How to rack up points on the mat
Sideline Smitty / Craig Smith
Q: My stepson is on a wrestling team, and I don’t understand the basics of individual match scoring and team scoring. Please explain.
A: The team scoring has the same concept as a track meet ” teams get points based on how its members perform. But instead of events such as the pole vault, there are 14 matches ranging in weight class from 103 pounds to 275 pounds. Only the winner scores points for his team.
In an individual match, wrestlers get points for different accomplishments. Examples: a takedown (taking an opponent down to the mat and controlling him) is worth two points; a reversal (gaining control of your opponent after he had control of you) is worth two points; an escape (going from being controlled to being free) earns one point.
The object, of course, is to pin your opponent ” keeping both of his shoulders on the mat for two seconds. A near fall ” holding your opponent in a nearly pinned position ” gets two points, and keeping him in that predicament for five or more seconds is worth three points.
In a dual meet, a pin earns six points for a team; a technical fall (winning a match by 15 or more points) earns five points; winning by eight to 14 points earns four points; and a decision of up to seven points’ difference earns three points.
To the casual eye ” including mine ” a lot of wrestling can look the same, but the minute it’s your son, brother or boyfriend out there on the mat, mano a mano with a guy from another school, there’s nothing more compelling.
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