OldGoatGrappler

Congratulations Kayla!  Even though you came up just short of your goal this year, your hard work and dedication are paying off.  My money is on you for gold next year.

Way to represent Mitch...  5th in the whole wide world... that's awesome!

There Mr. H goes again... picking on the big guys. 

I'd take Dremiel Byers or Tervel Dlagnev any day on a football team.  If you watched their matches at the Olympic Trials and still say they have no wrestling technique, then you're blind. 

Additionally, if you didn't see the heavyweight matches at Bankers Life or in St. Louis this year and still concur that heavyweights don't know how to wrestle - then you're missing out on seeing some good wrestling.  The big guys are much more athletic these days and you "little" old farts might find yourselves changing your tune if you actually stuck around to watch a match or two.  Better yet, keep leaving early so I can keep getting a closer seat to the action.

I know Mr. H, tongue in cheek.

Hamilton County Middle School Wrestling Championship Results

3/10/2012

1st - Westfield 284.5

2nd - Carmel 261.5

3rd - Hamilton Southeastern 253.5

4th - Creekside 233

5th - Fishers 198

6th - Hamilton Heights 178

7th - Clay 158.5

8th - Noblesville 146

9th - Riverside 142.5

Team scores:

Westfield 344

Zionsville West 277.5

Brownsburg East 262

Zionsville Middle 247

Tecumseh 207

Avon South 201

Avon North 182

Brownsburg West 91.5

Three awesome "pump up the crowd" songs:

Welcome to the Jungle: 

Rock and Roll Part 2: 

Enter Sandman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY3LAFJbKyY

Forbes article on Kayla and girls wrestling... might make some people think a little differently:

http://l.wbx.me/l/?p=1&instId=199512c2-c85a-4704-984a-53aa7b9fa528&token=b6a7707998b03168cca4cefe205181a56a006b9b000001358e2a72cc&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fbobcook%2F2012%2F02%2F17%2Fwhy-girls-are-the-best-hope-to-save-wrestling

Agree that the little gym situation could be improved.  Some suggestions:

1.  Leave the bleachers in and having the littler guys wrestle there (bigger wrestlers = equal bigger parents usually and therefore less room)

2.  Move the starting stripes so the wrestlers start neutral facing the "long" way of the taped off mats (therefore decreasing the out-of-bounds restarts which slows things down)

3.  Put a Trackwrestling dashboard screen observable by everyone in the main gym to avoid trips to the table to check bout #s.

Very good tournament overall and getting that many matches in is commendable.  Thank you to everyone for a great day of wrestling!

Can you pre-register without your card # and then get the card at Middle School State? Thanks for any replies.

Per the event flier posted at: http://www.ihswca.com/MSState_information.htm - NO cards will be sold the morning of the tournament.  

If you need a card, go to http://iswa.com/athlete-application and then bring your card # a copy of the PayPal receipt with you to the tournament.

I have a five year old who started hanging out in the wrestling room with the club last year when he was four.  He didn't want to do many of the drills and couldn't really focus, so I just let him do what he wanted to do and didn't force him to do anything.  I didn't get mad at him or show disappointment if he was just messing around.  It's my experience from seeing a lot of wrestlers mature over the years that they all do it at different speeds.  I'd strongly encourage you to focus on "making it fun" at this point as there will be plenty of time to for him to focus and work hard in the future.  Also, be mindful that pushing too hard at a young age can lead to a kid hating and then dropping out of our great sport and none of us would want to see that.

The ISWA duals are posted here:

http://www.iswa.com/Elementary%20Duals%2009-10.htm

Very inspirational story:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42590729/ns/today-good_news/t/amputee-champion-gives-others-legs-stand/

Great job, once again, ISWA.

Avon did a fantastic job hosting this event too.

Every thing seemed to run very smooth.

by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News

Posted on May 3, 2011 at 8:40 AM

Updated today at 11:29 AM

Related:

Former SEAL on Bin Laden Mission

TACOMA, Wash. ? A man born and raised in Tacoma helped plan the attack that killed Osama bin Laden.

Admiral Eric Olson is commander of the Special Operations Command, including the Navy Seals. He was in the White House with President Barack Obama while the operation was taking place.

Olson is a 1969 graduate of Stadium High School.  He was involved in politics, wrestling and was voted "king cheerleader."

Olson has stayed involved with his alma mater, speaking to Stadium's ROTC cadets.

Stadium High School has a wall of recognition for its most successful graduates. We're told he will be added to that wall soon.

...I don't believe we are losing skilled wrestling classes.  It would be different if they added a 350 lbs class.  Now that would be boring.  Just my two cents....

If you understood that heavyweights wrestle different than lower classes - you might gain an appreciation for their level of wrestling.  There were quite a few wrestlers who were way over 285 when I wrestled "unlimited".  Some of us on this board might even remember or have seen a poster of an Olympian named Chris Taylor - some of his matches were pretty darn exciting and he was well over 400 lbs.

I wonder how many kids don't even get to wrestle in high school since they weigh more than 285???  Even a kid who weighs 50 lbs. in high school could wrestle 103 (or now 106) - but if you're over 285...too bad.

Congratulations to Indiana Gold in their 5th place finish today at the AAU National Dual Team Championships in Kingsport, TN out of 21 teams.

Pool C

Palmetto (SC) W 68-16

Terps (MD) W 51-36

Grapplers (OH) L 24-64

Little Hawks (IA) W 90-6

Northstars (IL) W 62-26

Minion (GA) L 31-61

Gold Bracket

Iowa Black L 18-65 - eventual National Champs

Pennsylvania W 43-41

Illinois United L 33-47

Young Guns (GA) W 50-39 - 5th Place Match

40 - Keaton Morton

45 - David Marchum

50 - Alex Cottey

55 - Josiah Byrd

60 - Dalton Craig

65 - Logan Bailey

70 - Alec Viduya

75 - Jake Scheonegge

80 - Zach Melloh

85 - Tanner DeMien

90 - Jonah Hayes

95 - Ethan Smiley

100 - Nathan Walton

108 - Mason Parris

116 - Ryan Hammond

125 - Andy Guhl

135 - Jimmy Cline

148 - Jacob Obst

Hwt - Brady Shephard

Alternates:

40 - Joey Cline

65 - Nick Smith

65 - Isaac Smith

Additionally, the following wrestlers earned All-American status:

Alex Cottey - Gold

Logan Bailey - Bronze

Tanner DeMien - Copper

Ethan Smiley - Bronze

Nathan Walton - Bronze

Mason Parris - Gold

Ryan Hammond - Bronze

Andy Guhl - Bronze

Brady Sheppard - Gold

Very smooth tournament in a great venue with terrific officiating... priceless.    ;D

Fantastic job Red Cobra and all of the volunteers!

Nathan Walton - 6th (toughed it out even though he was really sick)

And to think, Westfield got no props pre-tourney... way to go Rocks!  ;D

Track wrestling (trackwrestling.com) has updated brackets.

You got that right!

Ignorance of heavyweight wrestling techniques has always permiated our great sport.  From coaches who never wrestled heavier than 125, to officials who don't recognize that what might be considered stalling in a 103 lb. match is actually a great setup move in a heavyweight match.  Heavyweights don't (and never will) wrestle like little guys, and until you realize this you will continue to lose and so will the kids that don't fit the mold of what "you" consider wrestling.