Many people know about wrestling, but not many know how it works. This informational article will explain the basics of the sport and some of the regulations along with it. High school wrestling is most generally known as Freestyle (or Folkstyle) wrestling, a combative sport where one wrestler tries to physically control the opponent against their will without injuring them. It is using physical control to get behind the opponent's back and arms to force them down to the mat, turn them over and pin them on their back.
A match in high school is a group of three two-minute periods. The first period begins with both wrestlers in a neutral position with both of their feet facing each other. The second period begins with one wrestler choosing bet be on the top, bottom, or neutral, or deferring choice until the third period. The third period begins with the other wrestler choosing either of the positions.
There are common calls used to stop the match. These are takedown (fair win), stalemate (tie), or potentially dangerous (injury, illegal move, etc.). If the referee stops a round in the middle of the match with a whistle, the referee will return them to the center to start wrestling again in the same neutral, top, or bottom position they started in.
In high school wrestling, there are eight general ways to score points: takedown, escape, reversal, 3 types of "near fall," penalty points, locked hands penalty, locked hands around the head penalty, caution, and caution point. Each type of takedown or penalty gives points either to you, or your opponent.
Team points are also awarded for certain things such as a pin fall, technical fall, major decision, regular decision, disqualification, injury default, and forfeit. In the case of a draw or tie, a decision will be made by a sudden death overtime starting from the feet and/or by tie breakers from the referee's position.
For team scoring, a win by a decision (victory by 1 to 7 points more than the opponent) is worth 3 points; a major decision (victory by 8 to 14 points), 4; a technical fall (victory by at least 15 points), 5; and a fall, 6. The loser receives no points.
PLACING POINTS -
1st place = 16 team points - 2nd place = 12 team points - 3rd place = 9 team points - 4th place = 7 team points - 5th place = 5 team points - 6th place = 3 team points - 7th place = 2 team points - 8th place = 1 team point.
Hopefully this information will be helpful to you as you follow Trojan Wrestling in person and through the recap articles this season!
All information in this article has been copied from the following sources:
https://ihsaa-static.s3.amazonaws.com/wrestling/Folkstyle_Wrestling_Basics_Phil_Henning.pdf
https://matref0.tripod.com/Articles/NFHS_Rules_Photos.pdf
