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Thoughts on a rule change proposal for 2018


Dave Cloud

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The 4-pt nearfall seems to have worked pretty well for college (although they do have far less nearfall occurrences than HS).

 

I like the idea of HS trying within reason to stay similar to college scoring.  I would love to have the riding time, I just don't think high schools have the staff or equipment to make that viable at this time.

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The 4-pt nearfall seems to have worked pretty well for college (although they do have far less nearfall occurrences than HS).

 

I like the idea of HS trying within reason to stay similar to college scoring.  I would love to have the riding time, I just don't think high schools have the staff or equipment to make that viable at this time.

Track has a feature, but not every tournament or dual uses track (For riding time). It would definitely be a big benefit to those who are able to ride out a strong bottom guy, instead of going to their feet for usual takedown clinic

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Thanks for all the responses. As far as the college out of bounds rule being implemented, I just don't think that is going to happen. When I served on the NFHS wrestling rules committee this was a proposed rule change. The overriding concern is safety/liability due to many high schools having limited space around the mats. The idea of saying the refs had ultimate discretion on safety was not considered satisfactory. On every rule change consideration the safety of wrestlers is a paramount issue. This is frustrating I know and I would love to see the college style out of bounds calls in high school but I just don't think it will happen due to the safety/liability concerns.

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What would it take to implement/adopt freestyle rules?  That may be a loaded question, or just too big to answer without writing a book.  Would it revolutionize our sport in this country, or kill it?  I know, it's crazy. Is it any crazier than the fact that we are the only country in the world that wrestle folkstyle?  The change would be deep, and nobody wants to even begin to think of how much would need to be changed, especially those that are making money or to those in which it would cost money (powers that be).  Rules like the NCAA out of bounds rule and riding time are contrasting freestyle rules even more.  It definitely meets criteria for 3 of the 4 points that Coach Cloud brought up.  I know it may never happen, and a far cry from subtle rule changes in 2018, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.    

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Thanks for all the responses. As far as the college out of bounds rule being implemented, I just don't think that is going to happen. When I served on the NFHS wrestling rules committee this was a proposed rule change. The overriding concern is safety/liability due to many high schools having limited space around the mats. The idea of saying the refs had ultimate discretion on safety was not considered satisfactory. On every rule change consideration the safety of wrestlers is a paramount issue. This is frustrating I know and I would love to see the college style out of bounds calls in high school but I just don't think it will happen due to the safety/liability concerns.

In my awesome(depending on who you are) opinion, I think that their reasoning is a cheap copout. Referees already tighten up the boundaries in instances where there is a wall or table near the edge. If schools are still using old mats with very little out of bounds space then those mats are probably more of a safety hazard as they are probably harder than the gym floor.

 

One of the more interesting things is that so many off-season events have college out of bounds that kids adjust to it much quicker than many would expect.

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Again, thanks to everyone for your thoughts. Responding to a few of the recent posts:

 

MattM--Agreed. We might see a lot more tilts but it would still lead to quicker tech falls (shorter matches) and if we make near falls more rewarding, hard to see how we wouldn't end up with at least some increase in falls. 

 

HighC--To change high school wrestling from folkstyle to freestyle rules would require a majority, or at least sizable number, of state athletic associations (IHSAA) to push for that change and then for the rules committee to vote to implement that change and then that decision to be affirmed by the NFHS hierarchy. So, got agree with Fabio, extremely unlikely to happen and many countries do have their own version of catch-as-catch-can wrestling, we just haven't heard of it.

 

Joe--I agree that officials already tighten up their calls at boundaries near a structure or feature that poses a danger and this was my argument to the committee why they should allow a college-style scoring partially outside of the wrestling circle. But, we have definitely seen instances where a referee stopped the action due to safety concerns and and the coach/crowd emphatically wanted the takedown called. Now imagine if there is an EXPECTATION of scoring partially outside of the wrestling circle and the official stops the action. While I still think we could make it work safely, the concern of the the NFHS, the rules committee as a whole and the official's representative was that this would add more INCONSISTENCY to how calls are made (even on different mats at the same tournament) which is a problem. Also, we have to acknowledge that there quality of high school official is not at the same level as the college officials. Like it or not, we live in a litigious society and no organization is going to take on additional risk that doesn't have a much greater upside. I will leave the decision on your awesomeness to history!

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In my awesome(depending on who you are) opinion, I think that their reasoning is a cheap copout. Referees already tighten up the boundaries in instances where there is a wall or table near the edge. If schools are still using old mats with very little out of bounds space then those mats are probably more of a safety hazard as they are probably harder than the gym floor.

 

One of the more interesting things is that so many off-season events have college out of bounds that kids adjust to it much quicker than many would expect.

I thought the appropriate response to comments including officiating was: http://indianamat.com/index.php/topic/51470-becoming-a-licensed-ihsaa-referee/

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