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FS/GK State


UncleJimmy

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Here is a reasonable scenario for a high level high school kid who would also like to compete at freestyle/greco state but also wrestle good national level competition in the Spring:

 

March 28-29 High School Nationals - VA Beach

 

April 2-­4-­‐USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals - Iowa

 

April 9-­11-­‐National Scholastic Duals - Crawfordsville, IN

 

April 18 ‐Tournament of Champions– Ohio

 

April 25 - Possibly a local tournament? or a Prom or just a weekend off with family

 

That scenario leaves the possibility of only one local tournament and you still need another....and leaves this kid out of freestyle/greco state.

 

A real shame....

 

Plus the tournaments nearest to Elkhart, Ft. Wayne and the rest of the northern parts is usually a long drive away.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but those are all folkstyle tournaments. You want a kid to be able to qualify for a state tournament in a style he didn't even wrestle one tournament in? We are a state that gets a disappointed if we don't perform well at USAW Duals and Fargo but we don't want to make our kids better at the styles so they can perform. Illinois wins duals every year almost in both styles because their top kids wrestle the Olympic styles, period. They don't wrestle folkstyle all spring and hope they can perform at a high level at duals and fargo

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You're not mistaken. Those are all folkstyle.

 

However, correct me if I'm mistaken, but don't kids "qualify" for folkstyle state without having to wrestle a qualifier? So I miss the point.

 

Forcing kids to wrestle more club level events isn't going to grow the sport, especially in the Spring and especially with added travel and costs. It might make IN better in those styles but I'd argue that level kid is getting better in a room as stated previously in the thread as compared to traveling and facing 3 (if not less) other kids just there to "qualify" for state.

 

If I read all this correctly, it's growth of the styles and not improvement of national teams that ISWA is looking for? I'm just not sure this change will do that.

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My take (not that it matters much):

 

Under the old format, a wrestler qualified for freestyle state by placing in the top three or four at a local tournament. Seems silly if the point of wrestling freestyle is to get better, but it was a task that could be accomplished by wrestling one weekend.

 

Why the push for 2 tournaments? I'm like Y2 with the travel tournaments in the spring. How do you tell a high level wrestler to forego national level events so he can go wrestle local tournaments. I'd buy in if it were one, but 2??!! Seems like shooting yourself in the foot as far as improving the level of wrestling in the state.

 

Someone mentioned CJ. How many local events does he wrestle other than freestyle state? I Know he does flonationals and scholastic duals. How does he give that up to make sure he gets 2 local tournaments in?

 

All this does it make it harder for kids to get better competition in the spring. I honestly believe there will be a drop in numbers at freestyle state which in turn lowers numbers at Fargo.

 

This is devastating to my household. My oldest wants to do Flo or Iowa, and my middle son wants to go to Kingsport. This makes life very difficult when I have to work weekends. 2 is too many in today's world! I truly feel for the guys in the north. They are getting hosed!

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Just to lighten the mood...

 

Maybe we in North Central IN can petition "da Region" to annex us and then we can officially secede from the state, form dRWA (da Region Wrestling Assoc) and do our own deal. Since they (RegionRats) were already bickering about the official boundaries why not just expand them! I kid....of course.

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My take (not that it matters much):

 

Under the old format, a wrestler qualified for freestyle state by placing in the top three or four at a local tournament. Seems silly if the point of wrestling freestyle is to get better, but it was a task that could be accomplished by wrestling one weekend.

 

Why the push for 2 tournaments? I'm like Y2 with the travel tournaments in the spring. How do you tell a high level wrestler to forego national level events so he can go wrestle local tournaments. I'd buy in if it were one, but 2??!! Seems like shooting yourself in the foot as far as improving the level of wrestling in the state.

 

Someone mentioned CJ. How many local events does he wrestle other than freestyle state? I Know he does flonationals and scholastic duals. How does he give that up to make sure he gets 2 local tournaments in?

 

All this does it make it harder for kids to get better competition in the spring. I honestly believe there will be a drop in numbers at freestyle state which in turn lowers numbers at Fargo.

