Coach Brobst

They did win state in baseball but you’re arguing my point too. Does Alex’s baseball team win a title in single class baseball? But because they knew they had a shot, fringe kids that are great role players stuck with it and were rewarded with a championship ring. Bring class wrestling to INDIANA and we see the same thing. Those kids that are on the fence give it a go or stick with it because they actually have a shot of being a multi sport athlete that finds success. its absolutely the beauty of small school sports! But I’m certain, having taught, coached and grown up in small town school, there are 10-20 kids that could help a lot of these struggling programs that won’t come out because of the ceiling they perceive. A good athlete that plays football and baseball may be a state qualifier in classed wrestling and keep doing it because of that shot. That same kid looking at getting dipped at Regionals as a Senior May make a decision to focus on his other two sports.

Sorry. Don’t want you to get what I’m saying twisted, I think Alexandria is doing an OUTSTANDING job of doing things the right way! Every time I go to a youth event and see 30-45 little Tigers out there and all the parents getting into it, I get excited for what that town has coming up! My entire family minus myself are Tigers, and you are absolutely doing fantastic things! just pointing out how you (and others in your boat) could have more immediate success at the HS level of it were classed and the work would be lessened. Burn out in our profession is very real. And many small towns don’t have another guy to take up the torch when one leaves due to it. Keep up the great work! No doubt we’ll start seeing maroon and gold Tigers at Bankers life soon!

First, Totally agree on fixing youth events, that's a totally different topic, but they are awful to run, be a part of, etc; and changing those would CERTAINLY help numbers WAY more than changing the tourney. However, I don't think the "chance to win a title" is what gets or keeps more kids out. It's seeing kids in programs that have had very little or limited success on the state level, have more consistent success. It's been a few years since Alexandria has had a state qualifier/placer. Don't you think your room could benefit and you'd be able to get 5-10 of those athletes that are "lifting for football" or "getting cuts in for baseball" if they knew they were going to have success year in and year out, not just one kid qualifying/placing every 5-10 years, but 2-3 (or more, you guys are getting good) placing/qualfying every year. Winning breeds winning. Failure is important. I think every kid who wrestles will fail. I don't think adding in an extra champ and placers at each weight will take that away. The struggle to achieve that will still exist. Ultimately, Alexandria will be successful because you have a Head Coach who is building the program the right way and you have assistants that are great to keep each other from getting worn down. But running a wrestling program the way it needs to be done to have sustainable success takes LOTS of qualified hard working individuals and smaller communities lack the numbers and availability to find people with not only the time and work ethic, but also the expertise to help build a wrestling program. Oak Hill built one, Elwood used to have one. I think Alexandria is well on their way, but it sure would speed up the process if you already had kids placing this year, wouldn't it? I know as wrestlers we like a challenge and want kids to embrace it as well. I just think that classing would help more communities buy into wrestling and build what you are starting to do there with less man power (which many lack).

Wouldn't it still accomplish the same thing and be more reasonable if mat-side weigh-ins were only done at the first match of the day? You still couldn't cut a ton or you'd get killed in that first round, but you don't have to worry about making weight again the rest of the day. As far as the weight management system, it's just far to easy to cheat if your AD doesn't take over and unfortunately, we have people who are my colleagues that will do whatever it takes to get a kid "certified" at a weight. But it's likely the best we'll ever get. I don't think Mat-side weigh-ins will ever be a thing. Too many logistics.

I like the idea in spirit but why should small schools be punished by losing anywhere from 2-20 matches regular season and having to participate in the "big school" tournament just so big school kids can say they "beat everyone" on their way to the title? You're taking away matches from these kids so that we can keep a one class system for what purpose? Which kids exactly does it benefit?

I'll agree to the first point. Winning a state title in Indiana, or even placing, certainly carries a great weight with it, but if your children are attending Cathedral (just a guess based off of your profile pic), they will be on the biggest stage anyways. How would dropping schools like Fremont, Madison Grant, Eastbrook, and Clinton Central from your class impact your child's recruitment at all? Would you begrudge those programs having success because it means if they randomly have a stud wrestler your athlete wouldn't get to compete with them? I coach at a large school and every kid that gets recruited from us starts getting letters because of what they do in the offseason (Fargo, Folkstyle Nationals, Virginia Beach, etc;). Your point is fair though. Thank you.

The bolded section of the quote above is the key here. I love that our state has passionate fans that care what happens, but the sport is for the participants and any argument that is based on "the atmosphere at state" or "losing the great bloodround at the Semi-States" is simply a selfish argument. Small school kids that are needed to play multiple sports to make their Athletic Departments work and can't dedicate an entire year to wrestling are definitely on an uneven playing field from lack of ability to recruit and keep good coaching, less funding for the program, and fewer quality practice partners in the room (if any). We've all heard to exceptions to the rule: Wrestler A finishes top 4 at state from Class A school, so the system is not unfair! There will always be exceptions. However, if you look at long-term sustainability of wrestling at the small school level, more tastes of success would encourage more ADs to buy into it. So it stands to reason that if we split to 2 classes, schools like Madison Grant, Clinton Prarie, Owen Valley, and Wapahani (just random examples) who have not had a ton of success, may get a state qualifier or 2, then maybe that leads to another random "football/track" athlete that picks up wrestling and finds success and the ball starts rolling and suddenly a program which is perennially done by Regional Weekend (on a good year) and has 7-12 guys on the team is getting 3 extra weeks of practice and numbers go up to 15-25. This happens at even 20 schools and numbers are up by 100-200 athletes! Please note where I coach. This isn't a selfish decision for my program. HSE will be the biggest class regardless of how many divisions are set up. I've yet to hear any argument against classing that says it's worse for the kids or that one class is better for the kids. I'm generally open minded though, if you have an argument that says it's better to be one classed for the athletes, I'd love to hear it.

I guess I should get on this board more often but the Northeast side of Indy from as far southwest as Fishers to East inShenandoah and New Castle and as far north as Frankton and Alexandria, has a little league we call the Pioneer wrestling league. A lot of the meets would be perfect for your location in Muncie. Shoot me an email at nbrobst@hse.k12.in.us and I can send you the dates and locations for the rest of this season. It is typically $3 for each adult that attends with wrestlers being free. Prices may vary slightly at each location. Good luck