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Team State Debacle


hook and half

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Avon's fieldhouse is smaller than Westfield's. 

 

 

The configuration can be fixed. If they opened a few more rows up top I think it would have lessened the issues, but I'm sure there was some issue with space from the walls and such. I have faith that the IHSWCA will make adjustments for next year.

 

Last year's attendance was also low due to a snow storm that kept a lot of fans home. I believe the attendance in the three previous years has hovered around 1000. You can expect growth, but doubling in size is something that is hard to plan for.

Cost is a HUGE factor there. I can't remember the numbers, but Fort Wayne was probably HALF as much.

 

Here are the rates for Fort Wayne

 http://www.memorialcoliseum.com/data/uploads/2016%20Space%20Rental%20Rates%20Web.pdf

Avon has a bigger field house with an indoor track around it. Not that it really matters

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Avon has a bigger field house with an indoor track around it. Not that it really matters

Avon's is smaller, At Westfield they have eight mats with room for teams and bring in portable bleachers around the mats. These aren't just the standard metal bleachers either. With eight mats at Avon you cannot do that.
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Hook, while I sat at home on my comfortable couch, eating home made appetizers in a nicely climate controlled atmosphere viewing this event on track, I was kicking myself in the rear for not being there to see the matches. After reading your post and a few others, I'm fine with just picturing the matches in my head without physically enduring what it was like there.

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Unfortunately it sounds like we want our cake and to eat it also. Too many mats for good seating for almost all facilities that we can afford.

 

We have some of the largest gyms in the nation because we are the basketball state.

 

What about a place that has 2 or 3 gyms. Start the day with every class in their own gym or 2 classes in one gym and 1 in another. Once the mats trickle down to 6 mats bring it all into the main gym.

 

The key would be have something like track wrestling projected on the wall in every gym so we can follow everything that going on in all gyms.

 

Would this be possible at New Castle? I love the gyms like Connersville and New Castle that have the gyms that drop down and walk in from the top.

 

There were definite issues yesterday. But it a growing process and it was definitely a great day of wrestling.

 

Thanks to anyone that has been putting work into this. I see this getting better and better every year.

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too bad New Castle don't have enough mat space . The best spectators view in the state .

what about Warren Central

There is very little room for fan and wrestler seating at Warren Central.

 

Westfield and Ball State both had a "two gym" setup with four mats in one main area then 8 in another 

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All very good concerns and suggestions. This event offers some unique hurdles that large "individual" type tournaments don't. Some of the items below are

certainly pointing out the obvious while other constraints have to be negotiated by the event organizers. As one person pointed out, the event is dealing with "growing

pains" which, from the event organizers' perspective, is a good thing (as opposed to hosting an event that no one cares about), but we do know this causes inconveniences

for teams and fans along the way. Do know that we make every attempt each year to address issues/concerns; plan for growth; and meet the teams' needs.

 

* This event is unique because a balance has to be struck between fan seating and floor space for mats. Most arenas are good for fan seating but can't hold the

required number of mats. As already noted in an earlier post, we know we could put down 12 mats in some form and fashion in a large high school (but seating is limited)

We have tossed around in previous years going to a "multiple gym/site" format (which spreads the teams and fans out). Most feedback we get though is that fans, in

general, want to be able to watch all 3 classes in one venue versus having to walk to another gym or drive a mile to another building. The Indy Convention

Center was way out of our price range when we checked into it last year. We will certainly check again, but it is doubtful we could afford it.

 

* I think most people recognize that we try to schedule around current holiday tournaments to the best of our ability, but it is challenging to say the least. We are

tip toeing around 1)current holiday tournaments 2)Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's and 3) facility availability. The Ft. Wayne Coliseum hosts many,

many events of all kinds year round. It is next to impossible to simply say "we want THIS date" because it is likely that the facility has already been booked.

We were lucky this year that it was available on the date we were looking at. Next year will be quite tricky. Christmas Eve is on Saturday, Dec. 24 and

New Year's Eve will be on the next Saturday (Dec. 31).

 

* I, like others, am disappointed in how Ball State and the Coliseum handles their restroom and concessions. On multiple occasions, I specifically pointed out these

areas to both institutions. They grin, nod and say "we will have all of that covered." Then when our event and crowd hits, they seem to be overwhelmed and

ill-prepared. The IHSWCA makes no revenue off of their concessions, but we feel that these facilities should be prepared to service our crowd (but they

don't seem to be).

 

* We modeled this year's mat arrangement off of the Mat Mayhem from last year. If we would go back to Ft. Wayne next year, we would certainly attempt to make adjustments.

We, and the Coliseum, think we could pull it off. To my understanding, they didn't "pull out the bleachers more" this year because the Coliseum has many codes and public

safety features/distances that they must adhere to. But again, we think positive changes would be possible in that area.

 

We will certainly evaluate this year's event, take feedback and begin the planning process for next year's event. We think people do want to see this event happen. The

IHSWCA will do its best to research appropriate facilities, make adjustments and plan for a 5th annual event next season.

 

Coach McCormick

Edited by Coach McCormick
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Sounds less than ideal for such a large event, however, anyone who couldn't make the trip (myself & several others I know) were stuck refreshing Track wrestling scores all day because this year wasn't live streamed. It's disappointing such a main event was not streamed as it has been in the past. I don't know if that's a volunteer basis or who's in charge of it but I would have loved to watch. Too bad revenue from live streaming couldn't go to rent a larger facility! If the event was live streamed somewhere I missed, please advise as to where for future reference.

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Grand park in Westfield is supposed to be developing an indoor facility that will be used for soccer ice hockey and indoor baseball events (to my understanding) talking to the developer of the site and joshing communities around this area.

