Greg Dunnigan, 38, received his third official warning from tournament staff at Saturday’s Tri-County Youth Grappling Invitational in Bakersfield before his daughter’s second match had even started.
The first warning, issued at 9:47 a.m., was for coaching from the stands. Dunnigan is not a registered coach. He does not hold a coaching credential from any recognized grappling organization. He is, by his own description, “basically a coach” who has watched “hundreds of hours of competition footage” and once attended an open mat at a gym he did not join.
The second warning came at 10:15 a.m. after Dunnigan approached the referee’s table to dispute an advantages call in his daughter Chloe’s first match. Chloe is seven. The match was three minutes long. The advantages call was correct.
“He had a screenshot on his phone,” said tournament director Pam Ogilvie. “Of a YouTube video. Of a different tournament. In a different rule set.”
The third warning — which, per tournament policy, is supposed to result in removal from the venue — was issued at 10:34 a.m. after Dunnigan was observed filming an opposing child’s warmup routine from approximately four feet away. When the child’s mother asked him to stop, Dunnigan explained he was “scouting.”
“She’s eight,” the mother said. “She was doing jumping jacks.”
Dunnigan was not removed from the venue. He was moved to a designated seating area near the concession stand, which he described as “basically a penalty box situation” and from which he continued to signal instructions to Chloe using hand gestures he developed himself. Chloe did not look at him. Chloe has never looked at him during a match. This is, per Ogilvie, “not unusual for the children.”
Chloe lost her second match by advantages. She shook her opponent’s hand, collected her participation medal, and ate a bag of goldfish crackers in the hallway.
On the car ride home, Dunnigan began reviewing competition footage on his phone — propping it against the steering wheel at red lights — and outlining a formal protest he intended to submit to the tournament’s organizing body. The protest cites “inconsistent refereeing standards” and includes three time-stamped screenshots and a diagram Dunnigan drew on a napkin at the venue.
Chloe, who was in the back seat watching a movie on a tablet, said: “I was actually having fun until you got here.”
Dunnigan did not respond to this comment. He was already composing an email to the tournament director requesting the full scoring records for Chloe’s division.
He has registered Chloe for two additional tournaments this month. Chloe has requested to go to her friend Mia’s birthday party instead. The party conflicts with the first tournament. Dunnigan has described this as “a scheduling issue we’ll work through.”