Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Yesterday, at wrestling practice the topic of Super 32 early weigh-ins came up. Full Disclosure, I wanted to pay the extra money so my son could weigh-in early this weekend and missed out. So this rant is not saying that parents shouldn’t pay for early weigh-ins when available. If early weigh-ins are available, a parent would be crazy not to pay for it if they can afford it.

However, this rant is specifically about the fact that early weigh-ins are even an option. In fact, at the highest levels of the sport of wrestling, early weigh-ins are not a thing at all. It would be unheard of if college folkstyle or international freestyle and greco wrestling made accommodations to “VIPs” with extra money to pay a fee for special treatment.

So if this isn’t being done at the highest levels of the sport, why should this behavior be tolerated from those who run youth and high school wrestling events? Bottom line is it shouldn’t.

Early weigh-ins:

• encourage excessive weight cutting,
• create a class system between have and have nots, and
• provide a distinct competitive advantage for those who weigh-in early.

I Understand The Need for Early Weigh-ins But There Are Alternatives

I do understand how it can be a money maker for those hosting the tournament. However, there are many other methods to create multiple sources of income at a tournament that do not provide a subset of wrestlers a competitive advantage. For example, the tournament could charge a fee to provide printed brackets and for pictures such as how the Ohio Tournament of Champions does it.

If a tournament needs early weigh-ins to ease crowds, have open weigh-ins that last over many hours from early to late and allow people to come whenever they’re ready. That way there is no mad dash to weigh-in lines.

Put simply, national youth and high school tournaments should eliminate the practice of early weigh-ins. There are other ways to make money without using this unsavory practice.