FAQs

General Info

When is the next season?

We have 2 different seasons for style of wrestling ( Folkstyle and Olympic styles ). Folkstyle, which runs from

October - February, and (Olympic Style) Freestyle/Greco-Roman, which runs from March – July. See the schedule for up to date info.

We do keep practicing after the State Championships for those participating in Regional and National tournaments.

Age & Experience Groups

Beginner group (8 and under)

For beginners with little or no wrestling experience. Our beginner group will be taught and practice the

fundamentals of wrestling to compete in tournaments.

Ages vary, wrestlers can start as early as age 3 or 4, but they must be able to keep up with the group and follow structured directions. If you are unsure if your child will be able to follow practice structure, you can register to assure a spot on the roster and you will have two weeks to receive a full refund if your child is not quite ready.

Advanced group

Advanced wrestling is for the experienced wrestler. Our advanced wrestlers will have a more intense focus where competition is the motivation. This is for the serious wrestler who accepts being pushed to their full potential. Participation in tournaments and the WA State Championship is required and Regional and National Tournaments are highly encouraged.

Registration

How do I register?

Go to the membership page and tap register. You will be taken to a service called WrestlingIQ, which handles collecting registration info and payments. You will be able to use WrestlingIQ after registration to be notified of any practice changes, message coaches, and upload videos of your child's matches.

Do I have to purchase a USA Wrestling card?

Yes, all wrestlers are required to have a USA wrestling card before participating or trying out a practice. Please purchase at usawmembership.com before registering or participating in a practice.

Are there scholarships available?

We offer a limited number of full or partial, need-based scholarships each season to allow young men and women who otherwise would not have the opportunity to participate in youth wresting. To inquire about a scholarship for your child please contact us.

Practices

Can I watch or try a practice?

If you would like to come and watch a practice before deciding to join the club, you are more than welcome. If you would like your child to try a practice before registering, they may join one practice free of charge, but you must still purchase a USA wrestling card and we will not hold a spot for your child unless they are registered. Wrestlers have 2 weeks from the start of practice to receive a full refund, after two weeks no refunds will be administered, applies on Seasonal registration only.

Practices expectations

All wrestlers must have a valid USA wrestling card before participating in a practice. Please arrive and leave on time for all practices.

Facility Rules

Water bottles

We strongly encourage your child to bring a reusable water bottle to practice. We have a filtered water station available to fill up with water. This water is to be used for drinking water, please do not abuse it.

Mat hygiene

We clean the mats after each practice, but we need each wrestler and family member to do your part in keeping infections and germs off the mat.

Do not wear street shoes on the mat! This includes wrestlers, parents, and siblings! This increases risk of infection.

Clean your wrestling shoes every time you step onto the mat. There will be a cleaning mat with cleaning solution to clean your wresting shoes. If it is out of cleaner, tell a coach to refill it before stepping on the mat.

Street shoes

No street shoes are allowed on the mats. Make sure your child comes in street shoes and changes to their wrestling shoes inside the barn. No wrestling should should be worn outside. This helps prevent germs and diseases that can be transferred to the mat. If your child needs to use the restroom, they need to take off their shoes to do so. It may seem like a hassle, but if a child misses, and your child steps in it, then gets on the mat... you get the point.

Parents, please take off your shoes before stepping on the mats. We have cubbies you can put your shoes in.

Nail trimming

Have trimmed nails! Not only can they hurt your wrestling partner, they carry germs under the nails.

What should I do if I think I have a skin infection?

If you have a suspected infection on your skin, get checked out by the doctor before stepping on the mat. If it is contagious, DO NOT WRESTLE!

Follow your doctor’s instructions and inform a coach. Clear it with the coach before returning to the mat.

What should I do if I am sick?

If ANYONE is sick, stay off the mat, and stay home!

Germs spread quickly, and it is better that you or your child recovers rather than spreading it to the whole club. Missing a few days of practice is better than sharing it with the entire club, and possibly having the germs come back to you again. If you have a fever, throwing up, diarrhea, or prescribed an antibiotic, please do not return to the practice facility until 24 hours after your last symptom or first antibiotic dose.

Restrooms Cleanliness

If you need to go outside or use the bathroom, take off your wrestling shoes and put on street shoes. Please try and use the bathroom before practice starts and before you put on your wrestling shoes. Use the hand sanitizer in the bathroom and rub your hands together, covering all surfaces of both hands, including between your fingers and up around your fingertips and nails, let dry for 30 seconds before entering the mat. If you have a wrestling bag/gym bag, do not store your wrestling shoes next to your outdoor shoes! Outdoor shoes carry many germs.

Please talk to your child about keeping the restroom clean. If you have a small child, please monitor them and clean up after them if an accident happens. And make sure EVERYONE uses the hand sanitizer. We get it serviced every month. Please talk to your child about making sure there is paper before they use it! If the paper is out or the hand sanitizer, please tell a coach or board member.

Siblings

We understand that there will be small children present during your child’s practice. However, they need to follow the same rules as everyone else to assure their safety and to assure practice runs as smoothly as possible.

