gameface

The KHSAA framework of the post season structured that if a wrestler doesn’t weigh in, weigh’s in and doesn’t wrestle or any other reason, the forfeit is scored like a pin and advancement points for the 1 seed. As you said, there’s a likely chance the 1 seed is going to get bonus points for their team in that match if the wrestler showed up and wrestled. Sad to see this happen to 2 great kids. I wonder what happens to others in that bracket that wrestled them that day if they did get contact tracing at the Semi State 4 event.

What about the awards from the coaches association? Will they also be able to be given out? Are they doing the bracket boards for all the champions?

I know they are the government presiding over our sport and we should just fall in line and follow all their rules( input sarcasm) but I have to believe somewhere that rules apply to what is and isn’t allowed to happen. So I share a small piece of something that I found within a ultimate ride out timeframe!! Now during that time I can tell you it seems like eternity, but for people being paid and sitting up in the KHSAA Ivory tower creating these random rules as they go, wouldn’t something like this be helpful?

And don’t forget it will be said by some that “they have done this across the board with all the other sports”. Never mind that maybe that sport occurred months ago during the peak of the pandemic or prior to vaccines or numbers down where counties are in the yellow. I keep forgetting to just be thankful for the bread crumbs offered up. We have the ability to fix this just like the year a thoughtful coach and father went out and purchased all the bracket boards and handed them out to the state champions. Or when a group of leaders provided plaques for the wrestlers that put so much in to their craft. So what can we do for these wrestlers?

Agreed!!! The whole MS experience has been top notch for years!! Heck Oh-Way just had 10 mats, podiums faceoffs and fans too!! Who wants to place a wager that the team trophy will be on the floor with the winning team celebrating at Rupp Arena for the Boys and Girls basketball. So Wrestling coaches, what are we going to do? Scotty Teater what can be done on behalf of the association?

There has been a podium for as long as I remember.

Then the Coaches association should get together and have the weight classes meet outside on a separate podium and hand out the awards and bracket boards for parents to take pictures. Parents should be able to do what they want once they leave the gym and the KHSAA has no liability of what happens with the athletes. If a podium needs built, I’m sure we have people on here willing to chip in. I’ll build one and bring it down or we borrow the one from the middle school association.

You keep saying this about we should just be thankful because others have worse. That’s not the point that the majority on this Wrestling Forum is saying. Both my girls played HS Basketball. My daughter coaches HS basketball and I can attest that they take 5 coaches and a scorekeeper with them and they sit on the bench and score table for 1 team on the floor with 5 players. The bench is either 7 to 10 players for 1 basket ball floor. Even if you have 1 gym with 3 mats and you happen to have 2 guys up at the same time, that’s 4 coaches that are allowed to be on the floor. I noticed teams that had 8 entries and had 5 coaches on the floor this weekend. Obviously they thought they needed that amount of coaches for their team and chose to be there. If they worked all year with these kids and maybe they work best with certain wrestlers, why shouldn’t they be allowed to coach those kids. Use Union as an example. They have 6/7 amazing coaches. Some work great with lightweights and middle weights. While some work great with upper weights. Which one of those coaches do you think should stay home or sit in the stands for the biggest matches of the kids year? It’s not about the money for these guys but to say “take what your given because other have worse” is a poor argument to stand on the side of the KHSAA side when you’ve been a coach for years and have coached your son and hundreds more. Your not sitting in the stands, and you shouldn’t. You’ve earned your spot my friend!!!!

Is a coach that spends all year working with the team not also a fan? I seen past coaches at last weeks Regionals on the floor with coaches but weren’t coaching or working tables or event. I don’t fault them for being there and I’m glad they were there. They have also put their time in and deserve to be there. We ran 3 mats which is the same format/mat usage as semi state. Still only 2 parents last week at $8 for Saturday. The point is valid what others are saying, $20 per person at a HS is a money grab. No awards for the top 2 in the weight class that advance because “it’s the 1st half of the state tourney”, but the kid that has one loss stays home??! Doesn’t resemble a 16 man tournament being ran in a 2 weekend schedule. That would allow all wrestlers with one loss to keep moving on to eventually get knocked out or hit the medal rounds. Sounds more like a “hold my beer” moment once again. Just an opinion of a coach/fan and Dad of the sport, that’s willing to pay his $20 to coach his son and the other 12 kids we have going to Semi State!!!!