 

This is devastating to my household. My oldest wants to do Flo or Iowa, and my middle son wants to go to Kingsport. This makes life very difficult when I have to work weekends. 2 is too many in today's world! I truly feel for the guys in the north. They are getting hosed!

It is a sad thing........but at least in the north we can push more into Hyway, Hyway State & Nationals (I’m not partial to any association as long as we can wrestle).  Then there is all the border wars. 

 

Hell, if people want to set dates and weekends we can do block wrestling every weekend without any association.  We could even set a website where wrestlers call out other wrestlers to wrestle each week at these meets.   

 

All ISWA is doing is limiting and lowering their numbers.  Maybe they should call AAU up and see how all that turns out.  There are other options out there and ISWA is just making us find them.  Maybe they are trying to get smaller so they don't have to go back to the pig barns.

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You're not mistaken. Those are all folkstyle.

 

However, correct me if I'm mistaken, but don't kids "qualify" for folkstyle state without having to wrestle a qualifier? So I miss the point.

 

Forcing kids to wrestle more club level events isn't going to grow the sport, especially in the Spring and especially with added travel and costs. It might make IN better in those styles but I'd argue that level kid is getting better in a room as stated previously in the thread as compared to traveling and facing 3 (if not less) other kids just there to "qualify" for state.

 

If I read all this correctly, it's growth of the styles and not improvement of national teams that ISWA is looking for? I'm just not sure this change will do that.

Last time i checked they don't have to qualify for folkstyle state. Wrestling folkstyle all spring and then jumping into FS/GR state doesnt improve the styles or our national teams.The big college programs come calling our studs who have performed well in the Olympic styles. Howe, Hump, Angel, both Tsirtsis', Micic, Sliga are just a few that have stood out at Fargo or National Duals and have had big programs not named Indiana or Purdue come calling. Our average kids won't get to the next level in just a practice room. Our studs are gonna be studs, but they are also gonna be wrestling freestyle and greco because they understand that the Big Ten doesn't come calling to just folkstylers.

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You do raise a interesting point.  To play devils advocate a bit...how is this any different that RTC's?

 

 

Very little difference, that is why I stated "and other regional sites."  RTC's are much more plentiful now than they were 5 years ago..and 10 years ago. They also seem to be getting good numbers at them.

 

Not to mention the new RTC rules where you can only show FS/GR (which occurs a month before the Folkstyle State, and Folkstyle Nationals) So if you are planning on hosting an RTC you need to fill out a 12 page application saying you're a good enough coach (AKA Sat through and hour presentation where the answers to the test are then given to you) to allow kids to get better and also god help you if you are not showing Guts and Leg Laces.

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Correct me if I'm mistaken, but those are all folkstyle tournaments. You want a kid to be able to qualify for a state tournament in a style he didn't even wrestle one tournament in? We are a state that gets a disappointed if we don't perform well at USAW Duals and Fargo but we don't want to make our kids better at the styles so they can perform. Illinois wins duals every year almost in both styles because their top kids wrestle the Olympic styles, period. They don't wrestle folkstyle all spring and hope they can perform at a high level at duals and fargo

 

Read this thoroughly and calmly and see if it makes sense.  My point here is not to prove anyone wrong but to offer some fact based points and what I believe is a fair view:

 

If you want to do the compare us with Illinois hold them up as a model then you should first know they do not require individuals to wrestle in any local tournaments before entering Freestyle/Greco state. In fact they have very few local tournaments (almost none at all).

 

Check for yourself to see what is listed http://www.ilusaw.comand http://www.illinoismatmen.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=26

 

The quality of the Illinois team reflects a high participation in their Freestyle and Greco state tournaments where the best guys participate, win and make the teams.

 

You are correct the events listed previously are Folkstyle but if you look at the USA wrestling schedule (http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Events) you'll notice the first national level Freestyle/Greco tournaments for high school aged kids don't start until May:

 

May 5-9 Las Vegas Open and Junior Nationals _ Greco/Freestyle

May 28-29 Asics UWW Cadet (FILA) Nationals - Greco/Freestyle

June 12-14 Junior World Team Trials - Greco/Freestyle

June is the month for Cadet and Junior National Duals

July - Cadet and Junior Nationals in Fargo

 

I also believe that The USAW regional tournaments are nearly all in May or after

 

Are there some national level USAW freestyle tournaments for Cadets and Juniors before May? If so I am not aware of them at this time but feel free to list them.

