New Wrestling Parents Introduction to Tournaments
-Tournaments are run by area wrestling clubs as fundraisers for their programs. The Wall Knights Wrestling Club usually selects 4 tournaments a year that the club will promote by sending coaches to the tournament. We select tournaments based on proximity to Wall and usually select tournaments run by other clubs in the Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League. The cost of a tournament varies per tournament usually based on what the awards are for winning or placing in the tournament. The cost to enter a tournament is not included in the registration fee at the beginning of the year with the Wall Knights Wrestling Club.
-A Wrestling Tournament is set up based on bout numbers and the mat number that the bout number will be on. In most cases, tournament instructions will be provided at the beginning by the person running the tournament for parents and coaches.
-The general procedure for tournaments goes like this. Wrestlers are divided into weight classes based on age and weight. These weight classes will be documented on charts which are referred to as brackets. These brackets are posted in hallways or gymnasiums at the tournament sight or now more commonly tournaments are using the FLO Wrestling App where brackets and bout numbers can be viewed on cell phones..
-Finding your wrestler is easy if you know his/her age group -Examples of age groups are Pee-wee, Bantam, Bantam Novice, Midget, Midget Novice, Intermediate, Cadet, Etc. After knowing his/her age group you must check for his/her name on a chart indicating his/her age group that is near the weight he weighed in at. Some tournaments have set weight classes while others improvise to have a sufficient amount of wrestlers in each weight class bracket (this is referred as the Madison System).
-When you find the wrestlers name on his bracket, near his name will be a bout number. Most tournaments will call bout numbers to a particular mat. Most tournaments now have mat numbers clearly marked on the mats. Some tournaments now have a system of organization where bout numbers are written on a board which indicates the next 4 bouts on deck for each mat.
-When you learn the wrestlers bout number, keep in mind that most tournaments roll through bouts in numerical order. When you see that your wrestlers bout number is on the on deck listing or you hear that your wrestlers bout is on deck, you must notify a coach of the bout number and the mat that the wrestler will be wrestling.
-After a wrestler has his first match, it means that he has wrestled in the first round of the tournament. All Weight Classes can have a different number of wrestlers. If there are only two wrestlers in the weight class, your wrestler may be finished unless both wrestlers agree to wrestle a second time for experience (Some tournaments allow this option). If the weight class has three wrestlers in the bracket, it is usually conducted as a round robin where all wrestlers will compete against each other to determine first, second, and third place. If there is 4 wrestlers in a weight class (or more) the tournament will be conducted in typical tournament fashion where the wrestlers that win will face each other in following rounds and the wrestlers that lose are either finished or wrestle on the losing end of the bracket. (Basically after a wrestler wrestles, it is necessary to check the wrestlers bracket to understand if he will wrestle again and his newly assigned bout number for the next round).
-When a wrestler has wrestled his last match of the day and he does not have any pending matches on his tournament bracket he can expect to retrieve his medal or trophy (usually awards are handed out upon the completion of the wrestlers weight class). Most tournaments will call out wrestlers names to the head table to receive their trophy or medal if they had earned one. All tournaments have different qualifications for earning awards.