I'm new to AZ but have had , at least, 8 weeks of watching wrestling. Lots of outstanding wrestlers and also some outstanding officiating. However, after attending the Mile High and Doc Wright tourneys, and being treated to some great wrestling and officiating, I have had to endure some pretty bad officiating between attending a tourney in Tucson last week and the Sectionals at Campo Verde. Out of bounds seems to be an issue for a number of officials. Examples; when 1 foot of both wrestlers is on the line it is considered to be out of bounds. That's simple but seems to be a big problem. The call should be immediate. I would prefer the college rule but that isn't in place at this time. Yesterday I saw a wrestler with a single leg and one of his feet were out of bounds and so was his opponent's balance leg. Pretty simple call. Head official has a bout where the man on the bottom comes to his feet and they both move to the edge of the mat and the wrestler in control still has his arm around the waist as they go out of bounds. Ref gives one and it definitely was not. I can give other examples but most of you won't even get to this point. I , myself, officiated while I was coaching for more than 10 years. I understand how hard of a job it is. Being in position is so important, not only as a wrestler but as an official. The tournament in Tucson last weekend irritated me more than anything as being out of position and poor judgment seemed to be the flavor of the day. Actually, the head official was the only one who seemed to be approachable, in position, and took his job seriously without ego getting in the way. My point here is that with all the good officials out there, these wrestlers deserve better and either better officials or better efforts on their part. It's not fair to the coaches and kids to get anything less. In a number of the situations I observed , their judgement should have been questioned due to it being so poor. My last point is back points. Some need to familiarize themselves with a protractor. 45° and 90° are not the same. 90 is danger and 45° is where back points should be counted. If you are offended by my comments here , I say "Good." If not, you are probably doing your job and understand that anything less is lazy and unfair to the kids who are wrestling. I was never a perfect official or coach. But one thing for sure and that was I wasn't lazy or ,at least, listening and trying to improve. Good luck to all at States. (Officials, Coaches, and Wrestlers)
Officiating
- Thread starter Ray Miro
- Start date
TucGrappler
Member
Officiating here in Arizona is horrible. A lot of the refs here in AZ think every one goes out to watch them officiate, when really they go to see the kids. They need to get rid of about 80% of the current staff they have. These refs have huge egos and get a little high on the power trips. Seen these officials screw a lot of kids over due to bad calls.
I will not go that far. It's a tough job but one that requires work and effort. Too many parents and even some coaches don't know the rule book or even most of it. And also, you might just be seeing a certain group, over and over. I will try and attend an interpretations meeting to hopefully go over some of the concerns I have. Positioning, most of the time is what will determine how you make a call. Anticipating a kids move in a certain situation helps. Hopefully we can help to improve everyone. Rules by the Federation are pretty easy to find and most States follow them very closely.
MTLION05
Member
It could be worse, you could be at a JV wrestling tournament and have some ref give a twenty minute coaching clinic to you and your wrestlers before the tournament even starts.
He even went as far was running over to another mat that he wasn’t even officiating on and dinging a JV wrestler for not having his headgear snapped on... really?
We get it, you like having power and the sound of your voice... maybe that why you are still officiating JV tourneys.
He even went as far was running over to another mat that he wasn’t even officiating on and dinging a JV wrestler for not having his headgear snapped on... really?
We get it, you like having power and the sound of your voice... maybe that why you are still officiating JV tourneys.
Bullybulldog
Member
I feel there are a few Officials that take proud in their job and realize how they call a match or handle things that transpire during the match, can have a lasting impression on a wrestler. With that being said I also feel some officials let things get way out of hand. If a kid is picking up kids and dropping them on their heads, why isn't that kid being warned and corrected? If a kid wins a match and stands over his opponent and screams in his face for 5 sec., why isn't he disqualified or his team docked points? Officials have a lot a power to correct bad behavior and help kids develop, but never seem to use that power in a way that will reinforce good sportsmanship. I'm not trying to say that officials should be teaching kids good sportsmanship, that should come from HOME first, then echoed by COACHING staff.
The reason for this thread wasn't to trash any official but more so to address some things that could be improved. I've been around the block a few times and understand that it isn't an easy job. Positioning is very important and that includes being on the outside to protect the kids from going off the mat. If they take their job seriously then they should want to make the necessary changes for the good of all involved. Coaches need to ,also, take on the responsibility for their athletes. Saw a few wrestlers that would have received an earful from me if I were coaching them but not a word from their coaches. That's an altogether different subject.
we had a wrestler "act out" at sectionals. He directed this toward the opposing team coaches. While I do feel the Opposing team was antagonizing him we expect more of him. We immediately addressed it. It is not tolerated on our team.
In a way, I feel that wrestlers like DeSantos, have made the celebrating and / trashtalk / taunting more commonplace and accepted. On our team, we want our wrestlers have strong character. We want them to win with honor and lose with dignity. Somewhere along the way other sports (and their celebrations / trashtalk) have bled into wrestling. Football, boxing, and mma all have trashtalking and celebrations that receive focus and are replayed over and over. Sometimes negative attention is still attention.
Personally, I'm much more likely to be impressed by a wrestler who defeats everyone and then jogs off the mat to cool down by doing sprints or other cool down. That's a Machine... That's impressive.
Great post. You can only control what your kids are doing. Yes DeSanto is a black mark on what celebrations should look like. Unless something drastically changes for him, he is on a course of self destruction whether it be in wrestling or life after. It will be hard to change his direction. Watch Bo Nickal or Jason Nolf. Nickals pin of Myles Martin in last years NCAA'S was great but what I noticed was he never did anything to denigrate Martin as he is also a class individual and there is respect. Tom Ryan and Cael Sanderson should be the models for which we can hold up. John Smith doesn't tolerate much either. Been to a few if his practices and watched how the kids interact. Same for Zeke Jones and ASU. Looking forward to attending a few ASU practices after the States.
MTLION05
Member
it could be worse you could have a handful of wrestlers leave their school to follow a coach to another school. Even though that breaks prior contact rules and all but hey it’s cool to throw one wrestler under the bus because he has a character flaw.
Attitude reflects leadership.
Attitude reflects leadership.