 

So high school kids (Cadets and Juniors) like Red who are the nations best and would like to compete with similar level competition will need to find national level competition and wrestle folkstyle until May when high level freestyle tournaments start.

 

Many elite wrestlers participate Freestyle all Spring/Summer starting in May...and throughout the summer if your logic/concern is that a kid has yet to wrestle a freestyle tournament before ISWA State then you might consider moving State later into May or June (note I don't think moving state is a good idea).

We definitely need more kids in Freestlye and Greco but I believe the approach is wrong.  Not to mention the geographic disparity in "qualifying tournaments" for those in the north.

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As a board member of the ISWA, RTC Director, Team Indiana National Coach, and owner of Indiana Pride Wrestling Academy, I welcome this change.  The current trends show F/G participation is widely down and something needed to be done.  Due to the ISWA having previous success with this in the past, it was only a logical decision.  Will there be bugs? Yes. They will get worked out. Will it be an inconvenience for some initially?  Yes.  However this inconvenience is only temporary.  With any change comes a transition process and there will be some that won't like it, but in the grand scheme of things requiring qualification was the ISWA's attempt to boost F/G participation. I feel this move in turn will begin to help clubs feel more comfortable about hosting more F/G tournaments, because there are more participants, which ultimately helps Indiana get better in both quality and quantity.  

 

As an official ambassador of USAW, ISWA has the obligation and privilege of adhering to this mission: "Guided by the Olympic Spirit...shall responsibly advocate, promote, coordinate, and provide quality opportunities for its members to achieve their full human and athletic potential. This sometimes requires tough decisions to be made.  "Guided by the Olympic Spirit..." Will everyone in your room be an Olympic Champion? Of course not.  But our jobs, our responsibility, as coaches and parents are to push our child and athlete to maximize their potential - whatever that may be - both on and off the mat. If your goals are too low then your results will be the same, however, if you aim for the stars at least you'll hit clouds if not the moon.  There is a 50/50 chance you will win Friday night at Banker's Life if you are just glad to be there, but the athlete who truly is trying to win the title will at least place 99% of the time.

 

Here are the problems: There are not enough kids training in F/G, not enough F/G tournaments available, not enough interest in F/G, the national wrestling schedule, spring sports schedule, etc. We have become a Folkstyle heavy state and, as good as we are doing in it, the top collegiate programs and coaches prefer more well rounded athletes.  No different than a college football coach preferring football players that wrestle, so too do college wrestling coaches prefer wrestlers that are versed in the international styles.  Why? Because they are generally better than the seasonal wrestler. Indiana as a whole is only slightly above average on the national level in these styles and it starts at home. It is too late to teach a gut wrench at the national tournament, or even at the training camp, and hope to be successful.  It has to be done before then. The problem is the international styles are not enforced, required, pushed, pubbed, etc. here in Indiana as much as they should be.

 

Let's look at the dates:  IHSAA State = end of February.  ISWA Folkstyle State = first couple of weeks in March.  Iowa and Flow Nationals = first week of April.  ISWA Freestyle & Greco State = first week of May. This means as a state we essentially have only one month to train/compete in the international style locally before the national schedule kicks in.  We train for Folkstyle roughly 7-10 months out of the year and 1-2 months in the international styles.  There is the disparity and that is not going to cut it for Indiana on the national level.  The best kids in Illinois wrestle F/G because they were encouraged to do so by someone or some thing.  Yes they have more kids but it is the culture of their state's wrestling community that makes the the truest difference.