They should not step on the mats with their shoes on. To prevent your child from stepping on the mat, you can take off their shoes in the barn and place them in a cubby. Please do not have your child play on the mats during practice, even if your small child has their shoes off, they can still spread germs through dirty hands, nails, and runny noses. Please assist your small child when using the bathroom and clean up after them if need be. Clean up any mess they might make while they are playing.

Please do not allow your child to play with any of the equipment in any areas inside or outside of the facility. Please do not have your child run, climb, or scream in the building. It makes it hard for the wrestlers to hear the coaches, and we need to respect our equipment (railings, stairs, wrestling equipment, couches, etc).

Transportation

Please have your child arrive on time and ready for practice. If you are dropping off your child, please make sure we have an updated contact number in case of an emergency. If picking up your child, please arrive 10 minutes before the end of practice.

Lost & Found

We accumulate many items that are left in the barn such as reusable water bottles, clothes, and wrestling gear. Please check the lost and found daily. We will get rid of stuff periodically, and email will be sent before we do so.
Indoor Voices

Please have quiet conversations when talking with other adults and refrain you child from yelling of screaming during practice. This is distracting to the coaches and wrestlers.

No Paraphernalia

No drugs, alcohol, or paraphernalia is allowed in or on the property during practice hours. There may be family BBQ’s in the season where alcohol is permitted, but only when authorization is given.

Tournament Info

What should I bring to a tournament?

USA wrestling card (paper copy, or picture of card on your phone).
Wrestling shoes (wear street shoes/sandals outside, change to wrestling shoes inside or wear cleat skins)
Singlet (wear under warm up clothes to the tournament).
Folkstyle you can wear any singlet
Freestyle/Greco you must have 1-red and 1-blue singlet (60% or more predominant color)
Hooded sweatshirt (wear while warming up with club and before each match)
Water/Sports Drink and food (sometimes concessions stands available)
If bringing a phone to record matches or use track wrestling, may want to bring a charger or battery pack!
Headgear/mouthpiece optional (required at certain big tournaments)
Blanket to save seats and use for sitting.
Trimmed nails!

What are the age divisions?

There are different divisions for your age category. This is based on your birthday.

Divisions are: Peewees, Bantams, Intermediates, Novice, Schoolboy, Cadet, Junior, and Senior. Check out your division here.

What are the weight brackets?

Your child will wrestle in the weight bracket that is rounded up from their weight. For example, weight brackets of 95lb or 100lbs, your child will wrestle in the 100lb weight bracket if he/she weighs 95.1lbs – 100lbs. Check out weight brackets based on your age division here.

You have the option of wrestling up a weight class in most tournaments, but you cannot wrestle down. You have the option of wrestling in two weight brackets, but it must be your current weight bracket and the weight bracket above. Some wrestlers do this if they have few people in their brackets. You will have to pay for both weight brackets if you choose to do this.

What do I need to know about tournament registration?

Most registration times are from 7am – 8am at the gym area of the hosting school. Get there as close to 7am as possible (especially if you are close on making weight!). It is a good idea to pre-register for all the tournaments posted on the Ascend Wrestling Academy schedule ahead of time. It is free for most regular season tournaments, and it saves you $5. Most tournaments are $20 if you pre-register.

Registration pre-registered - you will walk into the registration area into the line with the letter of your last name. You must have your USA wrestling card present, and you will pay here. Once you’ve paid, they will give you a weigh-in card, take this card and your USA wrestling card and proceed to weigh-ins.
Registration NOT pre-registered - If you are NOT pre-registered, you will have to sign up in the walk-ins line (there is only one line for this). You must have your USA wrestling card present. You will pay an extra $5. Once you’ve paid, they will give you a weigh-in card, take this card and your USA wrestling card and proceed to weigh-ins.

How do skin checks work?

After registration, you will proceed to the weigh-ins area. There is usually a sign that will direct you. You will need your nails trimmed, skin free of infections, and in a singlet only (no socks, shorts, etc). A girl may have on a sports bra/shirt under her singlet. You must present your USA wrestling card, and the card given to you at registration. If you are un-sure of your weight, use the check scale first!

Once you weigh-in and they write the number on your arm, you CANNOT re-way in. Once you are finished weighing-in, eat breakfast and be back in the gym 40 minutes before start time which is usually 10am for regular tournaments. If you are going out to breakfast, find out where the team is sitting in the gym, and save a seat with a blanket first! The gym gets crowded fast!

When do warm ups happen?

Have on your wrestling shoes and be on the mat 30 minutes before the start of the tournament. Find your teammates, stretch and practice drilling. Coaches encourage you to wear a hooded sweatshirt to keep your muscles warm.

Where to find bracket info?

Once the announcement is made to clear the mats, brackets will be posted outside the gym area on paper. You can also follow the brackets/bout number on the track wrestling mobile web site. Please see the section below titled ‘Track Wrestling’ for information how to use this. Please also see the ‘Brackets’ section on how brackets work.

Bout numbers

On your child’s bracket, you will look at the bout number posted next to your child’s name and their opponents. This is the bout number they will wrestle. You can track your bout number by looking at the big screens placed in or outside of the gym, or you can follow on track wrestling. Once the bout number is posted on the big screen or track wrestling, it will give you the mat number.

