Sig40 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 haha good. I like it better that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntegratedCarp Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 It's interesting. As I have talked with folks up north and down south, an opinion many have felt for years keeps coming up. Namely, the ISWA is run like everybody in Indiana lives in the Indianapolis area. Reread this thread. Most of the people arguing for the 2 tournament qualifier are from Indy. Most of the people who feel disadvantaged by the 2 tournament qualifier are from the northern or southern portions of the state. Someone said 'come to the board meetings.' Sure, if you live around Indy, that is a 25 minute drive. If you live in Evansville or Elkhart, it's 3 hours one-way. I understand that 50% of the population of our state lives within 60 minutes of Indy. However, that also means 50% of the population lives 2-3 hours away. It costs people from Evansville or Elkhart about $300-$400 per trip to Indy. If I was to make any suggestion, it would be to broadcast the board meetings as a googlehangout. It doesn't cost anything. And it would give people outside Indy a chance to electronically raise their hand and offer input, so we don't end up in these situations where people in the north/south feel disadvantaged by those from the Indy area who don't seem to get it. For those of you who live in and around Indy, imagine if the ISWA told you that you must drive and get a hotel in Evansville for folkstyle state, and come to Evansville for freestyle state, and then after you have spent all day at a Saturday Indianapolis high school tournament you need to drive to Evansville and back on a Sunday for a board meeting. And btw, we have changed the rules about qualifying for freestyle state so you must travel down to Evansville at least 2 more times this year to get local qualifying tournaments. And then when you voice concern about having to drive from your home in Indy to Evansville so many times and spend so much money, those responsible for creating the situation tell you the problem is that you don't participate enough and attend enough board meetings down in Evansville. That would be quite an insulting way to treat you. Sig40, Y2CJ41 and J.G. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Here are the basics of this: Five weeks to find two tournaments to attend, lets not even figure in driving 2+ hours Take out one week for spring break, that leaves four weeks to find two tournaments. Heaven forbid we have a family, church, school function on another weekend...now down to 3 weeks to find a tournament. That doesn't include a large group that goes to Scholastic Duals or any other national level event losing another possible weekend! NOW let's figure in if there is a tournament within even an hour of where you live! I can't wait to have the conversation with a kid that truly wanted to go to freestyle state and tell him that since he went to the band competition, Aunt Sally's birthday party, or on family vacation he can't go. Sig40 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldandbroke Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 you forgot to add in SAT and ACT tests for the High school kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Is the point of this to increase freestyle wrestling or make money for clubs? UncleJimmy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleB Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) It's interesting. As I have talked with folks up north and down south, an opinion many have felt for years keeps coming up. Namely, the ISWA is run like everybody in Indiana lives in the Indianapolis area. Reread this thread. Most of the people arguing for the 2 tournament qualifier are from Indy. Most of the people who feel disadvantaged by the 2 tournament qualifier are from the northern or southern portions of the state. Someone said 'come to the board meetings.' Sure, if you live around Indy, that is a 25 minute drive. If you live in Evansville or Elkhart, it's 3 hours one-way. I understand that 50% of the population of our state lives within 60 minutes of Indy. However, that also means 50% of the population lives 2-3 hours away. It costs people from Evansville or Elkhart about $300-$400 per trip to Indy. If I was to make any suggestion, it would be to broadcast the board meetings as a googlehangout. It doesn't cost anything. And it would give people outside Indy a chance to electronically raise their hand and offer input, so we don't end up in these situations where people in the north/south feel disadvantaged by those from the Indy area who don't seem to get it. For those of you who live in and around Indy, imagine if the ISWA told you that you must drive and get a hotel in Evansville for folkstyle state, and come to Evansville for freestyle state, and then after you have spent all day at a Saturday Indianapolis high school tournament you need to drive to Evansville and back on a Sunday for a board meeting. And btw, we have changed the rules about qualifying for freestyle state so you must travel down to Evansville at least 2 more times this year to get local qualifying tournaments. And then when you voice concern about having to drive from your home in Indy to Evansville so many