Opinions on Kentucky Youth State Tournament

[ekymatdad 1]

Ok, let's hear opinions on Yesterday's tournament. I thought it was Ok, ran way late of course,(but that is almost expected)  and last minute change to sessions. Points, well I don't really understand how that went, and how come so many first placers didn't even count. I definitely do not like the fact that Johnson put several teams together to make one, that is cheating.

[heavy83 15]

TO BE SHORT..IT WAS ONE OF THE WORST RAN TOURNAMENTS I'VE BEEN AROUND. THERE IS ALOT OF WORK THE ASSOCIATION NEEDS TO LOOK AT TO INSURE THAT THE NEXT ONE IS NOT A DISASTER LIKE THIS ONE. WRESTLERS WAITING 3 HOURS BETWEEN MATHES OR NOT WRESTLING THEIR 1ST UNTIL 6P.M. IS WRONG NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK AT IT. ONE SUGGESTION IS BEFORE AWARDING THE NEXT SITE MUST HAVE HOST TEAM TO BE ABLE TO SHOW THEY CAN HANDLE A YOUTH TOURNAMENT. THEY ARE ALOT DIFFERENT THAN A HIGH SCHOOL TUORN. IF THE TOURN. RAN AS SMOOTH AS THEY THOUGHT IT WAS IT WOULD OF BEEN  OVER BY 5P.M. EVEN AFTER  1 1/2 HOUR LATE START.

[JCB 2]

Johnson County used the same scoring format which had been used in the previous Elementary State Tournaments (Laure, McCreary, and Conner).  One score for each weight class.  The confusion came into play where you had a weight class with up to 7 (8 man brackets) for the 9 / 10 year open class.  In this situation the person you had finished the highest would be your score.  However, if you had two placers in the same weight class the highest placer would be your score and the other placer would not score.  

Personally, I do not like using the 8 man brackets.  This created many problems with the brackets and scoring.  I hope the association address this for next year tournament.  

 

[mano y mano 0]

I think parents and coaches need to keep in mind that this is the 2nd year.  Not to make any excuses but a tournament is a tournament but when the numbers are doubled from one year to the next, that can cause some issues.  

I did not go but I got an earful.   As the Coaches association tries to work out the bugs, we should be proud that the entries went from 350 to over 600 kids in one year.  Not to mention how many teams declined the travel.  

I do know that Citywide, which is Cincinnati's grand finally for Youth wrestling is held over two weekend at different schools.  I think this should now be considered, or make the regionals an actual qualifier.  

The other thing is to eliminate teams scores or put a cap on the number of scorers.

[ekybigman 0]

ekymatdad could you please explain your statement that Johnson County combined several teams to make one team.

I thought the tournament went well. I talked with several coaches who left well satisfied. When you have over 600 wrestlers and well over 100 requests for changes on the morning of the tournament you will have issues. Imagine with me if you will if we had wrestled the first round of all 88 brackets then the second and then so on. Kids would have waited alot longer than three hours to wrestle and we may still be there.

[Guest The Great And Powerful Oz]

Ok, let's hear opinions on Yesterday's tournament. I thought it was Ok, ran way late of course,(but that is almost expected)  and last minute change to sessions. Points, well I don't really understand how that went, and how come so many first placers didn't even count. I definitely do not like the fact that Johnson put several teams together to make one, that is cheating.

WOW!!  I can't believe I actually thought there might be a youth or m.s. tournament ran in this state for once that people didn't complain about cheating.  Please, if you care about this sport in this state whatsoever, please put your swords away and just enjoy that our youth are wrestling.  I'm not attacking you personally on that issue, I just hate the way we are becoming in this state regarding the accusations of cheating.  Starting a thread to discuss opportunities to improve is a great idea, bickering of cheating or what the team standings were in a youth or m.s. tournament is sad and pathetic.  If that's the way it is always going to be, and the adults can't figure out how to all get along without calling people cheaters, then I suggest to the association that we stop keeping team scores in youth & m.s.  The kids could care less.  The team standings are only there to stroke the coach's egos anyway.  I spoke to 2 coaches yesterday who said they would like to see the team scores done away with at the youth level.  Make it happen coaches!!

