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Weight Changes Bring Wrestling Modifications

Posted on November 30, 2011 , by charley

One of the biggest changes in 23 years  of wrestling, will take a weighty effect on a high school in Minnesota, as it seems high school athletes are getting bigger so weight classes have seemed to be getting unfair. The National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) all agreed on this shift in the Wrestling Rules Committee earlier this year.

 
“New this year in wrestling is a change in the weight classes,” said Cardinal head coach Tom Ellison “Current weight classes include a mix of the most recent weight classes and a return of some familiar ones.” Explaining the weight classes he mentioned that the changes benefits the ‘big guys’ and an upwards shift in the classes will mean people can start competing at 106 pounds whereas before it used to be 103 pounds.

 
One thing that will be kept the same is the amount of weight classes which is 14, but instead of being seven classes before the 145 pound spot, there will only be 6 stages instead. In addition, instead of the old 4 classes after the 160 pound slot there will now be 5. The biggest change with weight classes will happen around the middleweight section. Where in the past there used to be a 20 pound jump between classes from 171 and 189, it will now be limited to a 12 pound jump with classes from 170 to 182 to 195.

 
“The change in weight classes resulted from a three-to-four year process utilizing data from the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Optimal Performance Calculator,” said Dale Pleimann, chair of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee and former assistant executive director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association. “The rules committee was able to analyze data from almost 200,000 wrestlers across the country, with the goal to create weight classes that have approximately 7 per cent of the wrestlers in each weight class.”

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