I have been working tournaments for over 15 years. I would not want to see all tournaments ran the same. You really need to talk to the tournament directors and see what they want.
One of the main reasons some of the tournaments do not do matside pairings is due to facility restrictions. Not all schools have the large gyms in which this is possible. As we all are away of, parents, wrestlers and their families all crowd around the mats when it is almost time for them to wrestle. The floor can become conjested and make it impossible for people to walk through or see the matches.
Another option is "same mat" concept instead of matside pairing. Again though you can get the conjestion around the mat.
When you are hosting a tournament you need to make sure you also have enough experienced people who can actually do the pairings. This is true not only in matside pairings but in all pairing situations. It is extremely hard to find people who are willing to help out with this.
Some advantages to an actually pairing room would be that you can have just a few pairing people to run the pairings of the entire tournament. It also keeps people from being on the gym floor. There are also many friendships formed while working tournaments. I personally know how much my friends mean to me and I look forward to being with them during the wrestling season. They will be my friends for life.
Tournaments can be ran however the director wants them ran. Thank you to the ISWA for allowing this freedom to us.