It is your responsibility to get your child to the mat and find a coach.

Who can go on the mat?

Only your child can go the mat. Parents are not allowed to go to mat area unless they have a USA wrestling coaches card (can be purchased at https://www.usawmembership.com/). Any parent can get this card, however once on the mat you are representing chain wrestling and you must be respectful to your child, referees, and opponent at all times.

If there is not a coach present, you can ask the mat to call for a coach, but before your child goes to the mat, it is better if they find a coach and let them know what mat they are on. We ask that you do not coach another child unless a coach has given you permission to do so.

How do medals work?

Most tournaments medal to 3rd place. If your child did not place, you are free to leave. If you did place, you will need to wait for the announcers to call your weight/age bracket up to receive your medals. It is encouraged to wait until the end of the tournament to cheer on your teammates.

How to use TrackWrestling mobile during a tournament

Track wrestling mobile is the most common use by parents, coaches, and wrestlers during the season at tournaments.

Login http://www.trackwrestling.com/mobile/
Select ‘tournaments’
Select ‘Search’
Enter the ‘state’ (it should pop up, to broaden, put in ‘dates’) hit ‘ENTER’

You can find your child’s bracket by selecting ‘brackets’, then select their division and weight category.
You can find out their mat number by selecting ‘Team Bout Schedule’, select ‘Ford Dynasty Wrestling Club'. The bout number will pop up in numeric order. Here will list the entire team and their bout numbers so you can follow the team! You will want to refresh the page often by hitting ‘ENTER’ at the top of the page for the most current mat display.

When the tournament is over, you can check out the results by team, weight, round and check the team scores!

About Track Wrestling

Track Wrestling turns your traditional paper bout sheet event to a completely electronic event with computers at each mat. This website allows us to integrate with score clocks, jumbotrons, ribbon boards, video feeds, etc. By running the event through track wrestling, the information is available live online for people who want to follow along. Most people, including coaches, use this on their phones to track which wrestlers they have at each mat. Parents and wrestlers use this to follow what mat their kid will be at. Friends and relatives that are not able to make a meet, can follow from afar!

Watch live video of matches using TrackCast

Trackcast is available at selected tournaments such as duals, regionals, and national events. Available with a fee of $14.99, you can watch your child’s match, and any match during the event live. Once you purchase trackcast for your event, you will be able to go back and watch as many times as you wish! This is also a great way for friends and relatives to follow along!

Search Athlete Profiles

Wrestlers in the Trackwrestling system are assigned profiles that track their careers, accomplishments, and more. In addition to wrestler stats, you can upload a photo to their profile which helps athletes, fans, and coaches put a face to the wrestler. You can track your wrestler, and their opponents!

Bracket info

How do I read a standard bracket (>5 wrestlers)?

Brackets will be posted outside the gym on the wall in order of age, starting with peewees and ending in Seniors.

Bracket title: You will find the name of the tournament on the top left, and the age division with the weight category on the top right.
First bouts: There will only be names in the rectangles with the bout numbers to begin.
Winners bracket: If your child wins, they will move to the right-hand side which is called the winners bracket.
Losers bracket: If your child loses, they will move to the left-hand side which is called the losers bracket.
Semi-finals: If you keep winning, there will be 4 wrestlers on the right-hand side of the bracket remaining, this is called the semi-finals.
Finals: When there are two wrestlers left on the right-hand side, this is called the finals.
True second: If you lose your finals match, you will be put down into the second-place match bracket. You will have to wrestle the 3rd place winner for ‘true second’ IF YOU DID NOT DEFEAT THEM PREVIOUSLY IN THE DAY. If you already beat them, you take second place based on rule.
Double Elimination: ONCE YOU LOSE TWICE, YOU ARE ELIMINATED FROM THE BRACKET, CALLED DOUBLE-ELIMINATION. (For bigger tournaments that place to higher than 4, you may wrestle again, make sure your name is not on the board before you leave!)
Scoring: Scoring is written under the name of the wrestler. TF is a tech fall, Fall is a pin, and Dec is decision, FF is forfeit, and Inj: means there was a win based on injury.

How do I read a round robin bracket (<5 wrestlers)?

A round robin bracket usually takes place when there are 5 or less wrestlers in your bracket.

Rounds: In a round robin, you will have as many rounds as there are wrestlers. You will wrestle each round (with one round being a bye).
Placing: The wrestler with the most wins from each rounds wins. The wrestler with the second most wins takes second, etc.
2 Man bracket: If there are only two wrestlers in a bracket, the best out of 3 rounds wins, if you win or lose the first two, then there will not be a third round based on rule.
Placings: Even though it shows placings past third place, only the top 3 will receive a medal.
Bout numbers: You will look at the bout number posted in the middle of your child’s name and their opponents. This is the bout number they will wrestle. You can track your bout number by looking at the big screens placed in or outside of the gym, or you can follow on track wrestling (see track wrestling tab). Once the bout number is posted on the screen or track wrestling, it will give you the mat number. It is your responsibility to get your child to the mat and find a coach.