Wrestling Officials

[harry thornton]

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH OFFICIATING?

Either way, somone's gettin' screwed.

[wristbar]

A few issues on here:

You claim there is a shortage of wrestling officials and that the ones that you do have need more training. Its going to be hard to promote growth if you require officials to take a larger amount of their time to go to classes. They don't get paid enough to take more time out of their schedules. Wrestling is a poor sport and that is all there is too it. Officials do what they do because they love the sport. The money is not worth having to deal withsome of the fans and coaches.

 

Wrestling officials in the midwest are not too far ahead of the referees in TN. Yes they probably have more college certified officials. But there is no special training that you have to do to become a college certified official. And if you have ever wrestled in the midwest and are from the south will understand this. Riding in high school is very different. A midwest official will hit you for stalling if you ride a crossbody and a neckbar and are trying to turn, but riding an ankle must be considered a pinning combination up there.

 

CBG makes a good point. There is a lack of officials with a college wrestling background. Im not saying that having wrestled in college is a prereq. for being a good wrestling official, but it definitely helps. What can a coach that may or may not have wrestled in high school possibly have to say to a referee that busted his butt in college learning the ins and outs of the sport when he takes him to the table? Example: Two pretty bad wrestlers were flailing all over the mat. During a flurry, one kid applied a keylock on the other and cranked it. The veteran ref stopped the match and penalized the kid a point and was about to explain why when the coach headed to the table and started blasting the ref. The ref tried to explain but the coach had no idea what a keylock even was.

 

The reffing in TN is not as bad as you guys think it is our guys do their best. All of this complainingis sure to inspire others to want to be referees in TN so lets keep that up.

[slp2269]

I have to agree with the post, refs here in TN, at least here in Western TN are pretty bad. There are several refs who start counting back points and looking at pins from their feet, standing straight up. Honestly - is that acceptable? Never have I witnessed a such a lack of stalling calls when stalling is the obvious tactic being used to win a match. I don't think the intent of this string is to implicate a person, but some of these guys really need to pick up their game. No matter how much better we make our kids, the refs still need to make better, more consistent calls and be in the proper position to make the right assessment of the match.

 

 

CBHS Duals officials were pretty bad, just as a case in point. To many unneccessary roughness calls that were resulting in points. Mostly due to inadvertent tie ups or tap and goes. I watched the Father Ryan, Hoover and W TN coaches just shake their heads at some of the calls that we see every day here in West TN. You can say that the shortage of refs is a problem, but there are plenty at almost every tournament I attend.

[rcpatriot]

Mine isn't as much of a complaint, as an observation.

 

Whether you go from E. TN to W. TN or from E. TN to FL, OK, etc., you are going to find refs who call different. The refs in the E. TN area don't give back points as quickly as the Chatt. refs. Stalling is called differently with just about every ref.

 

I mentioned this last year regarding "refs", I believe they are doing the best they can on any given night, but, the way most of the rules are stated in the wrestling "bible", are very subjective. Thus, we have different interpretations of what is stalling, back points, etc. Is it the refs fault? The wrestling "bible" gives them just enough "grey area" for them to have to make a "judgement" call. Hence, ref makes judgement call, ref is correct.

 

Its no different in baseball. Every umpire has "their" strike zone. I digress, the difference in baseball is when you question a call (subjective), most of the time, you aren't hit with a 1 point team deduction, whether it's the first time or 4th.

Edited January 18, 2006 by rcpatriot

[vanman]

Some ref's are obviously better than others, however,keep in mind, their training is "on the job" training, and younger ones are learning. Wonder if anyone else ever makes a mistake at their job. Don't get me wrong, I've done my share of complaining about calls, but these guys do it because they love the sport, and it is a thankless job. Chattanooga, I think, by far has the best ref's in the state.

[gun816]

I think there is a lot of good refrees, However, I have seen this year 3 refrees that looked like they have never seen a match before. Im not just talking about bad calls, Im talking about not knowing what to call and causing the wrestlers to become confused.

[mhhjnh]

If you like IL better then go back.

[bearmom]

As an official, in our area I think our group does a great job overall. It seems that they’re a lot of good officials in the stands. Because they always seem to tell you how much better they saw it from the stands. But they are always afraid to pay their money to the State and get out there and help us out. PAY YOUR FEE, PUT ON THE STRIPES AND GET OUT THERE! AND THEN TELL US HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE THAT CALL.

 

 

After this past weekend in Suwanee, Florida I would have to agree with you. I have a whole new respect for the officials in East Tennessee anyway.

[cbg]

The problem is not that the officials do not give it their best effort (ok some don't) but that they are not trained well. Yes, most officials associations have a review of the book and the officials are required to pass a test but where are the mechanics of being in the proper position. The TSSAA tried to have a one weekend clinic in the Middle Tennessee area several years ago but I have not heard of anything recently. Was that a one time deal (it was supposed to be an annual event with officials not being able to officiate the state tournament if they did not attend) or did they not have enough interest and decide to "FILE 13" the idea?

[pattonboysdad]

If you like IL better then go back.

 

defensive comments like this don't help the officiating in tenn...half of the problem is to realize there is one...

 

the truth is...none is perfect...no where

 

but...do some tenn. refs need to improve...sure do...and at times it is not even close the things they call...i could give many examples but don't want to get into it...

 

are IL refs probably better than tenn. refs overall...probably...and should be...more people wrestle in IL than tenn, wrestling starts earlier, more people exposed to wrestling, higher expectations, and wrestling is alot better...just ask the middle school team tenn (the best we have in the whole state) that goes up every year to the middle school national team duals and NO ONE WINS A MATCH...we get destroyed...

 

so...let's learn...improve...and take tenn. wrestling to the next level...both in wrestling and officiating...without telling folk to go back to IL or where ever if they don't like our offciating etc...

[Raider76]

I have! I'm not saying all are bad but there are some who need more training. Didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

During the McCallie Invitational the parents from Harrison and Sequoyah teams in Ga made comments to me that they wished the Refs in Ga were as good as the ones in Chatt. I think we have it pretty good around chatt area.

[hespinnedref]

Said it before, will say it again. Chattanooga has the best ref's in the state. Just look at their that background. Not to say that other officials in the rest of the state are not up to par, however, just compare. What officials call college what officials don't. Most of Chatt officials came through a college program. This does not qualify them to be the best, however, it does give them great training background.

 

As stated before, Mr. Mara, Mr. Craft, and Mr. Elsea, ok, excuse me, Danny, are the best in the state. Even these guys get chastised at every match because, "they missed a call". It doesn't matter. It is in the eye of the beholder. We have great officials in the state. We may not have them at all matches, however, we don't have great coach's at every match either.

 

P.S. I would take our officials over Illinois any day. They have problems calling stalling as well.