The Guru

Trent McCormick is one of the best guys in the sport and Troy Delaney is a top notch teacher. Nobody works harder for their program than Troy. Love em' or hate em', you have to respect what they're doing up there. Props guys...

There are 3 sessions. 1 friday and 2 saturday. It's $8/session or $20 all sessions pass.

Additionally....

To get your initial officials license you must be at least 18 years of age and out of high school. You must pay a $60 fee each season and pass a one time 100 question test (Part I Test) with a 75% or better. At this point you are considered a Registered official. In years past you could not officiate a sectional your first year, but with the recent shortage of officials they have generally relaxed that requirement to some degree.

 

In order to work past the sectional (regional SS or state) the requirements become stricter. To do so you must be a Certified or Professional official, which requires you to attend a 4 hour Certification Clinic and take a 100 question test (Part II Test) each December and score 90% or better. The certification clinics are offered every two years by the IHSAA, although many associations go ahead and host a similiar clinic in the non certification years. The Professional status is awarded to those officials who have reached the highest level by attending additional clinics, mentoring younger officials, conducting clinics, being an IHSAA rules interpreter, and presenting approved IHSAA trainings and association meetings. To become a Professional, you obviously have to have first been Registered and then Certified.

 

Officials are assigned to the IHSAA tournament series based on a set of criteria. 128 officials are used for the sectional, 64 officials are used for the Individual Regional, 32 officials are used for the Team Regionals, 48 officials (up from 36 in previous years) officials are used for the SS's, 12 officials are used for the Individual State Finals, and 8 officials are used for the Team State Finals. The assignment of the officials are based on the following:

1. Coaches Ratings

2. Tournament Series Progression

3. Certified or Professional Status

4. Passing the Part II Test with at least 90%

5. Number of votes received

6. Strength of Schedule

 

Coaches Ratings: Each December coaches receive a ballot via their AD with a list of eligible officials to work the tournament series. Coaches rate the officials as 1-Poor, 2-Fair, 3-Good, 4-Excellent, or 5-Superior. An average is figured and the officials are placed in ratings order at the IHSAA office.

Tournament Series Progression: As mentioned by Dan above, you must work 3 sectionals before you can do a regional, 3 regionals before you can do a SS, and 3 SS's before you can do the state finals.

Certified or Professional Status: You must have attended the bi-annual certification clinic.

Part II Test: You must pass with at least 90% each year in December to insure that you are up to date with current rules.

Number of votes received: You must have at least 5 votes to work a sectional, 10 votes to work a regional, 15 votes to work a SS, and 20 votes to work the state finals.

Strength of Schedule: In the event of a tie in the ratings, the IHSAA would consider the strength of your schedule in order to determine which official would get the nod.

 

Keep in mind that not all officials apply for the tournament series. There are approximately 420 licensed officials in Indiana, however, only about 200 actively officiate HS matches. Many are coaches, retired officials that keep their license, guysthat just want to work MS matches, or newbies that have yet to jump in with both feet. The IHSAA tournament is probably also the lowest paying tournaments that you would do during the season, as the individual schools determine payment during the season, while the IHSAA determines payment in the series. I believe the Sectional pays $100, the Individual Regional pays $75, the Team Regional pays $50, the SS pays $120, and the State Finals pays in the neighborhood of $160. All of these meets also pay $.25 per mile. Personally, my lowest paying Saturday tournament during the season is $225, so the tournament series is definately not a get rich opportunity.

 

This season 151 officials applied to do the tournament series, so the criteria above was used to determine the top 128 eligible officials to work the sectional. The key word is "eligible", as the 5th rated official may have only worked one prior sectional, and is thus not eligible for a regional or above. The 20th rated official may have only received 14 votes and thus could not work a SS. The 33rd rated official may have only scored 89% on the Part II test and thus could not work the tournament. These are just a few examples of how a higher "rated" official may not work as far into the tournament as a lower rated official.

 

I agree,  it's not a perfect system, and as a senior official I personally work year around to recruit new guys into the fold. I encourage seniors to consider getting licensed after graduation, and when I see the same guys over and over in the crowd I encourage them to jump in. If you like the sport it's the best seat in the house, you get in for free, you get free food, and you get paid to be there.

 

The bottom line though in getting the best guys at the highest levels is for the coaches to cast their votes. Good, bad, or indifferent, it lets us all know where we need to be! Anybody interested in signing up, all of the information is available at www.ihsaa.org or feel free to contact one of the senior officials. We'd love to have you, and I hope this helps explain the requirments.

Thanks Chuck! That was a great explanation. Do you think the requirements should be more stringent? What if we could influence the IHSAA to pay more for the tournament series?

What about upping the referee requirements? Continuing education, clinics etc? We have some great officials and a lot of bad ones. There seems to be very little in between. Anybody know what the minimum requirements are?

Wrestlebacks at Semi State & State

Yeah that's a biggie for most of us.

What would you change about high school wrestling?

Tommy Cash

Tommy Cash isn't going to just make it there next year. He will likely be on the podium.

