Has anyone actually read these yet?
In one year the NFHS has finally listened and made big strides to put high school wrestling in line with college.

2 big points here:

1. 2 piece uniforms now allowed.

2. Even bigger! Nearfall and falls awarded as long as supporting points of one wrestler are still in bounds. Aka just like college except NFHS still requires 2 points rather than any part of either wrestler.

I must say I'm pleasantly happy at this. Now we just have to wait for the takedown aspect to be incorporated. May take a couple more years but we will get there.

I think you are going to see some really exciting things happen next year, and potentially a lot less wrestlers trying to wrestle at the edge of the most.

Bravo NFHS

Agreed Nigel.

My thoughts....

Out-of-bounds rules are a biggie, good start. We need to get to full college out-of-bounds rules. It will, guaranteed, be biggest & best change to our sport in long time.

Uniform rule....In my opinion, singlets are best uniform for our sport, makes the most practical sense to wear for the sport. Those who claim they aren't wrestling because of a singlet...don't really want to wrestle. It's a hard sport and blaming a singlet is their way out. We need to focus on getting them to want to do the sport regardless of a uniform. The two-piece is not any more appealing of a uniform than a singlet, especially when the shirt part comes up over the belly of a HWT, I am sure they will wish they were in singlet about that time. I don't see the benefit with worrying about the singlet issue.

I get it on the two piece - But more in favor of the 1 piece singlet, Kit is correct we will have plumbers butt and the belly boy advertisers chomping at the bit for ad space. Officials will be wasting time saying tuck in your shirt pull up your pants and wrestlers will be using it for a rest period - just like jacking with knee pads and head gear. When going out of bounds hustle back to the center and fix your gear so you are ready to go or get penalized or warned for stalling.
That is in the rules I think.

I feel like the traditional singlet is the best uniform for the sport. It works perfectly fine. It's not an issue.

And I feel like our failure to get some kids to wrestle is not really about the uniform, it's way more about other factors (it's a hard sport, kids are "specializing" more and more nowadays, there are more opportunities for kids to do winter off-season for other sports such as winter baseball or lifting for football, etc.).

Recruitment & retention are two very difficult aspects of coaching and it's a never-ending process. But it's a challenge we have to accept to keep our sport going and growing.

The nearfall and fall out of bounds is a good step in the right direction BUT the supporting points of wrestler being in bounds needs to go. This only creates confusion for fans, coaches, wrestlers, and even officials. That part of the rule only benefits the defensive wrestler. It would be much easier if they would go with, 'if any part of one wrestler is in bounds and both are on the mat, wrestling continues and scoring continues.' This is much less confusing to ALL!
On a side note: How does this new rule keep wrestlers from wrestling on the edge, as stated above? We already have rules in place for that and officials only need to enforce the rules already in the rulebook!
Rule 5, section 24 Stalling
Article 1 Each wrestler is required to make an hones attempt to stay within the 10 ft circle... (key words 'required' and '10 ft circle' - pretty sure that is the center circle)
Article 3 ... it is stalling in the neutral position when a wrestler plays the edge of the mat.
Nothing will change as long as officials do not enforce these rules and allow wrestlers to back to the edge and wrestle on the edge instead of the 10 ft circle!

So if a kid doesn't want to wear a singlet than wrestling isn't for him or her???

Uniform is a factor!!! I have been on the football field recruiting football players to wrestling. Head football coach made it a point to tell football players that they need to get over wearing a singlet. Seemed to be one the excuses he was hearing.

Making kids feel comfortable is important. If a two piece gets more feet in the door than I would say well worth it.

With all due respect to Coach Harris, in my comments below:

I'm sure these things have been said throughout the history of our sport:

* Why do people think we need to put on clothes to wrestle, as Ancient Greeks we have been wrestling in the buff for hundreds of years!

* These horsehair mats are fine. We don't need these fancy Resilite Mats for our kids to wrestle on. They just need to be tougher.

* What do you mean we need tops on when we wrestle. We've been wrestling barechested for years. Kids today are just soft and need to toughen up.

* Headgear? We don't need no stinkin headgear. They just come dislodged and the official will have to stop the match for wrestlers to fix them when they come dislodged.

* I don't know why we are changing Junior Highs to Middle Schools. We need to treat those 11 through 14 year olds just like high school kids in spite of puberty and all the things they go through at this unique age. Toughen up and act like High Schoolers. (Research blew tons of holes in that theory and change was for the better!)

* Kids that grow up wrestling thru the club environment only know singlets as part of their uniform. They will be fine.

* We talk about growing the sport but for 7 staight years numbers have declined. Many factors, to many to list here. However, our Middle School Teams are the FUNNEL and the GATEWAY to our High School programs. Not our Club Teams. The more Middle School kids we can get involved the more kids will pass thru this funnel to the next level.

* After 27 years of coaching, I know for a fact that the singlet is the #1 deterrent to Middle School kids coming out for the sport. We think we can grow our MS team 5 to 10 kids each year with the alternate uniform rule.

