Mattyb

Great advice! You do that work. Do not pay scammers. Be the voice and represent your wrestler and let them do so also. Also… have your wrestler make a log of who contacted him and when. After a while, it gets overwhelming. My son was getting pulled in many directions and just stopped answering the phone and returning text. He was just confused and was trying to focus on school and the season. He had no clue about who was who, the school’s division, or anything. Don’t do that! Keep an open mind and be professional. We screwed that all up. We assumed that a 17 year old was handling all of that.

This is a great and loaded question that has no simple answer. I’m my opinion, this really needs to be talked about more and better explained to our athletes and families. My family had the opportunity to go through the recruiting process with my oldest son. We learned a TON during his last couple years of high school. While my son did all the work on the mat, it took the whole family and others to help him reach his goal of being a college wrestler with a full ride. I would like to share some thoughts and observations that may help others in this journey. With this said… this post may get a little long, but hopefully it can help… because many times nobody will take the time to explain or even has the knowledge of the process. 1. First and foremost (absolutely most importantly) is grades. If a kid decides to go the NCAA division 1 or 2 route, they go by title 9. This dictates that NCAA division 1 and 2 programs must limit the amount of athletic scholarships per wrestling team to 9.9 full scholarships. In college there are 10 weight classes. Most college programs have 30 to 45 kids on the teams. Most of those 30 to 45 kids at D1 and D2 schools are state champs or placed VERY high. So… let’s do the math…. 9.9 for 40 kids… that means on average a D1 or D2 kid is only getting a 1/4 ride. Very few (and I mean VERY few) D1 and D2 kids get full athletic scholarships. With that said, a wrestler MUST make academics a priority! Schools will help a kid with academic money but the wrestler must make the minimum threshold for those funds. They will find athletes academic money that a typical student, with the same gpa, wouldn’t get. They typically need a 3.5 GPA or better and / or good SAT or ACT scores to qualify for most academic money. This means that a wrestler MUST take his whole high school career seriously. Do not think that a kid is going to make a C average his first two years of high school then magically turn it around his last two years! By then it’s two late. From day one… do the work and make good grades. Without good grades… most likely they are paying and paying a lot. Testing… start taking ACT and SAT early and often. I would recommend at the end of their sophomore year. First they must determine which one is easier for them. My son liked the SAT because it’s ran by the national college board. Once you take the SAT test, they will provide you with resources (including the Khan Academy) that will help you with future test. While you can’t actually study for what’s on the SAT or ACT, programs like Khan Academy will help you learn how to process the questions and help you score better. Also.. schools will allow them to super score your test results. Meaning this…. If you take the SAT five times and score really high on Math one time and really high on English another time, they will allow you to combine the two highest scores to make your applied total. So again.. take those test multiple times if the school requires SAT or ACT for acceptance or academic scholarships. That is D1or D2. As far as I know…. D3 has zero athletic scholarships, but typically offer scholarships and grants to help with cost. D3 guys typically make good grades to get that help. Which brings us to NAIA. These schools are not bound by title 9 (as far as I know). My son did not go the NAIA route so i have less knowledge on this. In general, these schools are allowed to give more athletic money. We have some great NAIA schools and teams here Indiana. These teams have had a lot of success and should be considered by any kid looking to wrestle at the next level. Many high schools have an NCAA rep. It is typically a councilor. These reps can provide you with some helpful information and help you with stuff like getting your NCAA card (needed to take visits) and getting transcripts to potential schools. If you don’t have a designated NCAA rep, make sure you find out the best person at your child’s school to help you with the process. At our former school we found out that our weighted grade scale did not meet NCAA guidelines and could not be considered. With that said, my sons weighted GPA could not be considered when applying for some money. Not having his weighted GPA considered messed with some of his offers. With this said… a few years later, they still haven’t adjusted their grade scale and NCAA can’t use their weighted gpa (must be Covid). I’m still trying to help get it changed there. With this said… make sure your schools grade scale is approved by the NCAA so that your wrestler gets every dollar possible! Again.. your NCAA rep or councilor can help you with that. 2. Put your wrestler out there! Pick the schools that they are interested in and let them know you are interested. Reach out to the coaches and let them know that they want to come to their programs and what you have to offer them. Most team websites have a recruiting page. Fill that info out. That puts your wrestler on their radar and helps them get noticed. Colleges coaches are busy. Help them help you. 3. Pick the right team. A kid may be a state champ or multiple time state champ. Know this.. if he goes to the Big10… every kid is a state champ or multiple time state champ. Each weight class has 3 to 5 kids. Know that it’s gonna to be a up hill climb just to start one season. Know who is in the line up at the school you pick and who’s coming in. I’m not saying not to challenge yourself.. just know that most likely your not coming in a taking the spot from a returning AA. Know that you may sit some places for a while. Can you handle that? 4. Pick the right school. If you want the traditional college experience… don’t pick a service academy! What I’m saying is… take your visits get to know the school, the town, the coaches, and the team. Ask members of the team if they like it there. During my sons visits some kids told him that they loved it and many told him they hated it. Financials should be a priority, but if they are going to be miserable for 2 to 6 years… then it’s not worth it. D1 allows 6 official collage visits. They are typically very fun for the whole family. If you can, take them all. 5. To answer your main question… wrestling. Go wrestle good kids and beat them! No matter where. If you beat a good kid… people will know. And… try to have fun as a family doing it. That’s the easy part that we all can understand. The other stuff is what we don’t talk about and is not explained to us enough.

