Amateur wrestling

From OTMWiki

FILA Greatest Wrestler of 20th Century (Greco-Roman) Alexander Karelin throws Olympian Jeff Blatnick with his "Karelin Lift"

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Andrell Durden (top) and Edward Harris grapple for position during the All-Marine Wrestle Offs.

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Two US Air Force members wrestling

Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two "international" wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA (Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées or International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles): Freestyle and Greco-Roman. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style. A similar style, commonly called Collegiate, Folkstyle, or Scholastic, is practiced in secondary schools, colleges, and younger age groups in the United States.

1 Scoring
2 Period Format
3 Victory Conditions
4 Illegal moves
5 Equipment
6 World participation
7 See also
8 Famous amateur wrestlers
9 External links

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Scoring

Freestyle and Greco-Roman differ in what holds are permitted; in Greco-Roman, the wrestlers are permitted to hold and attack only above the waist. In both Greco-Roman and freestyle, points can be scored the following ways, with analogs in folkstyle and collegiate:

Takedowns: Gaining control over your opponent from a neutral position.
Reversals: Gaining control over your opponent from a defensive position.
Escapes: Escaping your opponent's control. (The escape point is no longer awarded in the international styles.)
Exposure: Exposing your opponent's back to the mat.
Lifting: Successfully lifting an opponent in the defensive position and exposing his back. (The lift point is no longer awarded under the rules changes adopted for the international styles in 2004-2005. Lifting has never been rewarded in folkstyle or collegiate, and rules against locking hands on the mat interfere with its practicality.)
Penalty Points: Various infractions (striking your opponent, acting with brutality or intent to injure, using illegal holds, etc). (Under the 2004-2005 changes to the international styles, a wrestler whose opponent takes an injury time-out receives one point unless the injured wrestler is bleeding.) Any wrestler stepping out of bounds while standing in the neutral position during a match is penalized by giving his/her opponent a point.

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Period Format

In the International styles, the format is now three two-minute periods a wrestler winning the match when he has won two out of three periods; for example if one competitor were to win the first period 1-0 and the second period 1-0, the match would be over. However, if the other competitor were to win the second period then third and deciding period would result. Only a fall or disqualification terminates the match; all other modes of victory result only in period termination. One side effect of this format is that it is possible for the losing wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3-2, 0-4, 1-0, leading to a total score of 4-6 but a win for the wrestler scoring fewer points.

In amateur (high school) wrestling, the periods are different. A high school match typically consists of three two-minute periods, with multiple overtimes possible if necessary. Unless the level of competition is low and time is more important than the outcome of the match, there are no draws in wrestling.

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Victory Conditions

A match can be won in the following ways:

Win by Fall: A fall, also known as a pin, occurs when one wrestler holds both his opponents' shoulders on the mat simultaneously.
Win by Technical Fall: If one wrestler gains a six-point lead over his opponent at any point, the current period is declared over and he is the winner of that period. (In folkstyle and collegiate wrestling, a technical fall occurs when one wrestler gains a fifteen-point lead and in that case the match is over.)
Win by Decision: If neither wrestler achieves either type of fall, the one who has gained more points during the match (or period internationally) is declared the winner. If the wrestlers have gained the same number of points, then it is ruled by the judges through certain criteria in the international styles. In folkstyle and collegiate wrestling, an overtime period will result to decide the true victor.
Win By Major Decision: In folkstyle and collegiate wrestling, a decision in which the winner outscores his opponent by eight or more points is a "major decision" and is rewarded with an additional team point.

Win by Injury: If one wrestler is injured and unable to continue, the other wrestler is declared the winner. This is also referred to as a medical forfeit or injury default in the international styles and folkstyle. The term also encompasses situations where wrestlers become injured, take too many injury time-outs or cannot stop bleeding. If a wrestler is injured by his opponent's illegal maneuver and cannot continue, the wrestler at fault is disqualified.

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Illegal moves

Amateur wrestling is a positionally-based form of grappling, and thus generally prohibits the following:

Biting
Pinching and poking with the fingers, toes, or nails, including fish-hooking the nose or mouth
Gouging or intentionally scratching the opponent – eye-gouges especially are grounds for disqualification and banned status in most amateur wrestling communities
Strikes using hands, fists, elbows, feet, knees, or head
Joint locks, including armlocks, leglocks, spinal locks, wristlocks and small joint manipulation.
Chokeholds, strangling, or smothering
Spiking, or lifting and slamming the opponent head-first into the mat (though other forms of slamming are generally allowed)
Grasping or Holding an opponent's genitals
Most types of wrestling also discourage or prohibit the use of one's own or the opponent's clothing for grasping or performing any type of hold

•A figure-four leg lock (one knee is bent at a 90º angle and placed behind the other knee) of the torso or the head in the neutral position. It is however, legal to figure-four the head if both wrestlers are not in the neutral position. This rule exists primarily to prevent people from using a figure-four lock of the head to prevent a 'shooting' takedown, as it is very dangerous in that circumstance.

No modern sport allows biting, finger-poking, or eye-gouging, but many other grappling-based sports permit some or all of the other tactics listed above, including Shoot wrestling, Judo, Jujutsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, mixed martial arts and Catch Wrestling.

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Equipment

There isn't much equipment needed in amateur wrestling- the wrestler wears a special wrestling singlet; this is basically a tank top and shorts attached together. Singlets are usually made of spandex. Some wrestlers prefer to wear a t-shirt under their singlet. Some wrestlers also use a cup. This can be handy, given that wrestling can be very physical. Also, wrestlers wear special wrestling shoes, which have a specially designed heel allowing a good firm grip on the mat. Some wrestlers also like to wear a special earprotector.

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World participation

The countries with the leading wrestlers in the Olympic Games are Iran, United States, Russia (and some of the former Soviet Union republics), Bulgaria, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, Korea, Germany, and Turkey.

In the United States currently there is a decline of wrestling programs in colleges and universities that some attribute to Title IX. It is believed by some that when schools cannot add enough opportunities for women they choose to scrap their wrestling programs (other programs that have a primary target of men, such as golf and men's swimming, are believed to be similarly affected.). This has caused controversy in recent years.

In some countries, people engage in simulated wrestling matches as a performance ("sports entertainment"). See professional wrestling.

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