Please tell me your kidding!! Can this really get any more ridiculous? Don’t answer that, we know the answer is yes!!!

This all sounds like Algebra 2!! This is not the year to do the seeding if they are trying to prove a point. Should be done with a 16 or 32 man bracket.

I just read the same thing about capacity. Now is the time to adjust the tournament to allow for a 16 man bracket. I am sure plans are already in the works to figure out what needs to be done at Rupp arena to allow more fans for the boys and girls basketball tournament. I have been for years watching my girls play there and know how cool it is. I just wish wrestling could have a fraction of what they do for this event and venue. The videos, the spotlight and the atmosphere reminded me of the days back in Frankfurt with State Wrestling.

I like your thinking!

And yet no changes to the format to a 16 man bracket to have the best at State with no chance of a true 2nd in semi state.

It says it’s a individual tournament with pools then moves to a 4 man bracket for placement. Would have been nice to see the teams that won their qualifier wrestle at the Big School championships if their able to travel and not affected by Covid protocols.

I heard that Christian County was on the list to go to Paducah Tilhman this weekend from another coach last night.

Correct it has been moved. We have a larger gym that will allow parents in the stands. A huge a Thank you goes out to Scott’s AD, Ryle’s head coach Tim Ruschell and a few others in the background to allow this to happen. As far as the broadcast, it’s in the hands of Mike Barren at this moment. What can or cannot be done has to be ran through the KHSAA and NFHS. Jon Carr of USA wrestling is also trying to help.

Couldn’t have said it any better. Pretty much covers the feeling of the majority of the wrestling community that gets repeated every year.

Jon, Is the NFHS or KHSAA going to provide streaming for families then to assist with this hurtle?

That’s awesome!! I don’t know if we have a region rep that can be addressed or if this is something to go through the AD at Scott. Maybe Rick Seeney (RJS) can help us figure this out since he’s involved with multiple sports at Scott HS.

If it’s anything like we’re doing up here in Region 6, I would make alternate arrangements to live stream. Region 6 is being ran on 1 camera for 2 mats and that the Region has to pay KHSAA for the rights to stream it so the parents that are being told they can’t come and attend, can watch 3/4 of the mat. This is the sneak preview of what we all get to look forward to (JV Regionals at Scott HS where parents can’t attend) I don’t know the reason they couldn’t have changed venues, except for the fact it was Scott’s turn to host and that takes priority over moving it so parents can attend at a larger school gym.

Thanks for clearing it up. I thought it was a part of the KHSAA. I guess my point to this was, why doesn’t the KHSAA value the information and relationships of the wrestling community and not make a stronger effort to put on the best venue and event possible. The letter Scotty Teater shared with us all, from the KHSAA, stated that it had communicated with many other associations and numerous people in the sport to come up with what we have. They obviously didn’t reach out to any other high school association to see how their making it work. IHSAA just completed theirs successfully with still a complete tourney and finals. OHSAA is in the middle of there’s. FHSAA, Georgia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Alabama all have had the same type of tournament they always have had with attendance modification. Still nice venues, no change in competition format and certainly no reduction in minutes per period. So who exactly did they go to to gather this information? And it seems like we are all being told to either take what we give you or you can look at basketball and baseball last year as a comparison of being “greatful”. We’ve all learned a lot about Covid and seen hundreds of events ran with the masks, spacing and cleaning. Why does it need to be an uphill battle?

Besides not wanting to do what’s right and working with the community of wrestling, I don’t see a reason why the KHSAA wouldn’t make this modification. They cancelled the All A Basketball tournament then it was back on a day or 2 later. I’m sure some persuasive influences helped with that. It would be nice if the wrestling community had some help to get some minor modifications to this post season to make it as normal as possible. 2 minute periods back, either a 16 man bracket or a true 2nd opportunity.