, wrestling might not be broken, but it does need to continually innovate and improve!

I have been a fan of the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee for quite some time! I don’t always agree with the changes they make, although I agree with most. They are sincerely trying to make the sport better by attacking problems and issues head-on and thinking outside the box. Click HERE if you have not seen the new NCAA rules recommendations for next season. If you have seen them, here is a quick summary of the biggest recommendations:

• Make all takedowns worth 3 points (to reward offense and risk-taking)
• Eliminate the hand touch takedown to have offensive wrestler gain control (hand touch takedown was an innovative change that was tried and now the committee has decided to change back)
• Change the riding time point to include both a minute of time advantage and has scored near-fall points (to create more action)
• Include the mandatory 5 second count to include all situations when the top wrestler grasps the bottom wrestler’s ankle (to eliminate ambiguity in referees calls)

My one question to the committee would be, “Is there any change in the overtime rules?” I saw WAY too many wins in overtime come from the top wrestler riding their opponent for the 30 seconds, then choosing neutral for the next 30 seconds and winning because they had more riding time in overtime.

Then we have the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee. First of all, they have no recommendations yet for next season. Second, this committee seems to be more concerned about off-the-wall crap and not concerned about making the sport better for everyone involved. For instance, here are a couple of the big rules from the past several years.

• During skin check the straps of the wrestler’s singlet have to be up on shoulders. Now I’m just a dumb old wrestling coach but if we want to find contagious skin conditions don’t we want to see some skin?
• Headgear must be worn the way the manufacturer intended it to be worn. Which means a wrestler can not crisscross the front straps to keep them out of their eyes, but they could buy a small piece from the manufacturer to hook the front strap to the next strap to keep them out of their eyes.
• They made an attempt to extend the wrestling area by changing the out-of-bounds rules but they made it so difficult that the officials have to watch several supporting points and everyone else does not understand.
• Then one of my all-time favorites, if a wrestler wears socks to weigh in and does not make weight they are not allowed to take the socks off, but they can weigh in without the socks the first time.

So kudos to the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee for their innovative rules recommendations and yet still trying to keep the integrity of the sport of wrestling!

NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee, please take some pointers and come up with rules that will truly help the sport of wrestling grow and increase the fan base. Fans want to see increased action, increased scoring, less judgment and more consistency to name a few.