I agree with heavy83 that it ran way too long.  There are tournaments all over the country with 2-3 times this many wrestlers that the kids do not have to sit around all day.  That needs to be worked on.  That is a major turn off to this sport.  Also before you decide 2 days before the tournament to make a change like splitting it into sessions, the association & coaches need to greatly improve their communications.  That to me was a sign of poor organization & planning to say that anyone was caught by surprise that there were 600+ wrestlers.  Last year there were 2 state tournaments, Conner & Johnson County.  As mano y mano said, there were 350 at Conner.  I actually heard yesterday it was closer to 400 at Conner and there had to be 100-200 at Johnson County.  Where's the surprise?  Our coach had a heck of a hard time contacting everyone as our team only practices on Tuesdays & Thursdays and people were traveling on Friday.

I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, I know the coaches and everyone are volunteers, and do not get paid a dime, so thank you to all who put this event on especially Jim Matney & the Johnson County people...thank you!!  I just think we need to figure out how to make it better next year.  Maybe we should look at models outside this state to help run a decent tournament?  Or hire someone to run the elementary tournament. 

[Frank 0]

Instead of people griping and complaining on this website, Please contact your regional rep. or if you coach, Go to the association meeting in May. That is the proper forum for dissatisfaction. I know it is hard to wait but be patient. Some of us were discussing ways to improve the tournament while we were in the Hotel. We are coaches from different teams but we respect one another and value each others opinions, wisdom and personal experiences as coaches. There is not one of us that could say " I can satisfy everyone" after running a very stressfull State Tournament. I could pick apart all four State tournaments that we have had. Why? I have not walked in the shoes of any of the four who have hosted.

My opinion on this topic is....I brought ten of the toughest, smartest, Most devoted, Fundamentally sound and passionate wrestlers in the state of Kentucky. ALL of which know what team score is and care about it because they all wrestle as a team. All but one placed, and they are proud of being 12th in the state.

Simon Kenton Youth Wrestlers coach Frank, Gary & Mark are very proud of all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[oldgrappler 9]

Positives:

1. The sport is growing - its great to see so many youth wrestlers

2. 650 wrestlers travelled to Johnson County for a tournament

3. The tournament will be somewhere else next year

Problems:

1. Splitting a weight class into 4 or more groups.  How can you have 4 state champs in one weight class?  I understand this is great for the marginal wrestlers for their self-esteem.  But quality wrestlers, even at the youth level, want to be able to say they are THE state champion, not one of 4 or 5.  This was obviously done to save time and speed the tournament - I can think of other ways to get it done.

2. Having a coach's meeting @ 7 AM without notifying anyone

3. possibly the worst run tournament I've ever seen.  If we are going to call this a state tournament we need better.

4. the open division weight classes need to be adjusted.  Some 9/10 year old kids were wrestling kids weighing 60 lbs. more.  At least one got hurt.  This is a no-brainer.

5. No hospitality room? Are you kidding me?

6. High school kids reffing state championships?  Even at the elementary level, if we are calling this the state championship we need quality refs.

7. Why Johnson Central?  Union county had to travel 7+ hours.  The state championships need to be in central KY.

8. The word was that all the registration fees ($25 per kid), admissions, concessions, etc. went to the host school. There were no paid refs or table workers.  Do the math - for that kind of money we should have had a quality tournament.  Johnson Central made some good money this weekend.

9. keep the parents, grandparents, etc. off the floor next to the mats and have them stay in the stands where they belong.

Suggestions:

1. Have regional qualifiers

2. Have a centrally located state tournament

3. Each weight class should have only one state champion

4. Improve communication before and during the tournament

5. Most of the revenue needs to go back to the association - like it is done in the Middle School association.

6. Take a look at the open division weight classes before someone gets hurt.

7. Hire trained and certified officials.  If we need to hire someone to run the tournament, spend the money to get it done right

8. Use bout numbers (ask Larue County how to run a quality tournament)

9. Never, ever hold the tournament at Johnson Central again.

[patriotsrule 1]

I truly believe you hit the nail on the head!  Well written and absolutely true!!!

