While at The Newton Tournament of Champions this weekend, I sat mat side against the bleachers for most of the tournament. From this vantage point, I was able to see every match, I was able to evaluate the officials, and able to hear most all of the coaches plead their cases for "bad calls". As I sat there, many coaches, officials, and wrestlers would come sit down and discuss matches, possible match ups, calls, the good ole days, and basic wrestling conversation.

As I sat there, I was impressed with the officials. I truly believe this was a very good crew. I asked several wrestlers what they thought of the officiating. I had a couple say that it was the worse officiating they had seen in quite awhile. These are 14 and 17 year old kids, they are hearing this from somewhere. I asked several of the wrestlers to show me a bad call in a match that they did not have a wrestler in. Guess what? They thought the officiating was good as long as they did not have a wrestler involved.

High School Coaches, You Are The Problem! I sat and watched you beg for points that were not there. Complain about points that were obvious. Complain about "illegal holds", "stalling", "time issues" and any other little bull crap argument that could be an excuse as to why your wrestler lost. Coaches, you are giving kids excuses. You blame the Officials way too much. Unfortunately, your wrestlers are picking up your attitudes and blaming the officials instead of looking at what they need to work on to get better. Officials can not screw every kid in every match, nor do they want to.

Teach these young men responsibility!! Teach them to be respectful of the officials, not blame the officials.

Officials, You have a very tough job. I thought you all did a wonderful job at Newton this weekend, even when I didn't agree with your calls (usually during Jake's matches). I can tell you this, not one time did I or Jake blame you for him losing a match. Fortunately, we know what we need to work on, because it wasn't the official that lost the match for us. I feel sorry for those who lost and think it was the officials fault. Those wrestlers will continue to lose. Which brings me to the original subject, Wrestlers lose because it is not their fault, it is the officials.