times and spend so much money, those responsible for creating the situation tell you the problem is that you don't participate enough and attend enough board meetings down in Evansville. That would be quite an insulting way to treat you. I don't' live anywhere near Indy, I drive to Evansville (3 hours) for Semi State, have to get a hotel, I drive to Indy for State 3 times (High School, Folkstyle, Freestyle) and get hotel rooms....I also usually drive to Indy for the annual ISWA meeting (Let Tskin cover it this year). I just drove 4 hours round trip this past Sunday to get my 5 year old matches b/c he asked me if he could wrestle. Nobody can ever complain to me about travel! I just can't wait for SingleB to collect a freestyle medal b/c evidently it's going to be a ghost town in Avon in May.....hahaha.... Edited February 12, 2015 by TripleB tskin and Arrow77 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleJimmy Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Here's another issue I don't think has been touched on or thought thru... If the ISWA goal is to grow these styles (which in turns will lead to more club revenue a win/win), what level and below i.e schoolboy, novice, cadet is the focus group? Example, I assume the high school wrestler class (Cadet, Jr) will not be "growing" in numbers. If they aren't wrestling now, they more than likely won't be. So mandating that group to attend 2 more isn't growing the sport, but would grow revenue as that is a captive clientele. They're invested/committed at this point so they will attend if at all possible. So that gets us to the schoolboy and below levels. This is a good group/pool/age to to find growth in due to numbers, interests etc. So, say we agree on that (for the sake of this argument). For the most part then, we are looking at young kids and can anyone else think of another sport played in the Spring that is quite popular? I can. Baseball! I would guess most of those leagues start in mid-late April at the latest. So at a time when we're on this site pumping Urban Meyer for promoting kids to not concentrate on just one sport, the ISWA is basically telling a kid and family in the age group they are hoping to grow from, that they MUST attend 2 more events to qualify for a state tourney. Now that family might be getting the wrestling bug, and really want to go to the state event, but if they have to take the kid away from his little league team for 2 more weekends (beside state), plus the added travel/costs of doing so as compared to driving to a local park as a family...I'm guessing they choose baseball which doesn't promote growth in wrestling. I get their are travel teams etc, but if they are already on baseball travel teams at that age, I don't think they're going to the 2 mandated ISWA events anyway! I'm just really confused. If we want TEAM IN to dominate the styles, mandating attendance will work because only the committed will be there and the elite will get better...if we want to grow the sport and the styles (and in turn revenue), mandating attendance will backfire in my opinion because the time/monetary/sport choice decision is not one that will be won by wrestling for those families/kids just tipping their toes in the wrestling water, which is the age group where growth can come from. I'm with AJ. The vision/goal must be decided. Is it to increase FS/GK ability, promote growth of the overall sport, or just increase club revenues. I think if we're truthful on that answer, the path becomes clearer. Disclaimer: I support the ISWA. I hope I can figure out a way to qualify for FS/GK state. Sig40 and wwatson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ontherise219 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 How many tournaments do you have to place top 3 to qualify for university/senior division j/k Y2CJ41 and AJ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleB Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 OTR looking for some Gold! ontherise219 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warsawwrestling Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 OTR looking for some Gold! sounded like bronze to me...... ontherise219 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 As a Former University Freestyle State Champion I support OTR and will be his mouth piece and manager in this journey. #FabioJrGuy AJ and ontherise219 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ontherise219 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Haha nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoontzDaddy Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) So many hypotheticals have been brought up, but here is my actual Spring schedule with the 2 qualifying tournament rule. March 6-8 Kids Folkstyle State March 14 Big kids Folkstyle State March 15-22 Spring Break Vacation in FL (much needed after high school season) March 28 FREE DAY!!! April 3-5 USAW Folkstyle Nat'ls April 10-12 Kingsport Duals (Heartland Duals is the same weekend) April 18 Center Grove April 25 Franklin May 1-3 Freestyle State I have 2 kids that wrestle right now so I guess I should only have one. I guess I shouldn't take a vacation either. I am a youth coach. How do I tell my wrestling parents that they should travel and get some out of state exposure and wrestle