wvmat.com

New topic.
Other than changes in classification/region (this includes 1 state tournament, or the qualification process) WHat changes could be made to make High School wrestling better or even better than that, what will make the sport better in WV.

HS wrestling in general. I know College out of bounds doesn't work at the HS level without making a bunch of teams buy new mats. But what about
- Danger neutral (Let's speed up the neutral scrambles.)
- 4 point near fall (incentivize good mat wrestling)
- Better Clarification on when is top wrestler stalling from a standing position. (Start an audible count)
- Require exposure for a merkle to be a takedown

WV Wrestling:
-Allow better out of season contact for coaches and athletes wanting to do more and better Summer Wrestling.
-Sanction Girls wrestling!!!

what else?

Stop the misuse of the injury timeout, to many wrestlers using this as a catch their breath break. Poor conditioning is not an injury

mscoach106 wrote:New topic.
Other than changes in classification/region (this includes 1 state tournament, or the qualification process) WHat changes could be made to make High School wrestling better or even better than that, what will make the sport better in WV.

HS wrestling in general. I know College out of bounds doesn't work at the HS level without making a bunch of teams buy new mats. But what about
- Danger neutral (Let's speed up the neutral scrambles.)
- 4 point near fall (incentivize good mat wrestling)
- Better Clarification on when is top wrestler stalling from a standing position. (Start an audible count)
- Require exposure for a merkle to be a takedown

WV Wrestling:
-Allow better out of season contact for coaches and athletes wanting to do more and better Summer Wrestling.
-Sanction Girls wrestling!!!

what else?

One of these is easy: Your coaches and wrestlers purchase USA Wrestling cards. WVSSAC will allow them unlimited contact for the entire off-season if the practices/competitions are freestyle and greco. Anticipating the next excuse: we can't afford the cards. An annual membership is about the price of one decent steak dinner and that membership includes insurance for the coaches and wrestlers as well as support for our Olympic Teams.

I am anxious to see what people think should be improved in high school/middle school wrestling. It's easy to blame the WVSSAC for our problems but if your wrestler isn't getting off season time with their coach/teammates, it isn't the WVSSAC's fault.

Mike Kay wrote:Stop the misuse of the injury timeout, to many wrestlers using this as a catch their breath break. Poor conditioning is not an injury

This is by far one of the better fixes but the only way to create an incentive is to punish someone who truly is injured... giving choice to their opponent is just adding insult.

Not sure how many people would be for something like that.

Don't know of anyway to fix it, just blowing of steam, seeing if others feel it's a problem, comes down to integrity of individual and coach, if they want to cheapen the sport by doing this have to sit in stands and watch it no matter how disgusting it is.

mscoach57 wrote:

mscoach106 wrote:New topic.
Other than changes in classification/region (this includes 1 state tournament, or the qualification process) WHat changes could be made to make High School wrestling better or even better than that, what will make the sport better in WV.

HS wrestling in general. I know College out of bounds doesn't work at the HS level without making a bunch of teams buy new mats. But what about
- Danger neutral (Let's speed up the neutral scrambles.)
- 4 point near fall (incentivize good mat wrestling)
- Better Clarification on when is top wrestler stalling from a standing position. (Start an audible count)
- Require exposure for a merkle to be a takedown

WV Wrestling:
-Allow better out of season contact for coaches and athletes wanting to do more and better Summer Wrestling.
-Sanction Girls wrestling!!!

what else?

One of these is easy: Your coaches and wrestlers purchase USA Wrestling cards. WVSSAC will allow them unlimited contact for the entire off-season if the practices/competitions are freestyle and greco. Anticipating the next excuse: we can't afford the cards. An annual membership is about the price of one decent steak dinner and that membership includes insurance for the coaches and wrestlers as well as support for our Olympic Teams.

I am anxious to see what people think should be improved in high school/middle school wrestling. It's easy to blame the WVSSAC for our problems but if your wrestler isn't getting off season time with their coach/teammates, it isn't the WVSSAC's fault.

I've heard this but have never seen it in writing. Do you happen to know where this is documented? This is what i see

https://casetext.com/regulation/west-vi ... n-coaching

mscoach106 wrote:New topic.
Other than changes in classification/region (this includes 1 state tournament, or the qualification process) WHat changes could be made to make High School wrestling better or even better than that, what will make the sport better in WV.

HS wrestling in general. I know College out of bounds doesn't work at the HS level without making a bunch of teams buy new mats. But what about
- Danger neutral (Let's speed up the neutral scrambles.)
- 4 point near fall (incentivize good mat wrestling)
- Better Clarification on when is top wrestler stalling from a standing position. (Start an audible count)
- Require exposure for a merkle to be a takedown

WV Wrestling:
-Allow better out of season contact for coaches and athletes wanting to do more and better Summer Wrestling.
-Sanction Girls wrestling!!!

what else?

To add on to some of your points:

I would also like to see better clarification on stalling by the top man from standing position. Unless i am mistaken, Section 6 article 4 part d in regards to stalling states "stays behind the opponent while on the feet, making no attempt to bring the opponent to the mat". I think that leaves too much to the Referee discrection, and too often a wrestler that is attempting a return is hit with stalling when they are unsuccessful. Based on the rule, a succesful return is not required, just the attempt.

I think i am one of the few that do not like the merkle as an "instant" takedown. I would rather see exposure or even taking the opponent to their belly as the requirements for the merkle to be a takedown.