 

I put the primary blame on us as coaches for the lack of F/G participation, not the academies or RTCs, as coaches are the official link between the athlete and the sport.  Many of us don't influence or push our athletes to train and compete in these styles, many of us don't know enough about these styles too push it, and some of us prefer to simply be stubborn about F/G's importance.  We don't see the big picture, basically focused on Folkstyle because "that is what they wrestle in college." Still, there are others who legitimately don't have the time or resources to push it.  Between families, careers, finances, logistics, recruiting, training, etc. we simply have lives to live. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that in order to maximize our athletes potential and success in scholastic, Folkstyle, wrestling, you HAVE to take full advantage of Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

 

Now I can't speak for all academies but at IPWA we REQUIRE our athletes to train in the international styles.  They know F/G season is coming, whether they like or not. They also get better because of it...whether they like it or not. We push F/G before, during and after practice every day, our schedule is full of local, regional and national F/G tournaments, and our members try to be everywhere, every weekend.  Now, because of this ISWA requirement, these "All-Star" athletes HAVE to compete locally (which ours do already), boosting the competition and participant level of these tournaments, the handful of petitions will be even more justified, and more Team Indiana members will have a higher chance of knowing a gut wrench come national time.

 

As far as the new RTC format, it's the same thing.  We cannot control some ones room.  If a coach wants to focus on Folkstyle year-round because they feel that will get the best out of their athletes and programs, that is their right and decision, and that is what many do. The RTCs are what the ISWA can control.  Therefor we design it so it best suits OUR cause, which is Indiana wrestling as a whole - not just one school - so we don't have to teach guts and laces a week before nationals.  If kids want to train for Folkstyle State and Folkstyle Nationals, that it what the schools and clubs are for as they already focus on Folkstyle for 7-10 months out of the year anyway. The ISWA RTC application is a modified version of the USAW Regional Training Site Application, as hosting an RTC is not a right but a privilege, and the standard class to see if you are a good enough coach is actually supposed to be 6 hours long and the absolute fastest one I have seen is 3 hours. Why? Because we cater to the coaches. People have to leave, get back to the hotel, get to weigh ins, get to dinner, etc.  The answers are also discussed because many would not pass on their own without some discourse, and that is welcomed to ensure we can all walk out knowing the right ones instead of assuming.

 

In order for our athletes to be better versed in wrestling we must ourselves be better versed as coaches, from the grassroots to the international level.  USAW has even rolled out a new coaches education program on January 1st for this reason.  It is designed to make it easier to understand and manage the certification process, and has much more in depth data, information and tools for our coaches to use to get the best out of their athletes and programs. They have the same problems we have to an extent. The U.S. is behind the best in the world because we are Folkstyle heavy. By educating and providing tools for grass root coaches to get better, USAW does not have to train and re-train athletes as much when they get to the international level.  We as coaches need to be more inclined to continue growing in this sport, educating ourselves, continue making that sacrifice...not for the money of course but for the cause.

 

To digress, I can guarantee the topic of requiring at least 1 tournament, rather than 2, will be brought up this Sunday at the monthly ISWA meeting, and we may be able to meet halfway. The meeting starts at noon and is held at the ISWA office in Beech Grove.  The organization has never claimed to have all answers and is not the illuminati. The ISWA members are some of Indiana's most dedicated and lifelong supporters of Indiana wrestling, volunteering their time and traveling across the state to help further develop the cause.  Some don't read these boards but I do.  I encourage anyone that has some ideas to show up.  They have never turned any one away and the door is and has always been open for anyone in the wrestling community to sit in and provide feedback.  By working together and aligning expectations as much as possible we can all benefit.  I hope this helps provide at least some clarification and best wishes this season!

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Freestyle has always been my first love and I would teach it year round if I could, but it is not what the kids want.  I think you guys are pushing it in a negative way.  You are more than welcome to get a hold of me and I would love to help out however I can, just think there has to be better ways.

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You obviously failed to read my reasoning to why RTC's and academies are hurting local tournaments. I will state it again.

 

Kids can wrestle with top competition two days a week for over an hour and not have to waste a Saturday in a gym, be guaranteed good matches, and not have to worry if there are any good kids in their weight class.