freestyle? I am forced to choose traveling or freestyle. Guess which one I'm leaning on eliminating from my schedule. And I live an hour from Indy. It's not the drive time.... it's having a life. Edited February 12, 2015 by MustangDaddy Y2CJ41, indypharmd, Sig40 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 As a Former University Freestyle State Champion I support OTR and will be his mouth piece and manager in this journey. #FabioJrGuy I want to see Fabio in a "Mouth of the South" jacket coaching with a megaphone!!!!!! ontherise219 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMILL Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) minus the jacket attire....................he was full blown mouth of the south on microphone during the cleanup of the Brownsburg gym after the Folkstyle open for approx 90 minutes !!!! Was AWESOME !!! Edited February 12, 2015 by JMILL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathewsz7 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 So many hypotheticals have been brought up, but here is my actual Spring schedule with the 2 qualifying tournament rule. March 6-8 Kids Folkstyle State March 14 Big kids Folkstyle State March 15-22 Spring Break Vacation in FL (much needed after high school season) March 28 FREE DAY!!! April 3-5 USAW Folkstyle Nat'ls April 10-12 Kingsport Duals (Heartland Duals is the same weekend) April 18 Center Grove April 25 Franklin May 1-3 Freestyle State I have 2 kids that wrestle right now so I guess I should only have one. I guess I shouldn't take a vacation either. I am a youth coach. How do I tell my wrestling parents that they should travel and get some out of state exposure and wrestle freestyle? I am forced to choose traveling or freestyle. Guess which one I'm leaning on eliminating from my schedule. And I live an hour from Indy. It's not the drive time.... it's having a life. I have a similar schedule minus folk nats....but add a 9 yr old daughter who's getting pretty good @ softball, who's team I coach....believe me its rough, but for us mom & dad take kids separate places every weekend & to all the practices all week long....im sure I spend more on gas every month, than I do in rent...but I can assure you of this, my son & nephew will get qualified for FS/GR state & I will do my damndest to be sure my daughter bats for .500 this year....that's what I signed up for when I became a parent, does it suck? sometimes, is it stressful? ABSOLUTLEY, but it is what I have to do for my kids to enjoy their lives...SO BE IT!!! Coach Hull and grecoref 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Pendoski Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 This was a tough decision for the ISWA to make and you don't have to be a major player in the Indiana Wrestling scene to know that there would be 'pushback' from the member clubs of the organization for mandating local freestyle tourneys to qualify for freestyle state. I've been involved with the ISWA for a while now and there have been decisions made by our organization that I thought were outstanding and some that I thought sucked eggs (please don't make me list them publicly! ha!). Truth be told, the ISWA is a large and very mature wrestling organization. I always love coming back from an out of state USA Wrestling tourney. If you go to Central Regionals when it's held in MI, you'll appreciate how well our organization works. The qualifiying process of two local tourneys to qualify for freestyle state was established to help grow freestyle opportunities. I'm under the impression that a couple local clubs in different areas of the state are in the process of getting a freestyle tourney. That's exactly what the ISWA was hoping would happen. The question of whether this was a good idea or not is still left to be decided. I know in last weekends meeting I specifically brought up the question of whether this qualifying process is going to be evaluated and up for discussion in the future and it will be. It might turn out to be something that was awesome and this is an outstanding decision made....or it could be awful and hurt the growth of freestyle opportunities. Either way, our organization will make adjustments. I sat through all the meetings in the past as freestyle season was shortened because more and more people wanted folkstyle tournaments and our organization acted accordingly. Now our organization is trying to find a way to encourage freestyle opportunities. My reason for this post is to hopefully rally the troops to look at the ISWA as 'OUR' organization. There have been decisions that have been made in the past that have totally pissed me off (again, please don't make me post this list either! ha!). Other decisions I thought have been great. I do feel that while our organization is far from perfect, is the best in the country. The worst thing we can do is "pick up my ball and go somewhere else". I believe that the worst thing could happen to Indiana wrestling is if we had a pocket of Indiana that is AAU another pocket of Indiana that is USA Wrestling and another pocket that is MYWAY. I am far passionate about all the things USA Wrestling does and it's effects on ISWA, but it's OUR organization and I feel that it is best for all of Indiana Wrestling if we act together. If you don't like what happens in