Coach McCormick

Union County is in. Still awaiting response from 3A - Warren Central, Crown Point and Bloomington South; 2A - Southmont and 1A - Triton Central

Central Noble and Cathedral come on board as of today. Still waiting to hear from the following schools: Large School Crown Point Warren Central Bloomington South Mid-Size School Southmont Small School Triton Central

As the former IN-IL event-team coordinator, I want to thank Danny Williams and Matt Behling for doing an exceptional job as the new Indiana coordinators this year. Great job guys and thank you for all of your efforts in making opportunities available to Indiana wrestlers. Coach McCormick

Obviously "Dragon Coach" you are not a true fan of the sport, nor knowledgable about Indiana wrestling (or you have a personal ax to grind with someone). There was great competition at last year's team state duals event with 24 of the best teams in Indiana in attendance. If you would attend an IHSWCA meeting, you would see that there aren't politics played at all. This association works hard to offer opportunities to teams and wrestlers across the entire state. Two of the 2013-14 Classed Team State Duals team champions finished 2nd and 3rd at the IHSAA post season event. Many of the other top placing IHSAA teams participated in the IHSWCA duals event. If you would provide me with your name and e-mail address, we would gladly welcome you on board to assist with this event in some capacity. In addition to helping out, you could gain a better understanding of how the IHSWCA functions. Coach McCormick

I have received confirmation from several additional schools over the past couple of days. We now have 6 large schools committed to the 2014-15 event; 9 mid-size schools; and 7 small schools. Have not heard back yet from: Large School (3A) - Cathedral, Warren Central, Crown Point or Bloomington South Mid-Size School (2A) - Southmont Small School (1A) - Union County, Central Noble and Triton Central I have attempted to contact all of these schools by way of the most current e-mail information that I have. Some of these schools may still be making their decision as they technically have until April 1. If you personally know any of the coaches for the team(s) who have not committed yet, please reach out to them with this information in case they did not get my initial e-mail. Thank you, Coach McCormick

19 out of original 30 schools invited have accepted their invitation to the 2014-15 event. Teams have until April 1 to notify the IHSWCA of their decision.

Currently, 6 large school, 7 medium school and 7 small schools have accepted their bids for next year's event.

The following is a list of the 12 teams in each class that have secured a position in next season's IHSWCA Classed Team State Duals. 3A (LARGE) Penn (Accept) Ev. Mater Dei (Accept) Avon (Accept) Cathedral (Accept) Warren Central (Accept) Perry Meridian (Accept) Carmel (Accept) FW Carroll (Accept) Bloomington South (Accept) Franklin (Accept) New Palestine (Accept) Westfield (Accept) 2A (MEDIUM) Yorktown (Accept) Ev. Memorial (Accept) Mt. Vernon (Posey) (Accept) Bellmont (Accept) Gibson Southern (Accept) Southmont (Accept) Lebanon (Accept) Leo (Accept) South Bend St. Joe (Accept) Franklin County (Accept) Columbia City (Accept) Rochester (Accept) 1A (SMALL) Churubusco (Accept) Eastside - FW (Accept) Bremen (Accept) Tecumseh (Accept) West Central (Accept) Monrovia (Accept) Central Noble (Accept) Milan (Accept) Westview (Accept) Triton Central (Accept) Prairie Heights (Accept) Adams Central (Accept)

There are no hard feelings... The IHSAA dropped the duals series... The IHSWCA picked it up and tweaked it a little bit. The IHSWCA did this with the blessing from the IHSAA.

I did not see (or hear) the Google hangout where the IHSWCA Vice-President commented on the objective of the Classed Team State Duals and its future. I can only speak from my perspective which is that I: 1) have been the planning committee chairman for this event for the past 3 years 2) have been the vice-president, president and past president of the IHSWCA during the formation and implementation of this event 3) dealt face to face with the IHSAA when we started this project The IHSAA categorizes wrestling as an "individual" sport, so they will not class any part of our post season tournament. There is nothing that leads me to believe that they would ever want to "take over" our Classed Team State Duals event (even if we wanted them to). It is simply an event that the IHSWCA will continue to improve upon and offer to the high school wrestling community in Indiana.

