Wrestling
terms

Neutral position

Both wrestlers on their feet, facing each other, with neither in control.

Every folkstyle match starts here, and every freestyle restart after a stoppage is here unless a foul happened on the mat.

Referee's position

The starting position on the mat used in folkstyle, with one wrestler on hands and knees and the other kneeling alongside with a hand on her elbow and an arm around her waist.

Folkstyle only. Freestyle has no referee's position; when a freestyle match restarts on the mat it is par terre, which is a different setup.

Top

The wrestler in the advantage position, on top of her opponent and in control.

Also called the offensive wrestler. In folkstyle she is trying to turn her opponent to her back; in freestyle she has nothing to gain by riding, so the referee will stand them up if nothing is happening.

Bottom

The wrestler underneath, trying to escape, reverse the position, or stand up.

Also called the defensive wrestler. Bottom is the position that separates folkstyle from freestyle more than any other, because an escape scores in one and does not exist in the other.

Par terre

The freestyle and Greco-Roman term for wrestling on the mat, with the bottom wrestler flat on her stomach in the centre, arms and legs stretched out.

United World Wrestling Article 44 sets the exact starting posture, including that arms and legs may not be crossed and hands and feet must touch the mat.

Control

Having your opponent restrained so that you decide where she goes.

Control is what turns a scramble into a takedown, and it is the judgment call that decides most disputed points.

Takedown

Taking an opponent from the feet down to the mat and gaining control there.

Worth three points in high school folkstyle since 2024-25 (NFHS 9-1-2, raised from two), and two points in NCAA women's wrestling and United World Wrestling freestyle.

Escape

Getting out from the bottom position and back to neutral, with your opponent no longer in control.

One point, folkstyle only (NFHS 9-1-3). Freestyle does not score an escape at all, which is the single biggest adjustment for a folkstyle wrestler.

Reversal

Going from underneath to on top in one motion, taking control from the wrestler who had it.

Two points in high school folkstyle (NFHS 9-1-4). One point in NCAA women's wrestling and UWW freestyle, where it is defined as countering from par terre and passing behind.

Near fall

Holding an opponent's back exposed toward the mat without pinning her, which scores points for how long you hold it.

High school only. Since 2024-25 the seconds equal the points: two points for two seconds, three for three, four for four (NFHS 5-11-2, 9-1-5). The referee does not signal the score until the pinning situation ends.

Exposure

The freestyle equivalent of near fall: turning an opponent so her back passes through a position of danger.

Freestyle pays for the turn, not the hold. Two points for a turn from par terre, four or five when it comes from a throw. There is no count.

Danger position

The freestyle term for a wrestler whose back is at less than a 90-degree angle to the mat while she fights not to be pinned.

United World Wrestling Article 35 defines it precisely, including the bridge, resting on one or both elbows, and rolling across the shoulders.

Grand amplitude

A freestyle throw that lifts the opponent completely off the mat and carries her through a broad curve in the air before bringing her down.

Four points, or five when she lands directly in the danger position (UWW Articles 37 and 38; USA Wrestling 11.13). Folkstyle has no such category: the same throw scores as a takedown, plus near fall if she is held on her back.

Fall

Holding both of an opponent's shoulders or shoulder blades in contact with the mat, which ends the match immediately.

In high school it is a silent two-second count by the referee (NFHS 5-11-1). In NCAA women's wrestling and UWW it is controlled compression of both shoulders held long enough for the referee to confirm, with the mat chairman's approval. The NCAA rule book says plainly: there is no such thing as a touch fall.

Pin

The everyday word for a fall. Wrestlers, coaches and scoreboards all use it; the rule books say fall.

Technical fall

A win by running the score up past a set margin, which stops the match early.

Fifteen points in high school folkstyle (NFHS 5-11-4). In freestyle it is called technical superiority and the margin is ten points in freestyle and women's wrestling, eight in Greco-Roman (UWW Article 43; NCAA 4.1.3).

Major decision

A folkstyle win by a margin of 8 to 14 points, worth an extra team point.

High school and college folkstyle only. Freestyle has no major decision: you either reach technical superiority or you win a decision.

Decision

A win on points, without a fall or a technical fall.

Step-out

A point in freestyle when your opponent goes out of the wrestling circle with a whole foot without a hold, or steps out first on an attack she does not finish.

