bocowrestling

I never had any experience with wrestling prior to ten years ago when my sons started in the sport. Although there were plenty of things to dislike about the sport (getting up at 5 a.m.; sitting in a gym for 14 hours; endless delays while coaches lounged in the hospitality room; ring worm; hungry nights), it was a truly amazing experience. I would like to thank all of the wonderful coaches that coached my sons, as well as the coaches on the other teams that showed great kindness for my children. I will always appreciate Coach Randy Miller, Kevin Case, Pat Wilkinson, Brian Sivenski, Eric and Rick Dingus, Johnny Stout, Benji French as well as all of the other guys who came in to help our team get better. I also appreciate the guys who worked with my kids on the offseason. Woodford County coaches always welcomed my kids just like their own. They were also welcomed at Harrison County and Scott County too. There are so many great coaches that I got to know along the way, I wish I could name them all. Another thing I loved about the sport was they relationships the boys developed with the wrestlers on their team, and the wrestlers on the other teams. At the State Tournament every year, I saw competitors vying for precious state medals laughing and warming up together before they wrestled, and then hugging each other after the match and while waiting on their medals. I have been around sports my entire life, and there is no other sport where a group of guys tries to break each other in half, and then hang out eating nachos together and laughing. (Particularly heavyweights! Those are the happiest hugriest people I have ever had the pleasure to know.) After one of the favorites to win the tournament in my son's weight class was beaten in the quarters, I was telling my son how he was rooting for him in the semis. Class and character! I got to know many parents of children during my experiences with this sport. From best friends to acquaintances that I will never forget, I made many relationships that changed my life. I was touched time and time again when a parent from some random school would ask me about how my son was doing in college, or would comment about my sons character. A few other people I would like to thank are the refs and Ranger. I know the referees take abuse every week from coaches, parents and occasionally ill behaved competitors, but I always felt like they worked hard to maintain the integrity of the sport and to ensure the safety of the competitors. I would also like to thank Ranger, for his rankings. Parents, kids and coaches (even though they deny it) wait anxiously for each release during the season of the ranking updates. There are few kids on the mat that don't know their ranking or don't covet a ranking. Finally, I loved to watch the way the sport changed so many young men, including my own sons. I watched them get stronger, fitter, tougher and smarter. I saw them set goals and achieve them. My sons developed a confidence in themselves that they would not have developed in other sports. There was no quarterback to throw a pass, or a linebacker to make a trackle. These kids grew because there was no one between their back and the mat, besides themselves. I cannot express my gratitude enough for everyone who made my time a great experience for my family and I. I will do everything I can to continue to encourage the growth of the sport. My son's last match was yesterday, and I already offered to buy a friends' preschool son a pair of wrestling shoes if she would put him in the sport. Thank you all!

If Woodford County Wrestling were in charge of creation, it would have taken 14 days, instead of seven. I apologize for any offense for my earlier post about 5 Star. At least they finished their one day tourney in one day.

Ben Fooks was also one win away from the podium and will be back next year for another shot.

With that big scoreboard, it would be nice if the score could be kept on the big screen. The finals match was obscured for many people in our section due to the score clock being in the way. I really miss the celebration that took place prior to the finals. You can have both safety and celebration. The medals absolutely are ridiculous. With the ridiculous prices, can't the state buy a decent medal for the kids? I know the KHSAA surely has more money than the Middle School organization, but there medals are second to none. The tickets are $25 and a t-shirt is $20. After food and drinks, costs are easily $60-$80 per person to go to the State. Families cannot afford to go watch, and accordingly, the attendance at the event is not very good. I know the attendance was about 4,500, but most of that was wrestlers. There needs to be a way for ticket prices to cost $10 a day.

Nice kid and great wrestler. Best of luck in college.

Excellent camp and great value. The Carr's are amazing coaches.

The tournament was a good time and a great experience for my wrestler. I want to personally thank all the coaches who worked with the kids and the schools that let us use their facilities for practice. My son gained valuable wrestling experience and made many new friends. I enjoyed getting to know the parents and rooting for kids from teams that we may not normally root for during the season (fill in the blank with any of several teams). The parents were great and all were very supportive of the other wrestlers. I wish there could have been a couple of tournaments instead of one. That was a lot of work for one event. It would be nice if Kentucky could host a national tournament like that (or possibly a smaller warmup for the national dual) for some of the more southern states to attend. If Texas was any indication, we should wrestle all of the Southern States we can find.

I'm still not seeing any results

I didnt see any results on track wrestling.

I had a hwy this year and he was in the finals a number of times and most of the people were gone or getting their stuff ready to leave while he was wrestling. Either wait to give out medals for all to the end (which would tick everyone off) or just do a random draw at the beginning to determine where to start the finals. If that is what you would do at a dual, why wouldn't you do that for an individual tourney as well.

Team Kentucky has been a great experience for 'Big' Ben this year. Thanks to all the coaches who have spent so much time with the kids.

1. Can you imagine the kids at every wrestling meet in the state wearing Cardinal Red if UofL decides to start wrestling? It would be a clear PR win for Louisville. I know I'd gladly put my UK stuff away for good if this happened. I will wear red for a week when and if the Cards ever make the announcement. Ricky P could even be in the corner of the mat for all I care. 2. Where would other wrestling programs make the most sense? My vote is for NKU with all of the Northern Kentucky and Ohio talent in their back yard. Murray and Morehead would be great schools to add to the sport as well with their ties to the Western and Eastern parts of the state. My personal hope is that Georgetown College or Transy would start programs which would give kids in the middle of the state an option to Wrestle. The rumor keeps circulating that EKU will be joining the MAC in football. If this is true, this might be a great place for Wrestling to pop up as well. They already have a former Kentucky Wrestling Great there to start with. 3. It was great to see Lindsey Wilson and Campbellsville do well at Nationals. I don't know why this couldn't be televised with so many channels with nothing on. If there were ever a sport that needed a good agent, it has to be wrestling.

Fooks was a junior at 182 lbs.

Fooks was a junior

1. Alltech is the only place to hold that event. Great parking, great location, great facility. Only complaint is that we were not allowed to use extension cords and tripods. It is not smart to piss off a nervous parent for no reason. For $25, I should be able to plug whatever I want into whatever I want. Also, for purposes of updating fans at home, it would be nice to have wi-fi in the building. 2. Wish there was some way to hold middle school state at Alltech too. Maybe ms state should be on Thursday (ms kids do not need to compete at state anyway, unless you just want to give more ohio kids practice) 2. Region and State Medals are the size of quarters. That is ridiculous and those medals should reflect these kids achievements. When Mountain Dew costs $3 you would think they would pay that much for a medal. 3. Of all the state events I have been to, Wrestling State is by far the best. 4. Nothing beats ihigh coverage. I would like to see coverage extended to cover 3rd/4th rounds at least. We had a number of people watching the event in town even though we did not have a kid in the finals. We told them them we were wearing the green singlets with X's on them. Everyone thought we did great. 5. Why don't tv channels cover this event? That is ridiculous. If you want to sign a damn petition, sign one to send to WKYT. 6. Bad behavior should be punished. There is no excuse for not taking team points when a wrestler acts horribly in the biggest event of the year. Don't tell me about stress. There weren't any kids out there that were not under tremendous stress. Is there a double standard for a team competing for the overall title, and just another team that participates at the event. I'll leave it at that so I don't draw a grammatically challenged response that obscures the rest of the post. 7. Last observation: Where do we go get an Ohio wrestler to help us get some team points. They must be on craigslist or something, because it seems like everyone has one.