Freestyle
rules

Which book governs your tournament

USA Wrestling publishes the rule book for domestic freestyle and Greco-Roman, and it says openly what it is: the United World Wrestling rules, with American modifications to weigh-ins, pairings and protests. At USA Wrestling age-level regional and national championships that are not a World Team Trials event, UWW scoring rules and prohibitions apply as written. So there is one set of scoring rules from a state tournament to the Olympics, and the differences are administrative.

College is the exception worth knowing. NCAA women's wrestling is freestyle, run under its own rule book that combines USA Wrestling's rules with the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling committee's, and a few things in it are stricter than the club version. Those are marked below.

The mat

A freestyle mat is a circle, not a square with a circle drawn on it, and it has four zones you need to be able to name.

• The central circle, one metre across in the middle. Standing restarts happen here, and neither wrestler has to touch a line.
• The central wrestling area, seven metres across. This is the mat as far as you are concerned.
• The passivity zone, a one-metre orange band around the inside of the circle. It exists to make edge-wrestling visible. Living in it is one of the listed signs of passivity.
• The protection area, at least a metre and a half outside that. Nothing that happens here counts, and a fall in it is not a fall.

One corner of the mat is red and the other blue, red on the referee's left as she faces the table, and you report to the corner matching your singlet. USA Wrestling does not require a UWW-approved mat for domestic competition, so at a state tournament you will often wrestle freestyle on a high school folkstyle mat with the circle taped on.

Out of bounds is not the folkstyle definition. Standing, it is one whole foot outside the boundary. On the mat, it is the defensive wrestler's whole head touching the protection area, or her chest and pinning points being in the protection area even without touching it.

The clock

Two periods with a 30-second break, and the scoreboard clock counts down across both rather than restarting.

United World Wrestling Article 22 sets those lengths. The winner is the total of both periods; there is no per-period winner and no folkstyle-style choice of position at a period break.

Between bouts, USA Wrestling guarantees a 15-minute rest, 20 minutes at a UWW event and 30 at a World Team Trials event or a qualifier for one. NCAA women get a mandatory 30 minutes and a limit of seven matches a day, neither of which may be waived.

Scoring

Four values, and no near fall. Full comparison against folkstyle on the scoring page.

A takedown is two points, not three, and the definition is stricter than folkstyle's: USA Wrestling 11.7 requires that you take her to the mat and control her by passing behind the hips, with her hitting three points of contact simultaneously from among head, hands, elbows and knees.

A reversal is one point, and it means overcoming the wrestler on top from par terre and gaining control. There is nothing else to earn from underneath. An escape is not scored, does not exist, and asking a referee for one will get you a blank look.

The two words that carry the rest of the scoring are danger and grand amplitude. Danger is your opponent's back exposed at less than 90 degrees to the mat while her head, shoulder or elbow is in contact with it. Grand amplitude is a throw that lifts her off the mat and carries her through a sweeping curve in the air. Put those together and the whole upper end of the scale makes sense: four points for putting her from her feet straight into danger, or for a big throw that does not land her there, and five for a big throw that does.

Par terre

Par terre is the freestyle word for wrestling on the mat, and it is not the referee's position. There are two ways into it.

Ordinary par terre happens when you take her down and wrestling continues. The wrestler underneath may counter, stand up, or attack. Crucially, the top wrestler has no right to stop the match or ask to go back to standing, and if she is not developing anything the referee will stop it and stand them up. Article 44 makes the top wrestler's obligation explicit and USA Wrestling 9.6 adds the practical version: no time limit dictates when the referee stops it, and a wrestler genuinely working toward a score is allowed to keep working.

Ordered par terre is the set start used after certain infractions and, in Greco-Roman, after a passivity call. The bottom wrestler lies flat on her stomach in the centre, arms stretched forward and legs stretched back, neither crossed nor touching. The top wrestler puts both knees behind the bottom wrestler's arms, to one side, never straddling, and on the command places both hands anywhere on her back without hesitation. Then the whistle. From there the bottom wrestler may work to her feet, but she may not close off her arms or elbows.

Refusing to take the ordered position correctly has a price. For the bottom wrestler it is a verbal warning first, then a caution and a point to the opponent, with the restart still in par terre. For the top wrestler it is a warning, then losing the position and restarting standing.

