In 1998, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Committe on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports implemented more stringent rules and guidelines regarding its wrestling weight class certification program. These change were the results of the deaths of three young apparently healthy collegiate athletes. These wrestlers were engaged in similar rapid weight loss (RWL) programs to qualify themselves for competition. This protocol for RWL promoted dehydration. Consequently, the NCAA mandates wrestlers descend to minimum wrestling weight at a rate of 1.5% of body weight loss per week; but few researchers have examined wrestler’s compliance to this 1.5% decent rule prior to the first competition. To evaluate intercollegiate wrestler’s compliance and institution’s perceptions to the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s (NWCA) Optimal Performance Calculator (OPC) weight loss plan.
