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Does anyone know what time the 1st session begins?

Thanks for doing this Charger! It's going to be a good day for wrestling in Kentucky!!

Is Trinity having open mats this Thursday?

Please post you open mats here and give times and days. If you're going to shut down for a couple of days or a week, list that, too. Thanks!

Will you have open mats the weeks of 7/8-7/11 and 7/15-7/18? Are you doing remote weigh-ins for the Bluegrass State Games this year?

Memorial has women's basketball and gymnastics in February. May be tough to find an open weekend.

Personally I would love to see it in Louisville, because Lexington either has or is getting everything else. The baseball state championship is also played there. But if you do it in Louisville, parking is the issue. Some places don't have enough, and others charge too much.

You guys did a fantastic job with this tournament! Other than the BGSG, this was our first youth tournament and we were very impressed.

Some promotion for wrestling may have already started,although not how we would have expected. The mainstream media has included wrestling in recent TV shows and movies (The Middle, Suburgatory, Diary of a Whimpy Kid), which is a good start and long overdue. I've also seen it on some of the young teen shows my kids watch on Disney and Nick. I have always thought that it would be pretty cool to see wrestling featured during half- time of a HS basketball game. Have the mats ready to go, roll them out, tape them down, then wrestle a couple of matches with wrestlers from each of the schools. Maybe just 1 minute periods. Have the announcer call the points when they're scored since most people don't understand and to create more excitement. Last year we had a Saturday dual against a rival school that had just added wrestling that season. It was the last Saturday before regionals and we had a pretty nice crowd. People were saying that if they knew it was that good, they would have come to more matches. Sometimes that's all it takes.

I really don't think Title IX is the issue in most cases, especially at medium to large schools like Ballard, Male (which has it now), etc.. Volleyball is the offset sport for wrestling at most schools. Field hockey for football. Every other male sport has a female sport counterpart. Regarding medium to large schools that don't have wrestling - Most schools don't want to dedicate the space to wrestling for a mat room, they certainly don't want to give up the gym, and there is an initial cost for a mat that must be covered and wrestling doesn't generate much revenue. Plus, if there is space that could be dedicated to wrestling, there are coaches in other sports that want that space and those sports already exist within the school. In some cases of schools that once had prominent wrestling programs, football coaches came in and took the wrestling space for their football team. Football coaches that don't like their players wrestling usually have 3 problems with it. The first is cutting weight, the second is the weight room time that wrestlers miss when they are wrestling. Both are absurd reasons, but it's all about perception. And the last is inuries, which is the most ridiculous reason I have heard coming from a football coach. It's not hard to find outstanding HS football players in the state of Kentucky that wrestled. JJ Jude, Mister Cobble, and Jordan Tenyson come to mind.

Where is Ascend Wrestling?

How long will you guys be doing open mat?

Thanks Coach! USA card and anything else? Also, are elementary kids allowed?

Any open mats July 10th -12th in Louisville?

Are you doing open mat after the dead period? If so, what days and times? Thanks

GOO - JCPS does not officially allow kids from outside J.C. to attend public schools inside the county. That's why people get creative with addresses (grandparents, for example) and such outside the county if they want to attend a public school inside J.C.. The Catholic schools gain a huge advantage in this area. And I agree it's not a problem if a kid opts to go to a private high school after attending public elementary and middle schools within J.C.. That has always been an option and should continue to be one. You eluded to the fact that many kids that wrestled in the Fern Creek system ended up at private schools. Again, that's their druthers. But what is a problem is that kids in the JCPS system can go to almost any high school they choose, including other public schools. All someone needs to do is look at the Dixie Hwy. area and how much PRP has grown while schools in the area such as Doss, Valley, and Western have shrunk in overall student body numbers. Same with Waggener, Moore, Iroquois, etc. It's within the rules, but should the rules be changed? I understand Coach K's sentiment about the lack of Catholic high schools outside J.C., but should those kids be able to compete in sports when they can't at a public school? I think Manual, Male, Ballard, and some others could make a case for getting out of county kids. There are no traditional programs or magnet career academies outside of J.C. either, or none that I know of.

