What Kentucky youth wrestling needs

[dinubus 2]

OK I'm a little confussed.

#1.  If a kid has financial problems he can get money from a club?  What club.  In KY we only have open mats as far as I know.  No clubs per say. Or at least not in Nky. 

     If we did have clubs wouldn't it cost something to join that club?  More expense.

#2.  More a question.  Does Michigan allow their high school wrestling coaches to coach in the summer?  If you dont know Ky does not allow this. 

     KY has a big problem with high school coaches.  We have very few of them qualified.  Look at some of the posts in other threads that point to head coaches that have little or no knowledge of wrestling.

     Everyone says the exact thing that Dinubus says.  I cant because .......... (Myself included, at least for the next 4 years) (by the way for those who think they know me yes you do, I'm back but still prefere to stay anonymous)

     I think the ball was not dropped by Mr. Smith but by the rest of the wrestling community in KY.

     He tried to set up the Gable challenge.  This year it seems to have fallen through.  This is local coaches not taking up the cause.  If we could regionalize the state in USAW or whatever group with Mr. Smith heading the whole state I believe we could succeed much much more.

     My son has only wrestled in 2 tourneys this summer.  Neither sponsored by USA. (one AAU in KY and one individually sponsored in OH)  The rest of the summer I would have to travel at minimun 50 minutes to a tourney close to NKY.  The rest are over an hour away.  That includes Ohio and Ind. If there is one close then I can't find the info.  He is playing 2 other sports now and it has become difficult to make those kind of trips, especially if he travels to them and pins two kids in less than 1 minute or only gets one match.  He is a tweener at this point.  Weak tourneys he walks through and the tough tourneys he is two and out.  Another reason for me not to make these trips.

     What has happened is what always happens in KY.  Someone steps up to take the reigns (Mr. Smith) He seems to maybe make a mistake or two (which anyone would if they are starting out and doing it alone) and everyone bashes him and hangs him out to dry.  If you don't like what a person is doing offer to help (knowing Mr. Smith I know he would listen).  My hands have been tied because of KY rules for almost a decade, (even though a bent them in several occasions).  Now I have to become a little selfish in support of my son and spend more time with him instead of other kids children/wrestlers. 

     We still have time.  Call your local coaches, get them to hold a tourney or two.  Yes money is a problem for everyone, but try it and see what happens.  Even if it fails the first year people will hear about it and more will show up the next year.  A tourney is like a business, very few are successful the first year but you have to keep trying before it becomes a success. 

OK I'm done.

The answer is NO.  Just like in KY.  Yet, they find people who enjoy wrestling that can pass a background check (provided as part of obtaining your coaching card in USAW).  Pretty much every little town has a club program.  The school I grew up in - Addison, MI. is very small with about 75 students in each grade level - has a club program of between 50-100 wrestlers depending on the night you show up.  The coaches here in KY have to vouch for USAW to their AD's, explain to them about how USAW (Unlike MYWAY) actually provides insurance when you purchase a card, so the school doesn't have to worry about all the liability.  They have to explain that a USAW registered coach has already gone through a background check.  Walking an AD through these things isn't real hard, and then you have an allie while finding a coach for a club program.  Should this coach require some sort of income, you charge a club fee of like $15-$25 per wrestler, and some would go to the coach and the rest would go to use and abuse of the HS/MS team's wrestling mats.

[grappler-of-old 44]

I'm not sure about the rest of the state but here in KY finding a place to practice really isn't that hard of a thing.  Most schools will open their doors for wrestling as long as it doesn't interfere with the other sports they conduct. 

Even with the help of an AD here in KY we still have problems with finding knowledgable coaches.  This is probably our number one problem in Ky.

Most of the qualified coaches in Ky are either already high school coaches or are middle school coaches.  We have finally gotten qualified coaches in over 90% of our high school teams. 

I am not sure how long you have been around KY wrestling but it has come a long way in the 28 years I have been involved.  We now have around 80 high school teams with wresting, compared to the around 50 we had in the early 80s.  We have close to that many middle school programs (maybe more) compared to the "0" we had in the 80s.  Plus the many many gradeschool programs we have now. 

It looks to me we are now in a critical time for wrestling in KY.  The past Ky was struggling with finding coaches for high school wrestling.  We now have that problem pretty much under control.  Our problem now is finding qualified referees.  Our graduating wrestlers have finally taken up coaching after they graduate.  Now we can't get them into refereeing. 

The middle school association has done wonders to help build the sport.  We now have colleges in Ky with wrestling and other looking at adding it to their university.  We also have Ky wrestling making their mark in national tourney.  Everything is going in the right direction.  All except our out of season wrestling opportunities. 

We all seem to know the answer to this problem, but can't find anyone to implement the solution.  I know of a few who have tried to take the bull by the horn but they need help. Ie. Coach Smith, Coach McCoy, the Ervins, and probably more that I don't know about.  Everyone needs to set their personal interests and egos aside to help build what we need in Ky. 

Talking and hashing out our differences is at least a step in the right direction.  Dinubus you seem confrontational at times but I believe that it is because you want to advance wrestling in Ky just like the rest of us.  We need to just listen and cooperate to get it done.

Not one person will have all the right answers.  Many of us believe we do but we only have good ideas that have holes in them that need to be fixed by someone else.  We all want the same thing just don't agree on how to get there.

GOO out.