MLee

I understand that, but our tournaments do include 6 year olds. Not sure how the tournament director could organize a tournament w/ different set of rules for different age groups. Seems like it would be a mess. And as far as the rules go...they are very clear: we don't call stalling. I don't believe we ever have.

Not every 9 year old has been wrestling for 3+ years and has MS experience like Blue. Most of these kids are in their 1st or 2nd year and only practice 2 days a week. They still struggle w/ locking hands, reaching back, illegal moves, and the anxiety of live wrestling. I'd hate to have some over-zealous referree calling stalling on 6 year olds! If MS/HS rules are what you prefer, then don't wrestle youth tournaments anymore.

I agree with this philosophy. Stalling is too subjective to teach youth...especially the younger kids. Many times, they're are just trying to hang on, not purposely stalling anyways. I've never seen stalling called in a Cincinnati youth tournament.

The brackets are done using a software designed by a youth coach from Ohio. Once all rosters are entered, the software sorts in 8 man brackets by age group and weight starting from smallest to largest and not exceeding 10% weight spread. The lack of "ryhme or reason" is contributed to a function of separating kids from the same club. For instance, if a team had multiple kids the same age and weight, the software will separate if and only if the bracket is w/in the 10% rule and age group. This will create an overlap in weight classes. Personally, I love this function. Who wants to go to "state" and watch a bracket of 5 kids from the same team? 2 years ago (before this upgrade to the software was added) there were 3 brackets where all 8 kids were from the same team!

Yes it is. W/out qualifiers, we'd have some brackets of 70+ kids. You send me a format of a state/tournament you'd prefer, and I'll run the #'s. This was done in the fall using USA, Ohio Tournament of Champions, Indiana, and a WV tournament. The results were ugly.

What region are you referring to? Can you PM me who might be fudging their weights? For the record, we are bringing a scale to spot check wrestlers as they receive their medals. I'd hate to be a coach who got caught.

The geographical center of Kentucky is somewhere around Lebanon in Marion County....an hour further west for Johnson County folks. The population center of Kentucky is in Willisburg....once again an hour further west for Johnson County folks. Lexington is the closest "big" city to both of those places and where the HS tournament is currently held. Is it possible the decision made by the association to move the location had more to do w/ these factors (that affect ALL) and not this mysterious "bermuda triangle" conspiracy against Johnson County and the rural areas?

Thank you sir.

There is this new thing called the Internet (from what I hear, it is taking off). It could allow coaches to vote on important issues with something called "Email". Just a thought.

I don't think the #'s warrant a qualifer yet, but we're getting close. I also don't think regionals are a good qualifier when some regions are significantly bigger and more developed. I'd prefer to scratch regions and appoint a few established youth tournaments as qualifiers, similar to Tournament of Champions. At least until the smaller regions get their #'s up. I think the best solution to making the tournament more competitve is 16 man brackets and don't prohibit MS placers from attending.

The youth state tourney is pushing 1,000 kids. I believe ms has 240. Youth really needs the space

Apparently someone uploaded some incorrect information to a Facebook page regarding our tournament. Because of this, I have extended the roster deadline until tomorrow 11/29!! Below is the correct flier. Rosters need to be sent to mlee@servicefirstlogisticsinc.com. Please notice, the tournament is being held @ Gray Middle School NOT Ryle High School. Thanks! Matt Lee Raider Youth Wrestling DATE: Saturday December 1st, 2012 LOCATION: Gray Middle School Gymnasium 10400 Hwy 42-Union, KY 41091 ENTRY FEE: $12.00 per wrestler and is due at the time of check-in. ADMISSION: Free admission for all spectators. ROSTERS: Team rosters must be received by Wednesday- November 28th! Please e-mail rosters to: m lee@servicefirstlogisticsinc.com , Phone: 859-391-7600 TIMES: Wrestling Starts: Birth Year (00 & 01, 02 & 03) 9am (Please arrive @ 8:30) Birth Year (04 & 05, 06 & 07) 1:30pm (Please arrive @ 1:00) WEIGHT CLASSES: TBD after rosters have been received. An effort will be made to create separate brackets for 1 st year wrestlers. FORMAT: Double elimination. There will be Three-1 minute periods. AWARDS: Medals will be given to the top 3 placers in each weight class ONLY COACHES AND WRESTLERS WILL BE PERMITTED ON THE FLOOR-WRISTBANDS MUST BE WORE AND CAN BE REQUESTED WITH YOUR TEAM’S REGISTRATION.

Thank you pinthis. We appreciate it.

I blame the lack of voting on myself. I was knee deep in other sports and didn't have wrestling on the brain. No excuse, just didn't make it. We'll be there in full force next time.

This is where I think your thought process gets jaded. If I'm following you correctly, you claim adding #'s is more important than how you stack up, however you voted against a scoring system that encouraged growth with years of documented proof. Huh? How does that make any sense. And by the way, I agree. Increasing #'s should be the primary goal of the association. I know our club has done our part in exposing more families to our sport over the past several years. Believe me, my job as a coach would be a lot easier to only have 20 kids in the room. I couldn't imagine it. We've had 80+ kids for 3 years in a row.

What does it say? Our kids want to win a team state championship just like every team at all levels. As a coach, it is my job to help them reach their goals. The old team scoring system (by design) encouraged teams to bring a lot of kids. In order to beat the other top clubs in the state, you need to have a lot of good kids; therefore, we aggressively recruited. When the YMCA soccer moms took over, you removed the incentive to produce the #'s. How is this so different than you wrestling year round w/ your kids w/ "a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in my driveway and the football stadium and places like the graham wrestling room?" The association grossly underestimated the competitive spirit of the youth coaches. The competitiveness is what helped push the bar higher and it was removed.

