http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...er-mhsaa-settle-interpreter-matches/77301050/ a couple of things.... 1. I ref wrestling and have coached it for the last 15 years. I'm no expert, but I love the sport and have my perspective 2. Florida has already allowed this. We have a school (florida school for the deaf and blind) and we see them every region. Accommodations we provide are a. for blind wrestlers, the touch accom. if wrestlers ever become seperated, we stop the match, and they have to maintain a touch with the hands while in the standing position. b. for deaf wrestlers, we give signals for start and stop, and will move in and touch both wrestlers at the whistle. We do that even for hearing wrestlers and will go in if they don't hear the whistle, which does happen. c. interpreters get 360* movement and can sign anywhere on the outside of the wrestling circle. (they can't get in the way of the opposing coach though and must move if there is action near the boundary) d. I didn't realize other states didn't do this. however, as a wrestler, I couldn't hear what my coaches said anyways. I mean, I could audibly hear them, but I'd get so zoned in, I would nod my head until his lips quit moving, but couldn't really recall what he had just said. I had my own strategy and game plan in mind. Coaches today feel they need to play their wrestler like a video game, "double leg, now look for the half, lift his head..... DAMNIT, WHY AREN"T YOU DOING WHAT I SAID" I always felt it was best to coach in the room, and during tournies, I would be in the corner for guidance, or if there were scoring concerns I needed to talk to the ref about. Either way, I don't see how this ruling is anything more than simply forcing Mich do adhear to what other states are already doing.
Lol honestly I never really paid attention to anything outside of what I was told to do between innings or quarters while playing. You don't really pay attention to what is going on in the crowd or what the coaches are spewing near the bench. When playing its all instinct and what you are taught and you really don't think about that either, instincts just take over. I can understand that the deaf needs communication, but wrestling is so fast and you are always so tangled up to even look around at more than the mat and your opponent that I figure the kid would have to stop just to try and receive some feedback which is not a smart thing to do unless you have your opponent secured. I'd say this gives more of an advantage to those who can hear, because it takes just a split second for the tables to turn if you stop paying attention to what your opponent is trying to do. I never officially wrestled in high school but when playing football we would spar with the wrestling team for conditioning. I swear I sure as hell didn't pay attention or hear anything during a match because it was like being mauled by a freaking pitbull lol. Just trying to stay off your back or get locked up was the main goal. I don't understand how these deaf kids can take any time to look up and take instruction. But hey, if that's what they want and it does not interfere with the match or the other wrestler, then let them have it.
I agree.... I think it moves away from instincts, and in wrestling, instincts and muscle memory from drills is crucial. You feel it. I can't ever remember looking to my coach for what to do next after I got to a certain position....
Exactly. Practice and timeouts is honestly where a coach does his job because he can truly instruct and be on the field/court/mat with their players. Other than that it's down to the team or individual to put what was learned into action. In games like football or basketball there is time for a deaf student to look over and take some instruction, but I just can't see how it works out well in a sport like wrestling because there is no stopping until the whistle blows, and that could be a very long time. But I do have to say wrestling is one hell of a sport, it really does not receive the recognition it deserves. It's not easy by any means and takes a ton of physical and mental ability. Toughest chess match I have ever attempted lol.
young wrestling coaches (new to coaching young, not necessarily young in the age) love to jump around on mat edge, hooping, hollering, making grandious gestures and can whip a home crowd up into a hysteria. I did it, too. I'd lose my voice every match or tournament. Then I watched a 2 time olympian (68-72) coach his team (that was very good) against mine. Coach just sat there calmly, legs crossed, with a notepad taking notes in the corner. The only time he would say anything to his kids is when they looked towards him for position choice in between periods.... and only if they wanted. Then I looked at the other team that we had there's coach.... he was running around like an idiot, yelling, screaming, hooping, hollering, getting penalties for his behavior, and yelling at his kids. I was in between those two in terms of behavior.... I hooped, but never went too far. But at that point in my career, I made the decision for my 1st year program... I'd rather emulate the HOF coach than the hothead coach, in terms of how I conducted myself on the side. I quit "coaching from the chair" When the whistle blows and the match starts.... it's between 2 wrestlers, not 2 wrestlers and 2 coaches.... Coach in practice, let them compete. Funniest story I had, I told my kids.... I will give you suggestions on what position to take during round changes, but feel free to over-rule me, or just tell the ref what you want without conferring. And they would. If they got it wrong, we'd address that and learn from it so they were better prepared the next time they are in a situation like that. A JV kid, no wins, got thrust into varsity match up due to injury and was in a 0-0 match (it was a heavyweight match which are notoriously bad sometimes) His choice 3rd period, he looks over, I told him bottom so he could try and escape for a 1 point win. He looked at me and said "no, I want top" I went bazeerk... and I thought "if this turd loses 1-0, I'm going to run 50# off his fat ass tomorrow" sonuva gun, my kid turns the kid and pins him and wins. The moral of the story is, he felt that match wrestling it better than I did from the corner. And had he lost like I expected from his decision, ultimately, it wouldn't have mattered anyways.... it was a meaningless match in that life goes on no matter what.
I remember about 15 years ago or so when a court ruled that an asthmatic high school wrestler would be allowed to use an inhalant under the American With Disability Act: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg327.pdf Some felt the inhalant provided an advantage to that student. The court, however, ruled that it was a reasonable accommodation under the law which did not impair or inconvenience any one else. As one who lobbied for ADA and as one with a law degree, I feel that a court would have used this principle as precedent for the deaf youth. The court would have legally mandated the use of an interpreter because this practice would fall under the principle of "reasonable accommodation". This is likely what the state's high school administrators were told by their legal counselors and that is why they readily agreed to this alteration in their practices.
