Chris Duke

Are you already changing this? This is what I found on USA Wrestling. INTERMEDIATE Born 2003-2004 and KY TOC has this Intermediate 2002-2004. Bantam has a three year gap. This is crazy to have this big of a gap with the little kids. They are the ones that have the biggest disadvantage.

There are usually a few around 70-75. The only problem most of the boys from KY will not be there this weekend, we will be at AAU Nationals in TN.

Youth kids where there last week. I know there will be a few boys between 50 and 55 again this week.

I would like to see Track used during the year. Its neat to see how it keeps stats on all the kids.

Everything changes. They are using USA divisions and weights.

Thanks for the directions. We will have a group of Middle School and Youth kids.

Is there an address we can google? I've had a few parents ask where its located.

It sounds like the main concern is weigh-ins. Is it possible to do remote weigh-ins for regionals and have a weigh-out at regionals just like we did at state and use those numbers for the state tournament. I know this only takes care of the first 4 placers the teams would have to make sure the other kids hit the scale before they left. If we keep everyone in their singlet and wrestling shoes everyone will be on the same level.

I'm starting to move this way. I think it is being looked at and it might even be taken care of before next year. After listening to a couple people 8 man brackets are not the worst thing in the world for the younger kids. Raider, I'm taking your advice we are traveling this Spring and Summer. AAU Nationals, Ohio TOC, and I think Flo Nationals is on the radar.

Are we talking growth? If you change a little at our state tournament we can encourage more kids to stick with it. If we separate the novice and advanced kids we maybe able to retain more kids in our youth programs. What does little Johnny kid learn from going to a state tournament and going 0-2 getting pinned twice in the first period? IMO we have a nice tournament. I'm just looking at ways to make it better. The face offs are a must kids love it, The Arena is great. It looks like the biggest complaint is weight classes and cutting weight.

I talked to your brother today about what I think would make a our tournament great for everyone. It has a 16 man bracket for kids that qualify and 8 man novice brackets for kids that do not qualify. It still gives all the kids a chance to enjoy our tournament. With any luck he will be able to add to this. The kids that qualify will be in a set weight class and have to make weight. We will be able to run 10% in all the 8 man brackets. We have 4 qualifiers in different regions on different weekends. If you do not qualify in one area this will give you three other chances to qualify. This will not only make our state tournament tougher it will also make these 4 tournaments tougher. The only kicker is that these 4 tournaments will have to set weight classes and be closed to out of state kids.

Small tournament, smaller brackets. I'm not sure of the numbers it looked like less than 100. We had 5 in our group and 2 of them if not 3 of them only had 2 matches. My son had to wrestle the same kid twice and that kid was 3 years older. Hope to have better luck in a few hours when we travel to Indiana.

YES, Yes, YES

This is his second year. It doesn't hurt that he has great kids around his weight at practice every night and an older brother that likes to throw him around.

Thanks for all the hard work! My boys had a blast as always face offs are a huge hit.

I'm not looking for Mad Max. I just believe If you are going to call it Youth State it should be just that. Our product is watered down.

Is it an option to hold Middle School the same day as youth? As much as I like my boy wrestling Middle School this would limit youth at the Middle School level. Alltech holds 10-12 mats and it brings the whole state to one site in one weekend. MIDDLE SCHOOL: (BORN IN 1998, 1999, 2000) 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 140, 150, 160, 180, HWT

I found this from AAU Nationals 16 man brackets with set weights you will have over 1000 kids. I'm not sure what the numbers are just thinking they can't be much higher than this. TOTS: (BORN AFTER 2007) 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, HWT BANTAM (BORN 2005-06) 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 90, HWT MIDGET (BORN 2003-04) 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 103, 112, 120, 130, HWT NOVICE: (BORN 2001-02) 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 112, 120, 130, 140, HWT MIDDLE SCHOOL: (BORN IN 1998, 1999, 2000) 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 140, 150, 160, 180, HWT

If you have to qualify with set weight classes this cuts down on a lot of the scale time. Brackets are set you have alt's. if a kid bust on weight his tournament is over. Its not that hard. We have kids weigh in 10 days before a tournament this is crazy. Everyone is a winner is also a crazy way to run a State Tournament.

Looking forward to another great night of wrestling. There was plenty of great wrestling last Friday and should be more of the same tonight.

Why are the meetings limited to coaches? If you opened it up to parents that are interested in helping you could have more input and more help. I will never be a coach or ever claim to be one. I'm just one of those parents that like to be involved with my child's growth. When you close the door to 90% of the people you are pushing away a lot of ideas.

I like the idea of 16 man brackets. We just need to give it a try and see how it all plays out. 16 man brackets would give you 40% fewer brackets and would make it more competitive. If you want to make it a YOUTH STATE keep all 7th and 8th graders out regardless of age. In all other sports its okay to play up just not down. We are on the right track. Its time to put the plan into motion.

This isn't my first time on this soap box. IMO our regional tournament is nothing more than a fund raiser and our state tournament is just another tournament. How can you call someone a state champ if they do not go against the best kids at their weight in their age group? It is time to make the regional tournament a qualifier for state.

I like the way Middle School is ran. I wish the youth would take this approach. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if an organization like OAC came in and ran a true youth in the state!

The only problem I see is there are no set weight classes. Set the classes then charge the fee if they are over. JMO