Constructive feedback on the Louisville location

[gameface 253]

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!!

[twenhofelcoach 61]

Thank you River City Wrestling Club for hosting this year's Middle School and Youth State Championships. It went very smoothly both days. I do like having it in a location where there is options to stay for those that have to travel. It was an easy 2 block walk to the venue for those of us that stayed overnight for both days. Yes I'm sure there are some cons to the location, but I saw more pro's then cons. Set up with seating around all the mats in a horseshoe setting would of let fans see the mats better. Concessions need to be better but I don't know who technically controls that. Prices are prices as far as I'm concerned at any venue we rent that's going to be an issue. That goes the same for Parking as well. I would definitely be interested in seeing what the Fairgrounds in Louisville could offer us next year.

[tekejew 19]

I will start with the negatives and end with the positives that I got from my parents & my own. Negatives; Traffic parents said was bad ( I felt wasn't bad, but I was there when they open the doors), food line was to long and prices were to high.

Positives location, we left half a day from school to drive up and was there by 3 eastern time and kids got to swim, work out if needed, still was in bed for the tournament. Overall as a Coach I liked it and anytime I needed clarification or bracket info Rivercity people (I'm assuming we're running everything) were nice and restful to me, which I don't get at high school state as a coach. Prices for food could be a little lower.  Just my input. 

[rjs4470 103]

My comments are strictly limited to middle school....

Concessions were definitely a problem, especially with no hospitality room for coaches.  There was simply no time for any coach with more than a few kids to get anything to eat or drink, as the concessions line was 20+ deep all day and was at least a 1/2 hour plus wait.

The mats along the wall were difficult to see from the stands, as there were still too many people who weren't coaches on the floor surrounding the mat.  This is one thing we must do a better job of policing in EVERY tournament.  I had a match one of my kids was in, where there must of have been at least 20 parent's/fans from the other team cheering from behind me in OUR corner.  Yell, cheer, root, do whatever you want, but do it from the stands, and certainly don't do it from your opponents corner.  If we do a better job of keeping people off the floor during the regular season, it won't be as much of a problem during the post season.  

There should have been a bout board centralized, visible from most of the floor, not in  corner in the rear of the space.

8 mats was great, and a definite positive.

A full mat warmup area is something you don't see at very many tourneys....another nice positive.

Really, overall, a nice day, and the venue was in my opinion a positive, and a definite step forward (not the Montgomery County was bad).  

[marriedtothemat 13]

Middle School Pros and Cons

1. Concession wait was crazy! I felt bad for the coaches as many went without food because there was no hospitality room and the lines were so long. 

2. It was impossible to see mats 1 & 2 from the main section of stands. They were surrounded by coaches, parents, and wrestlers all day. Many parents ended up on the floor because so many people were standing in the middle that they were unable to see their kids wrestle. It is next to impossible to control the floor traffic in this venue.

3. I thought the finals lacked its usual spark. This is my 7th consecutive year attending the middle state tournament and this was the least fanfare for finals I have every seen. I missed the one mat in the center, the finalists running out to the mat from under the stairs at Montgomery County, the projection screen with finalist pics and records displayed.  Those finalists worked hard to earn their place in the finals and they deserve all the pomp and circumstance we can give them. The last few years we have heard complaints about the disappointment in the high school finals and now middle school is moving in that direction.

4. I miss the big screen with bout numbers so I can follow upcoming exciting matches all day. I might have missed it but I didn't hear any team scores announced throughout the day either.

5. I thought the awards podium was too far away from the stands. You could barely see the kids on the podium from the stands. 

6. The tournament itself ran great! 8 mats makes all the difference. It was nice to be finished at a decent time.

7. Nice to have a venue where wrestlers and fans can easily walk from the hotel to the event. Reminds me of when high school state was held in Frankfort. Very convenient!

8. Seating was way more comfortable than the stands at Montgomery County. 

 

 

 

[Jrodc 20]

Too many parents on floor hard to get from head table to podium. Long lines for food and prices were outrageous. Miss the faceoffs

[Braves coach 82]

No allergy shot.

