Five Changes Made in High
School Wrestling Rules
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Five new rules changes for the
2009-10 wrestling season were approved by the
National Federation of State High School
Associations (NFHS) Wrestling Rules Committee at
its annual meeting last month in Indianapolis.
These changes were subsequently approved by the
NFHS Board of Directors.
"The main focus
of the changes was clarifying some rules dealing
with tournaments," said Bob Colgate, NFHS
assistant director and liaison to the Wrestling
Rules Committee. "One of the changes also dealt
with improving sportsmanship, which is always a
high priority with all NFHS rules."
Two steps were
added in Rule 5-20-5Note to clarify the
offensive starting position. As a part of the
steps to assume the offensive starting position,
the offensive wrestler's head must be on or
above the opponent's spinal column, and both
wrestlers must become stationary. The referee
still must pause momentarily before blowing the
whistle.
In Rule 9-2-2b
and c, two new tie-breaker options for dual-meet
competitions have been added as well. First,
"The team whose opposing wrestlers or team
personnel have been penalized the greater number
of team point deductions shall be declared the
winner." Second, "The team whose opposing
wrestlers were penalized the greater number of
match points for unsportsmanlike conduct during
a match shall be declared the winner."
Colgate said this
change eliminates the possibility of a team that
has been penalized the greater number of points
for coaches misconduct or any kind of
unsportsmanlike conduct winning a dual meet in
the event of a tie.
In Rule 1-2-1,
the committee added: "In individually bracketed
tournaments, the contestant representing a
school shall be named by weight class prior to
the conclusion of the weigh-in and no
substitution is allowed after the conclusion of
the weigh-in." The rule previously contradicted
two other rules (4-5-6 and 10-2-1), but now all
three guidelines are in concurrence.
The committee
clarified, in Rule 4-2-3, that if a designated,
on-site meet physician is present, he or she may
examine a wrestler for communicable skin disease
or any other condition, either immediately prior
to or immediately after the weigh-in.
Another rule
change provides tournament administrators the
option to weigh-in by either weight class or
teams to help with the organization at
tournaments. The revised Rule 4-5-3 adds the
following language: "Tournament weigh-in may
proceed by team(s) with the lowest weight class
to the highest and end immediately upon the
completion of the highest weight class."
The 2009-10
points of emphasis include excessive
celebrations; awarding near-fall points;
legalities of scissors, draping scissors and
Figure 4; and communicable disease.
Wrestling is the
sixth-most popular sport for boys at the high
school level with 259,688 participants,
according to the 2007-08 NFHS High School
Athletics Participation Survey. In addition,
there were an additional 5,527 girls nationwide
who participated in wrestling in 2007-08.