1. The IHSWCA hosts the Team State Duals for the good of the Indiana wrestling community. At no time have we said that we are running the team state duals in hopes that the IHSAA will take it over. The IHSAA had their chance to do something with this event, and they chose not to. 2. The decision to grow the event by 12 teams was made by the officers and the tournament planning committee with the following factors in mind: - with 1300 fans in attendance this year, we felt like it was time to grow the event a little bit as it seems people are in support of it. - we have only had 1 team decline their invitation to the event during the first 2 years of the event's existence. Teams do seem to want to participate in this competitive event. - by increasing the field of teams by an additional 4 teams per class, we can hopefully capture (invite) more competitive teams thereby improving the event and offering more teams from across the state a positive experience

In speaking with another coach recently who has a son currently participating, the wrestling season can take on new meanings for coaches who have sons participating (and for the son too). I would like to know how many "coach-son" tandems there were around the state this season. Some head/assistant coaches with a son wrestling that come to mind are: Coach Hobbs (peru) Coach Red (New Palestine) Coach Gunsett (Bellmont) Coach Ferguson (Reitz) Coach Spencer (Wes-Del) Coach Tonte (Perry Meridian) Coach Schliessman (Delta) Others to add to the list?

There have been several coaches contacting the officers saying that they cannot access the academic all-state information when they click on the link. Be sure you are going to our new ".org" site which is www.ihswca.org The Academic All-State links are active at this site. Thank you, Coach McCormick

Thank you for the responses and the tournament dates for next year. This information is extremely helpful! Coach McCormick

The IHSWCA Classed Team State Duals planning committee is already hard at work putting pieces in place for our third annual event next season. It has already been released that we will be inviting 12 teams per class to next year's event. One of the next items to tackle is selecting a date for the competition. The corresponding calendar date is Jan. 3, 2015. During my brief research thus far, it appears that there will be some regularly scheduled holiday tournaments on this day. I know of two holiday tournaments that were supposed to be on Jan. 3 but are opting to move the event to Dec. 30/31, so they occurr before New Year's Day. The other option for our state duals event would be to go on Dec. 27. Certainly, at first glance this is 2 days after Christmas, but we would likely not interfere with other holiday tournaments. There will only be 36 teams impacted by this, BUT these will be 36 of the better teams around the state that holiday tournaments want in their annual event. I am posting this topic for primarily two reasons: 1. I would like to hear legitimate Pros and Cons from coaches regarding these date options. Keep in mind that there will be a number of teams that must spend the night on Friday night in the Indianapolis area. 2. I would also be interested to hear from those schools who host holiday tournaments to see what their date(s) look like for next season. Who is going on Jan. 3? Anyone wrestling on Dec. 27? Thank you for your input as we look to establish this date. Coach McCormick tmccormick@yorktown.k12.in.us

Muncie Northside has come on board for this event. We just need one more team to make this a 6-way (3 mats with 5 rounds of wrestling). Teams entered: Yorktown MS Driver MS (Winchester) Indian Creek MS New Castle MS Muncie Northside MS Contact Coach McCormick if you are interested in entering this event (tmccormick@yorktown.k12.in.us)

It looks like Indian Creek is coming on board. Looking for 2 more teams for this event.

After losing matches due to bad weather over the past couple of weeks, Yorktown Middle School is looking to put together a 6-way duals event on Feb. 8. Current teams committed: Yorktown, Winchester, Indian Creek, Muncie Northside and New Castle. (Need 1 more team) Weigh-in: 9:00am Wrestle: 10:00am Round robin format (5 rounds on 3 mats) so each team would wrestle 5 dual meets. Weight Classes: 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 155, 165, 180, 220 and HWT If interested, please contact Trent McCormick at tmccormick@yorktown.k12.in.us

Current teams committed to the event: Yorktown MS Fall Creek Valley MS Driver MS Shenandoah MS

There are still openings available for the 5th annual Indiana Middle School Team State Duals to be held on Jan. 25 at Yorktown Middle School. Complete event flyer is attached to the event ad found throughout Indianamat.com. Date: Saturday, January 25, 2014 Location: Yorktown, Indiana (Yorktown Middle School) Sponsor: Yorktown Wrestling (Tournament Director: Trent McCormick) Weight Classes: 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 155, 165, 180, 220 & HWT (21 weight classes) Age Wrestlers must be currently enrolled in the 6th, 7th or 8th grade at the school they are Requirement: competing for at this event. (a 5th grader from that school will be permitted to wrestle in this event if that school cannot fill that spot with a 6th-8th grade wrestler) Team Each team may have up to 25 participants on their roster. All wrestlers on a team must Requirement: attend school at the same place/school. This is not an all-star event. If interested, contact Trent McCormick at tmccormick@yorktown.k12.in.us