I think the WVSSAC is incredibly out of touch with the sport, and offseason contact is a prime example. Coaches should not have to teach a different style entirely just to be able to work with them consistently in the offseason. Learning freestyle/greco is good for them, but that shouldnt be the way to work with them.

I think high school wrestling, really wrestling in general, would greatly benefit from not only moving to an all-class tournament, but allowing JV wrestlers the chance to compete at regionals and states. There are ways we can conduct our regionals that would all ALL classifications the chance at respresentation, as well as continuing to give out team awards per class. If other states can do it, i really don't see why we cant. I am sure anyone that has coached will agree that it is difficult to keep wrestlers who are JV interested. It can be hard to get JV matches for a variety of valid reasons, and with no real end goal for a JV wrestler for the season it can be hard to just retain them. Over the years, there have been JV wrestlers that potentially could have placed at the state tournament. Let them have the chance to qualify and compete.

Sanction girls wrestling. Period.

mscoach106 wrote:

mscoach57 wrote:

mscoach106 wrote:New topic.
Other than changes in classification/region (this includes 1 state tournament, or the qualification process) WHat changes could be made to make High School wrestling better or even better than that, what will make the sport better in WV.

HS wrestling in general. I know College out of bounds doesn't work at the HS level without making a bunch of teams buy new mats. But what about
- Danger neutral (Let's speed up the neutral scrambles.)
- 4 point near fall (incentivize good mat wrestling)
- Better Clarification on when is top wrestler stalling from a standing position. (Start an audible count)
- Require exposure for a merkle to be a takedown

WV Wrestling:
-Allow better out of season contact for coaches and athletes wanting to do more and better Summer Wrestling.
-Sanction Girls wrestling!!!

what else?

One of these is easy: Your coaches and wrestlers purchase USA Wrestling cards. WVSSAC will allow them unlimited contact for the entire off-season if the practices/competitions are freestyle and greco. Anticipating the next excuse: we can't afford the cards. An annual membership is about the price of one decent steak dinner and that membership includes insurance for the coaches and wrestlers as well as support for our Olympic Teams.

I am anxious to see what people think should be improved in high school/middle school wrestling. It's easy to blame the WVSSAC for our problems but if your wrestler isn't getting off season time with their coach/teammates, it isn't the WVSSAC's fault.

I've heard this but have never seen it in writing. Do you happen to know where this is documented? This is what i see

https://casetext.com/regulation/west-vi ... n-coaching

You were right there. You just did not see it.

7.5. Coaches may participate in a formal development program of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) involving students of the same sport as their coaching assignments. The formal development program must be under the official guidance of the USOC through the National Governing Body (NGB) of the sport. The NGB must assure in writing to the WVSSAC that coaches will receive formal orientation and that strict supervision and monitoring of coaches will ensure that no recruitment or inappropriate influence will be exerted on students.

This is not limited to wrestling. It is for ANY Olympic sport through USA. So, USA Baseball, USA Softball, USA Basketball, etc.

mscoach20 wrote:

mscoach106 wrote:

mscoach57 wrote:
One of these is easy: Your coaches and wrestlers purchase USA Wrestling cards. WVSSAC will allow them unlimited contact for the entire off-season if the practices/competitions are freestyle and greco. Anticipating the next excuse: we can't afford the cards. An annual membership is about the price of one decent steak dinner and that membership includes insurance for the coaches and wrestlers as well as support for our Olympic Teams.

I am anxious to see what people think should be improved in high school/middle school wrestling. It's easy to blame the WVSSAC for our problems but if your wrestler isn't getting off season time with their coach/teammates, it isn't the WVSSAC's fault.

I've heard this but have never seen it in writing. Do you happen to know where this is documented? This is what i see

https://casetext.com/regulation/west-vi ... n-coaching

You were right there. You just did not see it.

7.5. Coaches may participate in a formal development program of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) involving students of the same sport as their coaching assignments. The formal development program must be under the official guidance of the USOC through the National Governing Body (NGB) of the sport. The NGB must assure in writing to the WVSSAC that coaches will receive formal orientation and that strict supervision and monitoring of coaches will ensure that no recruitment or inappropriate influence will be exerted on students.

This is not limited to wrestling. It is for ANY Olympic sport through USA. So, USA Baseball, USA Softball, USA Basketball, etc.

I re-read this today before i hit send to make sure i wasnt missing it. clearly overlooked again

I think the biggest thing is to allow a good top wrestler to wrestle on top. To many times the wrestler on top is hit for stalling when he is riding hard. The biggest adjustment for wrestlers moving on and competing in college is being able to ride and being able to get off of bottom. Allowing a wrestler to ride on top will help both wrestlers. In college its rewarded with a riding time point in high school it is punished with a stalling call.

Other good ways for guys to improve in the off season is by joining a club, if there is one close by. Getting in at least one or two good practices per week would go a long way. In a lot of areas throughout the state this option isn't available because of club dues and excessive travel, so trying to hit at least one or two camps would also be good option. Any college camp within a reasonable distance is a good option and it helps support their programs as well. No matter how big or small the college, they are all led by "Professional" coaches. These coaches do this for a living and they are good at it. There is a long list of places depending on what part of the state you live in: West Liberty, Glenville State, WVU, Ohio State, Ohio University, Pitt, Maryland, American University, University of Virginia, and Virgina Tech. It is also a good idea for all of the coaches to hit a camp or clinic at least once a year. You can always learn something new. All programs should be trying to raise money throughout the year to keep the out of pocket cost to a minimum.

Go to the college out of bounds rule. It’s not great but it’s soooo much better than the HS oob’s.