[mouse 0]

I commend them for running the tournament. I wasn't there but I heard nothing but negatives as far as how it was run. Many parents from my area said there would be absolutely no way they would ever go there again for a tournament.

Since I wasn't there like I said I don't know all of the details. If they spilt up weight classes though that is an absolute joke.

I have worked and helped run little guy tournaments where I am originally from with up to 30-35 kids in a weight class and we never had a problem running things smoothly.

Seems like the biggest problem with wrestling in this state is lack of communication. Everything seems to be just thrown together.

[wrestlewatcher 3]

Positives:

1. The sport is growing - its great to see so many youth wrestlers

2. 650 wrestlers travelled to Johnson County for a tournament

3. The tournament will be somewhere else next year

Problems:

1. Splitting a weight class into 4 or more groups.  How can you have 4 state champs in one weight class?  I understand this is great for the marginal wrestlers for their self-esteem.  But quality wrestlers, even at the youth level, want to be able to say they are THE state champion, not one of 4 or 5.  This was obviously done to save time and speed the tournament - I can think of other ways to get it done.

2. Having a coach's meeting @ 7 AM without notifying anyone

3. possibly the worst run tournament I've ever seen.  If we are going to call this a state tournament we need better.

4. the open division weight classes need to be adjusted.  Some 9/10 year old kids were wrestling kids weighing 60 lbs. more.  At least one got hurt.  This is a no-brainer.

5. No hospitality room? Are you kidding me?

6. High school kids reffing state championships?  Even at the elementary level, if we are calling this the state championship we need quality refs.

7. Why Johnson Central?  Union county had to travel 7+ hours.  The state championships need to be in central KY.

8. The word was that all the registration fees ($25 per kid), admissions, concessions, etc. went to the host school. There were no paid refs or table workers.  Do the math - for that kind of money we should have had a quality tournament.  Johnson Central made some good money this weekend.

9. keep the parents, grandparents, etc. off the floor next to the mats and have them stay in the stands where they belong.

Suggestions:

1. Have regional qualifiers

2. Have a centrally located state tournament

3. Each weight class should have only one state champion

4. Improve communication before and during the tournament

5. Most of the revenue needs to go back to the association - like it is done in the Middle School association.

6. Take a look at the open division weight classes before someone gets hurt.

7. Hire trained and certified officials.  If we need to hire someone to run the tournament, spend the money to get it done right

8. Use bout numbers (ask Larue County how to run a quality tournament)

9. Never, ever hold the tournament at Johnson Central again.

In response:

Positives:

1)-Correct-great to see so many wrestlers

2)-640+-also great

3)-new location next year-better for everyone

Problems:

1)  Multiple brackets within a weight class-The bylaws specify 8 man brackets.  The table workers couldn't even manage those-imagine trying to have them correctly manage 8+rat tails or 16 man bracket.

Possible solution-Regional qualifiers.  I'm sure this will be looked at in the May meeting.  I would also suggest that the hosting team seek out volunteers to help with the tables.  In the No KY region we asked each of the participating schools to run a table.  Each team served up their best and the tables were run accurately and smoothly because everyone knew what they were doing.  I know our team would have been more than happy to provide resources to run a table.  I bet others would too.

2) Absolutely there needs to be better communication (all around)-But this specifically should have been specified in the flyer

3) I want to keep my response constructive so I will leave this alone and rely on the remainder of the post to address specifics as opposed to this general statement

4) Open weight classes-hosting team should never have combined some of these classes-for instance 9&10 95 lb division started the open class.  The bylaws specify 95 and 100 lb classes and then open class.  If there were 3 kids in those classes (95 and 100) then those should have been run as such.  I believe there were atleast 3 in the 95 lb bracket that registered and 3 in the 100......but instead there were 3-90 lb brackets, then 7 "open" classes.  This should not have happened....and it happened in other age groups too.  Those brackets should have been posted on Friday night with the weights identified for the coaches to see and make suggestion that would have aligned these 7 open brackets with the bylaws.  In those 7 open brackets, each team could only get points for their highest scorer.......there should have been three classes and three opportunities for team points instead of one.....should have been points for 95, 100 and then open with a respectable amount of weight difference with the wrestlers in the open bracket.  More than 10% should require discussion by coaches BEFORE the bracket starts.  I know of one instance where the weight difference was 70 lbs and no one knew this until the finals.  The lighter of the two young men had to forfeit due to the unnecessary risk of wrestling someone that much bigger.  The wrestler and his coach should never have been put in that situation. 