Yorktown Summary from Franklin 6-Way A lot of good wrestling took place at Franklin today. The host Grizzly Cubs were the class of the tourney and looked very impressive. Thank you Coach Hasseman, and staff, for a well run event today. Yorktown Team Scores Rd 1 Yorktown 35 Holt, MI 29 (Holt is ranked in top 10 of large school division in MI by michigangrappler.com) - McCormick (126) loses to Martin Rodriguez 6-1 - Dual was decided on last match with Logan Campbell defeating Mino Trevino 4-2 at 132 Rd 2 Yorktown 16 Franklin 44 - Brad Laughlin (120) loses to DJ Smith (113) 5-1 (was 3-1 and Smith scored a final takedown with about 15 seconds left in the match) - great match at 170 between Jackson and Stevenson (Stevenson with several nice secondary attacks for takedowns) - Several good matches occurred in this dual. Hats off to Franklin who has a very solid team from top to bottom. Rd 3 Yorktown 66 Triton Cen. 0 Rd 4 Yorktown 60 Jeffersonville 15 Rd 5 Yorktown 44 Ben Davis 22 Notable individual records for the day for Yorktown 120 Brad Laughlin 4-1 126 Cael McCormick 4-1 132 Logan Campbell 5-0 152 Chandler Carroll 5-0 160 Rhett Hiestand 5-0 182 Myron Howard 3-1 (Dax Hiestand 1-0) 195 Hunter Hiestand 3-1 (Dax Hiestand 1-0) Yorktown moved to a 25-3 dual meet record Coach McCormick

Very exciting matches throughout the day in the 1A division. It's nice to see wrestling "teams" of ALL sizes get their time in the spotlight like other IHSAA "team" tournaments. Congrats to Churubusco on their well-deserved championship today! Coach McCormick

Coach Harder, Thank you for putting your name to your words. We certainly don't have to agree on this topic, but at least the readers can see who stands where on the matter. Lord knows, in my 26 years as the head coach at Yorktown HS, I have not agreed with everyone on all matters. I suspect our world would be fairly boring if everyone agreed with each other all of the time. Again, thank you for giving me clarity on the topic, and I look forward to meeting you in person sometime. Coach Trent McCormick tmccormick@yorktown.k12.in.us

"It has taught us to be a man or woman (its 2013 almost 2014 girls wrestle now) of honor and dignity." -- from Wildcatpatriot Only those with "honor and dignity" sign their true name to their opinions (whatever they may be); otherwise, they are meaningless words from a coward behind a computer screen who is afraid to have others critique and evaluate their comments' value and worth. Unclaimed words are merely that... "words" on a paper or screen with no perspective or meaning. If you feel strongly enough to write it, then sign your name to it; otherwise, sit back down in the shadows with those other poor souls who are afraid and embarrassed to claim their very own words. Coach McCormick It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. --- Theodore Roosevelt

My first thought on this matter is "how many times do we really need to shake the opposing team's hands during a match?" Wrestling is an emotional sport at times (i.e. - after a hard fought overtime loss by a wrestler), and kids will sometimes say, or do things, in the heat of the moment... because they are kids. In my opinion, hand shakes should occur at the very end of the dual only (not during the dual in the heat of the moment). That is simply one issue. The other issue is the "gross factor". I have had exhausted kids wipe sweaty burgers from their face in shear exhaustion at the end of the match and then extend their hand to me. There is the frequent bloody hand shake after a young man has had a bloody nose all match and he has had to repeatedly shove several bloody nose plugs back up into his nose. Just this past weekend, an opposing wrestler got inadvertently hit in the groin pretty hard at the very end of the match. He held his crotch from the time the last whistle blew, clear until he got to me... and then let go of his crotch to extend his hand for a handshake!?!? I am more of a fist bump guy for these types of scenarios and reasons, but I am now having opposing wrestlers who stand in front of me defiantly... and will not accept my outstretched fist... they are demanding that I shake their hand. Do football players and basketball players shake the opposing coaches' hands after every down or series in their games? Do baseball players shake the opposing coaches' hands after each inning (or just at the end of the game)? Because of the emotional and "gross" factors involved in wrestling, my vote is to quit shaking hands multiple times during a dual. An "end of dual" exchange of sporting handshakes is quite sufficient in honoring your opponent's efforts. Coach McCormick