|
|
Jan 18, 2018
|
|
|
oldfartca
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Posts: 38
|
Been a while (~15 years) since I have been to an actual high school wrestling match. I have gone to recent sectional and state tournaments and the level / quality of wrestling at these events looks...good; the top kids are still very good, but it seems like there is less overall "deep" quality. Looking at the box scores for recent matches, the vast majority of the dual meet scores are crazy, like football game blow-outs or worse. "Back in my day", teams just weren't scoring 50+ points match-in and match-out, and dual meets were more hotly contested. The top teams in the section for the most part had at a guy at almost every weight that was ready to go/fight. Seems like the 25-23 (team scores) barnburners of the old days have gone extinct. I am seeing way more forfeits, and way more pins / techs. Due to the amount of forfeits, is it time to re-evaluate the way dual meets are scored, i.e. only count actual contested matches?
Why is this trend occurring? What is different now than in the past? Possible reasons I could see would be 1) Less interest in the sport overall, which results in forfeits 2) Modern kid distractions leading to less time on the mats and more time looking at a screen 3) Modern kids are more willing to give up and get pinned when they are tired or overmatched 4) Modern kids actually DO have better offensive / pinning technique, leading to more pins and techs 5) A higher percentage of kids wrestle year-round, and these kids beat up on those who do not. 6) Additional weight classes with heavier kids = more matches = more points; matches with heavier kids also always have yielded more points. For what it's worth, I am not picking on modern kids...entirely. In my opinion, the wrestling quality in this area during the late 1990s-early 2000s era was better than any other era in the past, mine included (1980s/early 1990s).
What gives? Due to the amount of forfeits, is it time to re-evaluate the way dual meets are scored, i.e. only count actual contested matches toward team scores?
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018
|
|
|
cuchi1970
Joined: Dec 24, 2007
Posts: 59
|
I think the offering of indoor track as a Varsity sport during the winter season for the past several years has also contributed to a decline in numbers for the sport of high school wrestling. It's a lot easier and a lot less work to get a Varsity letter in indoor track than it is in Varsity wrestling - and indoor track is usually 50/50 co-ed.
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018
|
|
|
quickpick
Joined: Jan 9, 2015
Posts: 284
|
oldfartca wrote:Been a while (~15 years) since I have been to an actual high school wrestling match. I have gone to recent sectional and state tournaments and the level / quality of wrestling at these events looks...good; the top kids are still very good, but it seems like there is less overall "deep" quality. Looking at the box scores for recent matches, the vast majority of the dual meet scores are crazy, like football game blow-outs or worse. "Back in my day", teams just weren't scoring 50+ points match-in and match-out, and dual meets were more hotly contested. The top teams in the section for the most part had at a guy at almost every weight that was ready to go/fight. Seems like the 25-23 (team scores) barnburners of the old days have gone extinct. I am seeing way more forfeits, and way more pins / techs. Due to the amount of forfeits, is it time to re-evaluate the way dual meets are scored, i.e. only count actual contested matches?
Why is this trend occurring? What is different now than in the past? Possible reasons I could see would be 1) Less interest in the sport overall, which results in forfeits 2) Modern kid distractions leading to less time on the mats and more time looking at a screen 3) Modern kids are more willing to give up and get pinned when they are tired or overmatched 4) Modern kids actually DO have better offensive / pinning technique, leading to more pins and techs 5) A higher percentage of kids wrestle year-round, and these kids beat up on those who do not. 6) Additional weight classes with heavier kids = more matches = more points; matches with heavier kids also always have yielded more points. For what it's worth, I am not picking on modern kids...entirely. In my opinion, the wrestling quality in this area during the late 1990s-early 2000s era was better than any other era in the past, mine included (1980s/early 1990s).
What gives? Due to the amount of forfeits, is it time to re-evaluate the way dual meets are scored, i.e. only count actual contested matches toward team scores?
If you only counted matches that were wrestled, what would stop a team from forfeiting to a top end guy from the other team every time? I think the fact that there are more weight classes contributes not only to the overall total score being higher, but also the inability to fill weight classes. Some of the problem, IMO is that the wildcard system has many coaches across the state looking for 40-50 matches a season which is difficult if you are just starting varsity. A good youth circuit wrestler is probably getting 50 matches/year, not in a three month span. Also collegiate wrestlers are going into nationals with 25-30 matches in a season on average. There has been too much of an emphasis on total matches, and less of an emphasis on quality of match and winning dual meets.
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018
|
|
|
WrestlerofthePast
Joined: Jan 21, 2004
Posts: 1030
|
It'd be interesting to test that hypothesis with a REVAMPED Wildcard system that has more focus on QUALITY wins rather than QUANTITY....Just yesterday, we were given a treat at the collegiate level when two #1 ranked wrestlers went at it.Yes, one coach bumped up their wrestler to take on their opponent's #1 ranked wrestler.
Gross (SDSU) vs. Meredith (WYO)....it was a GREAT MATCH TOO !!!!
Give more "Wildcard" points when you take on a state rep or a super sectional medalist.
I'd be very interested to see if this would help with some of the problem.
The other problem is just #'s. Kids aren't wrestling anymore. New singlets, different coaching styles/philosophies, etc are trying to get more involved, but more and more schools are combining. Some dual meets have 2 to 3 matches and that's it.
I'm concerned for the future of wrestling at the high school level.
Last edited by WrestlerofthePast on Jan 19, 2018; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018
|
|
|
Raider92
Joined: Nov 15, 2009
Posts: 156
|
There are many reasons why this is happening and I am no expert on the subject. But IMO there are to many weight classes and numbers have declined which causes to many 7th-10th graders wrestling up on varsity. Some of these kids are ready, many are not ready and it causes many lopsided matches. Back in the 80's and early 90's you'd have full varsity and JV teams so kids were given the opportunity to compete against more even competition. And by the time they made a varsity team they were ready to at least battle with the top guys. There are many reason for our numbers decline, but due to the decline and the extra weight classes the lopsided scores are the result. We need to get wrestling back in elementary gym classes, expose more to the sport and hope that modified programs can teach kids the love of wrestling so they can continue on through their high school years.
|
|
|
Jan 21, 2018
|
|
|
oldfartca
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Posts: 38
|
Interesting take on this very subject on themat.com:
http://board.themat.com/index.php?/topic/16544-year-round-wrestler-killing-sport/
In that poster's opinion it is year round wrestling. Glad to see that people recognize that this is a problem. At the same time I doubt anything will really change.
|
|
|
Jan 21, 2018
|
|
|
omgomgomgomg
Joined: Dec 7, 2006
Posts: 76
|
There is a lot of pressure on youth programs to retain the more "casual" youth wrestlers. It can be very discouraging for a young kid who only wrestles during the winter to continually face off against year round all stars.
|
|
|