3rd Annual Kentucky Elementary State Tournament Mar 24 2007

[dogwood 2]

Hey people, you are getting a little harsh on both sides.  I think that it is in the best interest of all to look ahead and start planning for next year so that embarrassing mishaps like two tournaments doesn't happen again.  I have just recently located this website and feel like I walked onto a battlefield.

I just wish that the elementary and middle school information was a little more available out there.  My eighth grade son has missed out on a lot because we got information too late, but I hope we can do better for our younger wrestlers in the future now that I've located the source of information.

Can we get information on the Connor tournament?  I have the JC info already.

[plee 0]

Hey people, you are getting a little harsh on both sides.  I think that it is in the best interest of all to look ahead and start planning for next year so that embarrassing mishaps like two tournaments doesn't happen again.  I have just recently located this website and feel like I walked onto a battlefield.

I just wish that the elementary and middle school information was a little more available out there.  My eighth grade son has missed out on a lot because we got information too late, but I hope we can do better for our younger wrestlers in the future now that I've located the source of information.

Can we get information on the Connor tournament?  I have the JC info already.

I agree, i wish the JC people the best of luck.

Here's some info on our tournament.  If anyone wants a printable flyer, please contact me through email.

Where:  Conner High School

[refdad 3]

Age divisions going off of their age on the day of the tournament. Is this going to stay consistant from year to year? Last years age requirements were in line with highschool rules, meaning that a kid with a birthday after Aug 1st or 5th, not sure which wrestled his age last year......example. A kid that is 11 now with a Sept, Oct birthday wrestled 10 and under last year. I just hope the requirements stay consistant from year to year.

Also, it is unfortunate that this "miscommunication " happened. Hopefully this will not happen again and we will build on this tournament, and in years to come if can you say  you are an " Elementry School State Champion"  this statement has alot of meaning. Good luck to both tournaments and all kid who participate.

[SpartanMom 0]

I hope all of this chatter means that there is much growth in elementary wrestling.  It is exciting that everyone's hard work may begin to pay off--growing pains are part of any program--just as criticism is.  This is all part of the growth process.  I certainly know that McCreary County did not do a perfect job last year, but each year gets better and better--this year should be twice as nice.  I will say that I thought the Cumberland College wrestlers did a great job with the tournament and I would use them again in a heartbeat.  I think the best experience out there is the many years of wrestling those kids had--I thought things went pretty well--things can always be better.  One thing that I did like was the fact that we did not use our local high school kids to officiate--we did have certified officials available, and experienced officials on all mats.  That is one of those things that we had the luxury of seeing the need for just as there are things that this years tournament will improve upon.  I am thankful that LaRue County got the ball rolling with the tournament in 2005--they got us off to a GREAT start and we should build each year.

As you all know a successful program takes good communication and lots of work.  I hope we are to the point where we can work together and build an awesome program for Kentucky elementary wrestling.  I hope we can look beyond some of the misinformation in the occasional post and continue to work toward continued success.  Wrestlers and their mom's are very passionate about the sport--and I think that is a good thing.  The more interest we have the faster we will grow. 

Technically, until we have an organized body to make decisions we will not have any "official" tournament--but it is GREAT to have the opportunity.  That is why we must meet (often and statewide) to organize.  Creating an organization involves much more than we have put into it to date--we must have our officials in place (all officials), our by laws determined, and any other official things we need to organize.  It is time to do that now so we can avoid future confusion.  We really have some GREAT folks across the state interested now so we should be able to build effectively.

I am looking forward to the future of wrestling across the state of Kentucky at all levels!

FYI--the minutes from our October meeting were posted on this site including the coaches in attendance if anyone is interested. 

