Weight Monitoring

You’ve probably heard the wrestlers and coaches talking about the state’s weight-monitoring program, but may not understand what it’s all about (and don’t worry, you’re not alone…). I’ll try to give you a short overview of the how the program works and at the end of this post will be a link to the actual state guideline, for those nights when you have a hard time falling asleep.

The program has two main purposes. First, it identifies the lowest weight that a wrestler can healthily achieve during the season; and second, it sets a descent plan that dictates how quickly (or rather, slowly) the wrestler can descend to that weight class.

Determining the lowest weight class that wrestlers can compete at is a three-step process. First, they must pass a hydration test; second, they are given a skin fold test using calipers; and finally, they’re weighed. The entire process is conducted by the ILH trainers and overseen by the league coordinator.

There are four designated days on which this testing is done. This year, those dates are November 25th, December 9th, December 16th, and January 9th. Once a wrestler passes the test, they’re done and don’t need to take the test again on the subsequent dates.

At Punahou, our goal is to have as many of our wrestlers pass the first testing session as possible. We usually have one or two who need to go to the second session and rarely have anyone at the third or fourth.

Once the lowest healthy weight is determined, a descent plan is computed and posted to the National Wrestling Coaches of America (NWCA) web site. By rule, a wrestler is only allowed to lose 1.5% of their body weight each week. At each week’s weigh-in, the coaches must submit a form that shows where every wrestler is vs. their decent plan and each week’s weigh-in data is uploaded to the NWCA site so the state can track everyone.

If you’re interested in all the details, the official HHSAA weight monitoring rules and reference guide can be found here.

If you have any questions about how this impacts your wrestler’s situation, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the coaches.