Washington Wrestling Message Board

Washington Wrestling Message Board
[ Washington Wrestling Message Board ]

Medical forfeit

Posted by Opinion on 2/14/2025, 11:49 pm

I don’t think anyone knew how the new format would work but one things first sure coaches and wrestlers are taking advantage of the medical forfeit. When a wrestler can protect their record by reporting a medical forfeit to avoid a tough matchup to help them at state is horrible. Track wrestling will go by head to head as first criteria so why give a good wrestler a chance at a rematch. If you have beat them than you just forfeit and they will not be seeded higher than you at the next tournament. This is a huge problem in boys and girls wrestling. Crazy amount of medical forfeits the last two weeks. How do we fix this?

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by money man on 2/15/2025, 7:03 am, in reply to "Medical forfeit"

Beat them when it counts, at state.

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by WesternWa_Guy on 2/15/2025, 8:18 am, in reply to "Medical forfeit"

Tough one. No easy fix.

There could be remedies, but none the overall wrestling community would accept.

1) Any medical forfeit is grounds for immediate drop from the competition. This wouldn’t fix those that occur in the medal rounds.

2) Immediate drop from tournament and require attestation from a Medical doctor that athlete can return to the mat. This would force the inconvenience of a trip to the doctor between Districts and State. PITA for parents and potential impact to wrestlers final training before State.

3) Deny seed points obtained in any tournament where the wrestler used a med forfeit. Sounds easy, but now your into a data keeping issue and perhaps lots of manual sorting and parsing. Not easy either

I could go on and on, but in most scenarios you end up creating conditions where a wrestler might feel compelled to wrestle through an injury and do serious damage. Nobody wants that, especially for a kid.

So tough problem to deal with

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by NCAA on 2/15/2025, 1:17 pm, in reply to "Re: Medical forfeit"

I’m not calling WA wrestling the NCAA but it’s not uncommon for high ranked NCAA guy to medical out after a match or 2 in their conference tournament knowing they secured a spot to nationals or know they are going to get an at large bid. Washington should go back to the old seeding format considering previous place seeding and regional champs.

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by A mess on 2/15/2025, 1:29 pm, in reply to "Re: Medical forfeit"

This rule is a mess. Every mat we had this come up on at our tournament had a different answer per the referee and was therefore entered into the bracket differently.

It should not be this difficult to get right. Just have 2 categories DEFAULT (injury, medical or because it's teammates who aren't going to wrestle) allows you to move on and continue in a tournament. FORFEIT (of any kind) means you can no longer advance in a tournament. Take all the extra unnecessary pieces out if it.

Some refs said they can default after checking in and all is good, others said it had to be a default after the match started so did the old 1 second injury default thing, and others said it has to be medical forfeit. When even the refs from the same association at the same tournament don't even have the same understanding of the rule it's wild to me. Means we are doing too much.

And in terms of it counting or not counting against your record, quite frankly I feel like if you are entered into a bracket and cannot or chose not to wrestle it should be a loss towards the record.

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by LC on 2/15/2025, 1:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Medical forfeit"

The "medical forfeit" got added this season to address this.

1) Injury default technically requires both wrestlers to report and the clock to start.

2) Medical forfeit does not require either wrestler to report to the table. The forfeiting wrestler may continue to wrestle in the tournament.

In the "old days," injury default was a "catch all" usage, especially during finals of subregionals or strategically during regionals. It technically didn't follow the rules (as people would Inj Def well in advance), but nobody enforced it.

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by coacharoo on 2/15/2025, 4:48 pm, in reply to "Re: Medical forfeit"

RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BEST USED FOR THE PARTICIPANTS

SEE sMOKY eUNUCH THE BEST nASCAR CHEATER EVER WHO STAYED AT ALL TIMES WITHIN THE RULES

IF YA DONT LIKE THE RULE GET IT CHANGED
BUT THE RULE GOVERNS THE ACTIVITIY

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by Weak minded on 2/15/2025, 5:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Medical forfeit"

This rule is only for the weak minded coaches. Can’t blame the kids if their coaches are this weak, but this new school mentality shouldn’t be in wrestling. Nobody respects anyone doing this, even within the rules, having kids take the easy way out is against everything this sport teaches. Yes within the rules, but only for the weak. It will all come out this weekend and the weak looking for medical forfeiture will be the ones melting down in the third round of semis, no hiding behind daddy at state.

Re: Medical forfeit

Posted by Bang for their buck on 2/15/2025, 5:53 pm, in reply to "Re: Medical forfeit"

I hide behind your momma though.

Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025

Posted by Wrestling Points of Emphasis on 2/15/2025, 7:13 pm, in reply to "Medical forfeit"

Proper Terms: Default, Forfeit, Medical Forfeit
In the purest and simplest form, a default is awarded when a wrestler is unable to continue wrestling for any reason. The match has started and they cannot continue to wrestle anywhere during the match. The opponent wins and the defaulting wrestler receives the loss. A forfeit is when an opponent fails to appear for a match for any reason. Their opponent shall be present in a legal uniform on the mat, ready to wrestle. The forfeiting wrestler takes a loss on their record and is out of competition. With the introduction of the new category of Medical Forfeit, if the forfeiting wrestler cannot wrestle due to an injury or illness that occurred during the tournament. The wrestler remains in the tournament if possible (moving down to the consolation bracket) and does not take a loss on their record. This entire designation is determined by the tournament director after consultation with the on-site appropriate health-care professional and the coach of the injured or ill contestant. All three actions cease wrestling for different reasons and have unique consequences.

Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025

Posted by Weak sauce on 2/15/2025, 8:00 pm, in reply to "Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025"

Ok, weak sauce coaches, kids ands tournament directors. Seriously 😳

Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025

Posted by Yep weak sauce on 2/15/2025, 8:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025"

Yep this is what we have come down to, grown ass men defending weak sauce!! lol, just pathetic!!

Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025

Posted by Pathetic on 2/15/2025, 8:44 pm, in reply to "Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025"

Agreed, just pathetic

Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025

Posted by Weak on 2/15/2025, 8:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Wrestling Points of Emphasis 2024-2025"

If you medically forfeit you should be out til further notice. And it should count as a loss!! WAY MORE FORFEITS THIS YEAR. been pathetic to watch.

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