This is a great discussion and I think there are a lot of valid points. For what it is worth here are my 2 cents.....

I think that matside weigh ins are a step in the right direction and could help reduce unhealthy weight loss practices. I am not convinced that it is the "silver bullet" or practice that will end unhealthy weight loss practices. The reason I say this is because I think it would help for tournaments or instances where you had to wrestle more than 1 match in a day. I don't think that it would hav that much of an impact on single match duals. The reason I say this is because having matside weigh ins as a solution to drastic weight loss practices assumes that wrestlers who cut weight that way won't have the recovery time/rehydration time before they wrestle and therefore they would not have as much success. Having cut weight throughout my career I think there is probably some truth to this but I am not sure it would eliminate wrestlers trying to cut too much weight.

Having said that, I think the answer is probably a combination of the practices we currently have and mat side weigh ins. I like the idea of the hydration testing (notice I said idea, I am not a big fan of how complicated the system is) and I like the idea of a Dr. being involved in certifying the amount of weight an individual is allowed to cut. There are systemic challenges with this and it seems pretty complicated. Hopefully over time we can improve those.

Having said all of this, I think by combining mat side weigh ins with hydrations testing and Dr. certification would be the best solution if the goal is to really stop drastic weight cutting methods and changing the mentality of the wrestling community.

Feel free to fire away!

Shawn Budke