Survival Guide for Parents of New Wrestlers - Team Rhino LLC

usually refer to the wrestlers only by their color, not by name or team (e.g., the referee
might say, "Green, down," to tell the wrestlers their starting positions.)
Wrestling as a Team Sport
Wrestlers compete in matches as individuals, but they are also members of a team. All of
the students on the wrestling squad are teammates, but for each event, eighteen wrestlers
form a team, one for each of the weight classes: 65 pounds, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100,
105, 112, 119, 126, 135, 145, 155, 167, 185, 275. In order to qualify to wrestle at an
event, each wrestler will have to make weight, i.e., cannot exceed the weight specified
for his class plus any weight allowance that has been agreed to by the teams and the
IESA. Normally each student will only wrestle against students of the same weight class
but occasionally a wrestler will bump up a weight class. Each wrestler is trying to earn
team points as a result of his match. These are different from the match points described
above. The way these team points are awarded depends on what kind of event is being
wrestled. At a dual meet, involving only two teams competing head-to-head, team
points are awarded according to the following table:
Fall, forfeit, or disqualification
Technical fall (15 or more match points)
Major decision (8-14 match points)
Decision (1-7 points or TB win)
6 team points
5 team points
4 team points
3 team points
The team with the most team points wins the dual meet. Note that sometimes three teams
can arrange a triangular meet, which is essentially a set of three dual meets.
Sometimes, however, several teams (ideally 8 or 16) compete together in a tournament.
In that case, scoring gets a little more complicated. Individual awards are given to the
winners and placers in each weight class and the teams also compete against each other
for the overall team tournament victory. Before the tournament starts the matches in each
weight class are posted graphically on a bracket. After the first round of matches,
roughly half of the wrestlers will have won their matches and continue to the next round
in the championship or top bracket. Those who lose their first round matches continue to
wrestle in the consolation, bottom, or wrestle-back bracket. Round after round,
wrestlers either move on in the top bracket or move to the wrestle-backs. Wrestlers who
lose their first two matches are usually eliminated from placing. In the end, there will
only be two undefeated wrestlers left in the top bracket for each weight class. They will
wrestle to determine first and second place. The two who remain in the bottom bracket
will wrestle for third and forth place. (In large tournaments, additional consolation
matches may be held.) Sometimes there will not be enough wrestlers in a given weight
class to fill out all the spots, e.g. when there are 14 contestants in a 16-man bracket. In
that case, one or more wrestlers will receive a bye and move directly to the next round.