the ISWA, then contact the office. You can send an email to your section rep and they can present it at the meeting if you cannot attend. I think the webcast idea is awesome and I'd bet that the board would make that happen if there truly was an interest in that. More importantly my hope is that we look at our organization as OURS and everyone does as much as they can to continue making it the best in the country. BeastMode#31, EFuqua, Arrow77 and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoontzDaddy Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I have a similar schedule minus folk nats....but add a 9 yr old daughter who's getting pretty good @ softball, who's team I coach....believe me its rough, but for us mom & dad take kids separate places every weekend & to all the practices all week long....im sure I spend more on gas every month, than I do in rent...but I can assure you of this, my son & nephew will get qualified for FS/GR state & I will do my damndest to be sure my daughter bats for .500 this year....that's what I signed up for when I became a parent, does it suck? sometimes, is it stressful? ABSOLUTLEY, but it is what I have to do for my kids to enjoy their lives...SO BE IT!!! You emphasize my point when you say "minus folkstyle nationals." I don't want to give up great competition and experience because the ISWA wants to push this. I've said before that I'd buy in for 1 qualifying tournament, but 2 is too many. And the fact is that my kids will also probably get qualified, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with this decision. And please be assured that after 18 years and 3 kids, I have a pretty good handle on what I signed up for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sig40 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 What we signed up for as a parent is to do the best thing for our kids and local freestyle tournaments is not in my boys best interest. These national tournaments we attend are far more important in his growth as a wrestler. I am confident that he gets more then enough freestyle exposure at is academy to place or even win a national freestyle tournament. Unfortunately he won't be a state champ this year. oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogma Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I'm from up north, have been active in a few different clubs as well as have kids that currently attend a large local academy. I've heard from many parents over the years and the general attitude towards FS/GR is "what's the point? there's nowhere to compete". I think if there is actually going the be a requirement like this the ISWA should be sponsoring (contracting) local events in strategic geographic areas to promote it across the state. Instead of clubs paying ISWA to host a sanctioned event, the ISWA should fund them. It's hard enough to find help running a folkstyle event, I can't imagine finding a squad to ref, score, etc. a FS/GR event. I'd like to see ISWA sponsoring training events in these styles in the same manner. Club coaches working volunteer only have so many resources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntegratedCarp Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Maybe it's just me, but I find the logic of this deal odd. A rule is created mainly by people living in the Indy area. The rule will result in the disenfranchisement of kids in northern Indiana. Then the same Indy people who created the rule are saying we need to unite around the ISWA? How does that make sense when mostly Indy people just created a rule that will drive northern Indiana people even further away from the ISWA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InjuredReserve Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Can my boys wrestle an iron man tournament and that count as both qualifying events for freestyle state and greco state? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattyb Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Can my boys wrestle an iron man tournament and that count as both qualifying events for freestyle state and greco state?There is no qualifying for greco. And yes, that would count as one event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grecoref Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Maybe it's just me, but I find the logic of this deal odd. A rule is created mainly by people living in the Indy area. The rule will result in the disenfranchisement of kids in northern Indiana. Then the same Indy people who created the rule are saying we need to unite around the ISWA? How does that make sense when mostly Indy people just created a rule that will drive northern Indiana people even further away from the ISWA. I did a very quick and unscientific count of the ISWA Board and all it's Directors (not counting the office staff who are employees). 32 Board positions and 16 have 317 area codes. One of those lives in Ft Wayne. So now you are down to less than half the ISWA Board living in the Indy area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sig40 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Maybe HWAY will capitalize on ISWA huge blunder and do a freestyle state this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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