One point (UWW Article 38; NCAA 4.2.1). Shoving her out is not a step-out: a deliberate push with no real attack scores nothing, and the pusher gets a verbal warning (UWW Article 38; NCAA 3.8.5). Folkstyle scores no points for going out. Pushing or pulling an opponent out is a stalling call (NFHS 7-6-3), and going out, or forcing her out, to avoid being scored on is fleeing the mat (NFHS 7-3-1).

Criteria

The tiebreak rules that decide a level freestyle match on the wrestlers' scoring record rather than by wrestling more.

UWW Article 29 works down the list: the single highest-value action, the most actions of that value, the fewest cautions, then the last technical point. The NCAA women's book uses highest-value action, fewest cautions, last point scored.

Classification points

The team points a freestyle result is worth, from five for a fall down to nothing.

Five for a fall, four for technical superiority, three for a decision, with the loser taking one if she scored any technical points (UWW Article 41; NCAA 3.1.1). A shutout costs the losing team that point.

Team points

What each individual result adds to the team score in a dual meet.

High school: six for a fall, forfeit, default or disqualification, five for a technical fall, four for a major decision, three for a decision (NFHS 9-2-1).

Period

A timed segment of a match.

High school varsity is three two-minute periods with no rest between them (NFHS 6-1-1, 6-1-4). Freestyle is two periods with a 30-second break: three minutes each for seniors, U23 and U20, two minutes each for U17 and U15 (UWW Article 22).

Overtime

Extra wrestling to break a tie in folkstyle, treated as a continuation of the same match so every point and penalty carries over.

Freestyle has no overtime. A tied freestyle match is decided on criteria.

Sudden victory

The first overtime period in folkstyle: one minute from neutral, and the first point of any kind wins.

Tiebreaker

Two 30-second periods wrestled after a scoreless sudden victory, one with each wrestler choosing top or bottom, with the higher total winning.

Ultimate tiebreaker

The last 30 seconds of folkstyle overtime, in which the top wrestler wins simply by keeping control and the bottom wrestler wins by scoring.

If nobody scores, the top wrestler wins and a match point is added to her score. Choice of position goes to whoever scored first in regulation.

Injury time

The clock that runs while a wrestler is being looked at for an injury, capped so a match cannot be stalled by it.

High school: a maximum of one and a half minutes across the whole match, over no more than two time-outs. NCAA women: two minutes cumulative for non-bleeding injuries. Exceed it and she defaults.

Blood time

Separate stoppage time for stopping bleeding and covering a wound, which is not charged against injury time.

Five minutes cumulative in high school. In UWW, if treatment for bleeding exceeds four minutes across the bout the mat chairman ends it.

Recovery time

Two minutes given in high school to a wrestler hurt by an illegal hold, unnecessary roughness or an opponent's false start, and not charged against her injury time.

Activity period

The 30-second shot clock started in freestyle against a wrestler ruled passive, who must score in it or give up a point.

If a freestyle period reaches two minutes at 0-0 the referee has to put somebody on the clock (UWW Article 46). The NCAA women's book says the first period must never end 0-0, and no activity period is given after 2:30.

Dual meet

Two teams wrestling one match at each weight class, with the team score built from the individual results.

Bracket

The chart that pairs wrestlers in a weight class and tracks who wrestles whom next.

Bye

An empty slot in a bracket, so a wrestler advances a round without wrestling.

Byes exist because bracket sizes are powers of two and entries rarely are. In high school a bye pays team advancement points only if the wrestler wins her next match (NFHS 9-2-3).

Pigtail

A preliminary match wrestled before the first full round, to cut an odd-sized field down to a size the bracket fits.

If your daughter is in a pigtail she wrestles one more match than most of the field to reach the same round.

Seed

A ranking assigned before the tournament so the strongest wrestlers are spread across the bracket and meet late rather than early.

Consolation

The side of the bracket a wrestler drops into after her first loss, where she can still place.

Wrestleback

Wrestling through the consolation bracket after a loss. Same idea as consolation, said the way coaches say it.

Double elimination

A format in which two losses end your tournament, which is why the consolation bracket exists.

Round robin

A pool format in which every wrestler in the group wrestles every other one, with places decided on the results.

Common in youth events and small fields, and increasingly common in high school pool tournaments.

