Why is it so Difficult to Score a Wrestling Match?
In athletic competition the score matters. Wrestling is no different. All wrestling matches are scored according the the applicable rules book. It’s harder than you might expect. Why is that?
Rules Book is Bad
The NFHS rules book is an old, expansive, intricate document conceived of and edited by committee over many years. It is often difficult to interpret and is subject to annual revisions for clarity and rule changes.
Certain sections of the rule book are no longer relevant and are routinely ignored in practice. These sections aren’t culled over time as they should be so that the book is confusingly bloated with vestigial passages.
Finally, the rules yield "corner-cases" -- infrequent scoring sequences -- that trip up even the most experienced. The net result is scorers, coaches and officials do not — and probably can not — have full command of the rule book and its application in all possible situations.
Referee Role
After athlete safety, getting the bout score correct should be the referee’s #1 priority.
In this light, referees should signal scoring promptly, using official hand gestures persisted long enough for recognition by the scorer. When there’s a quick flurry of activity and lots of scoring, the referee should communicate with the table to verify that all the scoring was accurately recognized and reflected in the score.
Also, prior to an event a good referee will discuss with the scorer their responsibility — “recording points scored by each contestant when signaled by the referee” — and procedures for fulfilling that responsibility as outlined in NFHS Rules 3.1.4.e and 3.1.5.e or appropriate state rules.
A great referee will be in frequent contact with the official scorer to insure all is well.
Scorer Role
The scorer’s primary role is to get the score right by recording the scoring events signaled by the referee.
If there’s confusion or disagreement about the score, the official scorer should ask the referee for assistance and resolution. To translate the referee scoring signals into a recorded scoring event, the official scorer should be familiar with the “Referee’s Wrestling Signals” in the NFHS rules book.
Proper notation helps, too, when reconstructing from the scorebook what happened on the mat. Official “Scoring Symbols” are documented in the NFHS rules book.
That Never Happens
In practice, the implied contract between the referee and official scorer is almost never fulfilled.
In practice, scorers typically lack the confidence to stop a match to clarify scoring confusion. This is especially true in high school.
In addition, scoring hand gestures are often confusingly and quickly presented by the referee. Sometimes non-standard signals are employed.
Compounding this problem is the referee’s apparent desire to move the action along at Mach 5, creating the impression that pace is more important than an accurate score.
That behavior can lead to disastrous outcomes as in the case of Ian Miller at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
Technology Helps
A carefully engineered digital scoring solution will drastically improve scoring (and clock) accuracy by embedding the rules book into well-designed scoring interface.
Here are few examples of how digital scoring can help your scoring table:
Uses standard scoring symbols
Prevents illegal scoring sequences, e.g. near fall for defensive wrestler, escape for offensive wrestler, escape/reverse/near fall not allowed in neutral, etc.
Presents 2nd and 3rd period choice for correct wrestling
Implements the penalty table including disqualification sequences
Starts/maintains injury timer for each wrestler
Maintains blood, recovery timers for each wrestler
Implements choice on restart as appropriate
Records each scoring notation offset from previous for easy readability and reconstruction of scoring activity
Implements overtime protocol
Does period arithmetic for automatically recorinding cumulative match time for bout-ending scoring events such as a fall or disqualification
College: automatically stops/starts riding time clocks with change in control and calculates riding time advantage
Continuously calculates the tie-breaker counts by criteria and identifies the winner
In dual meet, automatically calculates team score.
Takedown Scoring and Stats has all of these features.
Scoring a wrestling match is hard. Make it easier by using a state-of-the art, high quality digital scoring solution.