I have been watching several threads on this forum for a while and keep telling myself I shouldn�t reply but I feel the need to. First off I�d like to congratulate the women who earned enough respect by the clubs in their district to vote them in to officiate a top level tournament such as state. I would like to provide a little history on the �two younger women officials.� They both started wrestling when they were at a very young age (5 years old) put in a lot of hours at practice and put up with a lot of ridicule for trying to make it in a male dominated sport, both wrestled all the way through High School, wrestled and placed as high as 3rd in the women�s national folkstyle tournaments, as high as 3rd in freestyle national events (Fargo), one went on to wrestle at college. (More wrestling experience than a lot of coaches have.) Both of them have fathers who have officiated and coached for years and obviously they thought enough of the sport to again try to make it in another male dominated area. I know that they both have taken it quite seriously and could quote the rule and case book nearly page for page, it appears most who are complaining could not do that or you would know what the rules are. I also do not understand why the rules are not enforced from the beginning of the year the same as they will be at state other than most officials try to understand that some of the wrestlers are new and try to be patient with them and help them learn this wonderful sport. I know that at the tournaments starting in March the officials are instructed to call the wrestlers for not covering the shoelaces, stalling, leaving the mat without permission, and leaving the wrestling area during the match whether it is avoiding wrestling or pushing their opponent out to avoid wrestling, (and praying at the inside edge of the circle or out of bounds line is not leaving the mat). I have coached kids who have done these very things and taught them the proper way to do it and told them they were lucky if they got away with not doing it right. I let them know I would have called them on it. If they got �dinged� for it it�s a life lesson they probably won�t do again. It is a bad way to lose a match but if you are dinged for it at the beginning of the match I would think you would work harder to make up that point. Most coaches always say �don�t leave it up to the official.� I know sometimes it is hard to avoid but if no one scored any points the rest of the match I as a coach would have been madder at the kids for not getting a takedown, not the official for doing their job. Maybe if we as a society would teach and enforce the rules instead of teaching the kids that they don�t really have to abide by them our world wouldn�t be in the shape it is.
I�ll admit I am probably biased, the �younger woman official� is my daughter and I am extremely proud of her. To the person who thought she probably liked the drama, if you knew any of us in our family you would know you couldn�t be more wrong. We all would prefer to not draw any attention and blend into the crowd, not stand out in it. Officiating is one of those thankless jobs that no matter how much you try you can�t make everyone happy. I�m proud of the fact that she is always unbiased and is there for the sport and the kids. I'm sorry to be so winded. This has caused a lot of discussion and sleepless nights in our household as we tend to not like making anyone upset.


Lance J. Engel