NHSCA Stae Championship.

Because of a small, although tough turnout, it looked like I was going to be able to take the day off. I put Doug in charge as the head official, and I helped take care of some of the tournament business. I have coached at several NHSCA tournaments, so I was all too familiar with the standards they try to uphold at the events. I took the time to break it to all of the coaches that they would not be allowed to be in the corners of the High School mats. They were allowed in the first row of the bleachers, and although it did not go over well, everyone adapted, and there were no real problems. The reason for the strange standard is to abide by the GHSA white book guidelines. In a nutshell High School coaches are not allowed to corner their wrestlers outside the normal season. They are allowed to work with them all they want when school is not in session. Since most schools are still in session, and some High School coaches were in attendance, it was easiest for no coaches in the corners to be the standard.
I have to admit that the pace of the wrestling was not to my liking at this point in the season. It was slow and plodding compared to FS/G. There was plenty of poorly conditioned wrestlers that made it even worse. Don't get me wrong, it was far from low quality wrestling, it's just that I have already made the adjustments for FS/G.
I did end up officiating latter in the tournament. One of the officials needed a bathroom break, so i called a few matches for him, and latter they opened an extra mat so I called all of the matches on it.
I did have a first. As I was walking past the elementary mat, I heard an upset coach/father, so I took the time to listen to his complaint. As i wa giving him a chance to vent, the officials girlfriend came down to the mat to chew out the coach for the way he yelled at his son/wrestler. Understand, i did not see the match, him yelling at his son, or any call made by the official, but I had on stripes so iI was attempting to deescalate the situation. The first thing was to make sure that the women who came out of the stands, go back to them. I told her several times that she had to go back to the stands, but she was adement about making sure I knew that this coach was the worst father she had ever seen. She finaly went back to the stands, and i was able to give the coach my attention. He was not phased by the women, which was a good thing. He could have gotten defensive, and it could have turned very ugly. he wanted there to be a review of the vedio of the match, and a reversal of the call, or at least an explanation. I made sure that he understood that a vedio review was not a part of folkstyle wrestling, and no calls would be changed, but i would look at it if he liked. I watched the video, but it was kind of inconclusive. The situation was diffused even though there was no change in the outcome. I saw the match being rewrestled latter in the day. I am not sure why it was rewrestled but the outcome was conclusive. There was no change in the outcome.
As always I enjoyed the social aspect of the greatest sport in the world. The big topic of the day was how hard headed High School boys were, and the fact that the coaches were not allowed in the corner did not make a big difference because they did not listen anyway. I got a chance to talk to Mr. Wert, and got a report that sounded like there was a good workout taking place at the compound. I know that a number of guys getting ready for SER took the opportunity to get a Saturday workout in and the compound was the place to be.
I forgot the feeling you have when you are wearing a clear cut uniform. In FS/G you are wearing a uniform, but it is not as universally recognized as an official. A blue shirt, gray pants, and some black shoes could just be a bad choice of attire, but once you put on your folkstyle gear everyone knows who you are. If you stop by the QT (best convenience store in the world) in your FS/G uniform it's no big deal, but if you have your Folkstyle uniform on everyone looks at you and is thinking, oh look at that @#$hole . I am glad that I had some time to get out in the sun this week. At least I did not look like a Qtip any more.