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Hi, my name is Caleb Canter. For those of you that do not know me, I graduated from LaRue County High School in 2013. I have been a huge wrestling fan my entire life and always will be. However, as I attended the state tournament yesterday, I was extremely disappointed to find that the finals had been lumped together with the rest of the medal rounds, and the face off had been done away with entirely. This is absolutely disrespectful to the kids that worked so hard to make their way to the finals. Those kids deserve to be honored separate from all the other wrestlers in the state, as they have rightfully earned that position. As soon as I realized what the KHSAA had decided to do, I looked up the emails of the representatives (who we will not name) that made the decision, and sent an email asking for an explanation as to why it was done this way. I received a response almost immediately, and feel very inclined to share this information with the rest of the wrestling community. Shown below is the email I sent and the response I received. Please take the time to read through both emails as I would like for everyone to completely understand the situation before we take our next steps. My original email: Hi, my name is Caleb Canter. I have been involved with Kentucky wrestling since I was born in 1995. Wrestling has been a huge part of my life and I am concerned about the path the sport is taking in our state. I'm writing this email from my seat here in the Alltech Arena as I watch this lackluster "state finals." I am extremely disappointed in the format of this year's finals, and I am seeking a legitimate explanation as to why the biggest match of the season is less exciting than the finals of any given tournament throughout the season. Because I honestly can't think of a single reason why things are happening the way they are. I understand, or at least I hope, that you are not the only ones that have made the decision to format the tournament this way. However I am sure that you are able to fix the issue. If you are not convinced that this is an issue, you can ask any fan in attendance and they will tell you otherwise. I would even be willing to go as far as creating a petition to have signed for you to see just how many people are upset at the direction our state finals have gone. I'm sure when you read this you will likely write me off as a random upset 21 year old, and ignore my request for an explanation. But I urge you not to do so, because I know that I speak for the entire Kentucky wrestling community in what I am saying to you. In the future I hope that you will allow these high schoolers to earn the respect and honor that they have worked so hard for. Thank you for taking your time to hear my message. Caleb Canter If you would like to discuss the issue further I would be more than happy to do so! Feel free to give me a call The Response I Received: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. As someone who likely has been involved in this sport since before you were born, I know that change in anything dealing with this sport is seldom unanimous. As I sit here tonight we have received several extremely positive comments from coaches, parents and fans of the 3rd through 8th place wrestlers thankful for the change rewarding their son, daughter or wrestler's year long commitment even though they didn't finish in the top two. There have been some who would like to move the quarterfinal round and others would like to end earlier tonight. All of that is the function of our staff evaluating the conduct of the event going forward. The state association and its mission is to make decisions that are student friendly for the most students, not simply the elite level. If the elite level was the sole purpose, many team championships and individual events would involve only the elite or those from the urban areas where they are perceived more athletic or brackets would be seeded, etc. But that is not the purpose. It is about recognizing students across the board regardless of ability. In order to ensure continued participation in sports, such as wrestling, that struggle in many states maintaining optimal support. Since the time of your referenced year, participation in the sport has nearly doubled in terms of schools and much of that is properly attributed to changing both the culture of the sport and format of events to include more kids. And that will continue to be emphasized. So while those that want no change ever are likely disappointed with any change, others continue to welcome evolution. This association will continue to manage it events in the manner that the staff feels is the best for the continued evolution of the sports and activities and that may in fact mean even more change in the future. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Sent from my iPhone Blame all typos on Apple auto-incorrect I do realize that both of these emails are extremely lengthy, but I ask that you at least take the time to read through the response email so that you can fully understand the decision that was made. I am thankful that the KHSAA took the time to actually read and think about my comments, but I am extremely unsatisfied with the justification for the way things were done. That is why I am going to see that it is fixed. While the KHSAA is operating in a manner that they believe is what the wrestling community desires, I am sure that they are mistaken. Therefore, we as an entire wrestling community must present our opinion to the KHSAA. The first thing I will ask of you is to sign the online petition to have the finals revamped into all that they should be. You can find this petition at the link shown below. https://www.change.org/p/kentucky-wrestling-kentucky-wrestling-state-finals?recruiter=492947154&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink Please take the time to sign as well as share the link with your friends and family that may have an opinion on the matter. Secondly and most importantly I am going to ask for you dedicated members of the wrestling community to write a short personal statement or letter to the KHSAA about why you think the finalist deserve to be honored more so than the rest of the medalist. I do understand that this is asking a lot of you, but it is my opinion that your written out thoughts are worth much more than your signature on a petition. I hope to receive letters from all possible sources, including children, wrestlers, coaches, officials, parents, and fans. Once you have written your letter to the KHSAA, please email it to me at caleb.canter@uky.edu. After I receive your notes I will print them off and personally deliver them to the KHSAA office. I also ask that you please remain respectful and professional throughout your entire statement, that way we can present our opinions to the KHSAA in a positive manner. While I do not wish to discount any one of your opinions and would love to receive letters from each and every one of you. I believe that the testimonies of wrestlers who found success at the state level but never managed to reach the finals, will be found most convincing, and I ask that you please make sure those people see this message. I also would love to hear the voice of those that support the way finals were done, and would be more than happy to include your statements when I deliver our messages to the KHSAA. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this lengthy post. I hope that we can find a way to rise up together and see a change made, so that these kids that work so hard can enjoy the respect that they earned. Caleb Canter Feel free to email me with any questions or ideas. Caleb.canter@uky.edu