If both wrestlers are in the upright postion what is the rule for Hand checks directly to the forehead, eyes, nose, or any part of the face ?

Please tell me it didn't happen to you too.

Yes and i believe it is from the same young man. i will not mention his name as not to bring any attention to a young person with this discusion but i was just trying to find out if there were any rules governing this.

Well, this behavior needs corrected before an eye is damaged. Just curious, was there ANY reaction from the ref?

No he just let it happen actually gave a warning for delay to the one getting hand checked cause he was backing up after it.

What tournament did this happen at?

We were at Parsons this weekend and I don't want to or do i blame any certain thing on my sons losses except his own performance, but he was head and face checked several times from a wrestler even to the point as his head was going back wards from the blows. And the there was nothing done so i was just trying to find some clarification to the rules.

It was also happening at the novice tournament. The same little boy did it in two different matches. The referee told him to stop. He did not award any points. It did stop him in the first match, but he must have forgot because he did it again later. They told him to stop it in the second match also, and didn't award points. Hopefully he learned a lesson, no slapping of the face.

Rule 7 - 1 - 5t

You may ask for the interpretation on the "Ask the Ref" page.

Hand checks being stopped by the ref? PLEASE! My son has been BIT at three different tournaments this year and no one did ANYTHING! One of the bites was on his upper arm and very obvious. My son showed it to the ref and all he was told was that the kid was "two and out anyway". My son had this kid in the pin position when he was bit, the pin was called and the match was over and the kid was done. Still, I think something should have been said to this kid, his coaches and parents. My son had a bite bruise for several days. How should this be handled?

3x in 3/4 of one season? That has to be a record! Just curious, how many tournaments has your son wrestled at this year?

In our case the "head slap" was with a closed hand, well except the index finger, which connected with the wrestlers eye. This was from a wrestler that is old enough to know better. This was done twice back to back in one period.

He's done 8 tourneys. Been bit at Ark City, Derby and Salina. Derby was the worst bite. He's 10u, so these kids also should know better.

It is hard to answear the question without seeing the match. I believe head tapping and head movement are great set ups. Totally up to the ref on what is to hard.

As far as biting...Jake got bit twice in the same match. After the match we went up to the coach, explained that we weren't upset but thought the biting needed to be brought to his attention. The coach spoke with the kid as did his mother. I thought it was handled well. I think the key is too not over-react. Most parents and coaches will handle it appropriately if it is brought to their attention in a calm manner.

The only one who said anything was my son, and he showed the bite to the ref. The other two occurances he let slide...until he was done for the day, then showed me the bite marks. He said he doesn't think it does any good to tell the ref. Personally, I think letting it slide encourages it to escalate. We saw a match in Augusta where the losing kid pinched the kid pinning him in the crotch. I mean, pinched and held, the poor boy was crying, but held held on til he won. The ref did talk to the kid and coach on that one.

The key to everything is as Beeson says approach calmly the other coach, parents or even the ref if you are a coach. The quickest way to get the cold shoulder or even worse calls in later matches is to be aggressive in your explanations or complaints to the ref.
Kolton has only been bitten one time and it was last year. The ref didnt see the bite happen, but showing him the bite mark he awarded Kolton 1pt and warned the other kid. The other coaches came over before the next period started and apologized and gave Kolton words of encouragement to continue on his already well wrestled match. I was impressed and very satisfied with everybodys resolution of the situation. Had it not been a 6u match I was told it would have resulted in a DQ for the kid not just a warning and point.
We as parents and coaches need to remember that even when we are amped up in the heat of the moment, we still need to lead by example.

True,very true. But the point I am trying to make is when there are obvious fouls, bad, or rather illegal moves, many times they are being ignored by the refs. This leads the younger or less experienced wrestlers to think it is alright to do it. I think my son handles bad ref calls very well. He knows that sometimes they don't see it, sometimes they are just not very good refs. He knows it happens in every sport. But he also knows that blatantly letting it happen is wrong, yet he's not one of the "angry stompers" (that we all see at these tournaments), when things don't go his way. The problem he had in Salina was that the match was over and he had won anyway, so the ref didn't think it was important to remark to this kids coach about the biting. My son let it go at that, but is now afraid everytime he wrestles this kid, it will happen again. If the refs would stop the hand checks, biting, pinching when these kids are young (let them lose a few matches because of penaly points), maybe when they are older they will be wrestlers that use good moves to win, rather than dirty tricks.

Although a head tap is a great tool (action/reaction) for working takedowns, it should only be used for that purpose. If the kid is just doing it (intentionally or unintentionally)without using it as a set up for a move, then it really doesn't make much sense. Hopefully the placement of the taps were not intentional and his coaches will work with him to correct his aim.

I dont know much about the head taps but I have experienced pinching. One of our wrestlers tried telling the ref at this past weekends tournament that the other wrestler was pinching him and the ref did nothing about it. After the match he went and sat down and just cryed. We had him show us and there were marks all over his back... pinch marks.. blooded spots from the pinches breaking skin and tons of scratches. You wouldnt believe how bad his back was. My question is how did the ref not know?? I think these refs are letting alot of things slide that shouldnt be! How can we train good quality wrestlers when these novice kids are showing our kids other wise on the mat?

Here is the answer to the issue, officials should inforce the rule, period. I justify that the face is from the eyebrows down. Hand to any part of the face outside of this is a violaiton of the rule, and a penalty should be inforced, even in novice imho. The rule is the rule.