11/16/17- 2017 Wrestling Rules Clarifications Including Experimental Weigh-in

November 17, 2017 Wrestling Blog Updates

To further our efforts in communications across the wrestling community, we have developed this post as a list of questions that have come to the staff from both Coaches and Officials concerning this year’s playing rules. As new questions arise, we will update this post for everyone’s clarification.

As an experimental rule, the Association wanted to address the possible problem of weigh-ins for female wrestlers when the Officials’ assigned to the match along with the Coaching staffs and event management are all male. To help give some relief to this situation, we are experimenting with an alternative weigh-in procedure. This is not intended as a rule change for all weigh-ins, but a means to accommodate those special situations that might arise that make the standard procedure difficult from a management perspective.

The following are questions that have been submitted, along with our interpretation of the Experimental Weigh-in Rule for Females when no females in tournament management, officiating or coaching are available.

What is the alternate weigh-in experiment? This is a means of weighing a female wrestler in those cases when there are no available females at an event in tournament management, officiating or coaching by having the wrestler weigh-in while in competition uniform. The female would have .7 pounds (7 tenths of a pound) deducted from her weight for recording purposes.

Do the female wrestler wear shoes, socks, and headgear at weigh-ins? No

Clarify skin procedure during weigh in with the kid in uniform. If we see obvious ringworm under the shirt during weigh-ins prior to stepping on the scales, are they disqualified? Yes

Should we hold a female for weigh-ins until the males are not in the weigh-in area? Yes

Clarify skin procedure and if skin disease is seen during wrestling. If the wrestler is found to have ringworm on the mat, can the official call unsportsmanlike conduct on the Head coach and/or wrestler? No

Wrestler steps on the scale and is .9 overweight and then you subtract the .7 for the uniform however the wrestler is now .2 overweight. Can she take off the uniform and step on the scale again to try to make weight without the uniform? No. Although the wrestler can step on all scales, the procedure and what is worn must remain consistent during all weigh-ins

If one female wrestler wears the uniform during weigh-ins do the rest of males on the team have to comply and wear uniforms during weigh-in? No, and such is not permitted.

The following additional questions, along with our interpretation, related to the NFHS rule change concerning Near Fall out of bounds. These interpretations remain in place unless further altered by the NFHS, in which case all officials and coaches will be notified:

If the defensive wrestler is out of bounds and the offensive wrestler pops up to his toes, are we stopping the match or going to allow the offensive wrestler to pull the defensive wrestler back in bounds? No, stop the match.

If only part of one shoulder is in bounds but the rest of the body is out of bounds, are we in or out of bounds? Inbounds.

During a Takedown straight to the back and the defensive wrestler is out of bounds, should we allow for reaction time for the offensive wrestler to get his knees or supporting points on the mat? Yes

If wrestler comes off his knees to his toes in an attempt to drive the opponent over to his back will there be reaction time to allow that wrestler a chance to reset his knee? Or will action be stopped immediately when the offensive wrestler’s knees come off of the mat? Stop the match immediately.

-KHSAA-

The KHSAA staff routinely publishes blog posts to better communicate with its various constituencies and the public. The blogs for specific sports and sport-activities are on that sport or sport-activity main page, and there are general information blogs at http://khsaa.org/news-stats-pubs/sports-blogs/