Scholastic wrestling, sometimes referred to as folkstyle wrestling and commonly known as simply wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. It has often been labeled the "toughest sport in the world" because of the physical conditioning, mental preparation, complexity, and intense nature of its one-on-one competition."The real reason wrestlers are the toughest athletes in the world", Medium, March 27, 2021"Six minutes: 'There's nothing tougher', Hometown Life, February 25, 2017"Top 10 toughest high school sports", The Top Tens
According to an athletics participation survey taken in 2006–07 by the National Federation of State High School Associations, 9,445 high schools sponsored boys' wrestling teams and 257,246 boys participated in the sport, making it the eighth-most available and sixth-most popular high school sport in the nation. Among high school girls, 5,408 girls participated on 1,227 high school girls wrestling teams nationally, as of 2006–07.
Scholastic wrestling competition at the high school level is in all 50 U.S. states and the national capital of Washington, D.C.
History
The history of scholastic wrestling in the U.S. is closely related to the development of its college counterpart. In 1905, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association held its first tournament, which soon sparked many more wrestling tournaments at both the collegiate and high school levels."Wrestling, Freestyle" by Michael B. Poliakoff from Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present, Vol. 3, p. 1191, eds. David Levinson and Karen Christensen (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1996).
At the high school level during the 1930s and 1940s, wrestling programs and championships would grow rapidly, as state-based high school athletic bodies added and sanctioned the sport. In the mid-20th century, college and high school wrestling programs greatly expanded after the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) standardized collegiate wrestling rules, which were all or partly adopted on the high school level by state athletic associations.
The standardization of NCAA rules also inspired colleges, universities, and junior colleges to expand their dual meets and tournaments, including developing organized wrestling programs and expanding existing ones. As high school wrestling continued to grow in the 1950s and ensuing decades, various collegiate athletic conferences also increased the number and quality of their wrestling programs, with a growing number of high school wrestlers being recruited and entering collegiate-level competition.
Girls scholastic wrestling has a less definitive history. It began in the 1970s when girls sporadically began joining boys wrestling teams. In the 1990s, girls-only high school wrestling programs began being established. Notable early women scholastic wrestlers include Tricia Saunders, the first female National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee. In 1993, the first official all-girls high school wrestling team was established at Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts; the team of 15 girls became an official public high school team three years later in 1996. The first official U.S. Girls Wrestling Nationals was held the following year in 1997.
Since the early 20th century, state high school associations across the United States host annual wrestling championships for individuals and for teams. At one time, there could be no middle school wrestlers participating at the high school level, but as of 2016, middle school wrestlers now can also compete at the high school level if allowed through procedures set out by their respective state associations. As in all scholastic sports, after a middle schooler participates at a varsity level, they can no longer compete in a junior or middle school level in that sport.
Weight classes
Scholastic wrestling is regulated by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Each state high school association has adopted its wrestling rules, with each making some modifications. Every high school is expected to practice wrestling at two levels, varsity and junior varsity, although wrestling at the freshmen (ninth grade) level is becoming more widespread. The NFHS generally sets the standard for weight classes for high school-level dual meets, multiple duals, and tournaments. In most states, high school wrestlers can compete at 14 different weight classes, ranging from to the heavyweight division of up to .
Other states have additional or modified weight classes, such as the weight class in states such as New York, the and weight classes in states such as Montana, and the weight class in states such as Texas.
Weight classes for junior varsity, freshman, and middle school teams may differ from state to state. Each state high school association that sanctions wrestling also has a defined weight control plan that prohibits excessive weight loss and dehydration during the season. The plan would prohibit dropping below seven percent body fat for males and 12 percent body fat for females in order to reach a lower weight class. These weight control plan includes provisions for weight assessment by the school's athletics medical staff, and certification of the lowest allowable weight class with the team's head coach and the person that performs the weight assessment. This is often done online through the website of the state high school association, or through the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA).
After the date of certification, a growth allowance of two pounds in each weight class may be allowed in some states. Many tournaments offer an allowance of one or two pounds, allowing wrestlers to compete in a certain class if they are within the allowance of making the weight limit for that class. All of this is done in order to protect the wrestler's health.
