Unicorn Warrior

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Posts posted by Unicorn Warrior

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Former 2x state runner up Sheldon Clark wrestling standout Brad Stafford has been hospitalized after falling from a truck while at work. He is in critical condition with severe head trauma. His chances have improved from yesterday, but he still has a long way to go. He and his family could really use your prayers right now.

  2. Posted · Report reply

    From experience I can honestly say that the best players on my highschool football team were wrestlers. They were both physically and mentally tougher. Not only does wrestling help out with athletic abilities, but I believe that it builds a confidence that participants in most other team sports do not get. Its just the attitude and how a wrestler carries himself. On my team you could easily tell who was a wrestler and who wasnt by their attitude and the way that they played. It was men amongst boys.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    By this logic having state in Frankfort discounts the presence of Region 1 in the west. By driving distance and time Region 1 is on average 204.33 miles and 209.92 minutes away from the Farnham Dudgeon. The longest drive distance/time in Region 1 from Farnham Dudgeon is Calloway County at 263 miles and 269 minutes.

    In contrast, if the state was held in Louisville than Region 8 on average would be 190.17 miles and 205.50 minutes away from Louisville. The longest drive distance/time for Region 8 is Letcher County Central at 222 miles and 250 minutes.

    So, by having the state tournament in Louisville as opposed to Frankfort we are actually asking Region 8 to take on LESS of a burden than what is currently asked of Region 1.

    *All of these driving times/distances are provided by Google Maps and are of course approximations.

    It doesnt really matter to me either way, But how many teams are in region 8/region 1? Have you taken into consideration the wrestling community population and not just state census statistics? Just curious as to what you come up with

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Wrestling is a cheap sport to start and participate in and small schools would jump on board if they saw other schools enjoying more success.  In our area, wrestling is something people think that Woodford county does.  More state champions means more exposure and would mean more competitors. 

    When I recruit wrestlers, I use the elementary state.  I tell kids that they can win a state championship and that in elementary, they can not do that in football or basketball.  I have been able to get many kids interested and participating and many of those kids have placed or won the elementary state. 

    Financially, small schools can not compete with traditional powers and big schools.  How many coaches can a school employ.  How many kids does a school have in the program for kids to compete against every practice.  I think that the idea of one wrestler against one wrestler is a quaint idea, and not very realistic.

    A very strong point. A school with only a handful of wrestlers will have a hard time even competing in practice. There will be uneven matchups with drill partners. For example, A 189 may have to drill with a 152. Neither wrestler would get to experience wrestling someone of the same weight before going into a match.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    It honestly should only be up for discussion between the small schools. The big schools will neither gain nor lose anything in a split. The small schools are the only ones affected. Why should the small schools need approval and rely on votes from the large schools whether or not a split would be appropriate?

    Say it is watered down or not, the overall quality of wrestlers will not change, only the number of state champions will increase and also the number of wrestlers. If the total number of wrestlers increases, you also have the opportunity to improve the quality over time. Why are Kentucky Wrestlers better than they were 5 years ago? One of the biggest reasons is because of the number of teams and competitors has increased. More and more money are going into the top tier teams to build their programs. The top teams are traveling to the best tournaments in the nation and going to the best camps money can buy. Follow Trinity, Ryle, and Union. Where are their kids going to summer camps, how far are they traveling to tournaments?

    While you do face another competitor the same weight class as you, they also have a much higher probability of winning with the resources available to them in their local communities and within their own schools budget. I assure you, the athletic budget of a 5a/6a team is not the same as a 2a.

    In the past 2 years, I have noticed a much more drastic drop in the competitiveness of small schools. Throw out the outliers Union and Larue, many of the small town wrestling programs close to extinction in another 2-5 years. Wait and see, the small towns in Kentucky have been hit hardest by the economy and it will affect the families in those locations. Sports really do bring communities together. Do you think LaRue would be who it is today if the community wasn't behind that program? As great as the coaches are in that program, if they were building a team from scratch in a small town rural area today, competing against striving teams in the big league, it would take sooooo much longer to get to the level they are at today, if at all. The LaRue and Union County teams were built much earlier than the world Kentucky Wrestling is in right now. Please name me any NEW small town team that is holding ground without the strong tradition built in the mid 80's and late 90's. You're talking at least 10-20 years of tradition.

    All that being said, the truth is, the KHSAA does not want to split wrestling because if wrestling splits, basketball will fight to be split. And the KHSAA never wants that to happen.

    I agree 100%

  10. Posted · Report reply

    This final tourney that has been passed around. 

    Will never happen.  A kid who has worked his rear end off to become a state champion, and finally achieves this goal, will not have enough determination to actually go to or wrestle his best at a "Finals tourney".

    I'm sure they would not care to prove theirselves. Thats like saying, Why would a state champ return the next year to defend his title? Does everyone who works their rear off and achieves their dream give up? I don't think so. They step up to the challenge. Thats what separates the good from the bad. You have to be willing to step up. And if not, I'm sorry to say but your in the wrong sport. I don't want to argue, but I feel that 2 divisions would help our state out. Other states have had success from it. I think it would do the same for us.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Wrestlers don't want to be one of three or four state champs- they want to be THE state champ. If you're going to divide everyone up, then I suggest the state meet finish with all the division champions wrestling one another to determine the best. THEN you have a state champion. (In other words, I think the idea of this, for wrestling, is ridiculous- let the young men wrestle.)

