Is it safe for a coach to make a 13 year old wrestler drop weight by making him run around in hefty plastic bags? I know that USA wrestling rules don't advise this but the coach doesn't care and sees nothing wrong with this. He wanted the kid to lose 1 1/2 pounds and the match was just a few hours from start time. People are upset in our wrestling community and if it is indeed dangerous for a child to do that, we need to try to get this coach to see that it's wrong and not to make other kids do that. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Wiltz

It is not legal for High school wrestling in the State of Iowa to use plastics for weight cutting. I'm pretty sure that is the standard across the country.

That is in the NFHS rule book. He can be disqualified from the tournament if another coach, official, school official or tournament official sees him.

Thanks for the input. There's been a lot of debate in our league over whether putting a kid in bags to run is acceptable or not. Fortunately this coach has been suspended for breaking the rules yet he passes the blame onto others. In my town, some say "we'll we've all done it to drop weight, it's known, whats the big deal?" Point being, this is a USA wrestling rule and the coach doesn't acknowledge it. I know a lot of people will be scrutinizing their program for other infractions. Luckily enough, I don't believe the young kid was banned. From whats been traveling the circuits is that the the kid didn't want to cut anymore weight.

My point is that we know wrestling is highly competitive and what we need to do for the team. We just cant lose sight that these are still young kids, just in middle school. I know no one from Morristown would do this. Hopefully Parsippany wrestling won't make the same mistake.

My thought is 13 is not to young to cut weight. Weight does need to be cut the right way and a pound or pound a half is not a lot to lose in a few hours. If it were me I would not let my kid wrestle under a coach like that. It is illegal in Colorado and I believe Wiltz is right it is banned everywhere. We used to do a lot of stupid stuff to cut weight but now that we have the information about the dangers of cutting in that fashion, having a kid do it is stupid and irresponsible.