I don't think Trinity or St. X recruit...they don't need to recruit. However, I do think they have a distinct advantage due to the fact that they can bring in "out of county" talent to help their athletic programs and public schools can't, at least not in Jefferson County. I'm not sure how many kids on the Trinity or St. X wrestling teams were from outside of Jefferson County this year, but having the option sure could help them. It has in other years and sports. So, the Jefferson County public schools end up competing against more talented teams from Trinity and St. X and the county schools that lost them suffer. I don't think the balance is very good with regards to this policy. JMO

I read the Herald Leader both Friday and Saturday and didn't see a single thing about the state tournament. Did I miss it? Even the C-J had coverage Fri, Sat, and Sunday, and so did the Joe B. and Denny show. Also saw some coverage on a Lexington TV station news broadcast Friday night. In the spirit of this conversation, I would think local coverage by the news media would be assumed. And it would have probably boosted local attendance even more.

I agree in theory with MS kids wrestling at the HS level. If they beat a HS kid then so be it. Jefferson County has fallen to the whining rule..."my kid was put on the bench because they wanted to "develop" a middle school kid". That's BS!!! Most of the time the MS kid was better. What coach is looking 4 years down the road? If they are, they're nuts. Win today or lose your job! Unfortunately, that rule has crossed over to sports that don't need it, like wrestling and XC. It's a shame because it really hampers the public schools in Jefferson County where their talent pools are smaller than the Catholic schools or county schools. And I know that Manual doesn't allow MS kids in any spot, primarily because they're not sure if they'll get in to Manual. That's their call, and it's valid.

Me - this is the best post i have seen on this site this year. We have some Jewish kids...are they welcome?

With all of the talk about the region 3 tournament, and the number of winless region 4 wrestlers going to state, why can't we realign those regions to even things out a little? Here's a proposed alignment to get the discussion started: Region 3- Valley, PRP, Doss, Western, Fairdale, Southern, DeSales, Holy Cross, Meade County Region 4- Manual, St. X, Moore, Male, Seneca, Atherton, Bullitt Central, North Bullitt, Central, Fern Creek Region 5- Trinity, N. Oldham, S. Oldham, Oldham, J-Town, Spencer County, Eastern, Bullitt East

In my initial "proposal," I thought about Meade in region 2, but if you keep nelson and danville in that region, that becomes a haul from meade co. It's not so bad going from meade to the southend jefferson county schools or bullitt co. schools.. Can reach most or all in 45 minutes or less. I agree about the venue, and the layout from JW should work for Alltech or anywhere else the state meet is held.

I don't have a problem with 8th graders wrestling varsity, but should a middle school kid that's wrestling HS varsity also be allowed to wrestle in middle school matches? Or at middle school state? Jefferson County has some sort of an agreement between the schools that they won't allow middle school kids to compete at any varsity level sport. It started a year or two ago and has been challenged in court, and I believe has been allowed in some cases. The Catholic high schools and duPont Manual don't allow it, period.

It would be nice to realign the entire state, but at least Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, Meade and Spencer would be an easy fix that could be done after the season ends. I agree with Coach K about switching Fern Creek and Bullitt East...keep the BC schools in the same region. I agree with Trithis in theory, but the question he poses at the end of his post seems to be the sticking point - Kentucky walks a thin line between being competitive and having the best of the best at state, and keeping the sport "user friendly" and growing the sport. The youth programs are growing, and so is participation in high school. Maybe it's time to propose a total state realignment using district, regionals, and state. Would the state venue need to change? I'm not sure the state tournament would be as attractice to a venue or city with half or a quarter of the participants that they are getting now.

Let the wrestlers wrestle. Go back to the root of the sport and quit taking away from working from the top, or bottom. If all you want to see is wrestling from the neutral spot, coach or ref basketball. Some refs want to "over-ref" and stalls and stalemates are part of their repertoire and they don't see, look at, or understand what's going on. If a guy on the bottom is ahead, and the guy on top isn't doing anything to gain an advantage, why call a stalemate or stall? Whose job is it to gain an advantage? The guy on top, right? And if a guy on top is working to get a half, then don't call a stalemate. I have so many ends of the spectrum this year it makes it hard to coach a kid.