The Half Marathon

That picture has nothing to do with my blog, but it is a great picture isn't it.
The only reason this week was a half marathon is because the youth tournament I was scheduled to officiate got canceled.
Tuesday and Wednesday were dedicated to conditioning with the girls trying out for my High Schools Soccer team.
Wednesday after practice I headed to Grayson for Senior night. Steve West did a great job of trying to put on a good show. he had the wrestlers in two ankle bands just like the NCAAs. He announced the wrestlers as they took the mat and even did some play by play. It made the event seem special and actually heightened my attention to detail. Steve did announce a couple of points before I got the signal up, but never influenced my calls. It was fun. After the match we discussed a call i had made at the edge. The defensive wrestler got to a neutral position, and it looked as if he was going to continue improving to the reversal. I did not award the escape because of the fact that it looked as if it was going to progress to a reversal, and it would have been an unjust extra point. As the action came to the edge, the offensive wrestler, who was out of bounds, launched the defensive wrestler out of bounds. I quickly blew the action dead so that they did not end up on the floor, and awarded the escape. Steve told me it would have been less controversial if i had awarded the points first, then blown the action out of bounds. I agreed with him, and try to do that when possible.

Thursday I was committed to calling my last wrestle-off for a local Team, so I headed out right after school. What I really wanted to do was go watch some Juco wrestling at Central Gwinnett. There were only a few wrestle-offs so I was able to do both. The coaches for the local team had a tough decision to make, much like the cuts I will be making next week at soccer tryouts. They were asking my advice, and I did not want to be in their shoes. I hope everything works out well for them, and they keep the program moving forward.

Juco wrestling at Central was a good show. I know it was a Thursday, and everyone is busy with practice but I was very disappointed in the size of the crowd. For those that attended there was a great show. Great scrambles with no points ever conceded is one of the reasons you should take the time to watch college wrestling any chance you get. Watching wrestlers that I have known since they wrestled youth, competing against others that I have spent hours in practice rooms with made it even better. The company wasn't bad either. I sat with the Head coach of a prominent High school program, and as we talked about the wrestlers we were watching, I was reminded of all the common experiences we shared, and how often our paths had collided. Right beside him was another coach with the same program, and I found out he was going to be at the event I was officiating Saturday. I went ahead and gave him his warning for coaches misconduct, and the funny part was that he was well behaved Saturday.

Friday I Was headed to the Prep Slam. I know the tournament was starting in the afternoon, and I was itching to leave school as soon as lunch was over. I waited impatiently till I was allowed to leave. I got stuck in typical afternoon traffic, and was happy to get there when i finally arrived. I kind of blew past the gate with my GHSA pass, and went straight to the back of the gym to help the number one family of Georgia wrestling run the tournament. Mom Dad, and one of the daughters were running the tournament, and the son was there receiving offers to coach some FS/G for the upcoming season. I looked to see what was up, jumped in and assisted til we got to a good stopping point. One of the coaches told me I should go check in up front and get my floor pass, so I went back and checked in. The lady at the desk said, oh you are the tournament director, and handed me a V.I.P. credential. I am glad there are some people beside my son Max that think I am important. I saw a little wrestling, but made sure I took care of the tournament so that everyone else could go eat. They had been there all day, and I didn't want them to miss the opportunity to eat and relax for a minute. They asked me to do weigh-outs just like last year. I was happy to do it. You would be surprised what you can learn about peoples characters in weigh-outs. On the way to weigh-outs I was slightly delayed. You know how you walk past the kitchen and you aren't even hungry, but someone is eating something that looks good and you just have to have some? Well as i walked past the corner mat, I had a similar experience. The number one ranked 189 in the Nation was wrestling. He looked like a science experiment specifically designed to be a wrestler. He stopped me in my tracks, and I had to watch him finish the match. I found out a little latter that the kid he was wrestling had just one his first
varsity match to earn the right to wrestle him.