[SheHateMe 0]

Well I only thought we were on the right track.  Why do we have a president that doesn't communicate with everyone else involved in youth wrestling.  I've known about the tournament on the 3rd since the meeting because they bothered to disseminate their information.  Now the "president" has stepped in and rejected everything everyone else has worked on and planned for.  Sounds more like a dictator than a president or maybe a tater  .  Good President:  Doesn't communicate with anyone involved.  doesn't let others know everything they are working on is going to be squashed.  Taking everything everyone else has worked hard on and stepped on it.  While not being involved but happy to criticize and step in and save the so called day.  I like the S on your chest.  Your the man.  Congratulations you have successfully set youth wrestling back 2yrs.  JC why didn't you let everybody know about your tournament till now.  JC why didn't you tell the people who had been putting their info out there long ago that you had different ideas.  You really screwed them over.  Stand-up guy if you ask me makes for a good president.

Lets remember where this started.  LaRue 2yrs ago.  Good tournament - why because no one else would do it.  And yet people criticized it while not jumping on board.  Then to McCreary and the same thing criticize but don't jump on board.  Now to this year and we have Conner stepping up and instead of jumping on board we have a hijacking.

Let me say this again if we don't get on board this will be painful.  Programs and parents on the fence will say screw it.  After that rotate it so that individual regions get localized benefits.

I don't know how there was a president elected.  If it was a MS State then that mistake will be fixed this year.

I know what everyone wants is the State in there area.  We are 5yrs out before that will not be counter productive.  It needs to be centrally located to optimize attendance.  The more kids in attendance the more benefit to the state as a whole.

[NKYWrestler 1]

I will be participating at the meeting for coaches March 2. 

One thing is for sure and I know this did not work out this year, but we have to have regional competitions prior to the state going forward in 2008.  Youth wrestling has grown into more than just a handful of clubs and there are just too many kids to ignore that fact.  Hosting one event eliminates to many of the potential wrestlers that would have competed.  (No one wants to drive border to border, do overnights in some cases, or have the chance that their wrestler gets knocked out early.  Or do all that to find an unorganized event being planned by the seat of the pants.  The first state tournament was a good example.  The hosting school simply did not have the resources needed to handle the level of participating wrestlers that attended.  Due to that experience I did not take my team to last years state tournament fearing the same problem would occur.  Youth programs are harmed by poorly administered events and it is not worth the risk.  Guidelines need to be established for schools wanting to host the event for having the required resources.

Additionally, the elected president has truly let everyone down on this.  I have yet to see an official reply to any of the post made on the tournament issue from him directly.  Jim Matney, are you out there?  Do you have visibility to our problem?  What do you think on 2 tournaments for state title in KY youth?  Will you be attending the coaches meeting at Conner March 2?  Are you planning on pulling the coaches together to iron out the challenges ahead for 2008?  When and where,how do we get intouch?  Thanks, Coach Frank

[stanmms 4]

My name is Stan Martin, I currently run the youth program at Ryle. 

In October I attended the meeting in McCreary Co.  Just to dispel some rumors the following occurred.  I called Pam Clark shortly after school started to find out what was happening with the Youth State Tourney.  She told me how she had emailed and phoned Jim Matney on several occasions with not one returned communication.  She also told me he was very busy with Football.  Because he never returned any communication the desire to hold a meeting was posted.

    1. Pam Clark agreed to host the meeting since nobody else would.

    2. Yes, there were only 4 schools that attended, none of which was Johnson Central.

    3. Ryle did agree to host the elementary tournament not because nobody else wanted to but because we did.  We expressed our interest at last years tournament and were always under the impression we would host.

    4. Just recently I found out that Ryle's gym was not going to be available on March 3rd.  I called Pat Lee and he was able to arrange the tournament at Conner High School.

    5. I personally called EVERY high school coach in Ky. to find out who was responsible for their Youth program.  Only THREE COACHES returned my calls, again Jim Matney was not one of them.

    6. Ryle hosted a tournament on 12/02/2006 which was posted as an open invitational to every team in the State of Ky.  Simon Kenton, Campbell Co., Conner, Summitview, and Fern Creek were the only Ky. teams to attend.  Thanks to these teams plus some Ohio and Indiana teams we had 250 kids and a great tournament.

