MADISON- Wrestling is the seventh-most popular sport among high school boys with over 247,000 participants across the United States. In addition, the number of girls now partaking in the traditional all-male sport has increased by almost 5,000 over the last year to include over 21,000 country-wide.

The influx of girls into the sport has also affected some of the new rules put forth by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Wrestling Rules Committee. The committee recommended 11 rules changes to take effect next school year and were approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

The new changes are “some of the prolific modifications in the history of high school wrestling,” according to Elliot Hopkins, NFHS director of sports and student services. “The rules committee made necessary, drastic changes to attract more young people to our sport without sacrificing the health and safety of the participants,” added Hopkins.

The two significant of the 11 changes include the amendment to the legal laid out uniform which now permits girls to wear a form-fitted compression shirt that completely covers their breasts in addition to a one-piece singlet and a suitable undergarment during the weigh-in procedure. Previously, weigh-ins consisted of shoulder-to-shoulder lineups of each contestant that were separated by gender and required supervision by a referee of each respective gender.

Now, male and female wrestlers are able to weigh-in together in the same lineup and allows females a more suitable uniform for post-weigh-in skin checks, which are typically done by male officials.

Matthew Sweatman, head coach of the Bob Jones wrestling program, said the new weigh-in rule is difficult for him. He added, “It will put females and males in the same locker room at some point there may be an issue with wrestlers not being in a singlet when they get to the weigh-in area.”

The committee saw a rule passed in Alabama that includes girls’ only wrestling opportunities and approved three regular-season wrestling tournaments specifically for girls’ participants.

James Clemens head wrestling coach Kevin Pecor said the change in the weigh-in has caused the most discussion among coaches he knows. “Now that wrestlers are required to wear singlets at the weigh-in, what does that do to weight cutting and do teams have singlets that are thinner and lighter,” he said. “Will wrestlers be required to compete in the singlets that were used during the weigh-in?”

Pecor will have nine starters returning to the 2020-2021 squad as the team roster will include six seniors and five juniors. The Jets’ head coach was also in agreement of another rule that was passed by the rules committee in which limitations on hair length of a wrestler were deleted. Previously, a wrestler’s hair could not exceed below the top of an ordinary shirt collar in the back, below earlobes level on the sides or below the eyebrows in the front.

According to the rules committee, the change in hair length is an effort to attract new athletes to the sport that would otherwise shy away from the strict rules athletic endeavor.

“The rule is a long time coming as you can’t ask a kid to cut their hair or not participate in this day and age,” added Sweatman, whose Patriots will have 11 starters hitting the mat next season.

Pecor is in agreement. He said, “Doing away with the rule the way it was will open the door for more kids to come out for the sport as that was a deterrent to some kids that refused to cut their hair. The new rules are an attempt to stay in step with cultural norms.”

One additional rule of note deals with participant injuries. The new guidelines discourage wrestlers from requesting injury time from the official in an attempt to stop an opponent from scoring. Now, if the situation arises, the applicable points will be awarded to the non-injured wrestler.

“I like the new rule as you see kids will suddenly be ‘injured’ or yell out in ‘pain’ when they are about to be turned onto their backs facing a possible pin,” said Pecor. “This now at least gives the offensive wrestlers the possibility of scoring some points, though it is left to the judgement of the referee.”