Wrestling Tournaments
In a word, youth wrestling tournaments
are best described as controlled “CHAOS” – lots of people, noise and excited kids.
What to do when you get there:
1) Register your wrestler and pay at the door.
2) Go to the designated room for weigh-in and skin check.
3) Find a coach who can direct your wrestler to the mat for warm-ups and
pre-match instructions.
4) Locate the bracket posting area and record your wrestlers assigned bracket letter and mat number (e.g., A-5, G-3,
L-6). Brackets are typically not posted until just before your child’s age group will be wrestling.
Most tournaments start with the younger wrestlers first, grouping wrestlers in a four man round robin format separated
by the wrestler’s team, grade, weight and level of experience.
(NOTE: (The bracketing challenge is to make the best of every situation so kids have the best experience on the mat,
but it is inevitable that in any tournament there will be some brackets that are less than ideal, and therefore on some occasions,
wrestlers from the same team or of different ability levels will meet.)
5) Find a good seat with a clear view of your wrestler’s mat as you will not be allowed to sit next to the mat
during the tournament. Listen for your wrestler’s grade to be called, and watch for the posting of
his bracket on the mat your wrestler has been assigned.
6)
When your wrestler is called to the “on deck” position they will be provided ankle straps (red or green) from
the coach or table staff. Get your cameras ready the match will begin soon.
7) Upon completion of your child’s match, they will have 20 minutes
or so to rest before their next match. Numerous brackets will be assigned to each mat so it may be a while
before your child’s bracket rotates through for their 2nd and 3rd matches.
8) After a wrestlers’ bracket is completed you can go to the awards
table with your wrestler to collect their award.
9) Cheer on any remaining teammates then go home, shower, and rest up for the next practice.