5)  Hospitality rooms are nice but they are labor intensive and expensive.......the hosting school was probably maxxed out on resources.  But when you host a tournament that lasts as long as this one you should probably do something....even if it is just liquid refreshments.  My $.02 for that one. 

6)  Again-this is a revenue issue and the fact that it would be difficult to get 10 certified refs to officiate.  I think Conner did a good job with this by have one certified official for every 4 mats to oversee the officiating and provide constructive feedback to the young men volunteering their time.  Further-the ref situation is always a bashing session even if they are certified-check out the high school state tournament thread about officiating.  My thanks do go out to the young volunteers.  I believe that each one of them came out committed to do their best that day.  Thanks guys!

7) Why JC?  This has been addressed multiple times already-----BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE OFFERED TO HAVE IT.  No one would dispute the fact that a site that is more central to the state would be ideal.  Let this be the call to rally up your team (and ALL other teams) to offer to host future tournaments.  It would be nice to be able to have a screening process to choose the BEST site........when only one school offers the decision is easy. 

8  The is a fee schedule that they used.  $25 per wrestler.  $150 per team (up to 18 wrestlers) then $5.00 per wrestler after that.  For the 39 that our team took it was $255........I can't complain about that.  They do have some costs to cover....medals, trophies, tournament supplies (mat tape, copies, office supplies) etc.  When we have hosted tournaments we have had to pay the custodian (time and a half), EMT fees (we have had them on site before), so there are some expenses.  It isn't like they got $25 x 640.  I am sure they made money on the tournament......but it wasn't as much as you eluded to.  Also for the concession stand-I thought their prices were reasonable.  I am sure they made a profit, but after running two tournaments this year I can tell you that your concession profit is minimal.....nothing to get too excited about.   We have never charged a gate fee......they made out well on that.

9) Total chaos on the floor.  The blame goes out to the violators on this one.  It was announced more times than was necessary and the violators didn't even flinch.  My only suggestion would have been to stop all matches until there was compliance with the floor restriction.  Obviously this would not have been rec'd well as it would have made the tournament run even longer.  No win situation for the hosting team.

Your suggestions should be given to your region rep.  They are valid.  Obviously we are always wanting better communication and hopefully as this sports continues to grow we will get better at it.  I chalk this years experience up to growing pains.......it hurt a little but that means that interest in the sport is growing.  If we all take a broad look at what we CAN do and work together we can navigate our way through this.  I would say that there has been a lot of progress made in growing this sport.  I attribute that to the excellent coaches and the parents that have supported their kids, and to the athletes that I watched yesterday.......especially them.  Let's be constructive, be candid but respectful and work cooperatively to influence postive growth. 

[wrestling mom 0]

We, the wrestling family of Johnson County, would like to thank every single parent and fan who attended this year's state elementary tournament.  It is easy to see where there will be many future great wrestlers in this state because I personally witnessed some of the finest, most positive coaches I've ever seen.  Those who attended watched the largest wrestling tournament ever held in the state of Kentucky (as far as number of wrestlers).  It was almost overwhelming, even to our veteran wrestling staff, to say the least.  

We appreciate the opinions and suggestions of even our harshest critics.  The decision to split the sessions was made by Mr. Martin (president) and we believe it was a good and possibly only answer to the incredible turn out.  We ran almost twice the number of matches of any of the previous state tournaments and we were done by 6:15.    We personally were not in favor of keeping a team score, but we conceded to the better judgment of the state coaches who like to keep the competitive team spirit alive.  The home team, under this format, will always have a slight advantage due to sheer numbers.  Our county youth team had 110 members this season, with about 75 wrestling in the tournament.  

We would also like to sincerely thank each and every Johnson and Martin County volunteer who worked so hard all day.  Thanks also to our superintendent, Steve Trimble, and the high school administration for supporting the youth of our state.  Alex Green, Nick Chaffin, Heath Chaffin (supervisors) and each young official, we thank you greatly!  

