gameface

I couldn't agree with you more Ranger. It certainly was apparent when we were forced to move youth state and their response to us on that subject. My biggest concern now is the votes of people that don't care. From an objective point, there is no reason that has been brought up for anyone to vote against this. It's another tool we have to get more kids on the mats hopefully. Something we haven't even brought up on here is the increasingly number of girls wrestling in Kentucky youth and MS. We obviously allow these wrestlers the ability to wear a compression shirt under their singlets for privacy, (no brainer right?!)The singlet bottom is no different than a pair of compression shorts! So there's our modified uniform that we've allowed to be worn in every event MS and youth had last year. I'm just pointing out the obvious, that there's no reason we shouldn't see these uniforms on the mat this year!

Only if it was in your wrestling barn on your rim! They like running up the walls to dunk!

I'll start it out for you Chris. Cole Thomas will go 80 lbs this year. Sebastian Vega is 70. Joey Sander and Collin Ross are 75. And Noah Duke is HWT!

I think we're all hopeful that the KHSAA looks at several changes to make the high school wrestling better, but regardless what the KHSAA does should not reflect on our decision to make KSWA and our Youth Organization better. Add more kids, evolve and close the gap with other states. Let's be the leader and not wait a year or 2 and follow other states!

So far Nike Man every objective point on this thread has been by an "adult". It's been a great spirited debate between a lot of "adults" that invest a lot of time into youth and Middle school wrestling for the same reasons. Plantman is one of the most vocal but also one of the guys that invest countless hours into this sport. And as usual, he's the one that will go against the grain and helps start a great debate. It's one of his greatest qualities to our organization. You obviously know nothing about MLee to make a statement about him or his character. Everyone on here, besides you, know that it was a joke. Just like the conference call about medals in 2022. How about besides bashing someone, add value to the thread. How do you think you introduce a young man that is overweight to nutrition and exercise. You invite him to get involved. You do that by offering something that looks better than a couch and IPad. If he sees cool gear, awards and other kids are talking about positive things about wrestling, maybe he'll get in the gym. Then we have a chance at changing his nutrition and exercise. We have to make it exciting or cool to them. It's the kids of today's generation. I am glad so many people have gotten on this thread about this topic. It shows that we "adults" love this sport and are always looking to improve it for our kids! PS PLANTMAN I Still am haunted by that bear suit picture of you on your Facebook page!

What's a shame is that not everyone is able to make it to the meeting based on their jobs and lives. We all do our best Plantman! Some people commenting are probley parents, High School Coaches that aren't apart of that meeting. As you recall last year Matt and I talked about putting these issues from the Spring meeting out on either this forum or a list of emails that we all could weigh in on. We consider these people to be invested in the youth and MS. Some have great ideas. I consider myself invested and like you spend countless hours on State tourneys set up, take down, run tourney and MC. Move mats and much more when asked. Not everyone can make the meetings but we all have the Internet and email. I'm sure in our little piece of wrestling heaven here in Kentucky, we adults, can make the best decision for our programs and the state of kentucky wrestling without turning it into the joke of politics and splitting hairs over wording. . If it's matching compression shorts and shirts that look exactly like our singlets which will define us as being "uniformed" then there is no issue with disease carrying fabrics or arms/ fingers getting ripped off during their 4 1/2 minutes of wrestling. And if Ranger weighed in favor of this then you have to change your position and vote or BE VOTED OFF THE ISLAND BY THE GRAND MASTER!! Adam, all joking set aside, this is trying to build numbers and bring more kids into a sport that they might find their value in. Isn't that worth trying something different if we could influence kids to be involved?

Adam, the only thing that we are trying to accomplish here is to allow kids that have self image issues not hold them back from trying wrestling. It's a great sport that is losing interest to kids that now are joining Archery along with Basketball and everything else. Let's be a little more open minded about this topic. The material is the exact same thing as singlets. And do you think because the wording is a little off during a proposal that we can't find a way to do what is right for our sport. We were making decisions from the hip at state that overall benefitted the sport of wrestling in Kentucky youth and MS. Just like we've done for team scoring, brackets , and every other change, it's been in the best interest of the kid and the sport. BTW Dutch want to know if you'll be wrestling in a singlet at the Bluegrass games or a shirt and shorts?

Can you share the risks of compression shirts and shorts by over 30 medical professionals with us Adam? No one is proposing the loose fight shorts or loose shirts. Exact material singlets are made from fitting the same way. Just doesn't have the open sides. Even the length of shorts are the same length and tightness of singlets!!

First I would like to thank Tyler, his wife, Efren and the rest of the River City program for hosting the Middle School and Youth State Championships!! You guys did a great job personally and it was eveident all the hard work you put into it. As early as Friday morning I witnessed the program's strength in their parents with the set up I got to be apart of. Having the ability to MC and run the mic, I got to hear a lot from the parents and coaches today about the new location for both tourneys. Is it possible to get some constructive input from the people on here that was at the events this weekend. Congratulations to all the Middle School and Youth Medal winners along with The teams that won championships!!