Thats bull(*)(*)(*)(*)! What if I'm a wrestler who's style is movement and separation and only engage to shoot? You are dictating to the wrestler how he has to wrestle the blind kind. If another wrestler is powerful you dont want to maintain touch the entire match, you want to stay the hell away from them.
I hear ya... We have all thought that scenario.... and don't forget.... "blind" does not necessarily mean "can't see anything" If you are legally blind, you get this accommodation if you make the officials aware of it. I'm pretty close to legally blind.... without my contacts, I can see, but I can't "see" anything at all. Score, time clock, etc.
take note of the upcoming Olympics.... we SHOULD (not 100% sure, but pretty sure) that our 133# kid will be this guy that is a 200# kid all day long... but without his leg... he wrestles in the 133# weightclass and won the national title. Here's what a normal 133# kid looks like I understand that his disability NEVER goes away.... but in wrestling, sometimes, disabilities like missing appendages, or blind, become an ADVANTAGE while trying to accommodate for a life disability....
That's not so obvious. Some asthma medications are steroids, almost all prescription asthma medication allows greater air intake in the lungs. I can see how that would give an unfair advantage. Its like Oscar Pistorius (the "blade runner") whose legs were amputated below the knee and who managed to compete in the 2011 World Championships as an able-bodied competitor. Having "blades" instead of a lower leg can provide a tremendous advantage over able-bodies people, the blades provide a spring action which unlike a normal leg does not tire, and can be optimized for a particular race. The PC attitude has trumped intelligence. Too bad the kid has asthma, or is deaf, or blind, or had his legs amputated, but making everyone else adjust in every situation to accommodate the disabled is stupid.
Yep he is way bigger than other 133lbers because he has lost approximately 25-30lbs. He is naturally a 157-165.
have you seen the new vibration belts that can be attached on arms, waist, ankles... we had a team that was trying them out because in the heat of action its honestly hard to stop someone who is running a pattern, or going down ice at the goalie while looking another direction quickly... the kid that was using it was a multi-sport athlete and our school players against them in just about every sport... and it was always explained to coaching staff before games and usually our own curiosity would have us spending time before or after games trying it ourselves... but seems like they are attempting to move to a device like this... they've have various trials where the coach is responsible for signaling it, or the ref is responsible when he blows a whistle... it seems to work pretty well in some sports, but others you're kinda stuck with restrictions... just wonder because I've never seen anything like this talked about at the sports conferences for disabled students and when we brought it up once they didn't know either... its basically just a wireless device that vibrates from a signal device... I don't know much about wrestling but we had a lot of refs argue against it until both coaches came out to convince them it was okay...
is it like a bluetooth vibration when your phone rings? I can understand it, but the issue is the rule book says no wireless communications. And I don't care if both coaches are fine with it, if it's not in the rule book, don't get talked into allowing it as an official. can 2 coaches agree for takedowns to only be worth 1 point, instead of 2, or have 4 minute periods instead of 2 minute periods? no, because the rules don't allow for that.
no it was a VERY strong vibration, they changed batteries in it constantly so I can only imagine how much it would draw... I wasn't the ref, I was just a dad who often got stuck assisting with the sports teams either running an event, calling for a backup ref cause the other is late, to helping even the other team when they are lacking an assistant and a kids hurt... I was supposed to just be in the stands cheering... I was never the actual ref... but yeah your concern is what most were afraid of, that it was a communication device and he'd get signals to do something... but its not like this was a division 1 league, it was all rural teams who the kids were just glad we had enough kids to form sports teams to begin with, often by combining schools for several sports... our leagues were quite far from I guess you could say officially run and organized, it was just so the kids could play, they were never going to win outside their region heh... but since we had a huge lack of kids, and this deaf kid wanted to play for their school, when our school sports groups met we were trying to come up with ways during one meeting... and one day they came and talked to us direct and showed something a dad had put together as best we can tell from a couple different things... it was more like a garage door clicker, and an applebee's restaurant disc... but when teams who didn't attend the meetings would come and be told, they'd of course have questions... I mean this kid was super athlete but it was hard to stop him in some sports because the action would be so fast nobody was there to stop him, and some teams the only player left would open their fingers and shake them back and forth so he'd see knowing the game was still going on... sometimes bad sports use any advantage they can... there were numerous times coaches yelled at kids for doing that but then we tried this... and it was like an almost instant off switch for the kid... my favorite story though was one ref who insisted that he control the device, which was perfectly fine to everyone, and he would do it for every play, even when the kid wasn't in the game... you would see him jump on the sideline while drinking a water or something and we'd all start chuckling because we knew what just happened... after a while we all got used to it and so did he, and eventually it was his mom or dad who was standing next to their coach pressing the button... it worked well... I know the rules and worry folks have, I think if they had a standard device, that could be adapted and fairly made, it would go a long way for this issue... for the most part its just an embarrassing fast break down the court long after the play stopped and he gets the solo layup then sees everyone on the other end of the court waiting for free throws... but after the buzzer, you wouldn't be able to tell because he just finally blended in immediately stopping... maybe some day it won't be against rules...
LOL. Once again, political correctness is used by the right wing to attack present attitudes and view points. Naturally, the writer disregards the fact that ADA was signed by REPUBLICAN George Bush in 1990 and that the courts which have expanded its legal scope are also Republican.
