GentleBeard

Reputation and competition schedule matters when ranking kids, not records where 45% of the wins are only against the scale.

Attached is the link to the 3 River Rumble as well as a flyer for the tournament. Hope to see you there!!! Should be a fun day of competitive wrestling. For any questions, please contact: Ben Ellard 405-990-7463 or email ben.ellard@paducah.kyschools.us http://www.trackwrestling.com/registration/TW_Register.jsp?tournamentGroupId=200213132 3 River Rumble - 2022[2645].pdf

20-0 is a stretch as well. I don’t know of any team with that many duals. Could be wrong, but that sure seems like a lot at this point.

1) the Raney’s are an exception and comparing anyone in the state to what they’ve accomplished thus far is unintentionally downgrading the rest of the kids who aren’t national contenders. 2) The rules are the rules. If you have an issue with it, then present your case to policy makers. Some schools don’t care about academic eligibility (previous school I was associated with is a prime example). Then, there are others who have draconian policies in order for kids to just be able to practice. I know of a school who’s like that and people petitioned the SBDM council to change policy - which is the appropriate response, and it worked. 3) Calling someone’s team irrelevant may be intended to bash a coach, but I think it’s wise to at least be aware of the collateral damage done to those who are actually competing. This is an open forum, where kids can see what’s being said as well. 4) There are late bloomers in this state who, at the age of 16, are looking for their first pit hair under the best lighting they can find. Maturity/physique and age aren’t always the same. There are some 9 year olds who possess more muscle per body weight than some 8th graders. Most 8th graders (and even 7th graders) who are more mature are wrestling high school and not wasting time with a lack of competition in middle school (e.g. Matney from JC) 5) Wrestling is the only sport that goes based on age and weight. Whining about one kid being a year older than another doesn’t exactly help you arrive at the goal you’re trying to achieve. Then again, I’m probably just an ignorant fan. :-)

December kinda makes complaining about October rankings a bit silly. It’ll be interesting to see who peaks at the right time on that specific weekend in February.

Attached are updated flyers for tournaments hosted by Tornado Wrestling located in Paducah, KY. If you're interested, please contact ben.ellard@paducah.kyschools.us. Tornado Duals - 21.docx.pdf Tornado Invitational - 22.pdf 3 River Rumble - 2022[2645].pdf

Still looking for team for our tournaments on 1/23 (youth and middle school) as well as 2/20 (youth and middle school). If you're interested, please contact: ben.ellard@paducah.kyschools.us

The top portion of that page is the same awards procedures as last year during COVID. With schools in session without mask mandates, this rule is stupid. Surely this was an oversight.

What ages/weights are you still needing?

Good catch. Thanks. Here is the flyer for our dual meet. Tornado Duals 2021 (1).pdf

That would make sense....

I’m sure they have an auxiliary gym (last year’s warm up area) they’ll roll some bleachers in. I’m curious during which class period they’ll start the state tournament. The possibilities are exciting.

Let me see if I understand the context here…Ranger has been around the world this year, has no kids in high school wrestling, 2 college seasons to follow; not to mention being a committed husband and girl dad. He puts hours of unnecessary work to release rankings (which are really guesses at this point save for a few) based on the NEW weight classes while not having a kid competing in KHSAA. But, we are complaining about rankings….in October? We are a bored group lol

What date do you propose the middle school post season take place that would be accommodative to having enough officials? You mentioned that this current scenario was passed by “a small vested group of coaches”. That seems to be a problem if the universe of vested coaches is small. Bye weeks might actually allow you to retain kids if parents aren’t traveling and wrestlers aren’t making weight every weekend. Do your best in the current climate as you see fit for your program and let’s revisit the empirical data at the end of the season. I’m curious to see the results.

I’m not comparing the quality of sports. There’s no comparison in my bias. I’m comparing the length of seasons that seem to be a deterrent. It seems to me that if you don’t want a long season, you don’t have to schedule one. If you want to schedule tournaments every weekend from November - March then you can schedule that as well.

Football season essentially starts in July and ends in November. Basketball season starts the same week wrestling does (tomorrow) and lasts longer.

I get the feeling some assume mandatory practices MUST begin tomorrow and they MUST have tournaments every weekend from November 6th until March 5th/12th. If this is how you run your program, I’m certain there will be burnout. SOME kids might miss preseason for spring sports, but the likely trade off is that they’ll be in better shape than those participating in preseason for said sport. At the end of the day, no one has any empirical data to show what the participation numbers will be or what the retention rate will be. The challenge is to find a solution within this construct. Pessimism and defeatism can infect a culture/team. Let’s guard against that. Doesn’t basketball have more games and longer season than wrestling? I don’t know of anyone complaining about basketball players missing spring sports.

Are there any high school athletic associations that have sanctioned/sponsored FS/GR? I feel like Kentucky might be the first to do that, if it's even possible.

Instead of being a pessimistic state full of excuses, it would be nice to have more optimism and find solutions. So, given the situation we are in, and knowing no one can change it, what are you going to do? (Same question I asked myself last year during a pandemic)

Opinion noted. Try being an optimist. To answer your question: I think logistics was an important factor.

March 5th - Region March 12th - State It was voted on, and passed, during the last coaches meeting.

I think one of the few things Kentucky does right by the sport is having a single class. It leaves no doubt who the best in the state is. Splitting it and having 16 total placers in a state with 120 teams, some of which have extremely low numbers, seems unnecessary. I don’t think state champs want to see someone else also claim that title without a match to decide it. I like the undisputed title.

Tornado Wrestling will be hosting a tournament on February 20, 2022. Attached is the flyer. If you have any questions, please contact Ben Ellard at: ben.ellard@paducah.kyschools.us or call/text 405-990-7463 Thanks Tornado Invitational 2022.pdf

Tornado Wrestling will be hosting a tournament on February 20, 2022. Attached is a flyer. If you have any questions, please contact Ben Ellard at: ben.ellard@paducah.kyschools.us or call/text at 405-990-7463 Tornado Invitational 2022.pdf