Exposure, and why nobody counts

In folkstyle, turning your opponent starts a count. In freestyle it does not. The points are for the action that exposed her back, and they are awarded once that action is complete. Holding her there afterwards earns nothing.

There is one thing to know that catches out folkstyle wrestlers working ankle laces: to score repeatedly off the same maneuver, the defensive wrestler must return to her initial position, chest facing the mat, between turns. A roll that never lets her back down does not keep paying.

Ending a match

• Fall. Controlled compression of both shoulders or shoulder blades simultaneously, held long enough for the referee to confirm control, and confirmed by the mat chairman. Both shoulders must be inside the orange zone and the head must not be in the protection area. There is no such thing as a touch fall.
• Technical superiority. A ten-point difference in freestyle and women's wrestling, eight in Greco-Roman, at every age category. The match is not stopped mid-action: if your opponent counters immediately and in bounds while you are completing the move that got you there, the counter scores, and if the margin drops back under ten the match simply continues.
• Three cautions. Three cautions in a bout loses it, scored 5-0 the same as a fall. This has no folkstyle equivalent and it is a real way to lose.
• Injury, forfeit, disqualification. All 5-0. Bleeding time is capped at four minutes from the moment medical staff declare it; exceed it and the bout is awarded to your opponent.
• Decision. More points, or the criteria below.

Criteria: how a tied match is decided

There is no overtime. A level score is resolved in this order:

1. The single highest-value action either wrestler scored.
2. The greater number of actions at that highest value.
3. The fewer cautions.
4. The last technical point scored.

That last word does the work. A point handed to you because your opponent was passive is not a technical point, and neither is a point from a lost challenge or a simulated injury. A point from an action, a hold or a step-out is. So in a 1-1 match where one point came from passivity and the other from a step-out, the step-out wins, whichever came second. The rule book prints a table of worked examples because even officials get this wrong.

The NCAA women's book runs a shorter list: highest-value action, then fewest cautions, then last point scored.

Passivity and the 30-second shot clock

This is the rule that decides your first freestyle tournament. There is no stalling warning that a wrestler can absorb three of and carry on. There is a clock, and it is mandatory.

The referee tries verbal stimulation first, using the standard UWW vocabulary: open, action, contact, head up. Then the procedure splits by age group.

Read the trigger row again, because it is the part nobody tells a folkstyle wrestler: the first period of a freestyle match must never end 0-0. If neither wrestler has scored by the two-minute mark the officials are obliged to consult and put one of them on the clock. Wrestling a careful, scoreless first period is not a tactic in freestyle. It is a way of choosing which wrestler gets punished for it.

The first verbal warning carries over between periods, and after it no further warnings are given: subsequent activity periods start directly. If you are put on the clock and you start an action before the 30 seconds are up you are allowed to finish it, but it has to score.

Greco-Roman works completely differently: each of the first two passivity calls stops the match, gives the active wrestler a point, and lets her choose to continue standing or on top in par terre.

Cautions, fleeing and illegal actions

A caution is the freestyle penalty mark, and it always comes with at least a point to your opponent, two in Greco-Roman. Three cautions lose the bout.

• Fleeing the mat: going out voluntarily with no attempt to stay in the middle. Caution and one point, or two points if you did it while in danger.
• Fleeing the hold: avoiding contact to prevent being scored on, which usually shows up in the last thirty seconds of a close match. A verbal "attention" first if there is time, then a caution and a point. The referee is instructed to stop the match before time runs out rather than let a wrestler run out the clock avoiding contact.
• Interrupting the bout yourself by standing up out of par terre, or by dragging your opponent back to the middle from the edge. Warning, then a caution and a point for fleeing the hold.
• Interlocking fingers is negative wrestling. The referee calls "no fingers"; carry on and it is a caution and a point, and if there is twisting it is an illegal hold immediately.
• Illegal holds include pulling hair, ears or genitals, biting, twisting fingers or toes, kicking, head-butting, forcing a joint or the spine, and thrusting an elbow or knee. Grabbing the singlet or headgear is also prohibited.

What she wears

The uniform rules are stricter in freestyle than in a high school gym, and a girl arriving at a national tournament in the wrong singlet has one minute to fix it before she forfeits.