   

Since the above events occurred I have spent countless hours on the phone and email trying to get teams to step up and host regional tournaments.  Thankfully we had teams in Western Ky, Louisville, and Northern Ky. volunteer.  Unfortunately time became an issue and we had to scrap the idea for this year. 

My first communication with Jim Matney occurred just one week ago after he posted his listing on this website.  I emailed him asking him to call me to discuss all of the above.  HE NEVER CALLED ME BACK.

I proceeded to call him last week and he answered the phone and we had a very cordial conversation that resulted in nothing.  Mr. Matney will hold a tournament on March 23 as we will hold The KY State Youth Wrestling Championship on March 3rd at Conner High School.

On March 2nd we will have a coach's meeting, at Conner High School, to formally setup a governing board to establish guidelines for Youth Wrestling in Ky.  This has never been done before.  Every coach in the State of Ky will have the opportunity to express their opinion.  If there is a person somebody wants to nominate for the board, please do so. 

Please feel free to email myself at stanmms@fuse.net

[eville dad 17]

I just read through this entire thread and it reminds me of what middle school wrestling went through just a few years ago, it may sound strange, but I think you all are on the right track. Middle school was so messed up we had different weight classes at every tournament, some didn't require weigh-ins at all.

The fact that theres coaches communicating is a good sign. It sounds like some people have been working extremely hard to get this off the ground and I compliment them for their efforts, a start up organization like this needs leaders willing to do the legwork, make the phone calls, send the emails and get people talking.

Look at the bright side, you have two elementary tournaments planned, it they are both considered state tournaments so be it. Thats exactly what happened with middle school in 2002, Campbell County had a tournament called the State Tournament and just a week or two later Gray hosted one too! I remember the same kind of argument, each host claiming to be having the official State Tournament, but in the long run it didn't matter who's was the official state tournament, the kids had a great time and thats all the really matters. The next year everyone agreed to work together and things have progressed well, not perfect but numbers have grown each year.

I say quit the finger pointing, pick up a telephone and work together for the kids. Remember the reason you care about this anyway, because you all like wrestling and want the kids to have safe well structured competitions, Good luck!

[SheHateMe 0]

Stan

Sounds like you did a lot of leg work to promote and wrap up loss ends.

As far as electing officers for the Elementary programs.  It would be good if our head people be ones that can focus their time and efforts on Elementary wrestling.  They also need to be able detach themselves from manipulating things to benefit there own agendas. 

Let's not end up in this situation again where we have a person in control that is going to do what they want because they have the power. 

[I-pinned-em-all 0]

I know Stan Martin very well and encourage all parents of Ky youth wrestlers  to trust this person with the Youth Wrestling Program. Stan is an honest man with integrity and sportsmanship. He is devoted to youth wrestling and currently runs one the must organized youth programs in the state.  Parents must unite and agree to have a single state championship. I encourage everyone to trust Stan and agree to enroll their wrestlers in the real state championship tournament held at Conner High School.

[pioneer_pride 1]

I know Stan Martin very well and encourage all parents of Ky youth wrestlers  to trust this person with the Youth Wrestling Program. Stan is an honest man with integrity and sportsmanship. He is devoted to youth wrestling and currently runs one the must organized youth programs in the state.  Parents must unite and agree to have a single state championship. I encourage everyone to trust Stan and agree to enroll their wrestlers in the real state championship tournament held at Conner High School.

And I think we should listen to I-pinned-em-all.  After all, he pinned me once.  I don't remember it, but he must have because he pinned em all.  He's pinned us all at least once.  He is also a humble and very great leader.  :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol:

I also concur about Stan, he's a good guy. 

[refdad 3]

UNLESS  you used to wrestle for him. ....Just kidding

[I-pinned-em-all 0]

If my recall is correct, I pinned pioneer_pride simply with a thought!   

This elementary tourney is really out of control. Calmer minds should prevail and the tournament should be held at Conner. Clearly, this tournament will be very organized and well run.

[SheHateMe 0]

I'm not worried about it being organized.  Kids don't care.  They don't know if a tournament is organized or not.  All they know is they get to wrestle.  So that makes it really easy.  The only people that get upset about the organization of a tournament are the parents.  Lets be real happy this is rolling, the kids are.

