Charger Coach

jpizar83, nice post and I agree to a point. You also helped to make my point. What a kid's priority might be depends on that kid as you also stated. Your priority, as well as dinibus and Mr. Granby, was to be an AA. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and I respect that, but as a whole, I think that most kids of high school wrestling age don't share that same goal. Should a kid set his goals as high as possible, absolutely! However, the simple fact is that not every kid can be Cael Sanderson, Ken Chertow, Dan Gable, etc so setting goals of being an AA, NCAA champ or whatever simple aren't feasable let alone reasonable. There's also nothing wrong with a kid setting his goal as simply making state, or going a little higher and even setting his goal as placing or beyond because those goals are as high as possible for them. Like I've stated before, I wrestled in IN, but have become a part of the wrestling community in KY since I coached here. I would like to see the state of KY become more prominent on the national level as well and would like to see the sport grow much larger in this state. Would kids competing and excelling on the national level help that cause, sure it would to a point, but if we want the sport to grow in this state (and this has been a debate on this site before), we need to develop more avenues in the state for kids, like more youth programs, high school programs and yes, even college wrestling, but of all these, first and foremost should be youth programs. A lot of little people around the state don't know about some of the great wrestlers in this state past and present except for kids/parents/coaches/fans currently in the wrestling community. Let's face it, a lot of kids know about Kentuckians in college and in the pros in sports like baseball, football, basketball, etc even if they're not into that sport simply because there is more mainstream exposure. I see regular season baseball, football, etc games played on TV and covered in the media all the time, but not wrestling unless it's the postseason (HS or NCAAs) or Olympics. Since wrestling will probably never achieve that same national exposure, it takes the people currently in the wrestling community to recruit kids and get them into wrestling first, not getting kids placing high at national tournaments. The more kids that are in the sport, the more exposure it will gain and so on. It's a vicious cycle.

Well, I didn't wrestle in KY, I wrestled in IN. I was a decent wrestler, but far from great. I did make it to semi-state after only my 2nd year of wrestling and was 1 match away from going to state, which in IN, I think is a pretty nice accomplishment. I wanted to be a state champ. Being an AA would be nice, no doubt, but I had to be honest with myself. I would have been destroyed by some of those kids so although being an AA would be great and all, being a state champ was my foremost goal. I was much better at football and that's where my priorities were so I gave up wrestling after that year. I made all-state and started thinking bigger like college. I went to college and played football and made all-conference, but that's it. I realized I wasn't good enough to play at the next level so that's where it ended. I guess my point is that my situation, both in wrestling and football at least in my opinion, would be what "most" kids' situations or mindsets are. Honestly, when you all were little kids, which one of you didn't dream of a situation like the World Series, bottom of the ninth, two outs, down by three, bases loaded, etc or whatever a similar situation might have been for the sport you loved most? But once kids begin to move forward in their organized sports careers, dreams and aspirations change. That's what I was trying to say. That's when priorities begin to depend on the what the individual wants and that's where I think priorites can't be generalized, i.e. state champ or AA for wrestling in high school, AA or NCAA champ for college, etc. On a side note, congrats to John, Caleb and Jordan. You represented KY well. Looking forward to seeing these kids wrestle this year and for years to come.

Both an excellent and very valid point there GOO. As for the whole "would a kid rather be a state champ or an AA", well I think that would depend on the individual and can't be just a generalized point. If a kid knew he had no shot at being an AA at Fargo or wherever, but knew he had a shot to be a state champ, obviously I think they would choose being a state champ. However, if a kid had already won a state championship, was truly looking to make a name for himself, looking to attract attention from major college coaches and / or also thought they had a shot at placing at a large national tournament, I think they would choose being an AA. I think when most kids start wrestling and eventually make their way to high school, being a state champ would foremost in their mind. However, as a kid begins to notice their potential or lack there of, that's when the aspirations of being more than just a state champ or not begin to take priority and things like being an AA at a major tournament or obtaining that college scholarship for wrestling become more important. If I had to say which one "most" kids would rather be, I would say most would rather be a state champ because they don't have any aspirations beyond high school wrestling. But there are those few who want more and being an AA is what they would rather be. I think the same thing holds true for other kids who play other sports. When kids 1st start out playing football or whatever, they can't wait to play on their high school team. Once they realize their potential, they start thinking bigger like all-state, then maybe college scholarship. If they get that college scholarship, they begin thinking of starting for their college team, then making all-conference, etc. If they excel at that next level then dreams and hopes of playing professional start to take priority. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my opinion anyway.

