I tried to resist but I just can't!

There are several officials around the state who need to work as hard at staying in shape as our wrestlers do. The competitors are busting their butts five to seven days a week to become the best they can be while a good number of our officials don't.

It takes more than reading a book, attending a meeting or two, and passing a test to be a good official. You can't be a good wrestler by just showing up on Saturday to compete and the same can be said of our officials. It takes practice, and lots of it, to be a great official. If you want to be an official and you have never wrestled then you better do lots of kids and jv before your ever allowed to do varsity. If you haven't wrestled it is VERY DIFFICULT for you to be qualified to be able to judge.

For years now the good ole boy system has controlled who gets the nod for the prestigious weekend events and it is time for that to stop! This is directed to coaches and AD's who rely on the unfficial "assigners" who give out the contracts. Our pool of officials is old and stagnant because of this failing system. We should not have to see the same officials every year at the same events. It is time for some official evaluators instead of the recommendation system presently in place. The more I think about it the more I feel this should be one of the TOP items the KWCA needs to push KSHSAA for.

Every year we need to be grooming new officials and keeping a fresh pool available that cycles good officals through regionals and state. It shouldn't be the same old group of teachers, ex coaches, and administrators every year. There must be accountability and the blunt truth is that there should be a system to "weed out" the unqualified, out of shape, controversial, and incapable.

Back to the GC refs. This is the toughest tournament in the state and it deserves the best officials possible. I have attended it for two years now and there are a few of the best but there are also a few shat are not good. If you are too slow to get in position or to get down and back up from the mat then either get in shape or quit! The boys deserve better than that. I am so sick of hearing "ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY JUDGEMENT?" The coaches can't so someone has to start because unfortunately there were far too many terrible calls this past weekend that will go on and on if not corrected. You DO NOT return the wrestlers to the mat when the defensive wrestler has reached the standing position when you warn the offensive wrestler for stallilng. It is not stalling on bottom when a wrestler secures the arm and leg for a Peterson but cannot turn the offensive wrestler. It is not stalling when the offensive wrestler pulls the defensive wrestler off the mat to get a restart it is a technical violation, a count is supposed to be a second, and 45 degrees is not just breaking the perpendicular plane (do we need to buy protractors for these guys?), the pinning area must be in contact with the mat for two seconds to achieve a fall, etc.

A few years ago the KWOA invited the NCAA Evaluator to our meeting. He stood up in front of the group and stated that Kansas has a good ole boy network thriving in our state that was harming the quality of officiating. He made several recommendations and to date not one of them has been put in place. It is time to start doing something about this problem.