[plee 0]

I'm not worried about it being organized.  Kids don't care.  They don't know if a tournament is organized or not.  All they know is they get to wrestle.  So that makes it really easy.  The only people that get upset about the organization of a tournament are the parents.  Lets be real happy this is rolling, the kids are.

AMEN!!  I very much agree with your last statement.  I say good luck to Johnson Central and I hope they have 500 kids...i hope we do to...what we are seeing are the similar growing pains that Dr. Eville Dad stated that the middle school league went through.  2 state tournaments, non-standard weight classes, etc.  We'll get there. 

[SheHateMe 0]

Just a thought.  Why can't we pull the Elementary program under the KSWA.  The structure is already in place and would prevent us from having to rework everything again.  Things would be done a little different but should be easy to have two programs under one organization.

[stanmms 4]

ON March 2nd at Conner High School we will be discussing exactly what she-hate-me is talking about.

Having the youth organization fall under the same management as Middle School.  It makes tons of sense.  Same rules, one governing body.

This is one suggestion, others want our own President and Board. 

Others want one organization to fall under the Middle School with a person to act as liaison from youth to middle school to make sure our best interests are being considered.

All coaches please be in attendance on March 2nd at 7:00 pm at Conner High School. Let's get this done.

WE NEED ALL VOICES TO BE HEARD.

[plee 0]

ON March 2nd at Conner High School we will be discussing exactly what she-hate-me is talking about.

Having the youth organization fall under the same management as Middle School.  It makes tons of sense.  Same rules, one governing body.

This is one suggestion, others want our own President and Board. 

Others want one organization to fall under the Middle School with a person to act as liaison from youth to middle school to make sure our best interests are being considered.

All coaches please be in attendance on March 2nd at 7:00 pm at Conner High School. Let's get this done.

WE NEED ALL VOICES TO BE HEARD.

Up until last year, the elementary state was handled by the middle school association.  I believe the reason a separate organization was formed was to give youth wrestling a more focused attention, which I agree was needed.  However, I believe there is so much common ground between the 2 organizations and we could really leverage each other....it would be nice if the elementary was not a separate organization, but more of a branch/division/whatever you want to call it of the same organization.  When I took over as president of the m.s. league, one of the first things I did was rename us from the Kentucky Middle School Wrestling Association to the Kentucky State Wrestling Association.  I did this in anticipation that we would branch out into youth and any other levels of wrestling that we could help out with.  I think youth wrestling should have it's own officers and stuff like that....but the 2 groups should leverage each other as much as possible.  Plus I think a lot of m.s. coaches also coach youth wrestling. 

Having said all that....a lot of m.s. coaches are very happy we no longer have the elementary stuff on our plate.  We are very busy.  But think of what we have already went through that the youth is now going to have to figure out.

[SheHateMe 0]

How about having a President of KWSA with a director of Middle School and a director of Elementary School.  This would keep the two separate so they don't bog down one another.

[plee 0]

How about having a President of KWSA with a director of Middle School and a director of Elementary School.  This would keep the two separate so they don't bog down one another.

I think that would be a good idea...not sure what the kswa would think.

[grappler-of-old 44]

Will you allow out of state wrestlers at the Conner tournament?  Is a flyer available?

If this was done, I don't think you could call it a STATE tournament. 

[wrestling mom 0]

Alot of interest so far!!!

Cannot wait.

[grapplehed 8]

Great points.  Here is my suggestion.  Instead of butting heads and having two state tournaments and a ton of confusion, no answers. 

S&^% can the entire event until an emergency meeting is held to resolve this. 

Then start laying the ground work for an assoc. like the MS did.

or we could leave things the way they are but change the names to 07 "Almost" state tournament.

 

[wrestling mom 0]

Going to be a great State Elementary Tournament.

All thoughts and ideas will be forwarded.

[wrestlewatcher 3]

Going to be a great State Elementary Tournament.

All thoughts and ideas will be forwarded.

Who's going?????