Wrestling weigh-ins getting makeover
The days of high school wrestlers dropping 40 or 50 pounds in order to compete in lower weight classes are nearly over.
Phase I has been implemented in a two-phase program requiring wrestlers to have their body types assessed by health-care professionals. The trained professionals, called assessors, determine how much weight a wrestler may safely lose without jeopardizing his or her health.
Communication problems, due in part to the hurricanes last fall, caused Palm Beach County to be late in training assessors.
“We didn’t have any master assessors in Palm Beach County, and we didn’t know [the Florida High School Athletic Association] was going to do this new thing, “county athletic administrator Yetta Greene said.
“We had to scramble and find some assessors. We finally found two people who would become master assessors, but we are still very short. We had a hard time, but we did get our wrestlers assessed.”
Training assessors and having all wrestlers assessed is Phase I. Phase II requires all schools to opt into the program limiting weight reductions. Some schools did that this year. All of them will have to do it next year.
“Personally, I am for it, “said Jose Lopez, who has eight years experience as a wrestling coach. Lopez, who coaches the West Boca wrestling team, said having wrestlers assessed outweighs the competitive advantage of massive weight loss.
“I had a guy on the team this year who weighed 240 pounds and he wanted to wrestle at 215, and I said no, “Lopez said. “I don’t allow that. It’s not healthy. The most we dropped anybody was from 160 to 152.”
In the past there was no way to limit weight loss. An athlete could complete the football season as a lineman weighing 230 or 240 pounds and then begin a drastic weight-reduction program so he could wrestle at 190 or 200.
The new program requires assessors to determine safe body weight for each athlete and determine a minimum weight at which he can wrestle.
“Now if a kid wants to wrestle much lighter, all you have to do is pull out the assessment and tell him it’s not happening, “Lopez said.
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