What is Grappling?
Wrestling is the world’s oldest, greatest sport. The heart of wrestling, in each of its hundreds of forms, is efficient control of the opponent. Historically, this control has been recognized in one of three distinct forms – pinning, throwing/lifting, and submission. Across continents and through time, matches have variously ended when there is a pin, when one player is down, or when a player submits. The greatest exhibition of control not just in wrestling, but in all of sports, is forcing your opponent to submit. While there is a long tradition in various cultures of jacket wrestling until one player quits, organized matches to submission without a gi or equivalent have only recently gained widespread recognition. This sport is called Grappling.

Benefits of Ranked
While there are now over a hundred grappling events in the US each year, many thousands of grapplers, and several premiere events, there is no nationally recognized ratings system. Until now.

There is no credible sport in the USA without a national and regional ratings system. A ratings system is not just a helpful addition, it HAS to happen. The benefits are countless, but include:
A ranking system brings credibility with the media, potential sponsors, arena managers, and virtually everyone else that is not already inside the sport.
Athletes will compete more often, to earn more ratings points.
Winners will get their due recognition.
A national database of grapplers will end ‘sandbagging’ and bring fairness to the sport in a number of other ways.
A national pool of athletes can pool resources for lower prices on products, insurance, and a host of other resources.
Tournament coordinators nationwide will be more able to associate and share successful steps they have taken.

How does it work?
When competitors enter an event, he or she characteristically fills out a form with name, age, sex, experience, and contact information. The event coordinator will register each new competitor into the online Ranked Grappler Database.

The event coordinator then enters the winners, using either pre set divisions, or completely customisable categories. Athletes who have competed before are already entered.

Contact information about the competitor can be edited by that player. In addition, players can check that they have been accurately credited for wins.

Points are tabulated for each place, and the score is weighted by the number of entrants at that event. A larger event is worth more ranking points.

The resulting scores can be displayed by the various combinations of age, sex, skill level, state, region, and nationally. There will be separate rankings for grappling (no gi) and BJJ (gi) rules.

Rankings are available online 24/7/365. In addition, Grappling magazine runs a monthly RANKED article with top fighters and a year end issue with all the top national fighters.

Event Info
 
Remember, this event is on September 4th and more information can be found at www.theWVgames.com or by contacting Butch Hiles 304-549-9370 or advancedbkj@gmail.com