• Red or blue. You are assigned a colour and you wear it. USA Wrestling allows a predominantly red or predominantly blue singlet, or one using the UWW colour scheme with its three specified markings. This applies to freestyle and Greco-Roman only, not to USA Wrestling folkstyle events.
• A women's cut singlet. For any regional, national or international competition held in the United States, female competitors in every age division must wear one.
• No two-piece. The two-piece uniform that is legal in high school is not allowed at any USA Wrestling freestyle or Greco-Roman regional or national championship. Nor is a low-cut singlet. Nothing may be visible underneath it: no shorts, leggings or arm sleeves.
• A properly fitting sports bra is required under the singlet, and underwire bras are prohibited.
• The classic uniform exists for wrestlers who cover for cultural or personal reasons: a one or two-piece bodysuit with long leggings and a long-sleeved tight top, in red or blue. Hair covering, if worn, must be nylon or another suitable stretch fabric and must go under the ear guard.
• No jewellery. No earrings, barrettes, bracelets, rings or any metal or rigid object.
• Shoes with the laces secured, taped or fixed. If a lace comes undone during an NCAA match, your opponent gets a point.

Headgear: the answer depends on where you are

This is the one families get wrong every spring. In USA Wrestling competition headgear is recommended but not required, for all age groups and all styles, and an opponent can no longer ask you to take it off. In NCAA women's wrestling an ear guard is required any time live wrestling takes place, practice included. So a girl can wrestle a whole club season bare-eared and then be required to wear one on her first day on campus. The case for wearing one anyway is on the cauliflower ear page.

The weigh-in and the allowance

Freestyle weigh-ins are the morning of your weight category, not the night before, and they are shorter than you expect.

• Senior, U17, U20 and U23 events use a two-day format: 30 minutes on the first morning, and 15 minutes on the second for the wrestlers still alive in the bracket. Scratch weight both times.
• The 16U and Junior National Championships, which everybody calls Fargo, weigh in a maximum of four hours before the first competition, and second-day weigh-ins get a two-pound allowance.
• No tolerance for the singlet, at any age level. You weigh in wearing it and it counts. UWW says the same, and adds that within the weigh-in window a wrestler may step on the scale as many times as she likes. USA Wrestling's modification at qualifying events is two consecutive attempts, the first on the assigned scale and an immediate challenge on another.
• NCAA women weigh in two hours or sooner before the start, in a team-issued unmodified competition uniform, with a one-pound allowance for back-to-back competition and for each consecutive day of a tournament, capped at one pound however many events stack up.
• A skin check comes before the scale, and a wrestler presenting any danger of a contagious condition is eliminated from the competition.

Drastic weight reduction is prohibited in terms: rubber or rubberised suits, hot rooms, hot showers, saunas, steam rooms, heating devices, diuretics, emetics, laxatives, excessive food or fluid restriction and self-induced vomiting. Violating it disqualifies the wrestler. The NCAA prohibits the same list and adds that saunas are banned during the season for any purpose, on or off campus. What she may legally weigh, and how fast she may get there, is on the making weight page, and the class tables are on weight classes.

The challenge

Each wrestler gets one challenge per match, thrown by her coach. If the review changes the call she keeps it; if the original decision stands, her opponent gets a point. A confirmed fall cannot be challenged, and neither can a passivity call, although the actions leading to a fall and the time left on the clock can be. The challenge is only available at designated national and regional competitions, so at a local tournament there is nothing to throw.

Nine things that will surprise her

1. Her escape is worth nothing. There is no escape.
2. Riding is worth nothing. The referee will stand them up and she will feel robbed the first three times.
3. Getting pushed out of the circle costs a point, so the edge is a place to score rather than a place to rest.
4. A scoreless first period is not allowed to happen. Somebody goes on the clock at two minutes.
5. The match can end at a ten-point margin, which arrives fast when throws are worth four and five.
6. A tie is not wrestled out. It is decided by the biggest move anybody hit.
7. Three cautions and she loses, no matter what the score is.
8. Her two-piece uniform is illegal at a USA Wrestling national championship, and she will be assigned red or blue.
9. Nobody is going to make her wear headgear, and she should wear it anyway.