ABOUT

SADDLE BROOK JUNIOR WRESTLING
HOME OF THE FALCONS

For many of our wrestlers and parents, Saddle Brook Junior Wrestling, is their first experience with wrestling.   The
purpose of this guide is to help explain as many details of the program as possible so you and your child have a full
understanding of what the experience will entail.

At Saddle Brook Junior Wrestling, we emphasis:
•        Fun
•        Safety
•        Instruction in wrestling fundamentals
•        Competition appropriate for each wrestler’s skill level

Wrestling, like all sports, can be a very rewarding experience. But wrestling as a sport is unique in some fundamental
aspects:

•        In wrestling kids compete in weight categories, so small kids are not at a disadvantage.

•        By the nature of the sport each child gets the same amount of playing time, and each child is the entire “starting
team” when he or she is on the mat.

•        Importantly, wrestling is an individual sport.   Kids don’t compete for playing time or a favorable position in the
lineup. There are no arguments on who is Quarterback or Pitcher

Each child will get as much or as little out of the program as they and their parents are willing to put into it. Whether
your child never wrestles beyond grade school or has his eye on a college scholarship, Saddle Brook Junior Wrestling
has something to offer them. We expect your little wrestler will have a tremendous time!

Practices

How long is the season?
Our practices start in early November and will end late February. There will be an additional week of practice for
those wrestlers that qualify for the regional tournament.

When, where and what time is practice?
Practices will be held every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Practices will be held at Franklin School. Practice times
will be 7 PM to 8:15 PM for Bantams and Midgets, 8:15 PM to 9:30 PM for Juniors and Intermediates.

Can parents stay and watch?
Only until December 1st, than we require all parents to remain outside the gym. The purpose for this is so we have
100% of the wrestler’s attention. Parents can remain inside the school.

What to bring to practice
All wrestlers need the following equipment.
•        Headgear (Supplied by the program and mandatory for all practices and matches)
•        Wrestling shoes or clean sneakers
•        T-Shirt
•        Gym shorts or sweat pants (No loose fitting clothes)
•        Water bottle (Filled with water or Gatorade, NOT soda)

Note – Do not bring chewing gum and please remove all jewelry.

Meets

Where are meets held?
Saddle Brook Junior Wrestling belongs to the Twin County Wrestling League, consisting of approximately 50 towns in
Bergen and Passaic County. Home meets are held at Saddle Brook High School and away meets are usually held at
the high school of the hosting team. Away meets are usually in towns within 30 minutes from Saddle Brook.

How do we find the away meets?
We will send an email to everyone several days before each away meet with directions, in addition to posting
directions on our web page. We will also hand out directions at practice.

How are the meets run?
•        Meets usually consist of 3 or 4 teams, with multiple matches going on simultaneously. Team scores are not kept.

•       There are paid, adult referees and official timekeepers for most matches. There will be two Saddle Brook
coaches on the mat to assist your child when he or she wrestles.

•       Depending on how many wrestlers attend, there are usually Between 60 and 80 matches throughout the day!
The matches usually begin at 9:00am and are complete by 12:00pm. Wrestlers need to be at the gym an hour
before the meet starts. Their coaches will assign them a “Match Number” and write it on the back of their hand.

•      Most wrestlers have one match per meet. Sometimes they might have two or three. On very rare occasions no
suitable opponent is found. If that happens we will make every attempt to contact the parents a day before the
meet.

•      When a wrestler has completed his match he is free to leave, but we like to encourage our wrestlers to stay for a
while to cheer on their teammates.

Who will my child compete against?
•       Wrestlers are divided into the following age categories:

Bantam – 7 and 8 year olds
Midget – 9 and 10 year olds
Junior – 11 and 12 year olds
Intermediate – 13 and 14 year olds

All ages are as of December 31st of that year.

•     In addition, each wrestler will only go against opponents of similar age, size, experience and ability. One of the
best parts of our wrestling program is that each kid has an opportunity to win.

•     First year wrestlers will only wrestle against other first year wrestlers.

                                                            *** Important! ***
As you can imagine, scheduling between 60 and 80 matches and making sure they are all paired against an equal
opponent is a huge challenge. If your child is going to miss a Saturday meet, it is IMPERATIVE that you notify the
coaches as early as possible. It’s a huge disappointment for a child to show up for a meet only to discover that his
opponent is not there!

Tournaments

Regular season tournaments
•        Many Recreation programs hold tournaments each year as fundraising events. These are usually held on a
Sundays. Saddle Brook usually participates in three tournaments each season including a novice tournament
designed for 1st and 2nd wrestlers only.

