Jump to content

Local Tournament #'s down?


sslaymon

Recommended Posts

Is it me or is there a general sense of smaller tournament #'s this year than the past couple of years? We hosted 443 kids at our tournament and never thought, that ours would be the largest so far. I know of a couple that have hit mid 300's, but just seems like some of the local tournaments are down some this year with low-mid 100-200 type numbers. It usually seemed like there were high 200-mid 300 level tournaments more frequently in the past. Seemed like there were even more that were larger than ours happening more often.

 

I don't know maybe we're just not hitting up the bigger tournaments this year, but looking through trackwrestling, some of these tournaments use to be a little bigger than in the past.

 

Perry usually has one of the largest tournaments, but they get the benefit of high school wrestlers coming in. What about these tournaments going on now before high school is over?

 

Anyone else think the overall numbers are down this year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did Beech Grove turnout drop due to Super Bowl Sunday?

I think it was down significantly from last year.

 

Given the number of kids this year, is there any chance Whiteland would move the tourney to the High School next year? Or at least a gym that has actual bleachers and can accommodate more than 3 mats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did Beech Grove turnout drop due to Super Bowl Sunday?

I think it was down significantly from last year.

 

Given the number of kids this year, is there any chance Whiteland would move the tourney to the High School next year? Or at least a gym that has actual bleachers and can accommodate more than 3 mats.

 

Yes I believe Beech Grove numbers were down a bit. Might have been due to the Super Bowl not sure. Last year, it was pretty busy which seemed like around mid 300's and this year I believe it was low 200's.

 

As for our tournament, yes we are already making changes to what we will be doing next year. We weren't quite expecting 440 this year and I forgot to set a limit. The high school gyms are actually smaller than the field house at the middle school. We will be bringing an extra mat in and run two in the basketball gym and two in the field house. We'll split the crowd up as much as possible next year. Pull the bleachers back away from the mats and not set them so close to the mats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was Seymour's 2nd year for a tournament and our numbers were up. We had about 150 last year but had 202 register this year. We lost out on many Jr. High kids because we had to do it on a Saturday this year. I have wondered if the numbers were down some this year. Or could part of it be that there are more tournaments too?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Portage was down from about 540 in 2014 to 320 this year, BUT there was a massive snowstorm.

There is a thread on the HS wrestling forum about RTCs and other such academies basically cutting the numbers at local tournaments, especially among the high-end high school kids. Let's hope things pick up as we get into the high school offseason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me start with saying we have many great ambassadors in this state for youth wrestling, and wrestling in general.  In no way is this to be taken as critisism for how we do things; however, it is an observation on how something very successful was done.  What we need in this sport is encouragement of all levels of wrestlers; thus, leading to growing numbers at all of our tourneys.  Some kids are really advanced, and some are not regardless of years experience.  What is disouraging to some is to come to weekend tourneys that have 12-16 kids in a weight class, which necessitates elementary aged kids wrestling 6-8 times with full wrestlebacks, and not leaving until dinner time.  A recommendation is to start running some tournaments with 8 man brackets.

 

This weekend we attended the Spartan Rumble in Danville, Illinois.  They had 700 wrestlers. Tourney started at 9:30, and they were pulling tape off the mats at 3pm.  We drove an hour & half, and I was home by 5:45.  They ran all 8 man brackets with blocked weights

 & staged all kids by division.   What this also does is gives all of our kids confidence they have a chance to place. I am not saying all kids should place(i.e. get a trophy, medal, Etc.), but giving kids confidence leads to them sticking around & enjoying the sport.  Wrestling 6-8 times to place 4th, 5th, or 6th doesn't do that in my opinion.  Many times getting a taste of success can encourage kids with confidence, and that can give them motivation to not only stick with the sport, but work harder to get to that next level.

 

We all know how how much hard work it takes to be successful at this sport. Not only for the wrestlers, but the time commitment, financial, and emotional obligations of the parents.  The above example proves that reducing bracket sizes can speed up tournament.  All our parents were shocked & ecstatic it ran so fast with a completely packed gym...700 wrestlers. BTW, shockingly they did not use Trackwrestling for matches.  Good old fashioned bout sheets.

 

Just my 2 cents.  Thanks everyone for all you do for this sport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.