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I understand.  Some of our kids don't want F/G either but I make them do it.  Granted, we are fortunate enough not to have to deal with too much politics, administration, spring sports, etc. as much as if we were a school corporation.  But if we happen to have a kid or parent that is absolutely against F/G, there are respectfully plenty of other Folkstyle training opportunities they can go to.  But they don't.  They just may skip practice. Lol. They're sold because I'm sold.  If they sense hesitation or smell garbage they will not be inspired and do something else.  Each coach, athlete, parent, program and school is different and have their own share of issues and problems.  And yes I agree there are probably better ways out there, but the decisions are made at the meetings, collectively by representatives of all regions, not just one person.  Please come and shed any insight as we can only play the hand we are dealt. It would be welcomed.

 

And, Y2, I would never take a shot at you as I am hesitant of your sprawl, but I get what you are saying though.  Are there generally top tier guys at RTCs? Of course.  But the majority of kids there are not top tier guys although they want to be...which is why they go.  The majority of all of these kids do participate at local tournaments because they still like medals, shiny objects, winning, and just generally getting better.  I cannot imagine there are too many kids that go to these simply to practice and not be able to perform in a tournament setting, especially when they pay for USAW membership.  If so, now they will be required to at least hit 2. My job this summer is to hit every RTC in the state, take the temperature, and reinforce Indiana's collective objective. If I run into some kids who train at an RTC but don't compete in local tournaments, rest assured we will plant, water, and nurture those seeds.

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Although I disagree with you fundamentally on this issue as I think you still neglected the point made earlier about our Cadet/Junior wrestlers who travel all Spring to National level tournaments which just happen to be Folkstyle until May when Freestyle and Greco tournaments are available.  It would show a great deal of good will to the kids up North and the kids who travel to these National tournaments if the ISWA would cut the number of tournaments required from 2 down to 1 even though many would like it to be zero.

There is no doubt in my mind that the reason we are behind other states is not because there is a lack of participation in local Freestyle tournaments since many of the states that do well have very few local Freestyle/Greco tournaments.  I suspect there may be many other reasons for Team Indiana is not always winning national freestyle/greco tournaments over Illinois and others that have very little to do with wrestling. One theory might be to think 5A schools vs. 1A schools in sports here in Indiana...The same may be able to be translated to state populations???  Indiana has around 6.5 million residents and Illinois has closer to 13 million and I suspect there is a disparity in the number of youth wrestlers also. Do they also have 50% more kids that wrestle in IL or even 30% more? I don't know the answer but seems like that might be something worth considering.  Don't get me wrong Indiana kids can compete and win many already have and many more will but it just may not be every year in every weight class.

 

Questions:

 

Do we perform proportionally well for the size of our state?  

If not is this because of a lack of participation in the sport in Indiana or because of a lack of Freestyle/Greco skill?

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I saw in iswa magazine that we went back to qualifying for the event. I grew up in era of placing in 2 to qualify. I think it is/ was good. Freestyle and Greco was a good and welcome change.

 

But times have changed. Both my boys play baseball too. We went to freeste state last year (peewee and bantam) without wrestling any meets. I told them to just wrestle and don't worry about the "rules". They placed (regardless of finish). They love the fact their name is now in magazine. This gave them confidence and are now really working to make magazine again.

 

But they play baseball and derby weekend is only weekend we have off.

 

Its a double edge sword. Damned if we do and damned if we don't.

 

Freestyle and Greco are important for the average wrestle to become a formitable opponent.

 

I think if we are going to mandate participation then more feasible opportunities must be implemented in our season.

 

What if we would keep "track" of partixpation at etc? Technolgy allows this now. Or allow club's to schedule freestyle/Greco duals or minimeets during the week?

 

Just trying not to complain but look for a solution. Identify the problem then find a feesible solution. Let's not sit in a rocking chair

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I have been in contact with several board members and several prominent coaches up north about hosting some additional tournaments this spring/summer to help the folks up north out.  Officially it is too late.  Unofficially we may be able to pull it off.  We still have to wait until this Sunday to hash it out. But us dropping to 1 qualifier will absolutely come up and I would be OK with that.