We will be glad to answer any questions we possibly can.  One post mentioned that we had run a state tournament last year, but that is incorrect.  We held a local tournament, which drew 250 participants.

[refdad 3]

Old Grappler.....I agree 100% with everything you said EVERYTHING except never having a tournamnet at Johnson Centeral again. I didnt even mind the 3 1/2 hour drive untill I drove that far to only have two matches and have two other state champions in the same weight class!!! This is a joke!! I voiced my opinion and was told, not by Johnson Centeral people, but everyone else that the goal was to keep more kids involved. If this is the case, then have a youth touranemt evey weekend, then have a either four or eight districts tournaments out of which the top 4 advance for state and have a 16 or 32 man bracket.. Lets crown a TRUE STATE CHAMPION. All that I keep hearing isthis youth program as well as middle school are supposed to be patterned after high school but this was an absolute joke by the people who made the decisions. Folks need to realize that yesterdays tournamnet turns more people away from the sport than keeping them involved. I would be emabraced to tell anyone my sons was ONE of our state champions if they knew he had a seven man bracket and two other state champions in the same weight class...Thanks very much to the people from Johnson Centeral for your hard work and for hosting the tournament.

[momofstatechamp(youth) 0]

"Our county youth team had 110 members this season, with about 75 wrestling in the tournament"

Wow Johnson County has 110 on one team?

Or are you made up several teams in Johnson County?

[wrestlingmom 9]

Old Grappler.....I agree 100% with everything you said EVERYTHING except never having a tournamnet at Johnson Centeral again. I didnt even mind the 3 1/2 hour drive untill I drove that far to only have two matches and have two other state champions in the same weight class!!! This is a joke!! I voiced my opinion and was told, not by Johnson Centeral people, but everyone else that the goal was to keep more kids involved. If this is the case, then have a youth touranemt evey weekend, then have a either four or eight districts tournaments out of which the top 4 advance for state and have a 16 or 32 man bracket.. Lets crown a TRUE STATE CHAMPION. All that I keep hearing isthis youth program as well as middle school are supposed to be patterned after high school but this was an absolute joke by the people who made the decisions. Folks need to realize that yesterdays tournamnet turns more people away from the sport than keeping them involved. I would be emabraced to tell anyone my sons was ONE of our state champions if they knew he had a seven man bracket and two other state champions in the same weight class...Thanks very much to the people from Johnson Centeral for your hard work and for hosting the tournament.

Embarassed?? I for one am PROUD to let anyone know that my son is one of the best  80pounders in the State!!!!  What everyone needs to realize is this is a new organization and will take a couple of years to work all the bugs out.  No tourney is going to run smoothly enough to please everyone.  I felt that the JC organization did as well as they could with that many wrestlers.  It had to be overwhelming for them.  I feel that many things need to be taken care of at the upcoming meetings and am confident that it will happen with the organizational leaders we have.  Everyone needs to stay postive for our programs.  I wonder how many kids have read these negative posts and it's taken something for them?  We need to remember that we as ADULTS sacrifice our weeknights and travel for hours on weekend for our CHILDREN and the love of this SPORT.  Congrats to all the brave young wrestlers we are proud of you all!!!!!!!!

[mouse 0]

Who's decision is it as far as hosting the tournaments for regionals and state?

[wrestlewatcher 3]

Who's decision is it as far as hosting the tournaments for regionals and state?

Regionals is decided through the region----I think this year we barely one team in each region to offer.  Contact your fellow region coaches if you are interested and they can vote.  It is my understanding that nominations are taken at the coaches meeting at the State Tournament and then voted on.  I was not at the Coaches meeting, but you may want to check with your coach.  I have heard the Fern Creek is having the State Tournament next year.  Someone can correct me if if I have heard wrong, which is a possibility.

[refdad 3]

WRESTLINGMOM,: if you read my post I said  thanks to the folks from JC for their hard work and for hosting the tournament. I greatly appreciate their hard work!! Thanks again. But the point I am making is if you were to go and watch any other state tournament you would understand how rediculous it is to be there from 8 am to 8pm to wrestle two matches! TWO MATCHES. twelve hours. And we are the onlly state that I have ever heard of with two, three or four state champions in one weight class.

