UncleJimmy

Registration is at 299 with 7 hours to register. I know there is a rush at the end, and many hammers appear to be absent, but I sure hope all those wrestling newbies the ISWA hoped to be drawing into these fringe styles by mandating local level competition start signing up! Otherwise we're not going to grow the styles by attracting novice type wrestlers, or become better as a state because a lot of the hammers couldn't/wouldn't attend the mandated two events (unless you're a JR hammer) and thus won't qualify for the Natl teams. At least some local level clubs got some Spring revenue. I guess 1 out of 3 of the goals might have been attained. Hopefully registration starts picking up once people get the msg (somehow) from ISWA that waivers are allowed.

Yep. If it wasn't for the darn interwebs the ISWA could still count on the efficient United States Postal System and these darn phones that don't have wires wouldn't be so intrusive and we wouldn't be having all these darn communication issues and the northerners would still be attending the ISWA meetings! I kid of course.......

Again, similar to other events going on in the country, why does it have to be one or the other? Can't we find a happy medium. So you want me to take the 3 hour drive down to Indy (northerner!), for an event my kid might not be able to participate in this weekend, so that I can ask Mr. Rosbottom et al if he can and to voice my displeasure? You don't think sending an email for clarification might be a tad quicker and save some time/$? You and others keep telling us to drive to the meetings. We keep telling you and others to embrace the technology. I have an idea, maybe if we rec'd responses to emails and were heard or replied to via 21st century technology, we might devote a day of our life on a Sunday to come partake in a face to face. But the fact our non face to face communiques/issues/attempts to contacts are haphazardly dismissed sure doesn't make us want to pile in the General Lee and tour on down to Naptown to hear stories about how great things are going. Sorry.

That seems to be your go-to response! You act like we haven't.. I have a PM (personal message for those southern folk without the interwebs) in my inbox on this acct from a board member from March, so "check". I sent an email this morning to the ISWA "contact" address asking for clarification of some things, so check. It appears a highly decorated wrestler from a respected program did not get a response either. No, we didn't send a snail mail letter via the United States Postal System..so shame on us! Of note, in looking at the ISWA website for contact info today (before your prompting), is the fact that they do not have a posting that there is a waiver process now in place to get entered for their FS/GK state series. Wouldn't you think that might be tremendous, if not logical, way to communicate with your constituents along with (instead of), sending a memo to local clubs who in turn have to get the info out? BTW, since most clubs are now finished with local tourneys/seasons, do you think some of these clubs might not be checking emails on a regular basis and might not have gotten yesterdays urgent memo?

And much like in Feb/Mar when the ISWA did not respond or clarify or reply to emails, we should expect nothing as far as a reason or explanation this time and that is just wrong and unjust. As Walt says, we (northerners..and I assume there's other sections too) jumped thru the hoops as they wanted. Did we beyotch and moan..you betcha! But we did what they said we had to do. Now, as Tskin is subtly predicting, are we going to beyotch and moan about the abrupt change..you betcha! Funny thing about us in the north..we don't suffer fools greatly..or silently. And this whole charade was foolish and below board. So what can we do to let the ISWA know our displeasure? They clearly don't reply to emails...calling the nice lady who occasionally answers the phone and ruining her day doesn't help. Is there some form of protest we can make at State this weekend? Petition? Everybody meet in between Cadet/Jr changeover that is not pleased and walk over to the ISWA table to ask for an explanation? I don't know, but I think we are entitled to some type of explanation on this with all the sacrifice a lot of people and families have made over the last 2 months. It's only fair.

Yikes! So ISWA wants to strengthen the styles, promote growth, make IN better..yet it has clearly disappointed a kid and his team that last I checked, would be the poster child for the exact demographic they should be looking to hook! No one in the organization could reply to a state runnerup and by not doing so, place that wrestler in a vary precarious health position...all while this wrestler does EVERYTHING in his power to accomplish each MANDATE the ISWA throws at him which includes the desire to strengthen his states stature in the styles? Oh, and this kid and team are connected to one of the better/upcoming programs in the state that, I assume, is actually GROWING in numbers and profile? Nice. Maybe there is a reason they are an RWO and not RTC (I kid, I know there is). Maybe others might follow now since teaching the styles doesn't need to be a priority and all qualify for state again anyway? Let's be truthful, no waiver will be denied this year! I'm sorry you and your wrestler had to go thru this.