Bailey bros at Cathedral Conley bros at Avon Two of my favorite set of brothers. All of which are teammates at UIndy

Welp the founding fathers of #TheCounty (per a random text years ago, that we wanted to come up with something to piss people off) are: @DLane @TeamGarcia @JMILL @Mattyb Pretty sure that’s a lot of state titles from those families. The fact that you still are talking about our area and thing is more than we could have ever asked for. It’s almost been 10 years! But to answer your question… trying hard to make that list. I think we can do it sooner or later.

Whatever… we have 3 imaginary mountains. @TeamGarcialives on top of one of them. I bet you don’t have a haunted bridge!

What do you not understand??!!! We done told you multiple times….. They are @QuinnHarris trained!!!! They have a full line up that is beating some solid 2a 3a and 4a teams. Being located in an area where the kids got to wrestle this whole off season at a couple of the finest academies in the country has helped them also. The cadets have put in the work and deserve a shot. As far as state qualifiers… they go to the toughest sectional and regional in the state! How many other 1a teams have to face all those ranked kids just to make it to semistate. I’m guessing that the cadets have one of the toughest if not the toughest routes to the bridge then any other 1a team. Their current season results speak for themselves. There are no other 1a representatives from this area. Do we not want teams from all areas represented? Vote for the Cadets!

Now that’s funny! It was Conley’s mints. You know my stash got in! The town of Evansville lost me when @FCFIGHTER170 got kicked out of the casino.

Beat Ben Davis pretty solidly. I know Quinn wanted that BD job before he took the job at Cascade. I saw him all over the place this off season. Im Proud of that man.

And you can take life saver mints inside. The fine folks at the Ford Center actually made a mom throw out her bag of mints because of the no food policy! I was just reminded of this by #TheCountyTMZ… lady had to get rid of her bottle of water that she was gonna to use to mix her baby formula. A mother of 5 really good wrestling boys.

And Quinn Harris trained. Put them in… lock it up!!!

I with Cooper. Just saying.

All great points that are being brought up time and time again on this board. But… just like the stats and data that keeps being repeated year in and year out… What’s a plan or suggestion to fix it??? 20 people can tell me that my roof is leaking. But… until I get off my ass and fix it or hire an expert, I’m going to get dripped on. Your points and ideas are great. What are you and everyone else going to do to implement it??? I’m in… just tell me what I need to do to help. I’m doing what i can in my community. Not a single practice goes by that we don’t mention grades. If we don’t come up with viable suggestions or solutions, it’s all just chat.

Joe, I never said I was against class wrestling. I even suggested a way to have a class wrestling championship if the IHSAA doesn’t change. Just because I live in a heavily populated area and have been hired to coach at two area middle schools in that area makes me someone that doesn’t care and a meme? I work nonstop to get kids out and to stay in our room. We have really good wrestlers in our room. With that said, during the majority of my practices I work with our newest guys to catch them up so that they can develop and contribute. I’ve been around some of the best kids in Indiana for the last two decades. I’ve been a team leader and coached at countless national events. I even served my time on the ISWA board working to create events and trips for our younger wrestlers. But.. I choose to be a middle school assistant coach because that’s where our program needs the most help. That’s how we develop depth and keep numbers up. If a kid misses practice i ask everyone where they are and will text them (regardless of skill level). I would like to think that I would do the same if I lived in any community, but my job and Mrs. Mattyb say that they want me on the Westside of Indy. At least I’m suggesting a solution and not just spewing out numbers and saying the sky is falling. I even shared the fact that one of the top teams in the state could not fill a line up. That suggest a problem. As far as the current state of Indiana wrestling… I am a glass half full person. That is typically the way I try to look at everything in life. Is a change needed? Maybe. At least I’m trying to suggest something. Many people believe that class wrestling will help fix the participation issues. Welp… it’s not happening anytime soon. What else you got? We don’t need stats and numbers. We need solutions. Maybe we should change the format at the IHPO. It is currently the best off season tournament here in Indiana. With that said.. It appeals to the best of the best (the girl in the red dress). Maybe you can start a varsity division for the next tier of kids (the girl in the blue dress). Btw.. according to one very prominent poster, city schools in Fort Wayne are better then ever. Lastly… I lost the class wrestling debate. Again, I have no data or facts. You win. No need to attack MattyB and call him the problem (that just hurts). And… our state tournament is just weird.