Repechage

The freestyle version of a consolation bracket: only wrestlers beaten by the two finalists get a second chance, and the two who win it take bronze.

This is why international tournaments award two bronze medals and no fourth place worth having.

Placement

Finishing in the scoring positions of a tournament, usually the top four, six or eight.

Places pay team points on a fixed table. In an eight-place high school tournament: 16, 12, 9, 7, 5, 3, 2 and 1 (NFHS 9-2-3).

Advancement points

Team points earned for each win in a tournament, separate from placing.

Two per championship-bracket win and one per consolation win in high school; 1.0 and 0.5 in NCAA women's wrestling.

Mat chairman

The third official in freestyle, seated at the table, whose confirmation a call needs before it is official.

Weigh-in

The official weighing before competition that decides which class a wrestler may enter that day.

NCAA women weigh in two hours or sooner before the start, in a team-issued unmodified uniform. UWW weighs in on the morning of your weight category, in the singlet, with no tolerance for the singlet.

Weight class

The upper weight limit of a bracket. You wrestle in the class you weigh in at or under.

Allowance

Extra pounds added to a weight class limit under defined circumstances, such as competing on consecutive days.

The NCAA women's allowance is one pound for back-to-back competition and for each consecutive day of a tournament, capped at one pound. The NFHS book gives two weight allowances. A growth allowance of 2 pounds "may be added to each weight class any time after the date of certification" (4-4-4). On consecutive days of team competition, the rule grants every wrestler 1 pound a day, up to 2 pounds, when the opponent has been given at least 48 hours' notice (4-5-5); that one is written as "shall", not "may". Your state association decides whether and when each allowance applies, and it can add conditions of its own. The state pages show the conditions we have read.

Growth allowance

Pounds added to every high school weight class after certification, to account for athletes still growing.

The NFHS book's growth allowance is 2 pounds, which "may be added to each weight class any time after the date of certification" (4-4-4). Your state association decides whether and when it applies, and it can add conditions of its own. Iowa's IGHSAU, for one, gives it on a fixed date: "All wrestlers will receive a 2lb growth allowance on December 14, 2026." (the Iowa page). The state pages show the conditions we have read.

Certification

The preseason assessment that sets the lowest weight class a high school wrestler is allowed to compete at all season.

A hydration test plus a body composition measurement. Where your state association certifies through the NWCA Optimal Performance Calculator, the assessor's measurements are entered there; not every association does, and Vermont's VPA rules set out their own formula, a specific gravity test the coach runs and a body fat reading. The number your state's certification issues beats any number a website gives you.

Alpha weight

The body weight recorded immediately after a wrestler passes the hydration test, which every later calculation is built from.

Taken on a certified scale with no exercise in between. If she fails hydration she waits 24 hours and retests.

Minimum wrestling weight

The lowest weight a wrestler may legally compete at, calculated from her lean mass and the minimum body fat percentage her rules allow.

The NFHS floor for girls is 19 percent body fat, raised from 12 for 2026-27 under rules 1-5-1 and 1-5-2. Every weight app built on the boys' 7 percent gives a girl an illegal target.

Descent plan

The schedule of the fastest a wrestler is permitted to come down from her alpha weight to her certified minimum.

A maximum average of 1.5 percent of body weight per week, prorated daily off the alpha weight rather than compounding.

Hydration test

A urine specific gravity check that must pass before a body composition assessment counts.

The threshold is 1.025 or lower. Its purpose is to stop a wrestler certifying at an artificially low weight while dehydrated.

Skin check

The examination at weigh-ins for contagious skin conditions, which a wrestler must pass to compete.

A suspected condition needs a physician's note naming the condition, the treatment and the return date. More on /health/skin.

Folkstyle

The American scholastic style, wrestled in United States high schools, most youth clubs and NCAA men's wrestling.

It rewards control on the mat: escapes score, riding an opponent has value, and near fall pays for how long you hold a back exposed.

Freestyle

The international style, wrestled at the Olympics, at the World Championships and in NCAA women's wrestling.

It rewards attacking and turning. No escape, no riding time, points for a step-out, and a shot clock against a wrestler who is not attacking.

Greco-Roman

The international style in which no holds below the waist are permitted and no use of the legs to attack.

