League Competition
Weight Classes and Weigh-Ins
One of the great things about wrestling is that regardless of your size you can be
a champion, due mainly to the fact that you wrestle against other wrestlers that
weigh the same.
The weight classes in our league are based on an age-weight chart. So a seven year
old might wrestle an eight year old that weighs three pounds less or a 6 year old
that weighs three pounds more. There are two separate age divisions, juniors (ages
5-10) and seniors (ages 11-14). In total, the league has 32 weight classes ranging
from under 40 pounds up to 180 pounds.
We have two weigh-ins per season, one at the beginning of the year and one at the
end of the year. These are mandatory weigh-ins that everyone must attend in order
to wrestle during the season. If you miss the beginning of the season weigh-in,
alternate weigh-ins are available but you must drive to La Plata on a Wednesday night
to weigh-in before you can wrestle any matches with the team. You will not be able
to weigh-in after the last day in January, in which case you will be unable to compete
in any league matches. If you miss the end of the year weigh-in, you cannot participate
in the SMJWL Championship Tournament.
View the weight chart here.
League Matches
In our league, competition consists of wrestling various programs located in Calvert,
Charles and Prince George’s counties on Saturdays beginning the first weekend after
the new year. We wrestle in what is called mini-tournaments. Our goal with this
format is to get each wrestler at least two matches a weekend. Between three and
five teams will gather at a location to wrestle each other. Prior to meeting on
Saturday the head coach from the home team will gather the rosters from each team
and enter the kids, based on their weight class, into what is called brackets. Occasionally,
weight classes will be combined. The wrestlers will never wrestler more than one
weight class up or down without prior approval from the coaches. The wrestling takes
any from 3 to 5 hours to complete on these days. Once the wrestlers are finished
wrestling they are free to go home. The wrestlers are required to show up 30 minutes
prior to the match start time, failure to do so could result in that wrestler being
scratched for that event.
Dual Meet Tournament
At the midpoint of the season our league hosts a dual meet tournament involving all
of the teams in the league. Only one wrestler from each weight class, on each team,
will be entered into this tournament. We hold wrestle-offs the week before this
tournament to determine who will represent the program at each weight. Depending
on how well the team does during the day, we could be there for as little as 2 hours
or as many as 8 hours. The top 4 teams in the league bring home team championship
trophies. This tournament is occasionally on a Sunday, if a site cannot be found
for a Saturday.
SMJWL League Championship Tournament
Similar to our mini-tournaments except every team in the league will be there. There
is no combining of weight classes; the wrestlers only wrestle other wrestlers from
their weight class. The top 4 wrestlers from each weight class are seeded based
on their performance during the season; the rest of the bracket is a random draw.
There are trophies for the top 4 finishers and top 4 teams at the end of the tournament.
The tournament will last a few hours for some and all day for others, depending on
how well the wrestler does. All wrestlers are guaranteed two matches. This tournament
is occasionally on a Sunday, if a site cannot be found for a Saturday.