[refdad 3]

To GREATLY improve things, please refer to OLDGRAPPLERS post , suggestions 1 thru 8!!

[I-pinned-em-all 0]

Johnson County, You must be commended for being able to corral 650 wrestlers and complete an entire tournament in one day. WOW! There were 448 wrestlers for the high school tournament and it took 3 days. If this turn out is expected next year, you should consider trying to have an entire weekend tournament in Frankfort where the high school championship was held. Certainly you would have the financial backing with this many wrestlers and parents.

[wrestlingmom 9]

Refdad--- I'm not on this site to argue with you I fully understand your frustration.  My point is the negativity,  not your post specifically, but with all the posts in general.  If we have a problem with the organization then we need to be willing to step up and take a leadership role in elementary wrestling.  I too sat on the bleachers for 12+ hours to watch my sons 3 matches. It made it all worth it to see him climb to that top spot, two other co-champions or not.  I think it is great that elementary wrestling is growing.  I think regional qualifiers are a must next year. 

[Indians40 2]

All,

  The Ohio OURWAY state tournament was held this past Saturday, below is a post talking about how their tournament went, based on what is said in this post I believe all and all that Johnson Central ran a good tournament, certainly there are things that need to be improved "No matter where the tournament is held" but read the article below.

Let me start by saying KUDOS to OURWAY for attempting to run a state

tournament but hopefully some constructive feedback will bring

changes for the upcoming NUWAY tournament in MI in April.

First the positives...

*good location

*guest appearance by Gov. Arnold

I'm sorry to say the rest is a lengthy list of things that need

improvement. ..

*weigh-in's 4 days prior, why not just do a "call-in"?

NOT IF YOU WANT TO RUN A STATE CALIBER TOURNAMENT.

*complete chaos just to enter, with an 8:30 start time at 8:15 the

line was still wrapping around the building just to get in.

*8:30 quickly turned into 9:15 table worker meeting

(again mass chaos, too many workers and noone knew where to go, than

at the end of the 16 hour day begging for workers)

*each division and weight class had the same bout numbers which led

to each division wrestling through the complete round, this is fine

except at one point we had gone 7 hours between matches. And that

was if you were lucky enough to not have a round robin or 8 man

bracket because they didn't even see their first matches until round

3 (between 3 to 4 PM)

*There was never a point where all mats were running full beause

there were constantly empty mats. 14 advertised mats turned into 13

and then into 9 once the college club wrestling started.

*upon entering, all outside food had to be discarded, ok fine but...

*in all of nationwide arena, only 1 concession stand was open,

people were standing in line for over an hour for a hot dog.

no gatorade but you could grab a beer or a mojito.

by 3PM they "broke their rules by allowing us to bring in outside

food" this was probably because by 6PM they were out of almost

everything.. .hey where was my $20 worth of bagels and drinks that

you made me throw away earlier?

*nice touch with the singlets, too bad they ran out of everything

except XXS or XL before they even got thru division 4 finals.

and the main reason for actually posting this message

*after watching a little guy lay motionless on the mat anywhere

between 5-10 minutes, and listening for the trainer or medical staff

being paged to the mat over and over and finally he was removed on a

stretcher about 30 minutes later. Then, to watch another kid land on

his head, his poor father getting removed from the mat, and all the

while, the pages for the trainer or medical staff going completely

unanswered, the ref ending the match by medical default.

The purpose of this post isn't to bash OURWAY. I know running a

tournament is difficult and there are "growing pains and learning

curves" but that was almost 20 hours ago when I bought into that. So

here it is 2 AM on my drive home, my best to all of you that may

still be there waiting for your awards and snug fitting singlets.

Good night and safe travels.

