bulldog-leader

As I have stated in earlier posts. I support middle school kids wrestling middle school region and state no matter what they wrestled throughout the year. This is so that smaller programs can still develop their kids with little or no support. I would also like to add. My son wrestled 131 this year. He had to compete against 3 of these middle school kids that competed in high school all year (Cooper, Jones, and Courtney). I have no objections to him placing lower in the state tourney because of these three. He had to scratch his way to a 4th place finish in regions because of the first two. He asked several times if he could move down a weight class to get away from them. My response was NO. Compete with the best and become the best. I told him to stay at 131 even though he was down to 127-128 and in the week before region weighing 125 after practice one day. I am much more proud of his 6th place finish behind Cooper, Jones, and Courtney than if he placed 3rd if these middle school kids were not allowed to compete. Remember wrestling builds character in our youth. It builds determination and the resolve to overcome the thoughest obstacles in life. He will become a better wrestler and more importantly a better person because of his commitment to wrestling.

For my kids that would have been easy because we wrestled NO MIDDLE SCHOOL MATCHES. We had no Middle school team. Only middle school wrestlers who wrestled with the high school team. Their 1st year out they had to compete high school varsity or not wrestle at all. I had no assistant coach, no parental support and very little school support. As for the chance I took evill dad. A huge one if someone would have gotten hurt with a non-coach present I could have lost everything in a law suit. Yeah I know a stupid decision but I did it for the kid. (I only had one each year compete) Don't kill the struggling programs who barely keep their heads above water on the high school level. If you require a minimum of middle school matches teams like mine would never be able to have their kids compete at middle school region and state.

I understand your logistics on this eville dad but here lies the problem with this. While coaching at Holmes (9 years) I was the only coach for most of those years. I usually only had about 6-9 kids on the wrestling team, this included middle school wrestlers if I had any. I cannot be in two places at once. The only way for my middle school kids to get matches were to wrestle varsity. I had no one to take my middle school kids to a middle school event. (No parental support) Two years I sent a kid to the middle school regionals when they never competed in a middle school event. On both occasions I did not follow school policy and sent someone (with either the middle school kid or like I did last year with the high school varsity) that was not employed by the school system. I took a chance by doing this. According to your rule neither of these kids would ever be allowed to wrestle in the middle school regionals, or state. Is this fair? Prior to these two I did not send anyone because I had no way of getting them there.

Here is that picture of IPEA http://nrichie2345.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/bitterbeer.jpg

bigbossman; I am one of those past champions, and I believe that it is just another tournament. It is one of the better tournaments held in KY, and it allows the participants the chance to see the other districts that they may not see otherwise. However it is just another tournament. I would venture to guess that if Campbell, Simon Kenton or Ryle would have won the GMVA (I think that was the name) and won the state duals they would be more proud of winning the GMVA. I think we saw how important Ryle took the Ky state Duals this year. They choose to send their best team to an Ohio tournament instead of the qualifier to the Ky State Duals. I applaude them for the courage to do this. In the past many teams have declined the invitation to the State Duals. Its a great tournament but not an important tournament. Remember wrestling is an individual sport, or as some classify it, a group sport, not a team sport. This is what makes wrestling so great and makes so many people passionate about it. Wrestling becomes a life-style, because of its individuality. Football, baseball, basketball players do not take it as passionate as wrestlers and their fans do.

Hey IPEA; you may want to get that arm checked out. I'm sure one of your orthopedic buddies could fix that broken arm. :-D Maybe they can even set it up so that it will be easier for you to pat your own back, since you do it so often. :evil: :-o

I disagree about it should be the only tournament happening that weekend. Why should teams be forced to concede one weekend a year when they will never ever be involved with this tourney? The "real" state tourney is at the end of the season so wrestlers and teams will not have to compete after this tourney so are not at a disadvantage by not wrestling one weekend and then competing in the next. Why do we need to make it soooo important? The teams that participate in the tourney already take it as one of the most important tourneys in their schedule. I have coached both type of teams. Campbell 12 years as an asst. and Holmes for 9 years. If my kids at Holmes would have had to take that weekend off, the only thing it would have done for them was put them at an even bigger disadvantage then they were already in. They would never have participated or even spectated the event ($$ and parental support would not allow the later) But those individuals that could compete in the individual state tourney could participate in another tourney that weekend to still hone and improve their wrestling abilities.