What is great about doing weigh-outs? Seeing a kid like T.J Duncan being a true team leader is what is great about it. T.J is a great wrestler, and could become a five time state champion in his home state this year, but he is a great team mate and leader to boot. T.J was the first to weigh-out for his team, and instead of sitting in the bleachers and eating, he made sure that everyone on his team was on weight before they entered the weigh-out area. This took about two hours for his entire team to weigh-out. He showed concern for his fellow team mates as well as the kind of leadership you die for as a coach. Only one wrestler missed weight. I was the only person working weigh-outs so i could not easily control the door as I looked up wrestlers on the weigh-in sheets, and recorded the actual weights. I was chasing wrestlers out all night and having them make sure they were on weight before they entered the weigh-out area. There was a 135 pounder in the room with his coach. I gave him the same instructions that I gave everyone else. Once you enter this room you must weigh-out. They stayed, and the coach had him strip down to his underwear. Before I let him step on the scale, I told him once you step on the scale, you must weigh-out. I told him he would be able to step on, the scale, and if he was over immediately step of and back on to account for mechanical discrepancies in the scale, and he would be able to try that on both scales. It looked as if he did not want to but his coach made him. He failed all 4 chances, and I said I am sorry, you did not make weight. There was a small line of wrestlers in line at the scale now so I moved on. the wrestler and his coach did not leave the room and the coach kept having him step on and off the second scale. While I was looking up a wrestler the coach had him step on the corner of the first scale and he was on weight. I informed him that his official weight had already been recorded, and instructed him to talk to the tournament director to get him out of the weigh-in area. About thirty minutes latter the coach returned with the tournament director, and i explained the procedure that I had followed to the director. I told him that we had not given him the two chances on the check scale so we could do that and still be in compliance with the rules. We went out to the check scale, and gave him his two attempts, and he was still three tenths over. I just wish they had listened to me the first time, and made sure he was on weight before he entered the room.

I got in bed a little after midnight, and the alarm went off early Saturday morning. I was off to Medowcreek for the Gwinnett County 9th grade Championships. I got a chance to talk to and work with a lot of great high School students. The adults were actually pretty well behaved as well. I had a couple of calls that I could have done a better job on throughout the day. I think I missed a couple of illegal holds, and locked hands due to position (There were a lot of them). I had a near fall situation in a match that right before i got to the two count, the defensive wrestler came out of danger. Unfortunately I did finish the hand stroke and said two after he came out of danger. I quickly waived it off and shock my head. The coach of the offensive wrestler started berating me for not giving the two points. i waited for him to stop but he didn't. he kept saying that I had to award the points because I said two, i tried to diffuse the situation by saying i waived it off coach he did not reach the two count. he still kept on me. My back was to the coach the entire time, but it was distracting me, so i waited til there was a stop in the action, called unsportsmanlike conduct on the coach, and he stopped, and only added but you have to admit I have a point. If I had not said the word Two there would not have been a problem. I talked to the coach again at the end of the day, and told him he was right that I should not have said two, but that I was always going to try to make the right call even if I make a mistake. There was no hard feelings and we parted somewhat satisfied.

I will be at Duluth next Friday, and North Gwinnett on Saturday. Hope to see you there.

Cabin fever.

Now it may sound kind of funny to most people, but I am tired of not working. I miss my students, and all of the other students at my school. I am tired of being at home, and I am ready to work.
The snow didn't keep me from enjoying some good wrestling though. I was disappointed, and relieved at the same time with the cancellation of the State Dual Tournament. Although I had plenty of great volunteers stepping forward to help with the online scoring system, I still was a little anxious about how it would go. I have a little more time to wrap my head around the project before the Traditional tournament arrives.
I had to go to school across some icy roads on Thursday ,and Friday. The students were not allowed to come so I was thoroughly bored. Fortunately Cliff Fretwell sent me a text and asked if I would come down to the Compound, and call some matches. I was more than happy to go. They split guys into groups, and we wrestled matches for about 4 hours. It was a nice break from calling a tournament, or other event. I could step a little outside the realm of strict officiating, and give a little extra instruction, and explanations. At the end of the day, I called a handicap match. I used every rule to my advantage to make the match even. The hardcore fans that were still there got a kick out of it. Fretwell officiated a match right next to me, and was trying to emulate officials from the NCAA finals. It was some good comedy.
On Sunday I got up, and headed to Kell for the youth Open Tournament. I was strictly watching and enjoying. In the morning, I got the pleasure of cornering one of my favorite 8 year olds. He dominated two weight classes, and listened very well. I got a chance to watch some respected officials do their work, and enjoyed the tournament. In the afternoon session I got the chance to hang out with skinnypost, and discuss old times, new talent, and this years High School division. Saw some talented wrestlers wrestling tough matches, and still had good family time once I got home.
Monday came, and I worked my debut TGWOA event. For those of you who are not aware, TGWOA is a group of officials specifically designated for Team Georgia events. We charge lower rates, and emphasis training for upcoming officials. We worked the Walton Middle School duals, and I really liked the way it worked out. Bob Lax did a great job of turning lemons into lemonade. He had several teams bail on the tournament, picked up one team and turned it into a 6 team round robin. I spent the day splitting my mat with a rookie High School Junior who did a great job. I helped him out of a couple of hard situations, but we had no big conferences at the table, and our mat ran very smoothly. The competition was great as well with Milton edging out Jefferson for the first place trophy. Gordon Lee had a great showing as well.
I will be at Grayson Wednesday night, pop in on the Prep Slam Friday, call the Gwinnett County Freshman tournament, and a Youth Tournament on Sunday. See you next week.