 

Maybe we could reach out to them and see if the building is close to finishing?

 

From what it sounded like, they were going to try and accommodate 15k people...

 

 

Another venue at the Pepsi coliseum on 37th street; Ben Davis had their graduation there and I can assure you there are well over 5k people there lol

 

The floor was huge as we had 1100 kids and admins on the floor with plenty of seating available to expand.

 

Not sure on either sites pricing... I'm sure you have checked before but maybe these sites could be potential fits???

 

You guys did a great job... Thanks for growing the sport!!

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something positive to take from a wrestling fans perspective for the sport. How awesome is it that the fan base is growing so big that accommodations are becoming an issue. It is great to have these events put together by people stepping up and taking the lead in making them happen. there will hopefully always be a hurdle to get over because of progress.

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It is never a good idea to tell people that have criticisms the "Sounds like you should run it then" response.  I also don't think it is helpful to reply to every suggestion with a reason why that suggestion "won't work".  It comes off as very defensive and will create one of two reactions.  Some people will stop giving feedback, and others will get mad and escalate.  The best response is:  "Thank you for your feedback.  We are commited to making this event better and we promise to weigh all the feedback carefully as we prepare for next year's event."

 

The fact is, MANY spectators were frustrated by a lot of different issues yesterday.  I'll list a few, and no, I don;t want to run the event.  I simply hope that I can add some other perspectives so that the current organizers can have feedback from people that were there in order to make imporvements going forward.

 

  1. Needed more communication in advance
    1. We were forwarded the information that our coach received, and a lot of detail was lacking:
    2. The inability to bring in outside food was never communicated
    3. $15 a ticket was never communicated
    4. $5 for parking was never communicated
    5. The schedule we had, was not the schedule that took place.  Our bye was wrong, and while I am GLAD that ths consi round was at 3 and not 5, the schedule said 5 and some parents left to kill the time and either had to rush back or missed their child all together.
  2. Not enough concession stands
  3. Not enough bathroom space, and sharing with the wrestlers is never a pleasant experience.  If I pay Bankers Life prices for my ticket, I exect a better experience once inside.
  4. I do not think having 12 mats in one space is important.  I was there to watch my son and his team.  I would rather have been in a different space with a better view.
    1. You should cater to the fans of the specific teams first, people who just want to see wrestilng without a specific affilitation can make a choice on which area/class to watch
  5. Need more guranteed matches for the 2 points spent
    1. Why did we stop at ties for 9th and 11th?  There were four teams per class in the Consilation, have the winners wrestle the winners and the losers wrestle the losers.  At least that way all the wrestlers get at least 4 matches out of the deal.
    2. I know, I know, if you want more matches, WIN!  That is a great way to get teams to stop coming.  Some programs are buidling and really want to experience the higher caliber of competition that an event like this can offer.  They can learn a lot in these defeats and build from it.  More matches is always a good thing.
  6. You need more volunteers.
    1. After paying my $15 to get in and having to take my food back to the car, I was asked to work a table for the day.  I didn't get so much as a bottle of water for my time.  I had good seats for two matches, that were other teams.

 

TL;DR version:  Too much focus on having all the mats in one space, not enough focus on Spectator experience and number of matches for the wrestlers.

 

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navy80 - I am not familiar with this venue in Terre Haute. How many mats do you think the floor would hold (along with team seating)? Could 12 mats be put down in your

opinion?

I mentioned it as an option on hear a few years back. 1381524932.jpeg Edited by MattM
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Any way where you change the qualification and make it similar to the football playoffs and have a round or two to qualify for state based more on team dual success? Those rounds hosted by schools and then have the top 8 or or so teams in each class earn a state trip by dual results?

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Any way where you change the qualification and make it similar to the football playoffs and have a round or two to qualify for state based more on team dual success? Those rounds hosted by schools and then have the top 8 or or so teams in each class earn a state trip by dual results?

Yes but that would mean more schedule points teams would have to use, events teams would have to drop in and out of from year to year, and gymnasium time ADs would have to fit in that may change each year. So unless we have some IHSAA backing to help with these items that option doesn't looks as feasible.
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Yes but that would mean more schedule points teams would have to use, events teams would have to drop in and out of from year to year, and gymnasium time ADs would have to fit in that may change each year. So unless we have some IHSAA backing to help with these items that option doesn't looks as feasible.

That's what I wondered. Hopefully we can get to that point in the near future and get the IHSAA ' S attention.

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Why not have this event at the Pepsi coliseum, the seating is good. I understand it cannot hold the mats, but since its a good venue and in Indianapolis why not make it a 2 day event. If the venue can only hold like 6 mats just wrestle with 6 mats. Have it set up like this Session 1- pool play, sessions 2- (more pool play if needed) wrestle backs to determine placement matches, session 3- semi finals ( or if time is an issue because idk how long the first 2 sessions would take, you could have the semis as the first session in the morning, but i would prefer them to be on the first day so that the teams in the finals would only have to wrestle once on the second day). day 2 session 1-placement round, sessions 2- finals (only 4 mats). The reason for waiting to have the placement rounds not until the second day is so  A- it will keep most fans of the schools around for the second day, B- you will draw in a bigger crowd because lets be honest its the finals, and C- they have to wait for their awards. Idk if this would work and im sure the IHSWCA has already thought about having a 2 day event but this is just my 2 cents. Also im just guessing on how to make the sessions go, obviously the IHSWCA would be able to find a smoother and more efficient way to do it. The only thing I know that they should do if they where to do this, is that the finals should be their own session, like Joe has said many times, we need to treat this event like the super bowl if we want it to grow 

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