Men only at the Olympics and the World Championships. The United World Wrestling rule book lists Greco-Roman weight categories for men and none for women.

Beach wrestling

A sand-court version of the sport run by United World Wrestling, wrestled standing in a circle.

Stalling

The folkstyle penalty for avoiding wrestling: backing off the mat, pushing or pulling an opponent out, or refusing to work from a position.

A warning, then one point, one point, two points with the opponent choosing position on the restart, then disqualification. Being disqualified for stalling does not eliminate a wrestler from a tournament.

Passivity

The freestyle equivalent of stalling: a wrestler ruled not to be trying to score.

First offence is a verbal warning, the second starts a 30-second activity period. In Greco-Roman each of the first two calls hands the active wrestler a point and the choice of position.

Caution

The freestyle penalty mark. Each caution comes with at least one point to the opponent, and three cautions in a bout lose the match.

A loss by three cautions is scored 5-0, the same as a fall (UWW Article 41).

Fleeing the mat

Leaving the wrestling area to avoid wrestling, or to escape a hold.

In folkstyle it is a technical violation: going out, or forcing the opponent out, to avoid being scored on gives her opponent one point the first time, with no warning (NFHS 7-3-1, 5-27-1a), and there is no extra penalty point when the wrestler trying to flee is taken down or held in near-fall criteria. In freestyle, fleeing while in a danger position costs two points; fleeing the hold or the mat otherwise costs one, plus a caution (UWW Articles 48 and 49).

Technical violation

A folkstyle rules infraction that is not dangerous but is not allowed, such as fleeing the mat, locking hands on top, grasping clothing, or leaving the mat without permission.

First penalty one point, second one point, third two points, fourth disqualification, with no warning. For locking hands and grasping clothing the penalty points are awarded in addition to any points earned in the same action (the NFHS Penalty Chart's Note 2, which also names unnecessary roughness). Fleeing works the other way: there is no extra penalty point when the wrestler trying to flee is taken down or held in near-fall criteria (NFHS 7-3-1).

Locked hands

Interlocking or overlapping hands or arms around an opponent's body or both legs while in the advantage position, which is a technical violation.

Rewritten for 2025-26 (NFHS 7-3-3) so that clasping around the trunk with a leg included counts the same as with an arm included.

Potentially dangerous

A hold that is legal but heading somewhere unsafe, so the referee stops the match with no points awarded.

Stalemate

A locked-up position with neither wrestler able to improve it, stopped and restarted with no points.

Illegal hold

A hold prohibited because of the injury it risks, penalised with a point to the opponent and, if it injures her, disqualification.

Challenge

A coach's request in freestyle for the officials to review a call on video.

Lose the challenge and your opponent is given a point. Each wrestler has one per match, and keeps it if the review goes her way.

Flagrant misconduct

Conduct that disqualifies a wrestler on the first offence and removes her from the rest of the event.

It also costs the team three points and negates team points already earned, which no other penalty does.

Singlet

The one-piece competition uniform, cut no lower than the armpits front and back.

Two-piece uniform

The legal alternative to a singlet: a form-fitted compression shirt with compression shorts or shorts designed for wrestling.

Approved by the NFHS for 2017-18 and now the reason a lot of girls stay in the sport. Both pieces must be school-issued. Detail on /gear/singlets.

Headgear

The ear guards that protect against cauliflower ear.

Required in high school folkstyle. Not required in freestyle, which is a fact worth knowing before a spring tournament. See /health/cauliflower-ear.

Hair cover

A cover for long hair, optional under current NFHS rules and, if worn, attached to the ear guards.

The hair length restriction was eliminated for 2020-21 and hair covering is not mandatory. See /rules.

Wrestling shoes

Light, high-topped, flat-soled shoes worn only on the mat.

Of the brands we checked, two say what they changed in the shoe for a woman's foot, and both name a narrower heel and a wider forefoot: RUDIS, on the Hildebrandt, and VROBI, on the Valkyrie. YES! Athletics says its MAGIC, Champion2 and DEFIANT3 Pink Camo are built for a woman's foot without saying what changed. The ASICS Matblazer, the adidas women's Combat Speed 4 and YES!'s other shoes are sold in women's or girls' sizes, and nothing we could read from their makers says the shoes on sale are shaped for a woman's foot; the rest are unisex. See /gear/shoes.

