Zeus

Damn Nike Man, I didn't realize you were THAT old hahaha!

I would support the idea.

I think the way to grow the sport is through youth and college programs. With youth the reason why is obvious, college not so much so I'll explain. A high school wrestler who competes in college has a greater understanding of the sport as they are now exposed to others from outside Kentucky and the higher level of competition simply by moving up. These wrestlers are also more likely to become involved in coaching because they know quality coaching is needed at all levels in Kentucky, something we're sorely lacking in our state. These former college wrestlers are going to fill in the gaps we have at all levels, therefore not just growing the sport but also improving the quality of wrestling in Kentucky, which in turn will help the sport grow even more. Why do I bring this up? Go support the new programs that have started programs in Kentucky by attending their duals and helping them with fundraising. Take your teams to go watch, most of the programs won't charge your for admission. Force the dual meets to be held in the basketball arena instead of the wrestling practice room so that it gets noticed more by the local media. Let these current coaches and administrators tell other small colleges in Kentucky about the interest they've had at their school, perhaps inspiring more to start programs. This will accelerate the cycle I outlined above about former college wrestlers becoming involved in coaching.

...and this is why I think you have to get their attention. I would argue that the coaches know the sport best since they actually wrestled, some collegiately, and they're the ones in the trenches building programs to grow the sport. Every single coach I talked to over the weekend, some of which are on the advisory committee, expressed disgust for most of the new changes, especially the finals format and awards ceremony. It appears that the advisory committee is simply a scapegoat. When I spoke with one of the assistant commissioners about the changes, I was told I need to go through the advisory committee. My question is though, if you're not going to listen to the committee then why have it? Just tell the wrestling community that you yourselves have decided to make changes and we'll have to deal with it. Don't make Tim Ruschell, I just picked a name from the committee, look bad by saying that they approved of the changes when I don't think they actually did. Also, the conference call for the coaches was held at 2:00 pm. Many of the coaches are teachers and therefore couldn't participate in the call. All coaches were notified via email two days before about the call. If I was a businessman and had something scheduled at that time I wouldn't have been able to participate either. The KHSAA has not been receptive to input from the coaches, including the advisory committee.

You make some good points, especially comparing wrestling to other sports that are struggling. However without discussing the issues we have how are we to go about trying to fix them? One of the region presidents told me a couple of years ago that at the beginning of the annual coaches/KHSAA meeting before the state tournament, the first thing Mike Barren or Julian Tackett said was that nothing is going to change, basically ignoring everything the coaches were going to say, before they said it! Saying that wrestling isn't the only sport with problems is a valid point, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to fix those issues, especially when it was perfectly fine a couple of years ago (specifically regarding the finals format). I'm glad to see them using eight mats this year and I hope they'll use the extra time on Friday afternoon to wrestle the quarterfinal round, which would make Saturday's long day much better.

I don't think the boos were directed at Heidorf but rather the way the match was officiated, especially since the awards ceremony was immediately after the match. However I can see how it would be taken negatively by the Trinity program. I will speculate and say that the boos during the 138 ceremony were against Bindner himself just because of the way I have heard people talk about him. Booing the officiating is ok, the wrestler himself is not unless he does something to warrant the negative attention.

I was just suggesting ways to get the KHSAA's attention, which that would certainly do as Coach Bankemper said out of 22 or something sports that the wrestling state tournament is their 4th biggest money-maker. In no way to I WANT to boycott the state tournament, just to get the KHSAA's attention. In what other ways could we do this then?

I say use the media. A suggestion I made before is to boycott the state tournament. You might have to hit the KHSAA where it hurts for them to listen to us.

Not sure about big comebacks as far as matches go but Erdman wrestling back to 3rd place after losing first round is worth mentioning.

Was Roberts awarded a penalty point for the choke?

I hate to suggest this but what about the fans boycotting the tournament? The wrestlers and coaches would be there to compete but everyone else stay home, mom and dad too. They know people will come anyway because there is no other choice so they do whatever they want. Since the only thing they seem to care about is money maybe you have to hit them where it hurts. This won't be a popular idea, in addition to the complications of organizing it, but maybe it would get real results.

I think he meant to start coming this way so they won't get stuck in the snow early Saturday morning. I agree but imagine some programs can't afford to stay overnight, which sucks.

I realize there are options for both styles but what would the price difference be between a "normal" singlet and a "normal" double, since that's what this uniform was originally called.

If it would bring more kids into the fold then I'm all for it. I can see a one-year transition where both kinds of uniforms are acceptable. However I think at any given tournament a team should have to use only one kind of uniform or else everyone will be completely confused, counteracting the growth the sport will have. If they send their jv team to a different tournament then those kids could wear the singlets. Are the new uniforms currently acceptable by the NFHS and/or the KHSAA?

Haha true, was confusing you with Coach Moore who does the rankings I guess. We met at the tournament on Saturday.

One way to do it is to only consider wrestlers who's coaches entered in information (head to head) on trackwrestling. However I wouldn't be willing to sit through a meeting and talk it out. I would trust Coach Moore or someone unbiased who's proven to have the best interest of the sport do it for everyone. This would require the coaches to enter their lineups by like Tues, and then head to head info by Thur to give him time to sort it out. Those last-minute entries would then have to be drawn in, no matter what their record is. Even though I think this would work it wouldn't solve the problem of deciding on the criteria.

I second Nike Man's appreciation to Coach Moore for hosting. What would be your recommendations on how to seed JV kids? What criteria would you use? I think all in-season tournaments should be seeded, including the varsity state tournament, but would find this difficult to do. Using only stats from jv matches for criteria would hurt the stud that's behind a state champ. Using mixed jv and varsity is going to unfairly affect the jv level wrestlers because they're normally not going to have a good overall record. Normally I wouldn't care about that aspect but it is a jv tournament.

Region 7 is meeting as I write this.

He certainly has earned it, I hope he wins it again.

I spoke to Andreoni's dad and he said the whole team didn't attend, I think... or he may just have been referring to Heidorf.

Where was Vasquez at 138?

I've also heard that Cagen Wallace has dropped to 106 and that Deck is out for the season due to injury at 113.

It would be quite a contrast of styles I imagine!

Any significant weight changes on the last day to certify at a new, presumably lower, weight class?

Wasn't there a girl from KY that was nationally ranked for girls? Wrestled for South Oldham I believe in the early 2000s.