This tournament could be compaired to state. Congrates to ALL that placed. I just wished that at a tourney this big that ALL the refs know what they are doing. Yes I know they are all human and mistakes will be made, but when you get down to the finals, and on a take down your knee is out of bounds not your feet and you don't get 2pts. It's hard to remain calm as a coach. This didn't happen once but several times on mat 4. Question can you ask for a different ref for a certain mat? Or are stuck with what you get?

Spex, I would agree. Human or not, consistency is key for these kids.

Several times today, I witnessed the frustration of the wrestlers as they didn't understand exactly how they had lost.

Similar mistakes noted on mat 5 not even involving our kids...

This happened in two different matches with my son - on mat 5 - the last time in the last few seconds causing him to lose by one point. Another time he had his competitor pinned but it wasn't called and then in the next round he was called pinned in microseconds -video backs up that his shoulders weren't down -ever- but the ref. called it.
We,too, saw this same inconsistencies with other kids.
I think the tournament was great experience for him - the other wrestlers were tough and provided him with experience he can't really get in practice. I just wish the calls were consistent.
(Just a note - I understand that these refs. are human and their jobs are judgement calls. Frustration with sports calls is just part of the sport.)

I agree they are human & make mistakes, but to make as many mistakes as the ref on mat 12 is totally uncalled for! My son was in a great match tied 4-4 right at the end of the third period he got rolled to his back and rolled through, the ref didnt even move his arm to count and gave two points to the other wrestler. He wasnt even on his back for a second!!
I saw this kind of thing all day on mat 12 as well as other mats.
The tournament however was terific and the compitition was great, unfotuneately my son didnt get to wrestle much because of that call on his 1st match, it took the wind right out of his sails!!!
With a tourn. of that magnitude you need to get great refs, Jim Belch puts together a pretty good team!!!
Again very well ran tourn., great hospitality room!!

They are human & make mistakes. Unfortunately a refs mistake on mat 11 could have caused a kid to sustain an injury that might have been avoided had he been watching the match. The kids arm/shoulder was wrenched in a direction, well beyond the normal range of motion as we all watched and yelled for the ref to take notice before damage was done. I thought one of the reason for having a ref was to keep the kids wrestling safe. We observed many mistakes such as this one and others on mat 11. The competition was great and well ran but I agree that if you are holding a tourney of this quality, you need the best refs!

well congrats to Chance Moses on his 5th place finish!!!

Some how these refs need to be rated or judged. There needs to be a method of official reporting of complaints or grievances. There needs to be a data bank that is kept so it is more than just word of mouth. When a club director is hiring refs for tournaments they need a reliable source to hire dependable refs. Is there anything like that? Usually you don't even know there names. And they switch mats during a tournament so you can't keep track of them by naming a mat number. Just a few random thoughts....

It all starts at the top. If you are going to put an arrogant, pompous hot head in charge then you are going to have problems. His attitude will be repeated. It is time for kids officials to focus on what is happening on the mat, learn the rules and do their best to fairly determine the winner. Too many zebras have rabbit ears so they are focused on what is being said in the corner instead of the action. My advice, pay attention to the action! If you put on the stripes you are the ONLY paid professional at a kids event. Every coach is a volunteer and likely spends in the thousands of dollars in cash and time on our sport. So what if they yell and beg for a call! So what if you don't like it! You get paid to officiate not be a dictator.

I think this matter goes back to last year...

I will say that I know running a tournament of this magnitute is hard to get a solid set of refs. But the ref on mat 11 who struggled all day told one of our coaches, as he questioned a call that "he was sorry, he was doing the best he could but didn't know every rule. He only worked 2 tournaments a year!"

Our coach responded with the only thing he could think of which was "so how did we get lucky enough that you picked Salina as one of your two?" No reply.

24/7

I think the whole salina club ran a great tourny as far as competition and the way the tourny was ran. As far as the ref situation, I watched on mats 9,10,11 and 12 all day long and on about 70% of the matches they had to stop so that something could be clarified. But then again when the one in charge doesn't know the criteria for a peterson and then constantly tries to bait people into an arguement so that he can throw them out of a tournament what do you expect.

I am concerned about the way y'all treat the refs in Kansas. I was completely satisfied with their performance for our team even though my child lost in a close match. Perhaps you had a wrestler that lost???

Did you know that many of those refs did 70 consecutive matches with no breaks since 3 refs did not show up?

Peterson is a move, I believe, but it is not in the rule book so did the refs perhaps go by the rule book? That is what the refs at my last KC tournament told me. Imagine that.

Dogging refs because you don't agree is not very good sportsmanship. What are y'all trying to teach up there?

The head ref is probably going to argue if you are yelling at him. I did not ever see him lose his temper or "bait arguments"

Lastly, did you read the rules of this forum. It says do not take cheap shots.

Definitely. Leave it on the mat and get over it! Y'all really need to be there to be able to comment. Stick to baseball.

Texasmother,

How do you know these people weren't there???? I was there. The bad outweighed the good by alot. I know they're trying to do the best job they can. I don't know why but the officiating has been very poor this year than in past years. But, yet I see less arguing from coaches this year than in years past. My son had a bad call against him in Salina and some other wrestlers in our club. But, we had 4 calls go our way and 2 against us today. I had a coach tell me the good calls will equal out the bad calls over time. I believe in that and I preach that to my boys. I want to win, we all want to win, that's why we keep score. But, I want all my boys to come back year after year and maybe into college. STICK TO BASEBALL (I don't get it) Maybe you should stick to tennis,golf,sunbathing, or whatever you want to stick to. Maybe we need to get a rating system set up for these officials, which in turn they might step up to plate and bring out the best in all of the officals. Because everyone wants to be the best not mediocre. Don't get me wrong but there are some very good officials out there. And they're there for the kids not the money. This might fuel officials to see their name on the top half of the rating list not the bottom. Maybe this would help the cream rise to the top.

I went to a tournament today and I told two young men that they were doing a very good job officiating and that we needed to find more like them. I always try to tell these officials that they are doing a great job so they keep coming back.