High School Matches

[PUMMELKING]

Should rideing time be put back into high school wrestling, or does this just teach rideing which in it by itself is Stalling?

[Guest cole703]

Yes, it should be placed back into high school wrestling. By doing this it would eliminate 80% of the overtime matches. The only problem is finding another person to operate the clock.

[Asylamer]

Pummelking, I know that you are interested in getting some good dialogue started, but this is one of those issues best left for one of the advocates to try to throw open for discussion. I know you are not for riding time. It may offer some relief for overtime matches. I would need to see the statistical data proving that logic before I would buy into it, however. It was a huge win for the sport when we dropped riding time in scholastic wrestling. It was a minor win when collegiate dropped to one minute. There is no question that riding time changes the nature of strategy and consequently the time spent on mastering a different strategy. I personally like the freerwheeling action that has occurred in the sport since we dropped riding time. I would be sorely disappointed to see us take a step backward.

[walkenvol]

Asylamer - Good post. Hate riding time.

[mjgIII]

Hey pummel, I liked riding time...won my first match with it. I doubt it will ever come back on the HS level though. Cole's right, it's hard enough to find someone to just run the clock, and the fans never did seem to understand it.

[Guest Smokediver]

I'm with you walkenvol.

 

Riding time...legalized stalling...hmmmmm

 

Overtime makes for exciting wrestling. Stalling makes for a good time to go grab some popcorn and a coke.

 

(YAWN!)

[Edited by Smokediver on 3-9-03 9:40P]

 

[JustWrestle]

You know what, I am opening myself up to questioning my love of the sport of wrestling when I tell you that I have heard the term "riding time" but am unfamiliar with how it works. If it is not too much trouble, I would appreciate an explanation of it, or if you could just point me to a website that might explain it so I can speak half-way intelligently in this conversation about it!

[delaWarr]

JustWrestle, Back through the late ice age of TSSAA wrestling, a riding time clock was kept that could add one or two points to a wrestler's score. While wrestler "A" was in the advantaged (top) position, the clock was adding up seconds of riding time in his favor. These seconds were accumulating beginning when an official signaled that he had secured a takedown, or when a period began with his being placed in the "top" position, in other words, any time he was on "top". Time stopped accumulating in his favor when the period ended or if wrestler "B" was awarded an escape or a reversal.

 

The same was true for wrestler "B". Whenever "B" was on "top", seconds were accumulating in his favor. At the end of the match, if either wrestler had between 1 minute and 1:59 more riding time than his opponent, he was awarded 1 extra point to his score total. If he had 2 or more minutes more that his opponent, he was awarded 2 extra points to his score total. You can well understand the kind of pressure this put on the riding time clock operator. One second late in starting or one second overrun....

 

The application of this rule meant that much greater emphasis was put on top control. Officials understood that control was a part of strategy by rule, so many fans and coaches felt that the rule fostered control technique akin to stalling on top.

 

The NCAA still utilizes a 1 minute ridingtime rule.

[Edited by delaWarr on 3-10-03 12:16A]

 

[JustWrestle]

Thank you for explaining that to me. I have heard of riding time spoken of often, but kinda thought I might know, but wanted to know for sure (if i made any sense there, then I'm surprised). Anyway, that cleared up a lot of questions. You are right, I would not want to be clock keeper in that case. Did they have a separate clock for each person to count up riding time in addition to the regular match score clock?

[luchador]

In the old days of analog clocks, there would be a clock that ran in 1 direction for red then would be switched over and ran the other direction for green. It was colored half green and half red. The accumulated time at the end of the match determined who got a point.

 

Colleges now have digital riding time clocks. It counts up and indicates the color, or counts down for the other color. The time is looked at at the end and if 1 minute or more in favor for 1 wrestler he gets the riding time point.

[takedown3]

I wrestled in high school and college when gaining a riding time advantage was a legitimate strategy. It had to bore the fans because it bored me as a participant. However, it did add an element of creativity to stalling. The ref had to decide if you were stalling or trying to gain a riding time advantage. Reinstalling riding time would be a detriment to TN wrestling and probably cost the sports some fans who would rather go watch paint dry.

[JustWrestle]

Well, after reading the posts on riding time and thinking about it, I would just about have to agree that it wouldn't be much fun. People complain already about how heavyweight matches are more of a shoving match and not too exciting. If riding time were added in that and the 275 match was the last match of the night, a lot of people might just get up and leave. I've watched for the past couple of years kids who are pretty good at throwing legs (like Bradley, no offense intended, they are just good at what they do), and to me, it looks like stalling, and kinda gets boring after a while, especially when it seems it is being done to just run down the clock. So, I say, no thank you, I would really prefer to not have riding time.