Wrestling is very different from many sports your child may have already participated in. It can be very overwhelming at first. From weigh-ins, to bracketing, to scoring, to the way your child is matched up with other wrestlers, there is a lot to learn in your wrestler’s first year! This page was designed to help you understand the sport of wrestling and answer many common questions first year parents have. As club parents, these are all things we learned at some point, and hopefully it will help you through your first season.
Best Advice: ASK, ASK, ASK!!!
Don’t be shy, wrestling is not an easy sport to figure out! We have a very friendly group of knowledgeable coaches and parents in our club, and coaches and experienced parents are happy to answer any questions you may have.
And as you interact with the others, you’ll get to know other parents in the club and be cheering for their children on the mat at meets and tournaments.
As a parent, I can say one of the greatest aspects of wrestling is how close everyone in the club is, from the wrestlers, to the coaches to the parents. And this bond carries on thru the Club level to Junior High and High School teams as well. We love our wrestling community in our small town, the bonds you form in wrestling are unlike those in any other sport.
Attire
At practice, wrestlers wear sweats or shorts, a t-shirt and wrestling shoes. You will need to purchase wrestling shoes before our first practice, if possible. Most sporting goods stores will carry them as well as online stores such as Amazon. Also, The Clothing Closet in town often has wrestling shoes in stock as well.
The club has a collection of hand me down wrestling shoes you’re welcome to use, but we ask that you return them at the end of the season. We will have this box out the first week of practice if you would like to have your child try on the shoes we have available and see if there is a pair that fits them. We cannot guarantee any availability but please don’t let the lack of shoes hinder participation, please let us know if you need any assistance.
If you buy your own shoes and your wrestler grows out of them, we greatly appreciate donated shoes for others in our club to use.
At meets and tournaments, your wrestler will be required to wear wrestling shoes and a singlet. Hear gear and/or a mouth protector are optional.
The club will provide your singlet, and it must be returned at the end of the season.
Practice
Practice will always be indoors on wrestling mats which are cleaned on a regular basis. Practices consist of warm ups, conditioning, instruction and occasionally, games – which are actually “conditioning in disguise 😉 The kids will typically be paired with team mates of comparable size and they will work with each other practicing and mastering various moves and positions. Often during practice we will have some “live wrestling” to allow the kids to practice wrestling “for real”.
Because physical contact is a part of the sport, and several skin conditions are generally associated with contact sports, we highly recommend your wrestler shower immediately after practice, in addition to any tournaments. As was already mentioned, our mats are cleaned on a regular basis, and coaches are always looking for possible skin conditions in our wrestlers (and opponents), but it’s best not to take chances and just get them in the shower right away when you get home. There is also a product available on line called Defense – these wipes and soaps are a great option to help clean thoroughly. The wipes are great to have on hand to use to wipe down when it will be a little while before a shower is possible. {Links for Amazon, but there are other sources if you google it}
If you notice any rash like area on your child, please don’t hesitate to ask any Board member or coach for assessment. The quicker rashes such as ringworm are caught and treated the less likely it will spread to everyone.
Tournaments
Tournaments are held on Saturdays, typically at the High School in whichever town is hosting. Please see the Tournaments Page for registration information and more details.
You will be responsible to get your wrestler to the location prior to the close of check-in time. The league is very strict with check in times and you MUST be checked in and on-site prior to the times listed for your child’s group.
Please refer to the chart on the tournament page showing birth years to confirm which group your child is in. Once they are in their Group, they will be bracketed according to weight. Typically, kids will wrestle other kids within 5 pounds of their weight. If your child is at either end of the weight spectrum for their group, we will chat with you if they might need to wrestle slightly more of a difference to get matches.
We will conduct weigh-ins at the last practice before a tournament. We have a League certified scale and each child will be weighed by a Board member or Coach and their weight is recorded both on our charts as well as written on their upper arm. Please continue to have your child shower as normal, if the ink has faded by Saturday you may touch it up with a sharpie. We will do this before/during/after practice and record their weights to submit to the League. We must submit these weights by a pre-determined time so it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY they weigh in if they want to wrestle that weekend. If for any reason they are unable to make practice, PLEASE contact us and we will help you figure out when we can do their weigh in.
