I have read some of the posts about crazed parents or coaches and I agree for the most part. Everyone involved in this sport needs to rember just that, it is only a game. Not one of these kids, parents or coaches has any thing to loose on the matt. maybe pride.

On the other hand who is keeping contol of the officials? Just because they are "licenced" and wear the stripes, they can't make a mistake? Just this weekend an offical made an obvious error in scoring my sons match, it didn't seem to matter how much both our coaches or the other coaches tried to tell him he made a mistake, he would not change the ruling. I don'tknow if it was a pride thing or what. After watching the reff all day he seemed to make mistakes or have inconsistancies in most if not all matches. I offered to make a complaint to the head offical and was told it wouldn't be worth getting ejected from the tourney. for argueing.

I have seen places on this site where an offical can make a complaint against a coach, parent or wrestler but naotheing allowing us to make a complaint against an official.

If anyone knows the procedure to do this let me know.

The shortest answer to your question is NO. There really is no precedure to make a complaint about an official. Basically anytime something comes down to judgement which most calls in wrestling are you as a coach have absolutly no say so unless a rule was misapplied. Keep in mind im talking about a technical misapplication of a rule, not an interpretation of a rule. In other words if an official gave 3 near fall points for only a 3 second count, then you could argue. But if the official says he counted to 5 even though he didn't give a visual signal (which he is not required to do) then it will still be 3 points, its now a judgement call.

As far as bad officials are concerned, they tend to work themselves out, if an official gets enough compaints about him, the word gets around, and they stop getting hired for tournaments, however it is very rare that an official is so bad week after week that this becomes the case. In fact many times the complaints go on def ears when the people listening to them find out the coach complaining is doing so over a judgement call, or the coach themsleves doesn't understand the rule.

In either case there is a reason why coaches aren't explicitly allowed to make complaints about officials is because it would open the door for coaches to publicly bash officials and thus compromise the integrity of the whole official core. All the sudden we start seeing complaints of every nature, most of them involving judgement call of course. I think you can understand why this is really allowed. As for officials making complaints against coaches, parents, and wrestlers. Those aren't complaints my friend, those are ejections, in other words that person did something flagrant to warrant being ejected, such as cursing, punching, bitting, and for coaches and parents, arguing a judgement call or saying something derogatory to the official such as "You suck."

Now IF the issue in your match was JUST a scoring error, as in the official awarded points but they were never recorded then you can go to the table and ask about them, if the official does not remember, the opposing coach does not speak up, then the issue must be dropped and the match must continue. So yes maybe he made a mistake, he's human, and sometimes its happens. However in the above situation just as much fault can be placed on the table worker for not recording it.

My point to you is, you probably aren't going to get very far trying to lodge complaints about officials, as I said before if the official really is that bad, chances are he's not going to find work very easily in most cases (although there are exceptions, which I won't get into)

I actually find most officials to try to be decent, there are on occasions some that are not, but the truth is that it is up to us as parents and coaches to contact the head official at the end of each tournament as well as tournament directors. Let them know what we thought of the officials. These guys, and in a few cases, ladies, are doing their best and don't want to make mistakes. Some are lazy and don't get down to check for pins, are lazy to start the count when a wrestler is on their back, etc. It is important to develop relationships with them and learn to respect them. Believe me this is something I have learned to do and believe that learning how to question a call is important.

Some officials are not consistent on judgment calls, some may call locked hands differently than others, some may look at stalling different than others. In those situations there is the long lost art of scouting the official and having your kid wrestle according to how the official refs. My son lost a semi final match at Tulsa Nationals last year on a stalling call, I didn’t complain because I knew the ref was quick to call that call and that my son had to force the action, I told him, he just didn’t do it. This year he lost a challenge for 2nd match on a stalling call, this time though it was stalling and the official made in my opinion a horrible call. I contacted the tournament director along with others who saw the call, in overtime, and complained. Same call, but I believe interpreted differently, in one situation within the rules and another not.

There is another important point though, when you see a good official make sure you point them out and talk to the tournament director and head official about that person. I have actually done that this year and can't tell you how much the officials thanked me for pointing out a good one. In each case, I have seen the official go out of their way to get information from them to make sure that, that official, (the one I said did a good job) can ref more. It has been nice to see some new guys getting more tournament time, and I have been told by a head official and a tournament director that in each of those cases it was because I recommended the person and they were glad I did.

You see me being nicer to officials now a days, that is something I have learned and have come to realize that many of these are great guys, and the effort was worth it. It also makes it easier to ask about rules, interpretations, and so forth.

Couple of things on this subject.

I think Kansas is in a transition phase for officials. A lot of the well respected ones are beginning to phase themselves out, while younger ones are trying to become reputable. This will take time and, as with young wrestlers, there will be growing pains throughout matches until these newer officials gain confidence and experience. Yes, it is painful to lose on questionable calls, or to see the call made against you, but hopefully they will learn from their mistakes just like our kids.

Secondly, Mr. Furches is correct. We do need to make sure we give kudos where they are due. I had a wrestler in a regional finals where a call went against him at the end of the match. Had a different call been made we would have went into OT and had a different outcome. A majority of the crowd was calling for a favorable call to us, but to the officials credit he checked with the assistant and stood firm. He made the right call and I was able to discuss it with him this past weekend and commend him for his work. Did I agree with all of his calls that tournament. Nope. In that particular finals match though, he made the right call. Even though it went against us.

Last point; sorry to ramble on. I was under the impression that officials wore numbers on their uniforms, or gave high school coaches a card with their information on it, so we could report to the powers that be on individuals who consistently did sub-par jobs. I did notice at one of the subs this weekend that several experienced officials would stay near some of the younger officials mats during their breaks and help explain or clarify any issues that came up.

Thanks guys for doing a thankless job. No matter the call, someone is usually unhappy.

Just thought I would throw in my 2 cents on this topic, as I have had some experience on both sides of the mat, as a coach and an official.

When I first started officiating, I was somewhat overwhelmed with how complicated this sport had become. I mean, afterall, I had wrestled and coached for years and thought I new the sport well, how difficult can it be. I discovered very quickly its not easy and my first year or two was tough. And I made mistakes - and was certainly told about them. Sometimes respectfully, often times not. And many times I got so tired of coaches and parents in my face, I swore I would not do this again.

Think about it - when you're a coach or a wrestler, your only concerned about the match you are currently in and the calls associated with that match. Officials have to learn (and I stress 'learn') many scenarios, all calls, judgements, situations, etc that could possibly happen in any given match. Not an easy thing to do. It takes time to get better and more comfortable and confident in your calls.

What certainly helps in this process is understanding from the coaches (and parents) that this is a new official and they are learning (just like your son or daughter may be). Officials are going to make mistakes, young ones especially. But they will get better. Much like our sport in general, you don't get better unless you are on the mat honing your skills. No different with officials. We, as coaches and parents, have a responsibility to encourage our young officials by being respectful, understanding they do make mistakes, try to point out to them where you disagree, discuss it, and appreciate that they have a very tough job. Even the experienced officials make calls that not everyone will agree with. Imagine the pressure on a young official, still trying to learn, and a parent or coach is yelling at them. Then we wonder why its so hard to find good officials. Well, we may have had them, but we scared them away.

So next time you are really frustrated with the officiating, as a parent or coach, grap a striped shirt and step out on the might and give it a try yourself. You just might gain a little different perspective.

My 2 cents, for what its worth.

Martienez....(cough, cough)