[heavy83 15]

FIRST OFF I WOULD LIKE TO THANK JC FOR THEIR HOSTING AND WORK ON SATURDAY. I READ SOME OF THESE POSTS I THOUGHT I GIVE SOME OF MY SUGGESTION FOR THOUGHT: 1: DO AWAY WITH SET WEIGHT BRACKETS, MAKE BRACKETS ACCORDING TO KIDS ACTUAL WEIGHTS. THIS SHOULD HELP THE PEOPLE WHO THINK THERE SHOULD BE A "TRUE CHAMPION", ALSO WON'T  HAVE A 63LB. KID WRESTLING A 105LB. KID. 2: DO SATELITE WEIGH INS OR USE WEIGH INS FROM REGIONALS. 3: DO AWAY WITH TEAM SCORES BECAUSE NO TRUE AND FAIR WAY TO DO IT FOR SMALL CLUBS TO HAVE A CHANCE. 4: MAKE THE REGIONALS QUALIFIER AS SUCH YOU HAVE TO WRESTLE IN REG. TO BE ABLE TO WRESTLE IN STATE TOURN. THEREFORE YOU WOULD THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE NUMBER FOR TOURN. NOT A 200 INCREASE IN ONE WEEK.

[Irish Wrestler 10]

Thank you Johnson Central for hosting the tournament.

For those of you complaining, I suggest that you read the post from Peacemaker on the "Why?" topic.  He says it best.  This is for the kids not us adults!  So what if there are two or three champions in one weight class.  This this makes your kid one of the best in the state.  These are little kids here.  Not high school kids.  Having mulitple brackets give all the kids a chance.  Let the kids get wins under their belts.  If kids are continually beat they will lose interest in the sport and where does that get us?  To keep wrestling in KY growing we have to continue to get kids interested in the sport.  When these kids get to high school they will know what loosing is about so don't throw the self esteem thing back at me.  I know kids have to learn to lose but they also need to know that there is fun in the sport also.  It also has to be said that if you want your kids to get better you have to be willing to travel.  No one said that this was an easy sport to be involved in.  Parents travel all over for baseball and basketball.  Why should you think this sport would be any different.  Finally, for those of you who didn't like having to travel so far maybe you should offer to host next years tournament.  Remember this is about the Kids!

[Guest The Great And Powerful Oz]

Thank you Johnson Central for hosting the tournament.

For those of you complaining, I suggest that you read the post from Peacemaker on the "Why?" topic.  He says it best.  This is for the kids not us adults!  So what if there are two or three champions in one weight class.  This this makes your kid one of the best in the state.  These are little kids here.  Not high school kids.  Having mulitple brackets give all the kids a chance.  Let the kids get wins under their belts.  If kids are continually beat they will lose interest in the sport and where does that get us?  To keep wrestling in KY growing we have to continue to get kids interested in the sport.  When these kids get to high school they will know what loosing is about so don't throw the self esteem thing back at me.  I know kids have to learn to lose but they also need to know that there is fun in the sport also.  It also has to be said that if you want your kids to get better you have to be willing to travel.  No one said that this was an easy sport to be involved in.  Parents travel all over for baseball and basketball.  Why should you think this sport would be any different.  Finally, for those of you who didn't like having to travel so far maybe you should offer to host next years tournament.  Remember this is about the Kids!

Some of these posts are complaining, some are simply constructive criticism.  If people running this event don't like the heat, they need to stay out of the kitchen.  I believe most of them are open minded to the suggestions provided on here.  Regional qualifiers will probably help out tremendously next year.

Personally, I don't understand the rationale of splitting a bracket up.  What does it buy you?  If it seems there are too many kids for a manageable bracket, I think you need to add more weight classes.  Not split an established agreed upon weight class into multiple brackets.  This will some day lead to host teams hand picking their brackets and allow for too much manipulation & maneuvering.  I'm not suggesting this has ever happened, but I'm sure it will happen or appear to happen in the future if this continues.  Just stick with the posted weight classes.  If you end up with a 32 man bracket (heaven's forbid) and that is too unmanageable.  A) you have no business running a state tournament.  add a new weight class in that area the next year.

As far as wrestlewatcher's comments "1)  Multiple brackets within a weight class-The bylaws specify 8 man brackets.  The table workers couldn't even manage those-imagine trying to have them correctly manage 8+rat tails or 16 man bracket."

The bylaw here needs to be changed unless there is justification for this.  Why 8 man brackets?  If the table workers have trouble with managing brackets, whether it's 8 man, 16 man, or 128 man, then address that issue with training or whatever needs to occur.  Not with a bandaid like an 8 man bracket limit.