•     Tournaments require the athletes to “weigh in” one or two nights prior to the tournament date. We must weigh in
as a team. Wrestlers will be placed in weight brackets based on their ages, and wrestle in a single-elimination
style tournament; so a tournament can be a very short day, or an all day event.

•     Usually medals are awarded to the first three place finishers.

•      Unlike Meets, tournaments are “open” so there is no attempt to match wrestlers by skill or experience – they are
only grouped by age and weight.

•      All information about upcoming tournaments will be sent in a newsletter a week or two before the tournament.

Post Season tournaments
The Twin County Wrestling League conducts District and Regional tournaments every March, as well as a Novice
Tournament.

Districts
The fifty or so towns in the TCWL are divided into five districts of about 10 towns each. Each district will conduct a
tournament run in a manner similar to regular season tournaments. Wrestlers who finish first or second in the district
tournament are eligible for the Regional Tournament.

Wrestlers are “seeded” in districts based upon prior accomplishments in previous Novice, District, and Regional
Tournaments.

Regions
The top two wrestlers for each age/weight category at Districts qualify to wrestler in a Regional tournament, usually
held in Hackensack. There is no state tournament for Recreation program wrestlers.

Novice Tournament
Any wrestler in their first or second season of wrestling who has not won a medal in a tournament (other than Novice
tournaments) is eligible for the TCWL Novice Tournament. This gives newcomers to the sport an opportunity to
compete in a tournament setting against other kids of similar experience.

The Novice Tournament is held prior to the District Tournament, and wrestlers who earn a medal at the Novice earn
seeding points for the District!

Parent Association
The Parent Association is designed to support the wrestling program. The Association usually meets once a month to
discuss the program (including home matches and Tournaments). We encourage ALL parents to attend.

Other useful information

Awards Dinner
In April we have an Awards Dinner where trophies and special awards are presented. The coaches call up each
wrestler individually and say a few words about their accomplishments during the season; it’s a really nice evening for
the kids.

Volunteers for home meets and tournament
Home meets require lots of volunteers, and it’s expected that all families will do at least some small part in assisting.
Some of the needs include:

•        Concessions
•        Hall monitors
•        Set up mats the evening before
•        Generally setup that morning
•        Score keepers
•        Cleanup

Please watch for e-mails when we ask for volunteers.

Folk Style Wrestling Rules

Overview
The object of the sport of wrestling is to put your opponent on his back -- to pin your opponent. A pin (or fall) is when
you put your opponent on his/her back with any part of both shoulders or both shoulder blades of your opponent in
contact with the mat for two seconds. When you pin your opponent, the match is over and you are the winner.

If nobody gets pinned, the winner is the wrestler who has scored the most points during the match. There are five
ways to score points in a folk style wrestling match: Take down, Escape, Reversal, Near-Fall, and Penalty.

These rules apply to the type of wrestling done in the United States in College, High School, Junior High, Middle
School, and most youth wrestling. This type of wrestling is often referred to as "folkstyle" wrestling. The rules for
"freestyle" and "greco-roman" wrestling, as is done in the Olympics and internationally, are a little different.

MATCH SCORING
MOVE	POINTS	DESCRIPTION
Takedown	2 Points	From a neutral position (both standing with neither wrestler having control) a wrestler gains control over his opponent down on the mat.
Escape	1 Point	When a defensive (bottom) wrestler gains a neutral position and his opponent has lost control.
Reversal	2 Points	When the defensive wrestler comes from the bottom position and gains control of his opponent, either on the mat or in a rear standing position
Near Fall	2 or 3 Points	When near fall criteria is met for 2 seconds. Near fall criteria is: when any part of both shoulders or scapula of the defensive wrestler are held for a least 2 seconds within four inches of the mat; or when one shoulder or scapula is touching the mat with the other shoulder or scapula held at an angle of 45 degrees or less. If near fall criteria is met for two continuous seconds, 2 points are awarded when defensive wrestler is out of the predicament. If near fall criteria is met for five continuous seconds a 3 point near fall is awarded when the defensive wrestler is out of the near fall situation.
Penalty	1 Point typically See Chart	A wrestler is awarded point(s) for technical violations or infractions of the rules committed by his opponent. These points are awarded according to the penalty chart.

PENALTY CHART
INFRACTION	WARNING	FIRST	SECOND	THIRD	FOURTH
Illegal Holds	No	1 Point	1 Point	2 Points	Disqualified
Stalling	Yes	1 Point	1 Point	2 Points	Disqualified
Technical Violations (Unsportsmanlike Conduct, etc.)	No	1 Point	1 Point	2 Points	Disqualified