Be the Referee: Wrestling Inspections

By Sam Davis
MHSAA Director of Officials

January 27, 2022

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Wrestling Inspections - Listen

Before every individual or team wrestling event, each participant must be inspected by the referee or other authorized personnel. They are looking for any skin infections or evidence of a communicable disease.

A typical inspection will check a wrestler’s mouth for braces, fingernails, hairlines, underarms, back/shoulder area, behind the knee and more.  
 
All inspections are done in the same manner for all wrestlers at a tournament site, both male and female wrestlers. Inspections generally should take place in an area not readily visible by the public because of modesty concerns for the wrestlers. 
 
No wrestler is allowed to compete until they have gone through and passed the inspection. 

Skin inspections are done with the goal of keeping all participants as safe as possible and preventing the spread of contagious skin conditions. 

Previous editions

Dec. 16: Ball Over Backboard - Listen
Dec. 9: Winter Officials Mechanics - Listen
Nov. 26: Instant Replay - Listen
Nov. 11: Tourney Selection - Listen
Nov. 4: Receiver Carried Out of End Zone Listen
Oct. 28: Volleyball Back-Row Block Listen
Oct. 21: Soccer Disallowed Goal Listen
Sept 30: Field Goal Falls Short Listen
Sept. 23: Volleyball Obstruction Listen
Sept. 16: Catch or No Catch  Listen
Sept. 9: Intentional Grounding – Listen 
Sept. 2: Pass Interference – Listen 
Aug. 26: Protocols and Mechanics 
 Listen

Be the Referee: Dive on the Floor

January 28, 2016

This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl explains the rule misunderstandings that occur when a basketball player dives on the floor for a loose ball.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment - Dive on the Floor - Listen

In just about every single basketball game that’s played during the season, a player will hustle and dive for a loose ball that’s on the floor. As that player dives and tries to gain possession of the ball on the floor, yells from every corner of the gym come, screaming for a call of traveling. This is one of the more misunderstood situations under basketball rules.

Once that player dives for the loose ball on the floor and gains possession, there are two ways in which they’re guilty of a traveling violation: The first is if the player takes the ball and attempts to stand up; or the second, the player rolls over from their back to the front or front to back. Other than that, that’s a legal play, and the ball remains in play.

Past editions:
Jan. 21: Hockey Officials' Options - Listen
Jan. 14: Recruiting Officials - Listen
Jan. 7: Wrestling Weight Monitoring - Listen
Dec. 31: Respect for Referees - Listen
Dec. 24: Basketball Instant Replay - Listen
Dec. 17: Basketball Communication - Listen
Dec. 10: Basketball Excessive Contact - Listen
Nov. 26: Pregame Communication - Listen
Nov. 19: Trick Plays - Listen
Nov. 12: 7-Person Football Mechanics - Listen
Nov. 5: Make the Call: Personal Fouls - Listen
Oct. 29: Officials Demographics - Listen
Oct. 15: Make the Call: Intentional Grounding - Listen
Oct. 8: Playoff Selection - Listen
Oct. 1: Kick Returns - Listen
Sept. 24: Concussions - Listen
Sept. 17: Automatic First Downs - Listen
Sept. 10: Correcting a Down - Listen
Sept 3:
Spearing - Listen
Aug. 27: Missed Field Goal - Listen