* We will be doing this for MS kids that want to compete in the 2 piece. We will have many kids that will wrestle in the singlet. The kids in the 2 piece will have a singelet on underneath it, even if it is an older singlet. I want them to get the feel of it. At any point during the season that they tell me, "Coach I'm ready to wrestle in a singlet; they make the transition. I hope that by freshmen year they have made it. If not, we will go from there.

* Our school provides shorts, warm-up top, singlet, headgear and knee pads as part of school uniform. We will have the kids buy their own compression shirt just like they would a t-shirt for the team. That way it is theres to keep. The shorts can last several years.

Just what we are planning to do to GROW the sport in our neck of the woods.

Remember, there are some kids that NEED WRESTLING, more than Wrestling NEEDS them!! Our sport CHANGES LIVES but you have to get them to step in the door first!!

Coach Vander Linden
Burlington Wrestling

Great points Doug. Like you, I am trying to get funding to buy shorts for my middle schoolers (I also feel like my middle school numbers will increase with this option) and have the wrestlers who wish to use a the 2 piece alternate purchase their own compression top. I also hope they would make the transition to the singlet before they reach high school, if not, like you we will work with them on that. Lets face it, kids worry about their body image.

I also saw a video on Facebook that Ben Askren posted in regards to the uniform debate and I thought it was an interesting point when he talked about perception of our sport by outsiders. He mentioned that a college athletic director told him he would never get caught rolling around with another guy in his underwear. I am not sure how true this could be, but it could be a valid point and caught my attention.

Coach Buckabee, I love the transition to nearfall and falls out bounds. Like you though, I would have rather seen them follow the college out of bounds rules as well. I also think stalling needs to be addressed according to the rules as well.

74.5% of the respondents to the NWCA survey responded YES to support the change to shorts and shirt vs singlet.

I have hold over and over again from moms how much they hate the singlet.

Same stuff I talked about in last months thread on participation numbers, I have to say Kit that I agree that singlets are best, however there are even skinny/athletic kids that hate having to wear them. They don't like their "belly or junk hanging out in front of people." I'm sure some is an excuse but there are going to be kids that will come out because they don't have to wear a singlet. Also some athletes today thing that the singlets are "homo", another reason I've heard. Just stating reasons I've heard that's all.

1. Singlets
Many kids now days, especially the bigger ones, do not like singlets. I personally hate the compression t-shirt and shorts look out there but there are MANY kids who won't wrestle because of the attire. Start showing out alternatives to the singlet to make kids more comfortable.

2. Interfering with other sports interest/weight cutting
Most parents and students think that every kid in wrestling HAS to cut weight. We all know that while cutting excess weight is almost always beneficial it is not a HAVE to. Educate athletes and ESPECIALLY parents on the rules that keep weight loss safe in modern wrestling. Also some kids want to lift and bulk up for football etc.. This is ok, you can lift and eat during wrestling. If you eat truly healthy during the season while practicing you will develop a lean body mass and still maintain size while getting stronger, more flexible, and have better endurance. Also you HAVE to involve other coaches. I preach to football coaches the Explosion, footwork, coordination, and hand fighting wrestles develop that translates over from wrestling to football. Its most notable in big guys, wrestling produces better athletes that become better football players. Especially on the line and defensive side of the ball. It also makes kids tougher. One way we brought this to the attention of our football coach was by having him be a guest coach for a duel and a whole week of practice. He came away thinking of which guys he thought he needed to direct to wrestling the next season INSTEAD of powerlifting. We all know how huge that is.

3. Gain notoriety
Something that we as a community struggle with is displaying wrestling outside of our "group" or other wrestlers. PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE. Go door to door inviting people to meets, camps for kids, fundraisers etc.. Tell people what its good for i.e. going to college, building work ethic, character, discipline, health, staying out of trouble on the weekends and after school, all the things good about wrestling that is good for someone's kids. Talk to kids about how it can help them in other sports, talk to an aspiring MMA fighter about how wrestling is the best foundation for the sport. PIMP THE SPORT OUT!!! Go out and be seen in the public, community service etc.. We have the most dedicated coaches and fans. But we have to go out and about and really push.

4. More offseason opportunities
One draw back of wrestling is generally there are no pick up games of wrestling. I totally agree with having these round robin tourneys where you just kind of show up. Have some relaxed folk style tournaments during the offseason. Not another Fargo but something fun, maybe play with the rules a bit.

I think these are all achievable things within the next couple years and I think with the growth of women's wrestling I think we will be ok. But we have to work at it!!

After watching Dake vs Burroughs last week, I've determined that the best rule that could be implemented in all styles of wrestling that could make the sport more exciting is eliminate the tri-pod stance. Heck do not even allow a hand to touch the mat on take downs would be fine. The legs should have to be available. This would create more exciting scrambles.

A stance practically on all fours should not be allowed. It turns into a junk match just like the Dake-Burroughs match with these kinds of stances. The sport does not need boring matches if it wants to grow.