Derek Nickel will be part of this class for Lindsey Wilson. He'll be wrestling 197/HWT. Congrats Derek

Depending on how far into Kentucky you would want to travel, I'd try the Dragon Invitational at South Oldham H.S. Very competitive individual tournament. If you're looking for dual tournaments, probably the Oldham County Super Duals would be your best bet near Louisville. I'm sure there are other good ones throughout the state. Finally, there's the 5 star. A well run tournament that combines duals and individual.

103 Ben Denny 12 5- 1 3rd 112 Derek Scott 9 4- 2 4th 119 Chris Skaggs 12 6- 2 4th 125 Alan Oliver 12 4- 1 2nd 130 Billy Whitehouse 12 4- 1 2nd 135 Will VanNostrand 12 3- 3 6th 145 Steve Lovewell 12 5- 0 1st 152 Jamie Cantrell 12 4- 2 7th 160 Nick Fiser 12 5- 0 1st 171 Greg Minwell 12 5- 2 4th 189 Patrick Sims 12 5- 2 7th 215 Taylor Scherer 9 3- 3 6th 275 Nathan Pulliam 11 5- 2 4th Here are the South Oldham results from 2003. The next closest team to them was 75 or so points away. Only guy who didn't place was their 140 (I feel real bad for that guy). I think what was the icing on the cake for Coach Fiser was the fact his son won the 160 that year. 13 out of 14 of your wrestlers place and your son wins his weight class. That has to be about the best feeling you can have as a coach.

It's changed a little since I wrestled there, but I believe they take top 4 in sectional, top 3 in regional and top 4 from semi-state. It used to be top 2 from sectional, top 3 from regional and top 4 from semi-state, but sectionals were much smaller then.

By Lewis, you mean Josh Lewis? If so, don't think he can wrestle his teammate in the finals.

Indiana's was last weekend as well. Their postseason starts 2 weeks before Kentucky has their regionals because to make it to state in Indiana you have to finish high enough at sectional, regional and semi-state, but their state tournament is the same weekend as Kentucky.

This is a fun topic to debate, but a tough one to compare. What makes this tough to compare is the fact the teams are only a year apart. What I mean by that is for example, and I know someone had mentioned Wright vs. Lewis, but you have to keep in mind that we are comparing Josh Lewis from this year vs. Diante Wright from last year. I think Lewis wins. Now if we were comparing Lewis from LAST year vs. Wright, the outcome would be much tougher to call. Obviously some matchups would be easier to call the winners than others. Union would win @ 119, 130, 135, 140 & 160 & Trinity would win @ 112, 171, 189 & HWT. If I had to compare, the dual would come down to which team would win the 103, 145, 152 & 215 matches. With that being said, I would give the edge to Union. Could Elam's strength overcome Fahy's technique? Would Isaac Ervin from last year beat Grant Ohlmann from this year? Also, even though Messina has placed the last 2 years at state, I still see the Messina vs. Griggs matchup as a toss-up. Like I said, this is a tough one to compare.

A college coach would be foolish not to give this young man an offer. Only three years of wrestling and 2 state titles, especially with all that speed, power and athletic ability. His upside is tremendous.

How ironic is it that you ask the question has any team every had 4 or 5 state champs and not won the team title and then Union has 4 this year and doesn't win it.

Rumor has it, after Thanksgiving dinner, instead of heading outside for a game of backyard football, they put on the headgear and head downstairs to the wrestling mats for a basement brawl / last man standing type thing. lol

