Pin (amateur wrestling)

Pin
Style	Wrestling
AKA	Fall

A pin, or fall, is a victory condition in various forms of wrestling that is met by holding an opponent's shoulders or scapulae (shoulder blades) on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time. This article deals with the pin as it is defined in amateur wrestling.

In amateur wrestling, a pin ends the match regardless of when it occurs. Situations which are almost pins but for whatever reason do not meet the criteria — for example, have only one shoulder down or have the defending wrestler blocked in a neck bridge — are rewarded with exposure points (in collegiate wrestling, known as near fall points or back points) in order to encourage wrestlers to take risks to try to pin their opponents.

Under the 2004–05 changes to the United World Wrestling rules, amateur wrestling moved to a round-based system in which each period is conducted as a separate match with a winner declared. The pin is an exception — it ends a match outright, unlike the period-only victories awarded by technical fall or decision on points. In this way, the fall is analogous to a knockout in boxing.

In Greco Roman and freestyle wrestling, the two shoulders of the defensive wrestler must be held long enough for the referee to "observe the total control of the fall" (usually ranging from one half-second to about one or two seconds). Then either the judge or the mat chairman concurs with the referee that a fall is made. (If the referee does not indicate a fall, and the fall is valid, the judge and the mat chairman can concur together and announce the fall.) In the United States, for the Kids' Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling division (wrestlers ages 8 to 14) in competitions sponsored by USA Wrestling, it is specified that a fall must be held for two seconds.

In the half-nelson, the attacking wrestler is on top of the opponent on the ground with both wrestlers face down; a half nelson can be used to turn the opponent over. The attacker's arm is pushed below the opponent's shoulder from the outside, and across and behind the opponent's neck. The attacker's arm lifts the opponent's shoulder while the attacker's hand presses his neck down; simultaneously the attacker drives forward perpendicularly to the opponent's body to roll him over onto his back. With the opponent on his back and the attacker perpendicular to him chest-on-chest, the attacker tightens his arm around the opponent's neck, often also controlling the opponent's lower body by hooking the free arm in the opponent's crotch or around the near or far thigh.

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