Well ran events. (Both days)

Good weather 

Access to fun. (4th street)

Impressed how good wrestling has gotten in the state!

I give the move a thumbs up!!

[JCB0577 17]

We need to follow high school.  Have a bull pin in warm up area. Call kids out by weight class.  Assign mats.  No one but wrestlers and coaches on the floor.  Too many people on the floor for finals.  I was one of them.  Honestly looked like a youth tournament with any and everybody with access to the floor.  

[JCB0577 17]

Awesome location and space.  Concessions were terrible.  

[JCB0577 17]

I am speaking about middle school only.  Not youth.  

[RTRBURN 15]

I think the tournament was greatly ran and organized. I had no issue with traffic but I got there early.

1. Concessions. Too HIgh priced and long lines.
2. Layout.. Like the arena feel. Take it back to Montgomery County if we don't find a place. if we could get Civic Center, Rupp, Yum Center, Fairgrounds
3.  A barrier around around the entire mats would have been nice. Coaches needing the passes seemed useless since everyone was mat side.
4. I maybe would have done a "Bull Ring" and called wrestlers to that area for mat assignment with bout sheet, this would warrant as a pass to get mat access.
5. Podiums need to be closer to Mat. Also do 70# class recognition between the 80 and 86 pound classes and so on.

these are just opinions.

 

[mom of 2 3]

i didn't think traffic was bad

food was to high

did not like the fact parents or whoever would not stay seated and the ones of us that was in the stand had a hard time seeing with other standing and when people was just walking to restrooms they was in the way

it was about an hour and half drive for us so not to bad

one big thing my wrestlers said was they didn't have a face off or anything and that gets them pumped i also missed that part

[gameface 253]

50 minutes ago, mom of 2 said:

i didn't think traffic was bad

food was to high

did not like the fact parents or whoever would not stay seated and the ones of us that was in the stand had a hard time seeing with other standing and when people was just walking to restrooms they was in the way

it was about an hour and half drive for us so not to bad

one big thing my wrestlers said was they didn't have a face off or anything and that gets them pumped i also missed that part

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!!

[Louisville 4]

The youth morning session took much longer than the afternoon.  The morning session didn't end until after 2pm, but the afternoon seemed to take less than three hours.  Is this largely a factor of number of kids in the morning age groups?  If so, do you shift one of the morning age groups to the afternoon to balance it?  This could allow for more time for face offs, particularly for the morning session.

[plantmanky1 58]

1 hour ago, Louisville said:

The youth morning session took much longer than the afternoon.  The morning session didn't end until after 2pm, but the afternoon seemed to take less than three hours.  Is this largely a factor of number of kids in the morning age groups?  If so, do you shift one of the morning age groups to the afternoon to balance it?  This could allow for more time for face offs, particularly for the morning session.

There were 3 age groups in the AM session, and only 2 in the PM session, that is way AM session took longer.  

[She Beast 20]

I didn't mind the location and it went as well as expected.Women's rest room had issues with toilets.Smelt like death in there.Got sick.It was worse than a Taco Bell bathroom with three toilets backed up .Overall good job to all involved.Thanks for putting up with us.

[MastersofWrestling 0]

Gameface,

Agree with you that RCWC, Tyler, his wife and all of the RC folks were awesome.

1. Either Coaches' hospitality or more staff for concessions - Middle School was concessions were problematic - Youth had additional food service.

2. Moving the mats together for Youth minimized the people blocking the view of the far mats for fans in the stands. Near mats would need a method to display scores to near stands

3. Youth tourney - designate the first 2 rows of bleachers for wrestlers to sit, this causes the parents to sit higher and allows them to see the far mats.

4. Project the bout sheet from TW on the wall or more display panels

5. Middle school championship and consolation finals run on adjacent mats for 1&2, 3&4, 5&6.

6. Youth Face Off for oldest (probably their last before HS) MS wrestlers?

7. Annual coaches meeting the night before, MS - Friday evening 8 - 9:30, and Youth Saturday 8-9:30, instead of the sidetracked coaches meeting before the tourney starts.