 

In regards to Cadet/Junior wrestlers who travel for Folkstyle nationally and miss local F/G tournaments, that is a decision they have to make. Our athletes are pushed to do as many as possible.  It's tough for me, or I am not in a position, to care that much about individual decisions of a very select few.  For me it is a matter of priority.  Do you hit every national Folkstyle event you can across the country to continue wrestling Folkstyle?  Or do you hit every F/G tournament you can to develop your international skills?  Me personally, it's a no brainer and I'm going F/G because I wrestle Folkstyle all year anyway.  In no way do I want to come off harsh or uncaring, but we have "elite" guys at IPWA who compete at these national events...and now they have to make room for TWO (possibly one) LOCAL TOURNAMENTS.  If they can travel 8 hours across the country to wrestle in a Folkstyle event, they can travel two hours to a local F/G tournament.  It is a conscious decision.  If it is required then it is required. 

 

Again, I am biased and in no way do I think everyone should think like me.  However, when I am physically there coaching at the national tournaments and we have 30+ Indiana kids who truly do not know how to gut, or stop a gut for that matter, and I have Kevin Jackson, John Smith, and Zeke Jones all standing behind me recruiting kids - it is a bad look for Indiana. To my knowledge, these coaches are not in VA, Iowa, Scholastic Duals, Tournament of Champions, etc.  I do alternate between Iowa and Flo, and that is the extent of my national Folkstyle events. Outside of the open tournaments, J Robinson, head coach of Minnesota, makes his all of his redshirts train F/G all year, ending with FILA Juniors.  If thats where they are going, and what they are looking for, then by God that's where my focus is if I am a competitor.  Again, it's a personal decision athletes, parents and coaches must decide.

 

As far as state populations, that to me is more of an excuse.  We can only play the hand we are dealt and unfortunately we are millions of people short.  On the other hand, I prefer quality over quantity in this regard. New York has more people than Illinois but Illinois still beats them pretty soundly. The reason we aren't good in Freestyle and Greco is because we don't focus on Freestyle and Greco.  We have gotten better as a state in Folkstyle because we focus more on Folkstyle.  In order for me be a professional basketball player, I have to practice basketball.  I want to go get better at Poker and the only way I can do that is play Poker as much as I can.  I can't focus on Euker and think I can pick up Poker even though they are both card games.

 

Indiana, for the size of our state, is proportionally slightly above average using the ol' eyeball. This is all relative of course but we come in around 10th overall in all styles.  We can win Folkstyle Nationals but we come in 31st out of 32 teams in Greco. Lastly, with spring sports, I get it. It is a tough position to be in. When I was younger I can remember playing baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer and football in the same year.  My parents went out of their way to ensure I had every opportunity available to try everything until I found my niche. Unfortunately, we also must ultimately pick one, at the most two, sports to SPECIALIZE in.  Jack of all trades, master of nothing.  Again, not to sound insensitive, but spring sports aren't my problem.  My focus is wrestling, particularly Indiana wrestling.  To be the best at wrestling I need to dedicate myself to wrestling. This is a family decision that I fully understand and do not hold it against families that choose to invest in other sports.  The success will speak for itself.

 

More Freestyle duals are on the way.  Carmel is hosting an event this year and there is talk of an ISWA Freestyle Dual State in the near future.  We have to get the momentum first and to do that someone has to make a tough decision trailblazing and innovating.  Coach P is the first coach I can recall that went out on a limb to have Freestyle duals.  It could be an awesome event or completely bomb, but either way if you build it they will eventually come.  I think it's awesome though and hopefully he lets us in! Lbvs 

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The funny part is you keep using the ISWA to defend freestyle and Greco. when I wrestled in high school (late 80s-early 90s) AAU ran all freestyle & greco. So can I assume the same organization you are defending split this 3 months of freestyle and greco that AAU had to the 1 1/2 months of it now. So that we could have 1 1/2 months of folkstyle.

 

Seasons change just like kids and coaches do. Kind of hard to blame kids for not knowing a gut wrench or how to counter it because we stopped requiring placement in freestyle tournaments in order to go to state. That's been a rule for what 2 years now? Like I asked before and never got an answer....what percentage of kids that got 1st or 2nd didn't go to any tournament but state. Like I said I believe that number would be high. So good idea send the kids that know what a gut wrench is but can't beat these kids.

