Basics of High School Wrestling

High school wrestling is a sport that anyone can participate in if they choose to. You do not have to be tall or fast or strong to take up the sport. All you need is some effort, determination and heart to be a wrestler at your local High School. Wrestling is divided into 14 weight classes that were recently changed over the past year, the weight classes are as follows:

106 Ib
113 lb
120 lb
126 lb
132 lb
138 lb
145 lb
152 lb
160 lb
170 lb
182 lb
195 lb
225 lb
Heavyweight
Wrestlers will only wrestle other wrestlers in their weight class, this is a great equalizer that many other sports do not offer.

Wrestling takes place on a wrestling mat which is a padded surface that will have markings to indicate the center as well as the out of bounds points of the wrestling area.

The uniform consists of a Wrestling Singlet, Wrestling Shoes, Wrestling Headgear and many wrestlers choose to also wear Kneepads.

There are several rules in wrestling designed to protect the wrestlers as well as facilitate scoring, we are going to concentrate on the basics of scoring and in future posts we will discuss other rules in detail. The wrestling match starts in the "neutral" position with both wrestlers standing on the center of the mat. The object of the match is for the wrestler to take his opponent to the mat and hopefully turn him over for a pinfall which is simply holding the opponents shoulder blades flat on the mat for 2 seconds. Barring a pinfall there are other ways to score in a wrestling match. The takedown is worth 2 points, a takedown occurs when one wrestler brings the other wrestler to the mat and has his opponent under control. Another way to score is through near fall point, You score near fall points when you expose your opponent's back to the mat. His back has to be within a 45-degree angle from the mat for the referee to start counting. If you hold your opponent in this position for a three-second count, you are awarded two points; a five-second count rewards you with three points. Below is an example of a wrestler in a near fall predicament.

Other ways to score include escapes and reversals, an escape scores a wrestler one point when a wrestler who is on the bottom breaks free from the man on too and returns to his feet, which is 1 point. A reversal happens when the man on bottom switches position with the man on top, a reversal is worth 2 points.

Here is an image of a reversal in progress.

If there are no pinfalls scored in a match, typically they go to a decision, there are several types of decisions in high school wrestling. There is a decision which is when one wrestler outscores his opponent by 1-7 points, a major decision is when one wrestler outscores his opponent by 8-14 and a technical fall is when one wrestler outscores his opponent by 15 points or more. Please note, that once a wrestler outscores his opponent by 15 points or more, the match is stopped and a technical fall is declared.

The way a wrestler wins his match determines how many team points his team earns. A pinfall earns the team 6 points, a technical fall earns the team 5 points, a major decision earns the team 4 points and a decision earns the team 3 points. The results of each individual weight class are tallied and after the last match the team with the most team points is declared the winner.

Typically a wrestling match is 6 minutes long, divided into 3 two minute periods. The 1st period both wrestlers start in the neutral position. However the 2nd and 3rd period are decided by the wrestlers themselves. In the 2nd period one wrestler decides if they will both start neutral again, if he will start on top or if he chooses to start on bottom. The top and bottom positions in wrestling are called referees position.