Knee pad

Padding worn on one or both knees, treated as special equipment rather than part of the uniform.

Mouthguard

An intraoral tooth and mouth protector, worn to protect the teeth and the inside of the mouth.

The NFHS wrote a fuller description of what is allowed for 2026-27 (rule 4-2-6). Whether one is required for your daughter is a question for her state association and her orthodontist.

Stance

The balanced, knees-bent position a wrestler holds on her feet, from which everything else starts.

Motion

Moving in the stance without losing it, so an opponent cannot time an attack.

Tie-up

Any grip that joins two wrestlers on their feet, such as a collar tie, an underhook or a wrist tie.

Collar tie

A hand on the back of the opponent's neck, used on the feet to control her head and set up an attack.

Underhook

An arm under the opponent's armpit with the hand on her shoulder or back, the inside position both wrestlers fight for on their feet.

Overhook

An arm wrapped over the top of the opponent's arm, trapping it against your side.

Two-on-one

Both of your hands controlling one of the opponent's arms.

Post

Planting a hand on the mat or on the opponent to keep from being pulled or snapped down.

Level change

Dropping the hips to the height of the opponent's hips before a shot, with the back straight rather than reaching down.

Penetration step

The deep step forward, between or beside the opponent's feet, that carries a shot through her.

Shot

Any attempt at a leg attack. Coaches count them, because attempts are what a match is made of.

Single leg

An attack on one of the opponent's legs, finishing by taking her down while holding it.

Double leg

An attack on both legs at once, driving through the opponent to put her on the mat.

High crotch

A leg attack that comes in on the inside of one thigh with the head up, usually finished by turning the corner to a single or lifting.

Ankle pick

Snatching the opponent's ankle off the mat while her weight is on that foot, usually after pulling her head down or across.

Fireman's carry

A takedown from a grip on the opponent's arm that drops under her, puts the other arm between her legs and rolls her across your shoulders to the mat.

Arm drag

Pulling the opponent's arm across your body by the back of the upper arm to get past it to her side or back.

Duck under

Ducking your head under the opponent's arm from a tie-up and coming up behind her.

Snap down

Jerking the opponent's head down from a tie-up so she has to drop her hands to the mat.

Front headlock

A control position from the front with an arm around the opponent's head and the other under her arm, used to score off a failed shot.

Go-behind

Getting around behind a wrestler who is down on her hands or knees and taking control, which is how a snap down or a sprawl becomes a takedown.

Sprawl

Throwing the hips forward and the legs back to defend a leg attack.

Whizzer

An overhook clamped down on the arm the opponent has wrapped around your leg, with your hip turned into her, to stop her finishing a leg attack.

Crossface

A forearm driven across the side of the opponent's face to grab her far arm, turning her head away from where she wants to go.

Legal, but a forceful crossface is unnecessary roughness in high school, which is penalised (NFHS 5-29-1).

Stuff head

A defence to a leg attack that drives the shooter's head down and away from the leg she is attacking.

Breakdown

Flattening a bottom wrestler from her hands and knees onto her stomach or side, so she cannot stand up or sit out.

Chop

Knocking the bottom wrestler's near arm out from under her, a common start to a breakdown.

Tight waist

An arm wrapped around the bottom wrestler's waist from on top, holding her hips against you.

Half nelson

A pinning hold from on top: an arm threaded under the opponent's arm with the hand on the back of her head, levering her onto her back.

Arm bar

From on top, an arm hooked through the bottom wrestler's arm from behind, used to drive her shoulder to the mat and turn her.

Cradle

A pinning hold that locks the opponent's head and one knee together, folding her up.

Tilt

Turning an opponent from the mat far enough to expose her back without flattening her out.

Worth two points in freestyle and a near fall in folkstyle, which is why the same technique is drilled for different lengths of time in different seasons.

Cheap tilt

A quick, short tilt from on top with one of your legs hooked into hers, rolling her back toward the mat for near fall points.

Turk

A turn from on top that hooks one of the bottom wrestler's legs with your own, lifts it and drives her over onto her back.

Gut wrench

The freestyle turn from par terre: arms locked around the opponent's waist, rolling her across her back.

Each roll that turns her back toward the mat, past 90 degrees, is two points (UWW Article 38), and the rolls can be chained. Kayla Miracle's breakdown of one is linked from the technique page.