Man that Walmart on east Washington street in Indianapolis HAS TO BE high on the list. Walmart down in Camby is always interesting, you get all the Mars Hill people there. There is also a Walmart "Neighborhood Market" on east 38th in Indy. Anyone from Indy will recognize that 38th street is to be avoided, regardless of time of day, from one side of Marion county to the other.

I always wear nice slacks, dress shoes and a school polo. I don't think the coaches dress issue is that big a part of the problem, but it certainly adds to the overall negative perception that those unfamiliar with the sport may have. Couple the jeans issue with some of our jacka$$ fans screaming at kids, running out on the mats, cussing at officials, leaving their trash everywhere, their crazy kids plugging all the toilets and sinks with paper towels etc... and I see how folks could dismiss us and our sports as a bunch of jacks. I wish AD's were more interested in the image being presented by their coaches, and less interested in what percentages of secondary and accent school colors were being used on the uniforms.

Since comming to this board two years ago I have taken sides in a couple of "heated debates" (Class wrestling as an example). I stated my position and made arguments as to why I was on one side or the other. In the course of doing so I took some "Boos" from those who did not agree. Such is life. I have also made some post that got a few "Wahoos".

 

What I have a problem with is the chicken S#*! members who to this day feel the need to "Boo" members that disagreed with them a year ago, and do it without the manhood to say it openly. I do not consider myself one of the "controversial" board members. Nor do I have a problem with being "Booed" for taking a side in a discussion.

 

For those of you that take every opportunity to "Boo" a member for past disagreements, grow a set!

 

Rod

You're going to get more "Boo's" from writing this Whinning post than you ever did speaking your mind.

What exactly is a "side judge" and what exactly is his job?

Classy way to represent yourself and other IHSAA officials.

Adidas - Mat Wizard II

He reached over and touched on an illegal headlock. It was called a little quickly but that's what he probably called.

http://news.theopenmat.com/2011/01/hawkeyes-knock-off-top-ranked-penn-state-22-13/

Schlatter and Lang were 2 especially tough guys that come to mind that Alex had to wrestle in freestyle.  National champ and runner up, multiple AA's between them.  I am sure there are others...

 

Time will tell how the guys that Jason was/will wrestle will do in college. 

Metcalf

Get well soon Dave. Hang in there and keep your spirits up!

The New Palestine wrestling family is pulling for you!

1. I think the Glogas - Ellis match ended in a 3rd period fall. I believe it was a 3 or 4 point lead at the time though. The match certainly wasn't out of contention at time of the fall.

2. Beech Grove wrestler was most likely Paul Sullivan. He was arguably one of the best wrestlers in Indiana history not to win it. He took Lance to a few very close matches in Lance's senior year.   

Yeah it was Paul Sullivan. Sully beat Ellis the summer before their senior year at freestyle State and it went to the wire that year at the Super 8.

Wrestling is the third largest high school sport in the country (neck and neck with girls basketball) in terms of participation numbers. For the most part, kids play video games. Kids wrestle. I think it could make money. It would probably be difficult to capture the intricacies of the sport though, which may lead wrestlers to think the game sucks.

Crane technique. If done correctly, no stop.

Greenfield is solid. They came in and whooped everybody.

Official redshirt. I think it's a perfect time for him to redshirt. Stupid ass Zalesky should have redshirted Alex Tsirtsis at this point too.

1.) If you don't know who Coach Stevens is then you should not be bashing him on the board.

2.) Our sport is not doomed to stay in the dark ages because of coaches like Coach Stevens. Is is doomed to be an unpopular sport socially because of its nature. It is hard and kids these days are not willing to work hard. It is not popular to "roll around with a sweaty guy". It is not popular to bust ur A$$ at times all by yourself to succeed. It is much more popular to pass the ball when the game is on the line or let a styd carry your team to victory.

3.) What is publicity and what does it do for you? It puts a big A$$ target on your back. If Coach Stevens prefers to be the hunter instead of the hunted, props to him. That is a noble ploy to help his team and kids stay focused. Maybe they don't want or need publicity or publication. That stuff is all vain.

4.) Those of you who don't want your line ups posted or prefer not to have your information posted without your say, way to stand up for a CLASS ACT like Coach Stevens. He is one of the few coaches who does things the right way, ALWAYS! Shame on those of you who choose to throw his name in the dirt. Those of you who did, YOU are a JOKE!

 

What difference does having "a big A$$ target on your back" have to do with anything? If you're trying to fly under the radar it won't last long. And the best kids are going to wrestle you tough regardless of whether you're ranked, lauded, touted or your lineup is known to the community.

New Pal beat New Castle 45-36

Young looks really good at 157

http://flowrestling.org/videos/coverage/view_video/237824-2010-michigan-state-open/366917-157-lbs-round1-paul-young-indiana-univers-vs-nathan-millman-illinois

I'm not naive about the way the world works, but I just can't get over the a-hole attitude of supporting/promoting youth athletics solely for profit. It just doesn't sit well with me. These kids, and the opportunities for them to succeed in youth athletics, should not be a for profit business for bureacratic jerkoffs to make a living from.