Good information plantmanky1. Also I'd be interested in the revenue generated during the 2 day event from ticket sales, merchandise, concessions and the adjusted rate of facility use in lieu of parking revenue. The medals, brackets and final singlets we give out on the Middle School Level vs the cost we collect is greatly less than the KHSAA collected and spent on their event. I'd like to see published the final spreadsheet on cost and revenue. If they want to profit and share amongst the whole KHSAA athletic programs, let them do this after they've awarded these wrestlers with all the glory and awards deserved as the top 6 placers and 2 finalist.

I think Braves coach would be a great fit for the new Raider Coach!!! I'll still help you move your mats Braves/Raider coach!!

I agree totally with our shortage of face offs, music and pagentery!! Wherever we end up next year I will advocate for the thrills at the end since I get to announce and play the music!! It was a joint decision not to do it this year due to the new facility, Super Bowl and trying to figure out what works and didn't. Thanks for all the feedback, please keep it coming in!!

Thank you Ranger for the time and effort you put into it. Great props for a lot of great wrestlers. And Dutch doesn't need sleep!! He does that at work and it's still not helping. As far as the unranked 190 Keegan Pointe, he wrestled great this weekend and ends up 6th at State! Very proud of this first year wrestler! Ryle has a bright future with this Big Guy in their line up!! Congrats to your little hammer Spencer Moore on winning his first Middle School Championship!! He certainly has earned it!!!

What matches and weight classes are going to be exciting to watch? Looking for input from around the state of who you think will be key matches fun to watch. There's a lot of great kids that have worked hard from lightweights to the bigs!!get their name and match you want to see out there!

Duke and Bodenbender are workout partners and both have their successes with a State Championship and a Runner Up this year in different weight classes. I like to think they both benefit each other and would not be the same wrestlers if not for the beatings they give each other every night.

Hey All American!! I think this would be a great place for you to congratulate Noah Duke on his State Title since you called out 3 different kids beating him. This was a great weight class, but you were the only one to to call out Duke and list a series of "upsets". I think he covered your spread!!

JediGrappler obviously your drinking the kool-aid with vodka!! No one qualifies for youth state. You pay your fee, show up and wrestle Regionals and your automatically in State. There's no seeding no qualifiers. And since you don't have a wrestler that's affected by this monopoly of coaches loading brackets to win the coveted Youth State Championship, you might want to apply for President!! You must be on such a level that PA and Iowa are missing you!! Maybe you can bring your wisdom to one of our state meetings and share your ideas. With your witty " Bam mic drop" humor we could use the side show while the rest of the productive coaches around the state actually try and grow Kentucky's numbers!

So I guess when your wrestler was the heaviest it was demoralizing to the other 7 kids in his weight class! And you didn't consider it an advantage?? If you stop and take a look at Kentucky wrestling last year, we had just under a 1000 youth wrestlers at state. And no it's not because we don't try and promote the sport. It's largely due to kids playing basketball or archery because it's easier and doesn't require parents to sit in a gym all day on Sunday. Or maybe the parents don't understand the benefits of wrestling. The City wide tourney in Cincinnati have more kids than our state and that's only Southwestern Ohio!! And yet the CYW uses 10% rules for their tourneys. OAC uses weight classes but also have qualifiers and enough kids to fill the brackets. There's not a corner of Ohio that doesn't have wrestling. But in Kentucky theres parts like Bowling Green and Southern Kentucky that wrestling doesn't exist. We've gone to 16 man brackets to make it more competitive. But again, their are weights and ages where you have 40 kids within 5lbs of each other and other weights you have 10. So we do the best we can with the numbers we have. I'm sure the couple pounds your Regional Champ is giving up is not enough to keep him from being successful. There's plenty of time when he's in MS and High School he'll get the joy of maintaining weight and skipping meals. Best of Luck at State to your son!! PS- and know I won't beat my head against the wall either!

So many great kids in each class. I'm partial to the lightweights of course. 70 with Moore, Herron, Sander, Bean, Giampalo and Ross. 75 With Peace, Thomas, Herron, Powell and Miracle. 80's top 4 are hammers Kinley, Grandstaff, Walls and Hansen are all really balanced. Same with 86 with Jacob Grandstaff and Thomas Deck leading the way. And how about a huge shout out to Ashley Courtney from Woodford!! She's a solid wrestler battling in to the state Championships. Hard to call the champions with so many good kids! Best of luck to all these wrestlers this weekend!

Dutch, I thought a Mason Smith vs Cole Thomas would be a better match!