    I like the idea of a final meeting. But as for the wrestlers not wanting to be one of 2 state champs (Keep in mind that Kentucky does not have enough for more than 2 divisions), I think your wrong. I believe there are plenty of kids that would love the opportunity to have the title of state champ. In my opinion I think that competition within the smaller schools would increase because the prize of state champion would be more achievable. Same thing with large schools. Besides, you could take the top 8 from the small school state tourny and top 8 from large school and make a 16 man bracket for a final tournament.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    I have another point to mention. If there were 2 divisions, there would be 4 state finalist eligible for senior nationals. We would double our input at the national level. And for those who say it strips the meaning of state champ, that is why they go to nationals and prove theirselves.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Good point, but what Mathound is saying is that WV has not seen growth since going to a class system.  So that isn't necessarily the answer.  I personally think we are well on our way.  Look at the participation at youth state this year.  Given all of the talk about how the association went the wrong direction with holding the state tournament on Sunday after HS state (with some very valid points), the turnout was still amazing.  And I would guess that middle school participation is growing as well.  What we really need most, and has already been mentioned a thousand times by others (so I won't take any credit), is support from alumni.  We need more/better officials around the state and we need more coaches to help support these new and growing youth teams.  It may not be glamorous, but it is extremely important to the growth in KY to give these little guys the help they need and to help our programs run well so parents and kids have a good experience.

    He said that West Virginia split in 1977. I'm sure that the teams have grown pretty fairly since then. On the other hand, it would probably be hard to figure out how many teams they had in 77.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    I'm pretty much in the middle, I like letting the guys that want to wrestle against the big schools for a championship do that. However, I see why the small guys would want to wrestle in a smaller division, you have less depth in the room to train and get better. How can a team with 10 wrestlers compete with someone with 80 and 2,000 male bodies in the school? Larue, Union, Sheldon Clark, and Wayne County are out of the ordinary small schools. Of course they can compete, they have an established program with very strong tradition AND youth programs for years. What about the small schools without strong community support and tradition? Where do they stand? Ask a AA football team how they feel about winning a state football championship. I guarantee you NO ONE is saying... oh but X or Trinity would kill you... how does that make you feel? To that community, trust me, it still means a lot.

    And although there is all that argument about depth, I'm still torn about the argument about how it will help increase wrestling programs. Does anyone know of a school AD that is saying they won't start a program because they can't compete? I don't really see any proof or data that says it in fact will increase growth.

    Look at West Virginia... they have 86 teams. 40 AAA and 46 A/AA. They split in 1977 and Kentucky has pretty much the same number of teams as them following in the low 80's. Now, if you told me WV had over 120 teams, and that the number increased by a large amount after the split, sure, then I have data telling me that classification does in fact promote growth, however, I just don't see any numbers backing up this argument.

    This should obviously be a subject that is thought through very carefully... especially since once you split, there will be no going back.

    Ok, so West Virginia has roughly the same amount of wrestling teams as Kentucky. Now look at this statistic. Total population of Kentucky 4.2 million. Total Population of West Virginia 1.8 million. So a state with not even half of the population of ours is putting out around the same amount of participants. I wonder why?

  16. Posted · Report reply

    I agree with Lowsingle. When you live in a small community, there are slim pickings as far as getting individuals out for wrestling. If small schools could compete against other small schools, it would give the wrestlers more of an incentive to improve on their skill because of a higher chance of success. It would give the wrestlers hope. Ultimately drawing more kids out for our sport.

    I'm not completely sure on this but I believe that there are only about 3 states that have a state tournament that isn't divided by classes. Those states to my knowledge are:    California with a total state population of about 38 million

    Pennsylvania with a state population of 12 1/2 million

    Kentucky with a total state population of around 4 million

    (I am just going by what I was told this by a California wrestler at nationals. Please correct me if I'm wrong)

    2 out of those 3 states have pretty good success on the national level. The other, unfortunately, not so much.

    The population indicates that Kentucky compared to California and Pennsylvania just does not have enough wrestlers to make most teams on a competitive level. I think that is why other states have adopted the method of a class systemand have had "more" success nationally. It brings more attention to the sport. If a small town hears about their local highschool team winning a state championship it sparks interest. The community is likely to get involved and follow. More kids would be interested in the sport. That would ultimately mean more participants in the sport. More participants means a greater chance of national recognition.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    it has a lot to do with balance. wrestlers with good hips can avoid dangerous situations. A wrestler with good hips who is faced with a dangerous situation often overcomes it by getting the edge in a scramble. try to get in a lot of scrambling situations while practicing to help.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    maybe its just me, but i love it being in frankfort. i've been attending the State Tournament since 1999, and i can't imagine it being anywhere else. think about the atmosphere during saturday, the pre-finals hoopla party, and how awesome the arena is during finals. The Civic Center may have it's draw-backs, but when it comes to finals, and the atmosphere period, its the best arena around.

    I agree

  22. Posted · Report reply

    After attending this last khsaa championship, I was wondering how our State tournament compares to others.

    I have participated in 5 Ky state tournaments and attended 6 as a spectator. Our own state tourney is something I find to be the most exciting event around. I've been to pro and college sporting events as well, but it just doesn't compare.

    When the lights go out for the finals, the energy and emotion of the crowd is one of a kind. The balloons, body paint, glow sticks, music, celebrations and the cheers and even the boos is all a unique and unforgettable experience. Every year, even after graduating, I still feel that same exciting feeling I felt in 3rd grade when I watched it all for the first time.

    I have not ever seen another state tournament, but I feel like Kentucky does it bigtime. I could be wrong.

    Do any other state tourneys share the same enthusiasm as we do here in the bluegrass?

  23. Posted · Report reply

    I agree. It is pretty interesting to watch the wrestlers celebrate. It is a moment when everyone has their eyes on you, and for a brief moment, you can let go of your emotions. I believe that if a wrestler has worked hard enough to obtain a title than he has earned the right to celebrate.