Sorry dagger but you perked my interest and had to look this one up. I believe he was one of the most dominant in the state also but we must get the stats correct. After dusting off my state brackets. I found this. David Ritchie Fresh. 98lbs 1st and 2nd round pins. Loss to Whelan 14-10. Defeated Barnes 18-12 then defeated See 11-3 for a 3rd place finish. Soph. 105lbs 1st round pin. 2nd round defeated Nohalty 18-0 (no tech pins back then) Simis pin, Finals pin. Jr. 112lbs 1sd and 2nd round pins. Defeated Jamie Baugh 12-6 in semis. Finsals pin of John Poindexter. Sr. 112lbs (8 man bracket becuase of Semi state tourney) 1st round pin. 2nd round defeated Zack Means 3-0 Finals pin. Came close to pinning through but fell short each year. Side note: I know this is on another thread; John Poindexter could be added to that list of greatest never to win a title.

I believe all of the Cincinnati tourneys went on as scheduled. I know that Campbell was looking at trying to attend 3 or 4 tourneys. They finally were allowed to attend the Lockland Tourney that started last night.

Wrong guy wrestling4life; Blevins wrestled Hwt both his Jr. and Sr. year. He did wrestle a couple of matches at 215 his Jr. year. (I beleive only in the NKAC). He prefered wrestling the big guys. I can only remember 1 guy he never defeated at 215 or lower. SK?

I seem to agree with you here. Larue fans are outrageous at times. And the whole forfeit out when you have the dual won or lost (as the middle school team this last weekend), sticks in my craw.

119Rider; If you are who I think you are from your litlle hints you dropped. You earned my respect and addoration before your final match of your high school career. I was one of the only ones outside of Wky who believed in the outcome of that final match before it happened. It should have gained you the MVW. You got my vote that year.

I'm 99% sure that this weight class can be relieved that Keven Cooper will not be at 124. He will be wrestling 131 for middle school. My son has wrestled him twice at this wt. and I have asked if he will stay at 131, and I got everything but a definite yes. And you are correct he would probably win any wt. from 124-150. My son's only losses at 131 in KY are to him and they weren't even close.

Jamie Baugh was a great wrestler and individual. He was never snub on or off the mat. I had some battles with him over the years. He was a year younger than me. He would beat me early in a close match then I would defeat him later in the year in another close match. After graduation I met up with him several times with kids who were injured and he helped out those kids with getting Dr. appointments and supplies. Great individual had heart of gold.

Was from Holmes I repeat WAS. I no longer coach at Holmes nor would I ever demand my kids get seeded. I am one of those coaches that don't like my kids seeded until regions. (One year I showed up Golsby was a 4th seed, had defeated the #2 seed. I sent my info in via e-mail with all his records attached. I told them to keep the seeds as is, Golsby went on to win the tourney) I did not want to delay the tourey because of a seed error. So no I was not the problem. Holmes now has a rookie coach, whom I have been trying to help out whenever I can. My recomendation to you would have been to tell him his kids could not be seeded. He only has one that maybe needed to be seeded anyway. And by the way yes you are correct it has not always been a problem. I may have slightly over-exagerated that. Last year we got out early, but I beeive it was one of the few times in the 9 years that I attended that it did get over early.

This has always been a problem at the TCI. To many teams, allowing JV wrestlers in the tourney and making brackets larger than needed. Seeding meeting on Thursday/Friday. Then re-seeding on Saturday morning. These are simple things to solve. 1. Seeding meeting before day of tourney and stick with it. If a coach does not send in his seeds then they don't get seeded. Even if a coach does not send in his wrestlers many times other coaches know the kid. Example: if Woodford does not send in seed info. Every coach knows that Courtney should be seeded 1st. Not rocket science. 2. Limit the number of teams, 10-12 teams should be plenty. This allows for some overflow. Teams without a full lineup. Yes there may be a 16 man bracket or two but a whole lot less matches. 3. Only allow JV wrestlers in the tourney if there is not a full 8 man bracket. No exceptions. 4. The one thing I like about the weigh ins in Ohio. They set a time 8-9. As soon as your team shows up you weigh in. No weight loss at the school. If your team shows up at 8:59 you weigh in at that time. Weigh ins close at 9:00. This allows teams to get there and plan for delays. 5. If you show up late your bus better have broken down or your team is out. I ran Region 6 tourney 2 years ago by myself. No assistant coach and only 2 sets of parents to help. I hired a competent score keeper. Held a seeding meeting day before. all was set. I was sitting in AppleBee's at by 9:00. After cleaning up and returning mats. All this with only 6 wrestlers. It can be done with little effort and a whole lot of planning. The TCI has been held for over 10 years they should have it right by now.

