Elementary state

[Ranger123 43]

Has there been any discussion regarding the date and location of this season's elementary state tournament?

[oldgrappler 9]

Christian County High School expressed interest in hosting the Elementary State tournament this year.  I don't know if anything has been scheduled yet. Does anyone know who is in charge of the elementary state?

[plee 0]

Christian County High School expressed interest in hosting the Elementary State tournament this year.  I don't know if anything has been scheduled yet. Does anyone know who is in charge of the elementary state?

Jim Matney is in charge of the elementary state.  I have not heard anything of a location for this year's state.  You can also try to contact Pam Clark who is the AD at McCreary Middle school.

[SpartanMom 0]

There have been several coaches wanting information about the elementary season.  In order to try to plan for the upcoming season we will hold a planning meeting on October 28th at 2:00 at Whitley City Elementary School (in McCreary County) in the Library.  If you have any questions please call Pam Clark at 606-310-3277 or e-mail at pamclark@mccreary.k12.ky.us. 

We really need to meet and come together as a group and make decisions for the upcoming year since we have so many teams now--it is an exciting time for wrestling and we are to the point with our elementary programs where we need to make group decisions (not just mine or anyone else).  If you can attend I hope to see you on the 28th.

[refdad 3]

Mrs. Clark.. I am sorry to say the meeting is too far for me to attend, but my main concern is that we don't have a situation occur like last year, with kids that attend school in another state(Ohio) taking away championships from two of our own kids. I hope this issue will be addressed and some sort of requirement put in place to prevent this from happening again. I understand that there will be some growing pains with getting this tournament going but I am optimistic that after a couple years of tweaking to make for better competition it will turn into something big,like the Middle School State Tournament.

[oldgrappler 9]

I agree there needs to be some guidelines in place.  Is there an official governing body for the elementary wrestling program in Kentucky?  If not, I know there would be a lot of interest in forming one.  Each area of the state needs representation so we can move the tournament each year, or have a central location.  I also agree we need to limit participation to Kentucky elementary kids, and follow the same rules used in High School tournaments so kids won't have to wrestle 3 times in 45 minutes.  I appreciate the effort everyone has put into the tournament, but the number of wrestlers now participating calls for a statewide governing body.

[SpartanMom 0]

I could not agree more that we need to establish a governing body for elementary wrestling.  That is exactly what we are trying to do.  I do realize that our location is not convenient for most coaches, but after we have our initial meeting maybe someone more centrally located will agree to host future meetings--Since many coaches are contacting me on a daily basis I thought we should at least start the dialogue.  I know it is a long drive for many, but it will be worth it to get many of the most pressing issues addressed.  We need to establish our governing body--since we have not technically established one (I know we made some progress at the last State Tournament).  We need to establish our by-laws and guidelines for our season and tournament.  We need to discuss the possibility of an elementary season.  We need to discuss the options of qualifying for the state tournament and how we can ensure that all participants are actually eligible.  We need to set a date and location for the State Tournament--and discuss how we want to handle future locations.  The list could be endless of discussion topics and I know we won't get everything concluded, but I think we can make great progress. 

I know the organization process is not the funnest part of any activity, however it is a very important part of the process so I really hope most coaches will be willing to give up the time and make the drive to start the process--we are on the verge or making Kentucky Wrestling a GREAT program.

[dscicle 6]

How about just turning it over to the MS association??? Surely they would take over and ensure every one's satisfaction??

[refdad 3]

Besides the "attendind school in this state" issue, my other main concern in just being consistant from year to year on the age guidelines for each division. I just don't want to see it change from year to year so that a kid is at the bottom of the age division one year , then come back the next year to find out it has changed and he will be at the bottom of the division again.

[SpartanMom 0]

That is a really good point--we also need to be consistent with weight.  There are many reasons we need to have a good strong set of rules and guidelines.  I really hope we have enough show up at the meeting to take care of these issues.  If we do not have folks show up at this meeting I do think we should pursue letting the middle school association make the needed decisions for us until we get organized--we need to have some legitimate consistency.  I just hope we have a good group so we can do it ourselves.

[TeamJesus316 0]

I know if there are any first year coaches in high school that are involved in elementary wrestling also, there is a NFHS coaching education class scheduled for that day.  I would love to come to the elementary school meeting, but am required to attend that NFHS meeting by my high school.