The COVID-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on our lives. Disrupting long-standing ways of doing things. Like conducting wrestling practice in these times of shuttered schools, "shelter-in-place" orders, mandatory "home schooling" and "social distancing."

Even in these challenging times, there are ways you can use advanced technology and distance learning to help your wrestlers master the vital skills to become even more successful in the oldest and greatest sport.

No doubt about it: wrestling is very much a global sport.

Some wrestlers get to participate in international tournaments, see the world, and make friends well beyond their hometowns.

The cool thing is, these opportunities aren't limited to uber-talented mat superstars. Any wrestler can expand his or her horizons on and off the mat, thanks to wrestler exchange programs.

MatBoss recently talked to Ed Pendoski, wrestling coach in suburban Indianapolis who is actively involved in wrestler exchange programs that make it possible for local wrestlers to compete with fellow athletes -- and experience new cultures -- well beyond what they would normally experience on a typical road trip on a school bus to a local dual meet or tournament here in the U.S.

The oldest and greatest sport continues to welcome growing numbers of participants at the high school level.

The number of girls and boys participating in high school wrestling showed continued growth during the 2018-19 school year, bucking a trend of lower participation rates in high school sports overall, according to a report issued by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) on Monday.

The NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee offered some proposed rule changes Monday to address some hot-button issues that have made headlines -- and rankled some athletes, coaches and fans.

"That's the way we've always done things."

You hear that refrain all the time, especially in wrestling. We get comfortable with a situation because it's familiar.

But sometimes it helps to change things up a bit. Try something new.

You never know what good things can come from changing things up. Even when it comes to the oldest and greatest sport.

After nearly a half-century as being the one-and-only uniform in amateur wrestling, the singlet is about to get some competition, at least on the high school level, as the National Federation for State High School Associations has approved rule changes which will allow scholastic wrestlers the option to wear two-piece uniforms on the mat.

"If you host it, they will come."

That's the philosophy of a number of college wrestling programs that assumes fans will show up at their wrestle-offs, dual meets and tournaments with minimal advertising, promotion and media coverage. That idea may work at some powerhouse programs with a long-established tradition of fans finding their way to the wrestling venue ... but not all wrestling programs are blessed with that sort of legacy of fan support.

As a wrestling coach, you want -- and expect -- your wrestlers to constantly improve. To gain new skills. To perform better each time they step out onto the mat. In the highly competitive environment that is wrestling, maintaining the same level of performance just isn't good enough.

That same idea of continuous improvement drives the folks at MatBoss, the product arising from a joint venture between InterMat and JP Chaos that brings together stats and video in one seamless solution that incorporates the technology of a tablet that most coaches and wrestling programs already have. The MatBoss App for iPad integrates wrestling stats directly into the video recorded for each match, eliminating the need for traditional, labor-intensive pencil-and-paper scoring.

John Peterson, former wrestling coach at Elk River High School in Minnesota for nearly three decades, is the "boss" behind MatBoss ... and what he describes as new "bells and whistles." These new features for 2016 make this already proven app even stronger and better for the upcoming season, helping coaches save even more time and labor, while gaining additional flexibility for a competitive advantage.

The 2015-16 college wrestling season is about to start ... and with that new season, some new rules to address issues such as injury timeouts, concussions, stalling ... along with clarification as to how to deal with scoring or timeclock issues like those in the 157-pound quarterfinals match between Cornell's Brian Realbuto and Kent State's Ian Miller at the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships last March.

 Ten weight classes has been a fixture of NCAA college wrestling for more than 60 years, starting with the NCAA wrestling championships in 1952 ... then expanded beyond the NCAAs in 1970 to include dual meets and tournaments. In other words, ten weight classes is what most of us have always known. However, some fans have argued that it would be smart to expand to eleven weight classes ... with a number of these proponents pushing for a new weight somewhere between today's 197 and 285 pound classes -- say, 220-230 pounds -- for a number of reasons, most notably, to expand opportunities for today's larger athletes, especially football players.