I will bite. Participation in most contact sports is down. It is Part of the world that we are living in. I think we are all doing our best to promote and grow the sport. I can’t think of one person that is trying to bring the sport down. Nobody I know that is involved with coaching our sport is doing it for the money. We just gotta keep doing what we are doing. Helping kids set goals and helping them get there. Heck.. the last program I was at forfeited HWT the whole year. The school was top 12 in enrollment in the state. Just couldn’t get a big man. They still took runners up in the team competition at individual state. With all of this said…. we already started a frosh / Soph state. If you really think classing will help… it’s simple. Start a class state. Run it the same time as Frosh / soph state. If that is really what you think will save our sport, then let’s do it. Does the medal have to say IHSAA? The dual state champ award does not say IHSAA. Is that less important? If so… why? if being named a state champ is the only way that we coaches and parents can keep numbers up and keep kids wrestling and we aren’t able to give them any other goals to keep them going… then let’s make a class championship. Btw… not looking to get involved in a debate. I don’t have any cool stats or data. You guys will just fire off stuff and I will have no good response. With that said… I concede to losing the class wrestling debate. Just want to fire off an idea to help.

Jones on the list for sure!!!!

Some areas may be on the decline while others (which have organizations that form multiple teams that travel) are on the come up. That’s why it is super exciting to see guys like @aoberlin doing what he’s doing where there is a need. The days of the seasonal wrestler coming in and winning a state title are over. This off season, I saw many kids from small schools jumping on teams and putting in work. Those kids refuse to be left behind and “rot” (not my word). Families that choose to live in Gods county with land have to take the good with the bad. They may have long drives, but can still be elite and train with the elite. The middle and bottom are staying the same. The cream is just rising to new levels by sacrificing, putting in time, and putting in money. A seasonal kid that used to give a elite kid a good match is now getting pinned or teched. That’s just the reflection of hard work and sacrifice. Some people will say that is a perfect example of why the seasonal kid will quit or not wrestle. That’s when we as coaches and parents need to put everything in prospective. Let them know that they will get what they put in (same as anything in life). If you just want to be a varsity athlete, have fun with your brothers during season, and go as far as you can… that’s fine. They will still get a ton out of our sport. It’s fun!!!! On the other hand, if a kid wants more… stop holding them back… get with a travel or academy coach that can help then get to the next level and compete with the top kids. No matter how good a coach is, they can only do and provide so much locally. No matter where they live. Back to the question before a full blown class wrestling debate starts. Our tournament is quirky and is in fact looked at differently from people looking in. I just had to explain it to a handful of college wrestlers two days ago. They just laughed and said “that’s weird”. No matter if we have 1 or 7 champs, our state tournament is cool but it’s not the end all be all.

I spend a lot of time in Ohio. Over the last couple decades, I have been to some of the best elementary, middle school, high school and collage events over there. I actually just got back from there yesterday. I have seen our best Indiana kids beat some of the best Ohio kids. I know our top kids are just as good as their top kids. I have spent time in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Illinois too. I see it the same there too. My family also had the privilege of going through college recruiting process and have had the opportunity to pick the minds of some greatest to ever wrestle in college and internationally. Our state tournament and champs are held in high regard for what they go through to become a state champ. With that said… people see that our system as funky and know that the podium does not represent the best 8 kids. And with our travel restrictions, Indiana kids MUST go to good off season stuff and beat other top guys to get their full due. Personally I know my son only won one title, but during the off season he went out every other weekend and beat state champs from all over. This is where he got recognized, got nationally ranked, and earned some really good college offers. I will take our top guys against any other top guys from any other state. We will not win them all but will win a lot and never be dog walked. However… I will not take our 4th guys against states like Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. We just don’t have the depth that they do. Our lack of depth has alot to due with having a smaller population. We are not behind! A kid is likely to get just as much recognition from college coaches for winning a tournament like Brecksville, Grappler Gold, or this years Crown Point tournament. College coaches want to see the best kids wrestle the best kids. At those tournaments you most likely will have to beat a nationally ranked kid to win it. With all of that said… to answer the question. It is a great accomplishment to win State here. It’s an unique and cool format. I wouldn’t change a single thing. But… it’s not the end all be all for our kids. Our state tournament is what it is. No need for a curve. Champs are champs forever. But…. If you want to show how good you actually are and how you actually stack up???? Go get some!

Mike…. Praying for you and yours to have a full and speedy recovery. The Brewers

I just use Kimberlys

Carson had some complications due to the Covid vaccine. He has been cleared by the doctors and will be back on Monday. He and Slivka live together over there and are living there best life. 184 was a tough cut last year. Injured his ankle the week before MACs last year. Pretty sure he would have qualified for NCAAs. He’s locked and loaded look forward to a really good run this season at 197. Rocking a full beard. Looks like a middle aged man.

Congrats to Jordan for winning the Navy Classic as an unseeded wrestler. Dude has ice water in his veins. Btw… don’t go bottom!

Congrats to Gabe and family! Can’t wait to watch Gabe wrestle in the Big 10! Best of luck your senior season. Your friends, The Brewer’s

The Brownsburg room is massive. When my oldest son was being recruited the Brownsburg coaches took a D1 college coach up to that room and he was amazed. Bigger and nicer then the majority of college rooms. It’s very nice.

Congrats buddy! We would’ve loved to see you at Ohio but Charleston is a beautiful place to be!