The union kid was Walls.

Mr Granby; You are correct that schools are set up for learning. However, what is academically stable? My son has a late birthday (early Sept) he was scheduled to be a 17 year old graduate. My wife started him early. (Those with late birthdays have an option of starting school at 4 because they turn 5 in a week or two or waiting). In the second grade he was making the grade (C's) but having to work hard for them. We decided to hold him back in the second grade. A couple of reasons for this. 1. He may no longer have to struggle to get only C's, 2. He would no longer be the youngest in his class, 3. He would graduate at the age of 18, the age that most graduate. 4. Finally he would not be 17 his senior year in sports (at the time I thought he would be in basketball). Since we made this decision his academic work has greatly improved. His attitude toward school has improved and he has made many more friends. Not to mention he is now wrestling, but I don't know if this made a difference or not, nor will I ever know. I do know that he is now as mature as the rest of his classmates, something he was not before we held him back. So yes there are many possible good reasons for retaining a child in the same grade. Don't assume that someone asked this question just because they wanted them to be held back for sports, they just wanted to make sure their child would still be eligible.

Camps and summer tourneys are to make $$$ for their program. As for the Raider Rumble don't get me started on that old sore thumb. Inviting us then telling us we can't come on Friday morning before the tourney. Most of the other top schools have this same dedication and belief in their team and program from grade school through high school and beyond.

the point system is that you are allowed 17 weigh ins per squad. Varsity has 17 and JV has 17. (NOT INCLUDING POST SEASON) If a team wrestles every saturday this year that is 11 weigh ins that leaves 6 weekday events.

The NKAC has changed several times in the last 10 years. To answer oldwrestler81 there is no original intent for the NKAC tournament. Most if not all the northern Kentucky schools have joined the NKAC. This group is intended to showcase Northern Kentucky athletics, not just wrestling. They have a Hall of Fame and a coaches association. Originally the NKAC wrestling tournament was an individual tournament that all the local schools attended in late Dec. or early Jan. The NKAC picked up the tab for the medals and the championship team picture plaque. All the profit is divided among the teams that attend the tourney. A few years after the state duals came along they changed the format to a round robin duals tournament with individual awards for the wrestler with the best record at each wt. class. This year it became a duals tournament with no individual awards because of the number of teams (11). Since the state duals started region 6 has used the NKAC to determine the two teams to represent region 6 in the state duals even before it became a duals competition. As for the contract to attend with your varsity team? This is not 100 percent true. When I asked about not attending the NKAC because my dual team could not compete and I wanted my wrestlers to wrestle another tourney, I was told I could not do so. I then asked if I could just send my best wrestler(s) to the NKAC. Which one year would have only been Glossy. I was once again told I shouldn't because we are suppose to send our best possible team to the tourney. (I wanted to send the rest of my team to a JV tourney because the rest were 1st year wrestlers or just not ready for a major tourney). Last year we (Holmes) had 4 wrestlers at the event and after injury and weather only had 1 wrestler on the second day, but I still attended when my whole team would have been better served if they attended a tourney with an individual setting. Ryle had every right to send whomever they wanted to the NKAC, but it is greatly frowned upon. So you are only half correct GOO. :-o

