Figure 12 - What is this?
Some people will write a vertical “hash mark” for every point the referee calls. This is a bad idea. Look at the portion of the bout sheet in Figure 12. We know that Bill has five points, but how did he get them? Did Bill get three points, then two points? Did he have one five-point move? Nobody really knows. If the referee or one of the coaches has a question about what actually happened, there’s no way to tell.
That’s why you have to write down the actual numbers, as shown in Figure 13. Don’t use hash marks!
The referee will stop the period if the point difference between the two wrestlers is ten or more. This is called technical superiority. If this happens, just add up the score and write it down like a regular match. (This is different from high school wrestling, where you write down the time at which the tech fall occured. In freestyle and greco-roman, you just write down the point totals.)
You will sometimes get “helpful advice” from coaches or wrestlers who are watching a match that you’re scoring. Please ignore them—the referee is closer to the action and knows the rules. If you know a little about wrestling, you may be tempted to anticipate the referee and write the points before the referee signals them. Please don’t. Wait for the referee to signal points before you write them on the bout sheet.
Make sure that you have added the points for each period correctly. Make sure that you have correctly circled the name of the winner and crossed out the loser. (Although this is really the responsiblity of the winning wrestler to verify this, it doesn’t hurt if you check it as well.)
Relax and have a good time, and thanks for helping out at the tournaments!