Well put MatMama. I usually don't agree with a lot you say, but on this one I do. I'm personally not a Justin Davis or Eastern fan. I know the years that I coached, when I watched Justin Davis, his "antics" or the way he carried himself seemed to be cocky, but then again, I don't know the kid, so I can only judge what I see and not what I know. However, he deserves his recognition for what he has accomplished. I think it's great when parents back all the wrestlers on a team, not just their kids. I know from personal experience that doesn't always happen. I was fortunate to have a group of 2 or 3 parents help me out with all of our kids when I coached at Doss. Outside of that core group, we had many kids whose parents never saw them wrestle. I can remember times when I had to leave work Friday night / Saturday morning, drive all the way to the West end of Louisville to pick kids up, drive back to the South end to Doss to pick up other kids, then drive to tournaments in other counties. After the tournaments, I would drive kids back to the West end and then drive all the way back home to the East end. If I couldn't do such, then that group of parents always had my back. That's just part of it. Often times myself and that core group of parents would buy wrestling shoes and headgear for some of the kids because if we didn't, they wouldn't be able to wrestle because their parents wouldn't purchase those items for them. These kids became like family to me and I can see where the same thing has happened to you not just in Davis' case, but all kids on Eastern's team. For that I applaud you. I can also say, I know of many other times you have posted of other wrestlers and their abilities on this website so people can't say you've limited your comments to Justin Davis.

Most of the Region 3 #1 seeds are ranked below 10th. In fact there are 2 who are ranked 19th (112) & 25th (HWT). I'm not saying it's not justified, I'm just saying there are others ranked low. There are a fe of weight classes where all 4 of a certain Region's state qualifiers are ranked higher than another Region's #1 seed. It does happen.

Exactly! Sounds like your coaches don't overcoach. They simply might see something you're doing that you don't notice you're doing and let you know. Or they might see something your opponent is doing that you don't see. It might be something as simple as you're carrying your elbow high during the collar tie.

No offense to the officials in this state, but don't our refs do that same thing? How many times do you honestly see stalling called in the regular season & then you get to state and stalling is called like crazy often times. A couple of years ago, I think I saw "unnecessary roughness" called twice the whole year and then at state, I saw it called two times in one match and another 5 or 6 times that I can recall. That's just the matches I was watching and obviously with 4 mats going at once, you can't watch all the action. Also, unless things have changed in the last 10 years as far as the Indiana rules are concerned, the banana split is a legal move. I got to watch one of my teammates make a kid actually groan out loud when he did it to him. Looked real painful too. No potentially dangerous call and the match wasn't stopped.

To a point, I disagree. Yes I agree that there are coaches who "overcoach". However, there is a reason for having a coach in your corner. Often times a coach can seen things from a different perspective than what the wrestler may be feeling on the mat. Different vantage point, different perspective. He might see something that's open that his wrestler can use to his advantage that the wrestler can't see.

I think your reading into his post a little too much. I believe what he was trying to say wasn't the fact that the Carrs try to interfere with other wrestlers. What he was trying to say was that if another wrestler becomes distracted by the Carrs as a byproduct of their coaching and loses focus on his opponent, then that's to his advantage. Lose focus on your opponent and you're in trouble. It's kind of like when a wrestler loses his cool during a match. More often than not they start to focus on whatever it is that's bothering them like poor officiating, etc. If they lose focus on what their out there to do (i.e. wrestling), then the advantage goes to their opponent. I'm thinking that is more along the lines of what he meant by his comment.

I almost forgot to mention, what made matters worse was nobody realized he was at his 5 match limit. They didn't catch it at the scorers' table, if anybody knows Mark he was clueless about the 5 match rule, I didn't know he was at his 5 match limit and neither did Coach Martin from DeSales and the match actually started. It wasn't until between the 1st and 2nd periods that anybody knew about he had reached the 5 match limit. The match was stopped then and the other kid was awarded the win. Obviously he was the winner before the match even started, but like I said nobody realized Mark was at his 5 match limit. Talk about salt in the wound.

I remember that. Doss had a kid named Mark Monroe at 160 last year. He wasn't the best wrestler by any means, actually average on a good day, but his whole goal was to make it to state even if he came in 5th and had to be an alternate. He hit his 5 match limit and had to forfeit the 5th place match. It's not right at all! I still took the kid to state and on my dime at that. Speaking of which, I was wondering, will the KHSAA reimburse me for their stupidity?

I second that.

Come on Kentucky10, you left off the best moves of all. How about the Cleveland Steamer, Dirty Sanchez, Blumpy & Oil Check?

I absolutely agree Ranger. Chiba is about as dominant as you can get for the 1st 2 minutes. If a fairly decent wrestler can get past the 1st period with him, he runs out of gas so quickly he becomes very vulnerable. Of course, as always, a lot depends on the draw at state. If 3 of those 4 get caught on the same side of the bracket it will definitely make for an easier run for the 1 who isn't on that side of the bracket.

Hard to believe that old140 was the 1st to mention Nickel on the list.