After watching OTT do we still think college should switch to freestyle?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Freestyle, more so than folkstyle, allows a wrestler to literally win without scoring an offensive point (passivity->shot clock-> points).  I feel it often leads to results where a wrestler who arguably did less than his opponent can be declared the victor.

 

Also, matches are seldom loaded with pushout points which folkstyle haters claim will boost scoring and action.

 

So do we still want to abolish folkstyle and switch college to exclusively freestyle?

[CoachC]

No.

[Truzzcat]

3 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Freestyle, more so than folkstyle, allows a wrestler to literally win without scoring an offensive point (passivity->shot clock-> points).  I feel it often leads to results where a wrestler who arguably did less than his opponent can be declared the victor.

 

Also, matches are seldom loaded with pushout points which folkstyle haters claim will boost scoring and action.

 

So do we still want to abolish folkstyle and switch college to exclusively freestyle?

I think the addition of a shot clock or a pushout to folk would be awesome but aside from that I enjoy two different styles and I think a pushout would be enough to make the transition to free fairly seamless aside from quad pod and obvious exposure stuff.

[ionel]

1 hour ago, Truzzcat said:

I think the addition of a shot clock or a pushout to folk would be awesome but aside from that I enjoy two different styles and I think a pushout would be enough to make the transition to free fairly seamless aside from quad pod and obvious exposure stuff.

If we do go this direction we should also go back to superior decision.  Seeing someone tech fall via 15 pushouts in the first period just doesn't seem right.  If scoring is unlimited maybe there will be offense.   

[Ragu]

Love folkstyle. Wouldnt mind it switching though. It’d be force feeding you naysayers

[Scouts Honor]

nope. no need.

shotclock is just a way for the ref to get involved.

dont need it either 

[alex1fly]

This board overreacts. A push out point is one option to address the subjectivity of edge-of-mat stall calls. More wrestlers would learn dive unders and ways to not get moved with their leg up in the air. It's also an option to get rid of edge-of-mat stall calls altogether.

[ionel]

2 minutes ago, alex1fly said:

This board overreacts. A push out point is one option to address the subjectivity of edge-of-mat stall calls. More wrestlers would learn dive unders and ways to not get moved with their leg up in the air. It's also an option to get rid of edge-of-mat stall calls altogether.

Or we get to see more grounding ... oh boy.  

[Tom formerly Tofurky]

Yes; make the switch, but...

Add a "turn clock" for a real full 10 seconds after a takedown is scored. The clock would reset when exposure points are awarded. The time after takedown is too subjective for me right now, and a "turn clock", if you will, nearly takes the ref out of that decision.

I wouldn't mind overtime coming back, but I do understand the rule as it exists and how it promotes action.

Do a little more tightening up on who is initiating the action and thus who is awarded points.

Address grounding as negative wrestling and have it scored as a caution and one each time OR have the offending wrestler receive a caution and be placed on the activity clock.

A move to adopting Freestyle at the youth, high school and college ranks would make college tournaments more exciting with post-grads coming back to compete domestically.

More international kids might take a chance on coming to the U.S. to earn a degree and wrestle for your favorite team.

In reality, nothing for the sport (except the rules) would change significantly except creating more competitiveness and depth at each level.

[ionel]

14 minutes ago, Tom formerly Tofurky said:

Yes; make the switch, but...

... why not just go Greco ... the pushouts everyone loves with no worries about grounding ... it'd be like going back to the old Iowa push & shove style we all love.  

[Jim L]

I like Freestyle more than Folkstyle, but am very aware that it is very unlikely that the US will ever switch.

Absolutely a pushout rules with possibly some modifications would be a huge improvement for Flk

 

[Jim L]

26 minutes ago, Tom formerly Tofurky said:

..

More international kids might take a chance on coming to the U.S. to earn a degree and wrestle for your favorite team...

I had not thought about this, but this would be a huge benefit to USA wrestling and also another way to drive increased number of wrestlers at programs that are enrollment driven. 

[Rassling]

4 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Freestyle, more so than folkstyle, allows a wrestler to literally win without scoring an offensive point (passivity->shot clock-> points).  I feel it often leads to results where a wrestler who arguably did less than his opponent can be declared the victor.

 

Also, matches are seldom loaded with pushout points which folkstyle haters claim will boost scoring and action.

 

So do we still want to abolish folkstyle and switch college to exclusively freestyle?

That will never happen but I’ll vote no anyway.

[Scouts Honor]

we already have hired guns... why do we need more international kids training here

[Scouts Honor]

i posted this in another place earlier.:

if this weekend didn't convince people that we don't need the free rules in folk, i Dont know what will.

wrestling is lost.

I fear for it's survival.

I love free. not as much as i used to ... my heroes are gone. It wasn't as interesting this weekend. I knew JB was done, after his first match. I did like watching several others... but the gamesmanship is too much.

not enough wrestling.. too much pushing and dropping... and even a new 'technique' of locking out on all 4's i hadn't seen before.

there were moments... like nolf and brooks hitting powerful doubles on legends.

[peanut]

We should go to freestyle for a few reasons: 1) It’s a better product. 2) There would be a larger pool of wrestlers to recruit from, meaning higher quality matches. 3) It would provide better preparation for worlds and Olympics.

But I know it’ll never happen because too many people prefer watching guys do nothing at the edge, and then crawl out of bounds at the faintest hint of actual wrestling. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

2 minutes ago, peanut said:

We should go to freestyle for a few reasons: 1) It’s a better product. 2) There would be a larger pool of wrestlers to recruit from, meaning higher quality matches. 3) It would provide better preparation for worlds and Olympics.

But I know it’ll never happen because too many people prefer watching guys do nothing at the edge, and then crawl out of bounds at the faintest hint of actual wrestling. 

1 is only your personal opinion

is 2 true?

3 is true of course

[Camel Wrestling Fan]

No. No. NO!

[peanut]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

1 is only your personal opinion

is 2 true?

3 is true of course

2 is absolutely true. Plenty of international freestylers speak English.

Edited April 22 by peanut

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

11 minutes ago, peanut said:

2 is absolutely true. Plenty of international freestylers speak English.

But speaking English doesn't mean they'd actually be interested in wrestling in America...

[wrestlingshoe]

12 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

But speaking English doesn't mean they'd actually be interested in wrestling in America...

It would become like track and field. Not all great track stars come to the US for college, but a good number do. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

3 hours ago, wrestlingshoe said:

It would become like track and field. Not all great track stars come to the US for college, but a good number do. 

America isn’t even the best country for freestyle wrestling though.  So why do we assume foreigners would rush to the U.S. to wrestle collegiately?

[peanut]

31 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

America isn’t even the best country for freestyle wrestling though.  So why do we assume foreigners would rush to the U.S. to wrestle collegiately?

There have been a number of international wrestlers who took the trouble to learn folkstyle and compete here. You could ask them. 

[NM1965]

I like mat wrestling too much to want college to switch to FS. I think Tom's idea above is pretty good, but I'd like the top guy to get more time than 10 seconds to work. Maybe 20 seconds would be better?

Also, I thought a guy had to get at least one 3 point NF in the match to score a techfall? 

[NM1965]

1 hour ago, peanut said:

There have been a number of international wrestlers who took the trouble to learn folkstyle and compete here. You could ask them. 

I'm sure a lot of kids in other countries would love the chance to get out of some of those places and if wrestling punched their ticket they'd be thrilled to wrestle over here.