Leg lace

A freestyle turn from par terre that locks the opponent's ankles together and rolls her over them.

Two points a roll, as with the gut wrench (UWW Article 38). Sarah Hildebrandt's breakdown of it is linked from the technique page.

Bridge

Arching up onto the head and feet with the back off the mat, to keep the shoulders from being pinned.

In freestyle a wrestler in a bridge is in the danger position (UWW Article 35), and breaking a bridge by pushing toward her head is illegal (UWW Article 50).

Switch

A reversal from the bottom, sitting out and swinging an arm across to come up behind the opponent.

Sit-out

From the bottom, swinging the legs through to sit facing forward, which takes the weight off the hands and sets up a turn-in or an escape.

Stand-up

The basic escape from bottom: getting to your feet and breaking your opponent's grip.

Granby

A shoulder roll from the bottom that puts a wrestler through and out of her opponent's control.

Full nelson

Both arms under the opponent's arms from behind, with the hands on the back of her neck.

Illegal in high school, even when the hands do not touch (NFHS 7-1-5). Women's freestyle forbids every double nelson (UWW Article 50), and USA Wrestling bars all full nelsons in every women's age group (USA Wrestling 18.1). The half nelson, with one arm, is legal.

Headlock

An arm wrapped around the opponent's head, used to throw her or to hold her down.

Legal in high school only with one of her arms, at or above the elbow, or a leg inside it (NFHS 7-1-5), and even then potentially dangerous (NFHS 7-2-2). Freestyle allows a hold on the head only with one arm included (UWW Article 50).

Hammerlock

Bending the opponent's arm up behind her back.

Illegal in high school past a right angle, or when her arm is forced away from her body (NFHS 7-1-5). Freestyle bans pressure on an arm held behind her back once the forearm forms an acute angle (UWW Article 50).

Chicken wing

From on top, an arm threaded under the opponent's arm from behind so her arm is bent back like a wing, used to turn her.

Potentially dangerous in high school: legal with the force across her body, illegal when it is pushed along the length of her body (NFHS 7-2-2, 7-2-3).

Slam

Lifting the opponent and returning her to the mat with unnecessary force.

Illegal in high school from the top, from the bottom or during a takedown, and called without hesitation (NFHS 7-1-1).

Suplex

A throw that lifts the opponent and arches backward to bring her down on her back.

The NFHS book spells it suplay. In high school the straight-back version is illegal whatever lands first, head, neck or shoulders (NFHS 7-1-2, since 2017-18). In freestyle a throw that carries her through the air in a broad curve is grand amplitude.

Two!

The stands asking the referee for two points, for a takedown or a near fall.

For a takedown it is out of date in a high school gym: the takedown has been worth three since 2024-25 (NFHS 9-1-2). Two is still a two-second near fall there (NFHS 9-1-5), and still a takedown in freestyle (UWW Article 38).

Squeeze!

Tighten whatever you are holding, a cradle, a waist or a leg, so she cannot slip out.

Half!

Put in a half nelson and turn her.

The half nelson is with the moves above.

Hand fight!

Win the grips on the feet: clear her hands, control her wrists and get to a tie you can attack from.

Shoot!

Take a shot: attack her legs now.

Finish!

Complete the attack you are in on and get control, rather than letting it turn into a scramble.

Head up!

Keep your head up, because a wrestler looking at the mat loses her posture and is easy to snap down.

Hips!

Use your hips: back and down to sprawl on a shot, or heavy on her when you are on top.

Ride her!

Stay on top and keep control, so she cannot escape or reverse.

Cut her!

Let the bottom wrestler up on purpose, giving away an escape to wrestle for a takedown worth more.

In high school the escape is one point and the takedown three (NFHS 9-1-3, 9-1-2), so a cut and a takedown nets two. Freestyle scores no escape, so the cut is a folkstyle tactic.

Back points!

The stands asking for the points that come from turning an opponent's back to the mat.

Near fall in folkstyle, exposure in freestyle.

Off your back!

Get your shoulders off the mat and turn to your stomach before the referee counts.

In high school a fall is both shoulders held for two seconds (NFHS 5-11-1), and near fall pays two points for two seconds, three for three, four for four (NFHS 9-1-5). In freestyle the turn itself scores (UWW Article 38).