8. Enforce only coaches and wrestlers on the floor - it is a problem in every tournament but I am not sure it can be eliminated.

9.Gameface need a ladder to stand on...

I liked this venue much better than the Horse Park and I appreciate what you and the other Ryle coach, Matt Lee, have done to continually improve the sport

MOW

 

[Braves coach 82]

I was in favor of no face offs. Its fun to listen to Mr. Thomas roll the last names off his tongue. So I hope we bring it back. 

We should look at spending less money on awards and singlets. Invest the money into security. Actually keep people off floor. It was out of control.

A staging area for youth kids. Instead of mat side. Have bout runners bring them to the mats.  This would help keep parents off floor.  

 

 

 

[Louisville 4]

33 minutes ago, plantmanky1 said:

There were 3 age groups in the AM session, and only 2 in the PM session, that is way AM session took longer.  

Right.  I guess what I am suggesting is that you try to balance the number of wrestlers for each session.  According to Track you had 156 for 01-02, 268 for 03-04, 305 for 05-06, 313 for 07-08 and 127 for 09-11 for a total of 1,169 wrestlers.  Out of those, 745 wrestled the morning session and 424 wrestled the afternoon session.  If instead, we wrestled 05-06 and 07-08 in the morning for a total of 618 and then 01-02, 03-04, and 09-11 in the afternoon for a total of 551, it would have been more balanced.  In other words, wrestle the two lowest populated age groups (the youngest and oldest) and the most populated in one session and the other two in the other session.  These ratios of wrestlers seem roughly consistent with the 2015 youth tournament as well, even though we added three birth years to the youth tournament in 2016.

While this will keep the morning and the afternoon balanced, it doesn't necessarily make more time overall.  Since we added three birth years to the youth tournament this year (11 birth years vs last year's 8 birth years) and thus added 25% more wrestlers (1,169 this year verses 942 last year), we should expect that without 25% more mats, the tournament overall will take 25% longer.  Therefore, you had to cut out the face-offs or we would have been there well into the late evening (past the start of the Super Bowl).  

If we keep the youth tournament at the convention center in Louisville it seems as though we have room for more mats (move the t-shirts sales over by the concessions, and perhaps not use the seating on the short (east) wall since there seemed to be plenty along the long (south) wall)... is that an option for next year?  I know that means more mats, more scoreboards, more refs, more table workers, etc... but there was room, right?  Is that feasible?

[Nolans Dad 36]

My wife said during the Youth tournament several parents threatened to fight each other because they couldn't see there kid wrestling... I like a place where the wrestling is lower and the parents higher up in sets and everyone can see.. We got stuck in the concert traffic, so it was bad, we forgot about the concert... the tournament itself ran smooth.. Why did Montgomery County quit hosting it? 

[BigBossMan 21]

I was there and coached both days. I agree with many of the prior observations about concessions, lines, and traffic on the floor. Those are concerns at any new venue. Until there is a routine in place no one(coaches or spectators) knows the ground rules. I can remember the first couple of years at the civic center when high school moved from Louisville, the fans would rush mat side like a mosh pit up until about finals time. I know the venue has to change so I will make suggestions rather than criticize. I want to give a lot of credit to Tyler and all the folks that assisted in the process of getting everything together. I could not imagine the time and energy it takes to put on these events. I like everyone else have an opinion, both good and bad. Here they are middle school first:

Bad - Speed of the tournament. As the day went on everything seemed rushed, especially the later rounds and wrestle backs. Besides knowing the kids, you didn't know whom were wrestling consi and champ brackets because they were wrestling at the same time and often times not on mat they started on. I have always been in favor of this, but if 6 or 8 mats are being used, I am not. I could tell some of the officials were getting fatigued which is not good. Slow it down later in the day not long breaks, but maybe use fewer mats. And more announcements for fans.

Good - 8 mats for the first 2 rounds of Championship and consolation round. Bravo!! After that semi's by themselves on 2 mats and consi quarters on 2 mats(done weight class at a time).

