Section II wrestling chairman George Chickanis sent out a few emails this morning detailing a number of national rule changes that will kick in at the beginning of the 2010-11 season. I suppose the NYSPHSAA can make its own rules and decide not to adopt these.

• Regarding the "suitable undergarment" rule for weigh-ins, the standards have been relaxed to better protect the privacy of wrestlers.

• The committee also addressed the process for an offensive wrestler assuming a legal starting position. The following statement has been added to Rule 5-20-9: “Once the offensive wrestler has assumed a legal starting position and is stationary, the referee shall verbally say ‘set’ and then pause momentarily before starting wrestling.”
• 1. “This rule change will eliminate either wrestler gaining an advantage by using a rolling start,” Bob Colgate, the assistant director of the National Federation of High School Athletic Associations, said. “It also eliminates the need for the offensive wrestler using a specific sequence when assuming a legal starting position, including the optional offensive starting position.”

• Effective with the 2010-11 high school wrestling season, any contestant who shows signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion shall be removed immediately from the match and shall not return to competition until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional. The previous rule directed officials to remove an athlete from competition if “apparently unconscious.” The previous rule also allowed for return to competition based on written authorization by a medical doctor.

• The Wrestling Rules Committee also added the “rear-standing, double-knee kickback” to the list of illegal maneuvers. Colgate said this maneuver, which is being used more frequently at the high school level, clearly puts the opposing wrestler in a dangerous situation and at a high risk for injury.

• One notable non-change will be in the breakdown of the 14 weight classes. Those will remain the same.

• Here is a fun fact for good measure. Wrestling is the sixth-most popular sport for boys at the high school level with 267,378 participants in 10,254 schools during the 2008-09 season, according to the NFHS Athletics Participation Survey. In addition, 6,025 girls were involved in wrestling in 1,034 high schools.

• Here was a note from the NYSPHSAA meeting minutes: Concerns about multi-bout dual meet tournaments that “rich are getting richer” as not everyone can attend these tournaments. After discussion in attempt to be pro-active, motion by Eric Romanino-1 to cap the number of 2-day dual meet tournaments to a maximum of two. In Favor: Sections: 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,11 Against: Sections: 9,10 No Vote: 7.