Maybe if the ones complaining about the system would have taken this much time on the seeding call they'd have a better understanding why their kid got the seed he did. I was on the seed meeting call and from the beginning the KSWA president stated that he would announce the Regions #1 seeds then Allow each respective coach to state their wrestlers accomplishments. I heard several times coaches list records for each weight class, records(in and out of state) due to the location of some teams like Union County, NKY teams and EKY teams OR kids that are good enough to compete nationally. Kids that were 30-1 with one loss to an in state kid and the loss was to another #1 seed ,but last year wasn't a state qualifier, but the one loss was last years state champ, but the kid that won lost twice to another #1 that lost to the 30-1 kid!!! (YOU GET MY POINT) Wrestlers in different weight classes beating ranked high school kids but now has dropped weight and now a 1 seed due to winning regions. 3 way criterias that sounded like a "who's on first "episode. It may not be a perfect system but all the coaches except 6 teams had someone on there to present their kids information. Allowing the other coaches to do the same and come up with the 4 seeds. Everyone worked together really well to get thru all weight classes and the president navigated the conversation. The bottom line is that this process is what the KSWA has in place and each coach has known this for years to be included in the conversation. Also one other point, during the season this forum page is a ghost town with tournament results. So many post on here to promote the tourney but very few post results. That doesn't change the process but does provide additional information that all coaches can look at to help see head to head, common opponents etc. some teams did their homework and some just decided to not be involved and allow the systems put their kids where they actually belong! And for the ones that want to beat on Rangers Rankings, several weight classes have either the #1 and #2 or even too 3 kids in state in the same region. So one could argue that a Region with 3 dominating kids in the state should be the top 3 seeds regardless of Region champs. Nobody has beat these 3 kids in the state but they've beat the other region champs!! GOOD LUCK TO ALL AT STATE. I FOR 1 AM GLAD WE ARE FINALLY SEEING SOME CONVERSATION ON HERE ABOUT MIDDLE SCHOOL WRESTLING!!! WE ARE ALL BLESSED TO BE APART OF THIS GREAT SPORT!!

No he won't. He's a kid that will know he beat everyone in front of him. Rankings by Ranger on a forum for the kids and Dads to look at and talk about is just that an opinion. to list your son #1 over another wrestler was warranted and shouldn't take anything away from him. But don't discount Dillon Talmon or others in that weight class. He's a great wrestler that hasn't had the privilege to wrestle your son yet this year. And the others from around the state that are at the top don't deserve you bashing them. Why don't you stay on point about the first 3 refs and the tournament director ruling against your son wrestling due to ringworm and quit attacking the "Ryle ref" for NOT ruling against the other 4 in front of him that already made the ruling. He wasn't even the head official, Tom Hardy was and he's from Campbell County. Why aren't you busting his chops? It sucks that they had to do a part of their job which brings no one any joy. I'd like to see a way for him to still be in!!! I'd fight FOR your son as much as I'd fight for my wrestlers.

Again you want to align your sons ringworm to the Ryle organization. You think Ryle not wrestling your son would change the results and somehow catapult Campbell County in front of Ryle and WV. Ryle still would have won Regionals even if your son was In and won 1st. There wasn't one person there that personally wanted to see your son NOT WRESTLE. He's an absolute stud and enjoyable to watch. Nurses in the stands don't qualify for dismissing ringworm. A highly regarded Campbell County ref along with 2 other removed your son from wrestling during weigh ins, not this @ryle ref" .The 4th ref that you refer to as "Ryle's ref" came in to help out due to the 4th ref cancelling on Woodland. He just didn't go against what the other 3 concurred and that makes him a bad guy!?? I get it that your mad. I'd be crushed also in your position and I would have fought tooth and nail to get him in yesterday too. But to belittle a ref that came in to help out on his day off and say he's the reason is a joke.

If you think there was a plan put in place to DQ your son due to ringworm, only to have a Ryle kid win regionals is a joke. His ranking or grade has no bearing on your sons ringworm. That Ref your speaking of wasn't even in the building when the 2 officials said he wasn't able to wrestle during his skin check at weigh ins. . The kid your son would have wrestled in the Finals is solid and didn't need a DQ. He can hold his own. Second of all the Referee your speaking of IS NO MORE a coach at Ryle than Tom is for Campbell County. Their were 4 refs there that did not clear your son. I was in the coaches meeting when an official that's from Campbell County also said your sons ringworm was red and pussed up. You offered to try and cover it up(wrap it) as a solution. Then you tried calling a outside doctor to drive to Woodland to tell the refs your son could wrestle. The rules are pretty clear about infections and who has to protect the other wrestlers. Your son is an outstanding wrestler and certainly would have found his way to the State podium if not on top of it. There wasn't a coach in that room that didn't feel terrible for your son and wished he could wrestle. I've always thought you guys carried yourselves in a respectful manner. But To insult a man and make derogatory statements for doing his job is uncalled for.