Wow..a lot of action in here today. Ranger, I know Raidercoach isn't taking anything away from your team. They are a great group of kids. But, I've read a couple posts you've made implying the Raider Youth program hasn't generated MS results which, as Raidercoach pointed out, is just untrue. You're not the only one. We've heard it before. "numbers, numbers, numbers" For the record, before Stan there were the Ashworth's and others who did a pretty good job themselves starting the Raider Youth Club and building champions (Ruschells, Reid, Peace, Osborne to name a few). Stan did his job and we're trying to do ours. You do know C.C. had a pretty good tradition before you showed up, correct? And as far as "pulling them from all over"...once again, not really true. Schools and programs have sprung up all around our area (unlike in C.C.) and kids just have more options. I think it is great. It is a sign of growth which is what our sport needs. Imagine how good Cuyahoga County High School would be (if it existed) and there were no other teams in the county!!

Thank you very much sbfraz! It makes it worth doing when people appreciate all the hard work that goes into it. Good luck to you and your team.

Thanks JW, and sorry if I misunderstood your comment. I'm glad you guys made it up. Satellite weigh ins are flawed. Variances in different scales, fudged weights, etc. all can contribute to discrepancies. We only do it for logistic reasons. There is no way I'm weighing in over 500 kids THEN generating 70+ brackets the day of a one day tournament. Too stressful! With that said, there are a few CYW tournaments that do weigh in the day of, which tends to discourage cheating. It would be pretty embarrassing to be the coach who had kids wrestling 70 lbs all year show up at 75+. Also, the term "true weight" is being tossed around here. I'd argue the 10% rule promotes kids to wrestle their natural weight more so than set weight classes. I have documented evidence of this. Just look no further than the weights of those who wrestle both MS and Youth. I've seen 5 lb swings from kids weights from MS tournaments to Youth State tournament. There is only one explanation for this, weight cutting. If a kid drops 5 lbs to make a set weight class, is he wrestling his true weight?

JW, you should have all the facts before you start slinging mud about our tournament. The LONE bracket that was outside the 10% rule (out of 70 brackets) was fixed. By the way, the 43 lber, was my wrestler and his parents had no problem w/ him staying, but I moved him anyways. And yes, we did have a challenge from a parent. The kid weight 1.6 lbs heavier than the weight they submitted (w/ a singlet, socks, and knee pads on) which put him w/in 10% of the wrestler challenging him..but outside the lowest kid in his weight class. To avoid confrontation, I moved him out of the bracket and gave him a few exhibitions. There are too many reasons why at the youth level we use the 10% rule. This has been discussed over and over and over and..... Here is some common sense, if you don't like it, don't attend tournaments that use that format.

All full now, thanks.

We just passed 500 kids (and counting) for our tournament. Looking forward to another great day of wrestling.

Tournament if filling up fast. If you are planning to attend, but have not sent in your roster yet, please send me a message w/ the # of participants. We have to cut it off @ 550 and we're at 410 now. Thanks! Matt Lee Raider Youth Wrestling 859-391-7600

Apparently someone uploaded some incorrect information to a Facebook page regarding our tournament. Because of this, I have extended the roster deadline until tomorrow 11/29!! Below is the correct flier. Rosters need to be sent to mlee@servicefirstlogisticsinc.com. Please notice, the tournament is being held @ Gray Middle School NOT Ryle High School. Thanks! Matt Lee Raider Youth Wrestling DATE: Saturday December 1st, 2012 LOCATION: Gray Middle School Gymnasium 10400 Hwy 42-Union, KY 41091 ENTRY FEE: $12.00 per wrestler and is due at the time of check-in. ADMISSION: Free admission for all spectators. ROSTERS: Team rosters must be received by Wednesday- November 28th! Please e-mail rosters to: m lee@servicefirstlogisticsinc.com , Phone: 859-391-7600 TIMES: Wrestling Starts: Birth Year (00 & 01, 02 & 03) 9am (Please arrive @ 8:30) Birth Year (04 & 05, 06 & 07) 1:30pm (Please arrive @ 1:00) WEIGHT CLASSES: TBD after rosters have been received. An effort will be made to create separate brackets for 1 st year wrestlers. FORMAT: Double elimination. There will be Three-1 minute periods. AWARDS: Medals will be given to the top 3 placers in each weight class ONLY COACHES AND WRESTLERS WILL BE PERMITTED ON THE FLOOR-WRISTBANDS MUST BE WORE AND CAN BE REQUESTED WITH YOUR TEAM’S REGISTRATION.

I would like to assist in bringing back Youth State Duals. I know this was done in the past. What were some of the issues? Who would attend? Anyone have suggestions for weight classes and age divisions? Anyone interested in working on this with me? I have a facility we have used for our off-season training and Summer Camp. They told me they would host. All they need is a date. It can hold up to 8 mats if needed. They have been very accommodating and more importantly, not a school we have to fight for gym time w/ bball, volleyball, etc. I was originally thinking the weekend after State, but open to any suggestions. Here is a link if you'd like to check it out: http://sportsofallsortsky.com/ I know this is an open forum, but please only provide constructive feedback. Thanks! Matt Lee Raider Youth Wrestling