What is a control of mat violation in wrestling?

Who may be at the mat?

The NCAA book restricts all personnel other than the two competing wrestlers to a designated reserved zone during competition. In tournaments a maximum of three team personnel are permitted there: if three are used, two must hold coaching credentials and one must be credentialed medical personnel. Unauthorized team personnel in the zone are penalized as a control-of-mat violation.

For the NCAA Championships finals a maximum of four are allowed, three credentialed coaches and one credentialed medical person.

When may a coach leave the zone?

Medical personnel may move onto the mat only during an injury or blood timeout.

What else counts as a violation?

Badgering the referee by the coaching staff or any team member is not permitted and is treated as a control-of-mat violation. If a referee enters the reserved zone to officiate, it is the coaching staff’s responsibility to make sure no coach, team member or other personnel touches or impedes the referee.

A coach who challenges a previously made video review ruling, or challenges after the team’s allotment is exhausted, is also penalized with a control-of-mat violation for intentional delay of the match.

What is the penalty?

One team point is deducted for the first violation and for each later one. The referee displays the control-of-mat signal and verbally informs the offending coach. Simultaneous violations are handled by the rules book’s separate provision.

The coach-area diagrams are covered in the reserved-zone rules. Read the coaches’ reserved zone rules.

How should hosts and coaches prepare?

Hosts should mark the reserved zone and brief coaches before the first match. Coaches should know who is credentialed and who stays in the stands.

Smart Wrestler records team points and penalties the table enters under the host’s rules. Whether a violation occurred is the referee’s call.

A short briefing helps. Hosts can tell coaches before the event where the zone is, how many credentialed people may sit in it, and which reasons allow a coach to walk to the table. Coaches should assign one person to speak to the officials so the team does not risk a badgering call. If a penalty is assessed, the table should record the team point deduction on the correct team and confirm it with the referee before the next bout. Families in the stands are not covered by the control-of-mat rule, which applies to team personnel in the mat area; spectator conduct is handled by the host and the referee’s power to have a spectator removed.