OK oldgrappler i can partialy fill in some. 70 1. Austin --Gray 2. Wells--Campbell 75 (Finals don't know the outcome) Hill - Twen Erdamn -Gray 117 1. Perez-Larue 2. Chamblee-Twen 124 (Finals don't know the outcome) Bergman-Twen Feaster-RADC 131 (You left someone out) (Bachman lost to Cooper in Semi's) 1. Cooper--Twen 2. Martin-- Ceha 3. Bachman--Camp 4. Shagan--Blue 140 1. Cote--Radc 2. Stadtmiller--Campbell 165 (you have the wrong finalist) Burgess--Danville Vs Clark--Cros 230 1. Bell--Larue 2. Porter--Danville Team 1. Twen 2. Larue 3. Campbell 4. Gray

in 2007 Golsby had many high scoring matches at the state tourney. Rd. 1. Ethan Whitt-------Won 18-7 Rd. 2. Matt Sullivan------Won 16-1 Rd. 3 Mitch Ervin--------Lost 10-9 Rd. 4. Zack Frazer-------Won 19-4 Rd. 5. Cory Armstrong----Won 7-3 Rd. 6. Brad Hitchings-----Lost 5-2 Rd. 7. Ryan Dillon--------Won 3-2 A total of 78 points and giving up 28 An average of 11.14 points a match and giving up an average of 4 points a match

If you have a coach that is unable or unwillig to spend time outside of practice. Ie: one on one after practice, or going over tapes then this is possible. But I would have to say that even if you have that many kids on a team with only one coach. The coach has several options. 1. Divide the team into several groups depending on experience. (refrain from dividing them into ability, because even if they are unsuccesful they still have the knowledge.) By doing this you can have several speeds of coaching. IE. moving faster with the most experienced kids. and staying with the basics with the most inexperienced. 2. The coach can take those wrestlers with the most experience (usually the senios) and make them player coaches. Meaning have them help the least experienced. Pair each experienced kid with an inexperienced kid. This will actually help both wrestlers. By teaching moves or technique the teacher becomes more proficient and will sometimes notice their own mistakes and weaknesses. 3. IF you have the space and time. Actually hold two practices. Experinced kid get instruction while the inexperience work on conditioning and weight training. Then swith 1/3 of the way through practice. Experienced work on conditioning while the inexperinced get instruction. Then 2/3 through practice have the entire team get together for live wrestling, team technique, team signals/code words, and team conditioning. This is the one I prefered and found to be most effective. Finally if you have a coach that is unable or unwilling to spend time outside of practice IE: one on one after practice to work on specific things. Or to view tapes and game plan. I would be looking for someone who can or will or pushing hard to find a parent or ex-wrestler to help out with coaching during practice. That last statement is not ment to downgrade any coach that is willing to spend at least some time with the team. But I find it hard to believe that any coach is unwilling to put extra time into the team he is coaching. Unless he has taken the team just to keep it from folding until someone else can take over. (If the last is the case then I applaude you for steping up to the challenge, and would add that there are many people willing to help out if you ask and actively look for them. Even coaches from other teams will help out. The Ky wresting community is one big family usually willing to help out one another if you ask. It is what has helped our sport grow and increased the competitiveness throughout the state.

This question is kind of loaded. Being that for the 9 years that I coached at Holmes I was in essence the only coach for about 5 of them, I may be more qualified than others to answer this question. 1st Most teams that only have 1 coach usually have very small teams (not able to fill 1/2 the wt. classes). 2nd You will also have to take into account the parent backing. I came to Holmes in 2000 I had huge expectations. I was the assistand at Campbell for 12 years proir, plus young and gung ho. My record speaks for itself. The team in no way was as competitive as others in Nky but we had our fair share of talent (Matt Gibson, Craig Spicer, Daniel Blevins and John Golsby) With video equipment, tape recorders (for notes) or just pencil and paper a coach can still improve each wrestler no matter how many there are. The biggest problem with these teams are people to wrestle at practice. Example: Golsby (The most successfull I had at Holmes) had no-one to wrestle at practice his Junior and Senior year. Yet he was still able to develop into a better than average wrestler. On a larger team I believe that he would definatly have become an even better wrestler from the daily competition at practice. To answer your question YES (1) coach is able to still make a difference if he is willing to put the large amount of time into it. Plus if he puts this much time into it others will take notice and offer their help latter. Many of my ex-wrestlers came back to help because they knew that I needed the help.