Rules: The Matt

I would like to tell you guys a little bit about the basic rules of wrestling in case you are not familiar with them. It is a pretty basic competition that just takes a little bit of getting used to. Okay, first of all, the matt. The matt is a big square with a big circle, a smaller circle centered in the big circle, and a rectangle centered in the small circle.
The big circle is the out of bounds line. Whenever a majority of both wrestlers are outside this circle, the referee blows the whistle and resets the wrestlers on the rectangle. If the wresters are in a very neutral position, the referee reset them more quickly, but if one is about to score, the referee will not reset them unless they both have both their feet out (this rule often depends on the referee, some will let them go and some will reset them).
The smaller circle doesn’t really have a purpose as far as rules go, but it does let the wrestlers know where they are on the matt.
The rectangle is for the starting positions of the wrestlers. At the beginning of every match, the wrestlers start in neutral position, which is both standing up and facing each other. The other starting positions are either defensive or offensive. Defensive position is on hands and knees with the knees and hands on each of the closer lines on the rectangle. The knee placement for the offensive position is one knee down next to the defensive man, the other knee bent with the foot on the ground behind the defensive man. The hand position is one hand right above the elbow on the same side with the knee down, and the other is wrapped around the defensive man’s waist. If you are interested in the all of the NCAA's official rules and everything authentic, just click here

Next week, I will go through more of the rules, I’ll try to catch another match and write about that, and I’m thinking about doing a little “Meet the Wrestlers” section where I just go through some basic info about some of the top-ranked wresters.


Check out the Big Ten standings here.