Scoring
Scoring at tournaments may seem confusing during the first matches you watch, but, it’s much simpler than it seems. The main objective of wrestling is to pin your opponent. In the process you will get points for different things that you do. If no one is pinned at the end of the bout, the wrestler with the most points wins.
There are three positions a wrestler can be in during a bout: offensive, defensive or neutral. The offensive wrestler is in control and usually on top of the defensive wrestler. The defensive wrestler is fighting to become the offensive wrestler by gaining control. Neutral is when neither wrestler has control (no one is clearly offensive or defensive yet). All bouts start with both wrestlers neutral.
Ways to Score
Takedown – 3 points – Scored when a wrestler gains control and becomes the offensive wrestler from the neutral stance. Control is defined as getting behind the opponent and taking them to the mat or taking them directly to their back without getting behind them and becoming the offensive wrestler.
Reversal – 2 points – Awarded to a wrestler when they go from the defensive position to the offensive position and take control away from the opponent. If a wrestler is on the bottom and gets to the top without an escape, they are awarded a reversal.
Escape – 1 point – Scored when a defensive wrestler gets away from the offensive wrestler and becomes neutral. This happens most commonly when a wrestler chooses to start on the bottom in the 2nd or 3rd period.
Near Fall – 1-4 points – This is when the offensive wrestler almost pins their opponent. Points for a near fall are awarded when the non-offensive wrestler has control of his opponent in a near pinning position. This occurs when the defensive wrestler’s shoulders are restrained four or fewer inches from the mat, one shoulder is touching the mat and the other is held at a 45-degree angle to the mats, or when the wrestler is in a high bridge or supported on both elbows. If the near fall criteria is met for a consecutive seconds, near fall points will be awarded based on the length of the near fall count.
Penalty – 1 point to opponent – There are several penalties which would cause a referee to award a penalty point to your opponent. Locking hands is most common, and you will see the ref clasp their hands together in the air right before they award the penalty. Other penalty points can be awarded for things like stalling (not trying to get a pin, doing nothing to maintain a point lead, not trying to gain control), swearing, kicking, scratching, biting, hitting, body slamming, or bending any body part beyond it’s normal range of motion (you may hear this referred to as “potentially dangerous” and it will stop the bout temporarily).
Typically in Little Guys League, if there is an action that could be penalized, the ref will stop the match and tell the wrestler what happened so they learn and hopefully don’t let it happen again. If the offense is repeated multiple times in the same match, penalty points may be awarded. However, these points are most often seen in the older kids and high school teams.
How Score is Kept
At the beginning of a bout, your child will put on a colored ankle band. You will also notice the referee has two wrist bands on of corresponding colors. When a wrestler scores points, you will see the referee raise the hand with the corresponding color of the wrestler’s ankle band and hold up the number of points scored. There are two scorekeepers at the table, one running the scoreboard and another tracking the bout on the scorecard to ensure accuracy. The scoreboard will always have the scores, and the person running the scoreboard will adjust the score based on the color wristband the ref is holding up and the number of points he is indicating. Most Little Guys tournaments will be scored on a computer and can be tracked on the website www.trackwrestling.com.
If you would like to follow the tournament on TrackWrestling. Go to the website and search for the tournament name. Once you are in our tournament you can sort by division, brackets and weights and follow along with your wrestler. However, often times internet is slow at tournaments, so this option may not always be doable. Tournaments will have a location on a wall at the facility that will show when wrestlers will be coming up to wrestle and which mat they need to be on. Please try and watch this wall and make sure your wrestler is near their mat at the proper time. Please keep track of where your wrestler is at all times. Have them stay in our designated area and this helps greatly in locating kids when it is time for them to wrestle!
Victory
At the end of the match, the referee will have both children at the center of the match, they will shake hands and the referee will raise the hand of the winner.
After this, each child should go shake the hand of the opponents coach and then go to their own coach for a high five and encouraging words.
Most tournaments, once your child has lost 2 matches, they will be finished wrestling, but occasionally this might change. If your child wins their first two matches, they will typically advance to the championship round. If they have any combination of win and loss, it will depend on the number of kids in their brackets.
At the end of all of your child’s matches, please check with a coach before leaving the facility.
We hope this has helped you understand wrestling and our tournaments a little bit more. There is much to be learned in just watching at an actual tournament and following along. Again, please ask if you have questions!