GeneralsDad

Probably the biggest difference between IN and other states is the quality of the Division I programs in the state. IU and Purdue are the bottom of the Big 10. Good programs but no champions in any weight class in the conference tournament. To get an out of state offer to a Div I school takes a very special kid - like Howe. Most are going to end up in state just because of the scholarship limits and money it costs the university for out state kids. Other states youth programs are definately better ran that Indiana's though also.

I think there are a lot of 8th graders who could compete at the high school level. You see more and more freshman winning state championships - they could surely have competed the year before. How many times do coaches send high school kids with no experience out to wrestle a kid that is clearly out of their league during a year - I think a lot. You know you have seen kids that have no business being on the mat with other kids at every high school tournament you go to - how many are really injured? Wrestling is a fairly safe sport, they are already limited to wrestling kids at approximately the same weight. I think you have to trust that coaches wouldn't send an 8th grader out to wrestle a kid they think would injure them.

I think it is funny in a few ways: 1. It will make some people mad. 2. Anyone who says it immediately gets called an idiot. 3. I just thought it was funny. I am not sure when the art of making over sensitive people angry originated, but I don't think it was recently. You may hear this many times on your walk through life - remember it is sometimes said to get a response or invoke emotion. There are far more offensive things said on this board than that. The capitalized "JUST KIDDING" implies humor or jest.

It's too bad Howe didn't move out of Cedar Lake - he might have become something.

Another overlooked celebratory atrocity is the ever present exploding fist bump. Most kids don't even wait until after the match to pull out their little hand bombs anymore. The introductions before the IHSAA state finals was like the Battle of the Bulge with fist bumps. Imagine how many young kids now think it is ok to "blow it up".

When imaginary guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

There's a very important lesson to be learned from this. If you want to be appreciated for improving, start out very bad and get better. This applies especially to marriage. If you are great from the beginning you are never appreciated later on. Do a terrible job around the house at first and then gradually just do a competent job and your wife will think you are great even though you are probably just being average. This sounds like it started out with over flowing porta-potties, long wait times between matches that made kids hate wrestling, and terrible locations with breathing hazards and has made improvements. If I didn't know better I would say these posts are purposefully "danging" them with feint praise. Who gets compliments like this? Its not like the ISWA was a new organization when folkstyle state started right?

Wrestling in college takes a lot of time and starts to feel more like a job than fun for a lot of kids. If you pick a school just for wrestling and then find out it is more of a job than anything else, you are stuck there wrestling for scholarship money and not having fun. That's why it is so important to pick the best school for your major first and then consider wrestling.

I think people understand that bigger schools with more kids will win more championships. Those for classes say that is unfair, but I think it exactly what should be expected and is acceptable. The bigger the population, the more chances to win. Should we start classing the lottery also so rural communities have as many winners as large city residents? The part I love is that sometimes small schools win a championship. It means more to me to see people overcome odds than to watch kids in weak weight classes win state championships so they can wrestle at division 3 colleges, which they could have wrestled at anyway. I think it means more to the kids from small schools to win a one class championship also, and they understand that getting to semi-state is still pretty good in a one class system if they don't make it to state. I was reading the thread the other day about the kid who wouldn't wrestle the girl at state in Iowa. They said that the kid was in class A in Iowa and that there was 1 qualifying tournament where they had to place in the top 2 spots out of 8 kids to make it to state. I threw up in my mouth a little when I read that.

"I think a better question in decided whether or not freestyle is good for the wrestlers is to ask Andrew Howe, Angel Escobedo or Alex Tsirtsis what has helped them get to the level they are at? Where did the college coaches that recruited them see them wrestle? Some how i don't think it was at some Hyway event." That is a good argument, but I don't think it has hurt Michigan kids from getting recruited or being all americans in college and the USA wrestling organization in Michigan is almost non-existent, at least at the youth level. I couldn't find a USA wrestling tournament in Michigan last year and couldn't get a response to multiple emails about what it took to qualify for the state tournament. We didn't go, but when I checked the results it looked like what should have been big weight classes were 5 - 10 kids max at the state free-style tournament. Between MYWAY and Border War tournaments, I did not miss free-style at all. I think it would be a better question to consider the number of kids Indiana has been able to get to the Howe, Escobedo, and Tsirtsis level and then consider whether it is worth putting all the other kids through longer unorganized tournaments in their youth to get there or if there would be more kids who enjoy the sport if the tournaments could be completed earlier. This is no knock on Indiana wrestling, I am from Indiana and love to see the kids make it big. I think the wrestling Academies in Indiana have helped these kids a ton and would never root against an Indiana kid. I know it won't happen over night for HYWAY and there could be a year or two of growing pains. I am just much more impressed by what MYWAY has done than where I think the ISWA is headed based on my experiences. Everyone wants what is best for the kids, I just enjoy MYWAY much more than ISWA and think most people would. I am just a parent who has wants to see the sport grow.

I couldn't disagree more with the suggestion that HYWAY is working against or will hurt INDIANA wrestling. I have posted a few times about the benefits MYWAY tournaments have over ISWA tournaments, but the most important one is its organization. MYWAY splits its sessions between younger and older wrestlers and even the large weight classes are almost always done with the first session by 1 or 2 PM. Getting the younger kids done at a decent time is good for the kids and good for the parents. Mat side pairings are a big part of that, but having paid refs and designated matside workers is also a big part of it. If HYWAY can do what MYWAY has done, Indiana wrestling would take a big step into the future of how tournaments should be ran. The MYWAY regional director in our region said he isn't sending info to Indiana coaches anymore because the tournaments are getting so big. Does that sound like an organization that is hurting the sport? If the ISWA shows it wants to make big changes, you don't need HYWAY and should back the ISWA. But I didn't see much improvement in the couple ISWA tournaments I took my son to last year and as a result will not be attending any this year. I am attending the HYWAY tournament tomorrow to support this organization and hope to see it offer many more tournaments in the future.