Sorry, can't please everyone.

Friday morning one of my students asked me to call his mother and ask her not to move so that he could finish up the year with me. Latter in the day his mother called me to let me know she was moving, and ask me some technical questions about his graduation, and testing. You may ask yourself if I talked to her about not moving. I never got the chance. She spent the entire conversation defending the move, and asking me questions. have I pleased my student? No.
That was just a small example of the daily pull I get from my students and parents. As an official someone is upset with every close call, and even if you are 100% right (rarely am) it is hard for the person on the down side of the call to accept. Great coaches and parents use these situations as a teaching opportunity to help their wrestlers get better. They also use it as an opportunity to demonstrate good sportsmanship.
I ran into some great kids, and coaches this weekend at Brookwood for a youth event. One of the best matches of the day had two tough wrestlers in a close one point match. At the end of the second period there was a takedown attempt that I did not award. It was very close to control when the timekeeper came over and ended the period. There was a lot of noise from the spectators and coaches, but the coach did not call me over to the table, or say anything about it being a bad call, he just told his wrestler good job and keep working hard. As I was leaving, I saw the winning wrestler from this match. I asked him if he would have won if I had awarded that takedown. He answered maybe.
Before both sessions, I met with the coaches while the other officials met with the wrestlers. I told them if they had any problems with one of the officials they could come to me(non of them did in 500 matches). I also asked if they had any wrestlers with skin issues or special equipment that needed to be approved. I did have one coach bring over a knee pad to be checked and quickly approved it. I informed the coaches that they needed to have the wrestlers 100% ready to wrestle when they showed up to check in at the table, and that the wrestlers were to go directly from the table to the center of the mat. There were only 3 matches out of the 100 plus that I officiated that did not comply with these rules. Two wrestlers had on undershirts that had not been approved, and one wrestler went from the table to the center, then over to his coaches corner. I was lenient in the morning session with the little kids. The kid that showed up with an undershirt was not penalized, and I approved the shirt at match time. In the afternoon session (since I had put special emphasis on it)I penalized a wrestler for reporting to the match in an unauthorized uniform. I tried to get the coach to handle it before the wrestler got to the table, but it did not get handled in time. I awarded a team point to his opponent, started injury time and told him he had to remove the shirt. After the match I asked the wrestler if he wanted to wear the shirt so that I could approve it, and he said no. The wrestler who went from the center back to the corner was warned for stalling, and after the match the coach/father was telling me that it wasn't right, so I started to quote the rule to him (should have just warned him for coaches misconduct)and he said I know the rule, but no one else is calling it, and you need to tell the other officials to call it. I still am not sure what his point was. He acted mad at me for enforcing the rules, but asked me to get all of the other officials to enforce the rule in the same way.
I did have another coach tell me I was supposed to coach the kids. I think his wrestler wanted an injury time out. I have no way to know because the wrestler walked off the mat to his coaches corner and took of his headgear. I instructed him to report to the center of the mat, and the coach started yelling at me. I asked if he needed an injury time out and he said yes. I started injury time and went to the head table. I rely do not do not remember what the coach was saying, but his recurring point was that I should be coaching the kids. Believe it or not I am supposed to enforce the rules when I am officiating, and the coach is supposed to do the coaching. I never make any infraction calls without letting the wrestlers know what I called and why. If a coach does not understand a call I will always explain it to them. If a school wants a rule clinic I will come do it for free. I can not coach the wrestlers when I am officiating. I am just not allowed to.
I am about to head to a meeting about the GHSA State duals. I will be volunteering my time at the tournament, and look forward to seeing some exciting action. Hope to see you in Macon.

Quick pin

I was at Soccer practice, but left early to travel up the hill to our Middle School to officiate a Dual. It was fairly uneventful. The coaches had paired up the wrestlers to get the maximum number of matches for the event. There were about 20 matches lined up, and most of them were mismatches. If you watch the match below, I have to say I was a little slow to call the fall. He was pinned for at least three seconds when I blew my whistle.