It's a small world.

This weekend I worked A GHSA Area Dual tournament on Saturday, and a beginners tournament on Sunday.

Saturday one of the light weight wrestlers from my High School wrestling team was coaching a team in the consolation semi-finals. I was calling that match, and he rode me pretty hard. We are supposed to do our best to ignore the coaches talking to us as a match goes on, but it is not easy. Once a coach starts saying something repeatedly, it is distracting, and breaks my concentration. If I can not concentrate on the match in front of me, I can not do my job. This behavior by a coach is unsportsmanlike, and I finally stopped the match, and told him he was distracting me, and it was unsportsmanlike. I did not make the official call which would have cost him a Team Point. After the dual I watched the finals with my old team mate, and we discussed ideas for possible rules changes, and how to make Georgia wrestling better. As an official, we do not take the coaches riding us personally, but we do try to stop them so that we can be more effective.

Sunday at the beginners tournament, I was working the 6U mat. I really enjoy working with the little guys, but it is physically demanding. My quads are sore today from spending so much time up and down off the mat. As I was waiting for the next match, I here someone from the stands above me calling out something, and I usually don't look, but it happened to be the Heavyweight from my High School wrestling team. He did not have a wrestler on my mat, but made sure he came over to give me a hard time anyway.

Once wrestling is in your blood, it is hard to get away from it. Three old men from my High School days are still involved, and I am sure there are many more.

Rules tip!!!
This one seems to sneak up on people, and I did not learn it till I was an official. Once you have control, you can not lock hands around two legs. It is locked hands. I saw this in the finals of the Area Dual tournament I was at. It is a common mistake, and one of those rules that people tend to be surprised by.