I think this issue has been rehashed over and over again this year, and quite frankly it’s getting a little old. Honestly there is no real viable solution to getting every single referee to "be on the same page" where judgment calls are concerned. Now as an official I know for a fact that the interpretation of some of the rules differ from one referee to another. This is to be expected. Let me give you a few situations I saw this weekend specifically involving the matches I worked.

Situation #1.

A kid from Mill Valley had chosen top position in the second period. As the two kids started to wrestle they eventually worked their way towards the edge of the mat. About 1 foot or 2 from the edge of the mat the bottom wrestler executes a move and ends up on top of the Mill Valley kid. Here is where the judgment comes in. The Mill Valley kid in the process of trying to defend the move managed to put 1 arm over the head of the kid who had been on bottom, much like a headlock but with no arm( he didn't lock his hands because his other hand was on the mat supporting his and the other wrestlers weight, Note: this is going to be an important detail in a few moments). In the mean time the kid that was on bottom who is now lying over the top of the Mill Valley kid has his arms around the Mill Valley his waist but not locked. At his moment the two roll off the edge of the mat with the kid who was on bottom still on top, but no definitive control established. In my mind I recognize that the Mill Valley kid was no longer in control of the defensive wrestler. So I award a 1 point escape since control was not reestablished yet it was lost by the wrestler in control. As I’m heading to the starting grid the Mill Valley coach who I’m pretty sure is also an official goes to the table and this was his argument "My kid still had his head, he couldn't have lost control" That is pretty much verbatim what he said to me.

Here's my though process on that. Had his kid had a full headlock in with both the head and the arm, while the defensive wrestler was over his back like that, I most likely would not have awarded the escape simply because already having established control a headlock situation like that warrants control. However that was not the case as he only had 1 arm draped over his head. Second having a hold of a wrestlers head is not a criteria for control, it’s a combination of your body position in relationship to your opponent and the hold you have applied. If your underneath your opponent yet you have a hold of his head the doesn't mean that you have control of him. In most situations like this neither wrestler has control. And if one wrestler did have control and then the above situation was established then by rule ( 5-2-2 ) an escape shall be awarded. Note: There is no such wording in the rule book that says that having a hold of a wrestlers head establishes or keeps control of them. And I wish I would have told him that at the time. Regardless, his kid was still up by two points, was not at a disadvantage, and he had wasted my time when I should have been out their focusing on the wrestlers. I think unfortunately I have been far too lenient this year when it comes to coaches questioning a judgment calls. I want them to understand the rules so I normally offer an explanation. However as the season progress on and coaches are still questioning these calls its gets very old and you get to the point where you don't care to even speak with them anymore. This particular situation happened pretty early in the day so I was nice about it.

Situation #2.

A kid from Saint Thomas Aquinas was wrestling another kid we'll call him wrestler B. Wrestler B takes STA kid down, rides him for about 30 seconds something like that, then runs a chicken wing. As he’s turning the STA kid over, I'm looking right at both his legs and the STA kids shoulders. I start counting back points. After about a 1 count, B moves his leg into a figure 4 around STA kids head, perfectly legal right behind the knee. STA kid gets pinned. STA coach his jumping and hollering. I go over and ask what the problem was. He says "You can't scissor the head" I agree with him and tell him that it was a figure 4. He says "No on the way over to his back his legs touched into a scissors." I say "Well first of all I was watching the whole time and did not see that occur. Second if he just briefly touched his own calf with his ankle together on his way up to apply the figure 4 with no pressure being applied to the head the that is not illegal (some what similar to the rules governing a sag head scissors which his legal). Understand that these rules are there to prevent injury so to penalize the top wrestler because he may have touched his legs together for less than a second which I did not see was not something I was about to do. Yes this was a judgment situation and the coach acted inappropriately.

Situation #3.

Wrestler

Wrestler A takes wrestler B down rides him for some time, they go out of bounds. As I blow the whistle to start the match again, wrestler B stands up. Wrestler A holds him for about 3 seconds. Then executes a belly-to-back suplay, lifts his opponent over his head. All the while I' verbally reminding him to return wrestler B safely to the mat. Right as both wrestlers are about to contact the mat Wrestler A turns wrestler B out and B hits the mat on his side and shoulder very hard, his legs flailing. I immediately stop the match and award a takedown for an illegal slam, although in this situation Unnecessary roughness could have been called. His coach, who I know knows both folkstyle and freestyle rules immediately questions my call. I explained to him that his wrestler did not bring the opponent to the mat safely. If anything it was an attempt to hurt him judging by how hard he hit the mat. The other coach on his side said something like "but wasn't his knee down first" which made me chuckle because that is not a criteria for determining a slam. My thought on this after the match was over was that had this been a freestyle match it would have been a perfectly executed maneuver. However this was a folkstyle tournament and the move he used was not technically illegal since he did turn him out, however he did not do it in a controlled manner Add I had warned him verbally twice before.

So as you can see the job of the ref is not an easy one, and it only compounds the problem when coaches are not aware of the rules and how they are interpreted. Far too often someone has head a myth about the rules and they take it to heart, myths like "You have to separate from your opponent to gain an escape. (false)" In all honesty I do think there are some newer officials who may not fully understand a certain situation, but I promise you that as an officials we do work together to all try and get on the same page. Every situation is different, different officials will call things different but they will be in line with the rules. Its "in their opinion, did such and such occur" As long as what they called is in line with the written rules then there is absolutely no reason why a coach should be out their questioning. And for next season, I'm fairly sure that at the officials meetings there is going to be a crack down on coaches who question judgment calls, it has gotten out of control, and some officials are just too afraid to toss them. I don't see this situation continuing.