Without officials, like wrestling icon Henry Wilk, the sport cannot carry on. Wawasee hosted an officiating clinic this past weekend, bringing some of the top names in mat officiating to Syracuse.

Wawasee had a phenomenal opportunity to not only get better within its own wrestling program, but gain valuable information from some of the best in the business in hosting an informal officiating session last weekend at the high school.

Among those on hand were two of the top officials in the state. Chuck Barnett is the top-rated official in Indiana, and was offering tips on how the kids can grow within the sport, and Jeff Colborn, who has over five decades of mat experience.

“I’ve always loved this sport, even though I wasn’t very good at it,” offered Barnett. “As senior officials, we owe it to the sport and to the kids to bring along the next generation of officials.”

The purpose of the seminar was to build better and deeper relationships with officials for the coaches and athletes. The officials on hand made points of emphasis on rules interpretations, which Colborn made it a point to bring up one of the newer viewpoints officials are keeping an eye on.

“Every year the NFHS gets feedback from coaches and commissioners representing every region in the country to try to stay one step ahead of the participants,” Colborn said. “There have been wrestlers that will intentionally untie their shoe and will delay the match by as few as 10-20 seconds to get a blow. And any wrestler will tell you that can make a huge disadvantage to the better conditioned wrestler who is at the center ready to press in while the straggler is still down on the mat retying his shoe, which in some cases has been done intentionally.

“The new emphasis is on eliminating this unethical maneuver by penalizing any participants who intentionally or unintentionally have a shoe lace come undone.”

As has been the case with Wawasee hosting this event, head coach Frank Bumgardner and his staff made sure the officials were taken care of, hosting a barbecue when the learning was done. Sometimes, the best information can be transmitted over a hot plate.

“Not only was the staff very motivated and excited to be a part of the clinic,” started Barnett, “But the wrestlers were also excited to be a part of the event, as were the family members that chipped in and helped with the cookout. It was a very positive environment and very welcoming.”

Added Colborn, “Wawasee isn’t centrally located for our clinic, but we have moved around trying to find a program that will not only host us but supply us with wrestlers for our officials to have actual situations arise in live action and to be evaluated by veterans observing. And no other school or programs have done for us what Wawasee has done for us the past three years. Not only open their doors to us but treated us to a cookout afterwards.

“It’s a win win for both of us. We give the wrestlers there an opportunity to ask us questions but also to see we are not the enemy.”