Location, Location, Location! Get there early and you have no problems in or out. I-65 is very accessible, as are all major roadways. Plenty of seating. Don't have t wait in the cold to get a ticket. Plenty of bathrooms(clean for the most part). Can't say the same for Horsepark of Civic Center.

Now for the youth: Went as expected. If anyone can do better, I'd like to see them try(this does not include the NKY group, they also do a great job). Trying to organize 1169 kids, not counting parents, from my perspective was handled incredibly well. Kudos!

Suggestions for locations next year: Fairgrounds, either Broadbent, Freedom Hall, or one of the wings(if stadium seating is available). Louisville has all the amenities to accommodate each end of the state. It is easy to get to and from. For background, I am from LaRue County. Drive takes an hour to get to Louisville, hour and 15 to get to Horse Park, and an hour to get to Civic Center. The Horse Park is hugely overrated, the only good thing in my viewpoint was it was in the same venue as high school state. But if they are not on the same weekend anymore that reasoning no longer matters. Civic Center doesn't have floor space for youth. Any other venues?

[marriedtothemat 13]

4 hours ago, MastersofWrestling said:

Gameface,

Agree with you that RCWC, Tyler, his wife and all of the RC folks were awesome.

1. Either Coaches' hospitality or more staff for concessions - Middle School was concessions were problematic - Youth had additional food service.

2. Moving the mats together for Youth minimized the people blocking the view of the far mats for fans in the stands. Near mats would need a method to display scores to near stands

3. Youth tourney - designate the first 2 rows of bleachers for wrestlers to sit, this causes the parents to sit higher and allows them to see the far mats.

4. Project the bout sheet from TW on the wall or more display panels

5. Middle school championship and consolation finals run on adjacent mats for 1&2, 3&4, 5&6.

6. Youth Face Off for oldest (probably their last before HS) MS wrestlers?

7. Annual coaches meeting the night before, MS - Friday evening 8 - 9:30, and Youth Saturday 8-9:30, instead of the sidetracked coaches meeting before the tourney starts.

8. Enforce only coaches and wrestlers on the floor - it is a problem in every tournament but I am not sure it can be eliminated.

9.Gameface need a ladder to stand on...

I liked this venue much better than the Horse Park and I appreciate what you and the other Ryle coach, Matt Lee, have done to continually improve the sport

MOW

 

Are you actually saying to have Middle school finals at the same time as 3/4 & 5/6 or did I misunderstand? 

I think that would be a huge mistake. This should be about the kids and recognizing them for their hard work and effort. The kids like the pagentry. The large medals, singlets, face offs, music, championship matches on a single finals mat with no other matches occuring. That is what the kids deserve! It also makes every wrestler in those stands want to be there the next year. 

 

[MastersofWrestling 0]

43 minutes ago, marriedtothemat said:

Are you actually saying to have Middle school finals at the same time as 3/4 & 5/6 or did I misunderstand? 

I think that would be a huge mistake. This should be about the kids and recognizing them for their hard work and effort. The kids like the pagentry. The large medals, singlets, face offs, music, championship matches on a single finals mat with no other matches occuring. That is what the kids deserve! It also makes every wrestler in those stands want to be there the next year. 

 

Sorry - should have been run the 3/4 and 5/6 on the mats near the long section of the stands. Then the championship on one mat - use spot lights too!

Impossible with the number of youth wrestlers to do a faceoff except with the oldest age group as the last year recognition. I understand there are kids that after the 5 grade only wrestle MS...like Senior Night for UK basketball...most leave before their second year.  

[lparker20 0]

Venue set up was horrible.  Could not see my son wrestle because of parents and other team coaches standing behind the table.  We were on mat 18 Sunday morning, and with ppl wwalking and milling around the table like cattle you had to either be Matisse or up top to see.  Policing mats need to be enfoced, no one allowed at the mats but coaches, kids need to be either in stands and be called down or by the mat.  I liked the horse park, am in favor of fairgrounds in louisville next yr.