ccbig,
Welcome to Indiana...
1) Have regional training sites for freestyle and greco that are open to all cadets and juniors with a USA card.
We have regional training centers spread out across the state that are open to all wrestlers with a USA card.
2) Encourage wrestlers to wrestle at regional qualifiers. Wrestlers who finish in the top at regions are considered "freebies" for nationals. This lets a state bring extra wrestlers to nationals.
We do encourage wrestlers to compete at regionals and honor their qualification for nationals without counting against our number limits. We're just finding it difficult to get kids to actually go to regionals because for the past few years it has been on Memorial Day weekend. (You'll soon find out that it is kind of a big deal around here)
3) Host a camp for those interested in going to the nationals in Fargo. Minnesota has 1 week long camps for each style (freestyle & greco)(for cadets & juniors). These camps are timed so that wrestlers get on a bus at the end of camp and go straight with their coaches to Fargo. Attending these camps should be mandatory for any wrestlers hoping on going to Fargo because this let's the team coaches see each wrestler right before the tourney and pick the best wrestlers for the teams.
We have always hosted a camp before Fargo, and it is mandatory to attend. Our whole coaching staff is there along with extra clinicians. Some advice, though, don't use the phrase "pick the best wrestlers for the teams."
4) Indiana USA wrestling should fund as much as possible the costs of the camp and costs of nationals for all the wrestlers on teams going to Fargo. The cheaper costs are for camp and going to nationals the more wrestlers will be able to afford to attend camp and the more wrestlers who will try to earn a spot on the team.
We already give as much money as our budget allows towards lowering the costs of our trips.
5) Minnesota has it's USA tourney for cadets and lower ages for freestyle and greco on the same 3/4 day weekend. It is a huge tourney. Junior state freestyle and greco is wrestled on a different weekend. This allowed cadets to wrestle "up" a age group at the junior tourney if they choose.
For the past few years we have had our Cadets and Juniors competing at state on the same weekend. Before that, they were on different weekends. Next year we are going back to seperate weekends again to give those Cadets that opportunity.
I agree that Minnesota has a great wrestling program. The thing that got it all started was kind of interesting... Their state high school athletic association actually made the rules MORE STRICT! They claimed that freestyle was too similar to folkstyle, so high school coaches could not teach folkstyle or freestyle. I don't know if this is still the case. What happened was coaches realized that the only way they could work with their wrestlers was to coach Greco. And, wow, did they ever get good at Greco. The techniques they developed in Greco carried over to freestyle, which in turn carried over to folkstyle.
