The Kentucky state youth tournament this year was an absolute delight!! The hosting region did a great job!! I personally thought it went much smoother this year compared to last year.
Please allow me to weigh in on the disenfranchisement of the rural teams. I assist the youth team in Martin County (which is East of Johnson County). First off, we are in the dark a little about some of the decisions made by the clubs/schools in Central/Northern Kentucky. However, I do not think it is because we have somehow been conspired against by those schools/clubs. It is a a simple matter of geography. We know you guys have meetings and openly invite schools/clubs statewide. The fact is I am not going to drive 2 1/2 hours for a youth wrestling meeting when most of what is discussed doesn't amount to a hill of beans as far as the action on the mat is concerned. I do wish information was easier to find and access on the Internet. Case in point, I still know very little about the TOC and cannot seem to find solid information anywhere. I think the men we have running things seem to be doing an excellent job promoting and teaching the sport. Do I agree with every decision? No. If I was empowered would you agree with every decision? Absolutely not. But to me when it comes down to it this is about the kids and promoting wrestling. I am tickled the state tournament is held in Lexington instead of Louisville or somewhere far west. Seems to make a lot of sense to me. I do not like the idea of moving the state tournament around because although some years it would be closer, some years it would also be farther away. Btw, I really like doing it the same weekend as the high school state tournament because I believe it adds to the atmosphere for the kids. Kudos to the powers that be who volunteer hours upon hours to promote this sport and run a successful tournament.
Btw, no way could Johnson Central or Sheldon Clark host a tournament this size and run things this smoothly. Now, if we decoded to run it as a region we could probably do it at the Pikeville Expo Center. But honestly, I would rather we continue doing what we are doing and let the hosting region keep the money.
I would like to know about vendor opportunities though. The people selling shirts during the Youth State Tournament said they were from River City Wrestling. Are Louisville teams in your region? How did they get the chance to set up their vending? That could be something that could be changed every year. Allowing different regions to fund raise at the tournament each year. Just a thought. Anyway, thanks for your time and hard work.