NWCA official weight classes as of 2024-25 are: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215, and 285.
Season structure
The high school wrestling season customarily runs from October or November to March. Regular season competition begins in late October or early November and continues until February. Post-season competition usually continues from February to March depending on whether individual wrestlers or teams qualify for regional, sectional, or state championships.
Wrestling teams from two different high schools normally compete in what is known as a "dual meet". It is possible for there also to be a "multiple dual", where more than two wrestling teams compete against each other at the same event on the same day. For example, one high school wrestling team may face another wrestling team for the first dual, and then a third wrestling team for the second dual. Also, those two wrestling teams may compete against each other in a dual meet as well. High schools often compete in regional, city-, or county-wide leagues.
Dual meets Dual meets usually take place on evenings during the school week, or on Saturday mornings, afternoons, or evenings during the wrestling season and begin with weigh-ins, shoulder-to-shoulder, at a maximum of one hour before the meet begins. Wrestlers may wrestle up only one weight class above the weight class that they are placed in, with some exceptions. If a wrestler fails to make weight, he either has to forfeit or weigh-in at a higher class. If a wrestler is suspected by a referee or coach of having a communicable skin disease, the wrestler can either be disqualified or provide written documentation from a physician that the skin disease is not communicable. If a meet physician is on-site, his or her judgment would overrule such documentation.
Dual meets often feature one or two pound allowances, but in order to qualify for a league championship, wrestlers are required to weigh in without the benefit of a pound allowance at what is called "scratch weight" a certain number of times during the dual meet season.
After weigh-ins, the referee coordinates the random draw, which determines the sequence of weight classes for the dual meet. After the random draw, the referee will call the wrestlers from each team who have been designated as captains. One of the captains will call a disk toss. The disk will then fall to the floor and determine which team has the choice of position at the start of the second period, and which one of the team's members is to appear first at the scorer's table when called by the referee for each weight class. The wrestling captain who wins the disk toss may choose the even or odd weight classes, the weight classes, from lowest to highest, that are numbered evenly or oddly. The first weight class chosen in the random draw is odd. The rest of the weight classes are even and odd accordingly. If the 120lb weight class is chosen in the random draw, for example, then the 120lb, 132lb, 145lb, and subsequent weight classes would be odd, and the 126lb, 138lb, 152lb, and subsequent weight classes would be even. This order would work in the traditional sequence until the last even weight class at 113lb.
During a dual meet, both the junior varsity and varsity squads from the two schools compete against each other. The format of competition is as follows:
The top junior varsity wrestler of each school compete against each other in an order determined by the random draw. The first weight class drawn starts the competition, with the following weight classes proceeding in order. For example, if the 152 lb weight class was drawn first, the matches would follow after that weight class up to the 285 lb match. The matches would then revert to 106 lb and proceed to 145 lb. The dual meet would then commence with each school's top junior varsity wrestler in the first weight class drawn. After that, the top junior varsity wrestlers then compete in the succeeding weight classes. If more than one junior varsity wrestler is at a certain weight class for each school, the coaches will sometimes hold an "exhibition match", which does not count towards the junior varsity team score but allows the wrestlers to gain more competitive experience. Sometimes matches are not scored for a winning team, allowing wrestlers to focus on skills and technique rather than winning. If one school has two junior varsity wrestlers at the same weight and the other school only has one, the lone wrestler may sometimes be permitted to wrestle both the other's wrestlers. It is also common for junior varsity wrestlers to compete against wrestlers one or two weight classes above or below them. After a break, the varsity matches commence in the same fashion as the junior varsity matches. However, there are no exhibition matches at the varsity level. Freshmen wrestling matches could also begin during the same time, or before the junior varsity matches.
Tournaments High schools in the United States often compete in a tournament, which allows many schools to establish their rankings, not only for individual wrestlers and high school teams as a whole. Tournaments are often sponsored by a high school or a state high school association and are held on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or over any two days during the weekend. Admission is often charged to cover costs and make a small profit for the host. A tournament committee usually administers the event and after individual and team entries have been verified, the officials then determine the order of the matches, called a drawing, by certain brackets usually including eight and up to 16 individual wrestlers.