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Good question Y2.  My personal answer is no, but of course that would have to be discussed with the selection committee.  I feel the new/old 2 tournament implementation is an attempt to promote F/G growth within Indiana and help local clubs, and regions, have more opportunities to fund raise, train, and compete in the international styles. Junior Duals is a different animal.  This specific selection process is to provide us the best chance at bringing a national championship home to Indiana, at least for the first-team anyway. But that is my personal opinion and this is what committees are for.  

 

@Warsaw, I was not with the ISWA if/when this Folkstyle adjustment happened, I'm sure the ISWA does not share all of the blame, this new/old requirement is also not all to blame, and I'm not the one for finding these percentages but I'd like to see them too.  As you stated, time brings change.  I don't know enough about it but I'd imagine with the growth of USAW into the official governing body of wrestling in the U.S., and AAU having a much broader focus, may have played a part?  My thought is what happened to these  AAU F/G wrestling opportunities?  These past rises and falls have nothing to do with me but I'm sure someone on this board has some insight.

 

What part did the ISWA play in all this?  Not sure, but either way that was yesterday. I'm here today, trying to assist Indiana wrestling to be the best it can be for years to come, along with every single person on that board from what I've seen. I am certain you are doing the same.  On a side note, I sense the overall frustration on this thread. I have spoken with parents and coaches who are upset with how things are, have been, etc. I've been in conversations where the frustration with the ISWA, or USAW, has started at legitimate and even spills to ridiculous.  It is what it is and we can't make everyone happy...but that doesn't stop us from trying.  Again, all are welcome to attend the monthly meeting this Sunday. If 20+ people show up simply to curse me out, I won't be offended. Lol.  At least we will have much broader and more diverse angles to cover in order to make the best decisions. 

 

On an even more positive note, good luck everyone at Regionals!  Wrestlers, I know there are some good match-ups across the state and boys are fired up and ready to make statements! Whether its domination or retribution, go earn it. Coaches, best wishes to you too, whether it's only one individual or your whole team, there's not too much you can do now. Get some rest.  Parents, whether they win or lose, be proud.  It's a tough sport. 

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Coach Hull,

I agree with pretty much 100% of the things you stated.  I love FS/GR and hope Indiana will improve.  My position is very simple: kids in the north will be unfairly disadvantaged for spring/summer 2015.

 

To alleviate this disadvantage, I would respectfully request the ISWA:

1) Lower the required number of local tournaments to 1.

2) Allow participation in a local Illinois FS/GR tournament to fulfill the required 1 or 2 tournaments to compete at ISWA state.

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@WaltHarris Per the ISWA meeting this past Sunday, there will be a few new tournaments being hosted this spring thanks to several schools stepping up and helping the cause.  As stated above, Portage will host an event on April 18th which should be a good one, and a couple more I am unaware of are hosting events as well.  These will be great opportunities for schools to fund raise, exclusivity, offer northern athletes more options to compete and qualify, more exposure for F/G and hopefully start a trend. #excited

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Coach Hull

 

You would think if ISWA were going to implement this, than they would have at least given a year for schools to adapt and be prepared to host a tournament or two.  I think this will hurt Fs/gr this year.  I know that the ISWA means well and is a promoting body for wrestling in Indiana, but they have to look at it from all angles.  It is easier to take away than to add.  When you took away the qualifying it was easy for kids to just come to state and wrestle.  When you add that you need 2 or even 1 tournament placement to go to state, you are now asking kids to find tournament that don't exist because teams quit having them. 

 

I hate being one of those people to just criticize, because God knows I know how that feels.  Most of the coaches I know are maxed out between work, coaching and families.  Most of the coaches I know have hands on in High School, Middle School and little kids programs.  There are plenty of critics out there, but when asked no one wants to step up.  So like I said I understand how it is to be in your position. 

 

It just sucks on our end trying to get kids coached up and keep the elite ones on track.  When things change like this I just feel we need more notice to work things out.  I also don't think it would have been that bad to do some surveys on here or sent out to schools.  I understand you guys have your meetings, and I have been to one (like 5 years ago).  There was a lot said and little done for me to justify 4-5 hours of driving.  Maybe have your meetings at IHSAA State between placement and finals matches or 4 different ones at Semi-states.......Just spit balling stuff.

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