High school wrestling
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Wrestling Wrules
High school wrestling, also known as Scholastic wrestling is a competitive sport found at schools across the United States.
Most schools practice wrestling at two levels: varsity and junior varsity, although Freshman lealthough at vel is becoming more and more popular. Varsity matches generally consist of three two-minute periods(in some states, at the beginning of the season, matches might run 1-1-2 or 1-2-2), while junior varsity matches normally consist of three one minute periods. This difference is explained by the fact that junior varsity and freshman wrestlers are presumed to be less skilled and possibly in poorer shape than varsity wrestlers.
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[edit] Training
Wrestlers run and weight lift, practice moves, live wrestle, and drill movements on and off season. During school breaks (especially towards the end of the season) wrestlers will often run two-a-day practices.
[edit] Tournaments
Tournaments are usually officially sponsored by a high school and held on either Fridays, Saturdays, or both. Admission charges are often levied to cover costs and make a small profit for the tournament host. Tournaments are often specialized either to junior varsity/frosh or varsity competition. A very few tournaments offer both. However, specialization of competition is usually the norm because of space limitations. These tournaments give the wrestlers practice and help bulk their statistics.
[edit] Weight classes
A tournament begins with a period of time known as "weigh ins", where wrestlers are weighed in by school affiliation to be sure that they are not heavier than the weight class that they intend to wrestle in during the tournament.
To belong to a weight class, a wrestler must weigh less than or equal to the weight value of the class. Wrestlers strive to keep their weight down in order to make their desired weight class. High school wrestlers can compete at 14 different weight classes. If a wrestler wants to bump up weight classes he must be within two classes of what he wants to bump up to. The weight classes are:
- 103 lbs
- 112 lbs
- 119 lbs
- 125 lbs
- 130 lbs
- 135 lbs
- 140 lbs
- 145 lbs
- 152 lbs
- 160 lbs
- 171 lbs
- 189 lbs
- 215 lbs
- "Heavyweight" or 285 lbs
(NOTE: Many tournaments and dual matches feature a "two pound allowance" or a "one pound allowance", which allows wrestlers to compete in a certain class if they are two or one lbs over the weight limit for that class.)
[edit] Format
Most high school wrestling tournaments are double elimination format. The last two wrestlers in the upper bracket duel for first and second place. In other words, a wrestler cannot place higher than third if he or she is knocked down the lower bracket. This policy is largely the result of time constraints: one day tournaments often last until 8 or even 9 PM. If the winner of the lower bracket were allowed to challenge the winner of the upper bracket in the championship, the tournament could continue past midnight before finishing.
[edit] Elite tournaments
Each state or geographic area features two or three "elite" tournaments every year. These events are invitation only. Tournament sponsors (again, usually high schools) invite the best varsity wrestlers from their area to compete against each other. Many elite tournaments last two to three days. For this reason, they are usually held during the school's winter break.
[edit] Leagues
High schools also compete against each other in a league. Head-to-head competition (referred to as a "dual meet") between high schools often occurs on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday nights during the wrestling season.
[edit] Matches
Aside from tournaments, high school wrestling teams will also have multis and duals. Dual meets are wrestling competitions between two schools, where each of the fourteen weight classes wrestle and points from individual matches are added to determine the overall team score. This stresses the importance of team wrestling, rather than individual brilliance.
[edit] Difference between high school and college level
High-school wrestling is somewhat different from the sport found at the college and university level. In college wrestling, the first period is three minutes with the second and third being two minutes. Additionally, college wrestling employs the concept of "riding time" -- if one wrestler can maintain the top position for more than one minute greater than his opponent's total in the match, he is awarded an additional point at the end of the match. High school wrestling does not tally riding time.