Just a travesty. All the blabbering about giving this new mandate a shot, strengthening the styles for the future so that IN can become a powerhouse...BS..all about the almighty buck. Hopefully the local clubs made off like bandits in the mandated period because ISWA just did them an injustice! Who's going to bother wasting $/weekends in the future. The Boy Who Cried Wolf comes to mind. All the hatin' on the north during this fiasco at times seemed appropro, but you know what?? I think we were right on this one! "Proud to be a Northerner...where at least I know I'm not a BS'r..." sung to the tune of Garth Brooks or whatever 'southerner' sang it.

No love for the East Central....

Wow. One can surmise that was probably typed up on the 1970 model keystroke typewriter at 12:31 after the sole ISWA technological office employee read your "Letter.." on the interwebs and showed it to somebody!!

This should be fun.... Based on previous comments in another thread, you'll need to call or email them!!! Or better yet, have it announced this weekend at the event while the gym is loud and no one is paying attention....or MAIL it to the local clubs via USPS so they can pass it on to them! These were all various ways that word about the mandate was released from what I recall in the earlier thread, so expecting a reply on wrestling blog might be asking a lot!

Spitballin' in the Utopian world... It seems "revenue" is key to get this where everyone wants it to go. I'm not an insider so I don't know if it's workable but wouldn't it be great to have all 3 stakeholders in IN wrestling be connected for the event. I know IHSAA nixed the team event and is why we are where we are, but can't the IHSWCA now show them that this thing can work and somehow get them back on board? Along those lines, can't ISWA somehow become involved? If we're mandating 2 local events to promote growth, wouldn't being connected to a high profile event and using it to promote its activities/events be beneficial? Getting to the point where all 3 organizations can participate leads to a sponsor seeing value in being associated by having year round exposure possibly, instead of just "event" exposure. Another revenue stream this could lead to is a possible ticket tax scenario. It's hard to drum up support via "sales", not so much via tacking it on to an already know fee/ticket. Again, utopia, but I'm paying $10 to get into ISWA this weekend (2 local qualifiers, we're legit..thanks Coach Cornett and Coach Pflatt!) and I don't blink an eye, if ISWA was involved what would be the harm in making that $11 or whatever with the added $1 going to Team State revenue? And if the IHSAA was a stakeholder, upping the $6 ticket per state round to $7 etc? It just seems that it is easier to get something "tacked on" to an already existing expense outlay, than to try to devise another separate revenue stream..as witnessed by the $30 in extra fees tacked on to my Indy hotel bills for various pro teams/stadia etc. I realize it's probably a pipedream with far too many obstacles to overcome, but it seems there will need to be a lot of outside the box the thinking to get this where we want it go, and where it deserves to go because it is a great event.

I thought this was a done deal? What happened? Pretty big loss.

No love for the South....

I am not sure as I am not an administrator or setup a tourney thru track, but I assume there is a way to suppress the "wrestler list" and "matrix" as some tourneys do not have those "lists" available at sign up. Also, the Portage tourney last week just had division and no weight listed for the entrants. So I assume those fields can be manipulated/suppressed. Not sure tho. Ahh for the "good ol' days" of snail mail, newspapers and lead paint....

Thirded..but as a runnerup here. So this is confusing...Coach Hull and, I assume ISWA, want to increase the FS/GK Team IN skill level/Natl Team performances by mandating local level competition. Yet it seems from this limited sample size blog arena (no offense Y2..just don't know how many Central IN people have/utilize the tech! ) that 3 kids that have excelled in the past without mandates/ultimatums (so they had the internal drive to do so and didn't need pushing) are now excluded from participating in their State Series and thus ineligible for Natl teams if they were cadet or lower. That is sad. I know these kids are Junior level so they can be "invited" to participate at Natl's but to not be able to go to State is a travesty. I also know that these 3 can/will be offset by far more being eligible and hopefully attending ISWA state, but this is proof again that a "grandfather" type clause to start out might have been a better way to go so as to not cause animosity for those who have supported the styles/ISWA without ultimatums and mandates, while at the same time promoting future growth down the road. I can't speak for others, but I'm not bitter..just extremely disappointed in the whole situation.

My Jr wrestler would have been the only entrant in his weight in Portage. He said he didn't want to waste his time on a gorgeous Saturday just to get a FS tourney in and not actually wrestle. When brought up that he now won't qualify for ISWA his reply was "oh well I will go to Central Regional". Not sure if that's possible or not if he doesn't enter state or not. I've heard rumors of wrestlers entering and not showing up just to get qualified. Not sure if that's true but how is ISWA monitoring that? Also upon entry thru Track for state, how are the 2 qualifying tourneys going to be verified? Will someone be allowed to enter, drive to Indy then be told the kid is ineligible? It is sad...very sad.

Great job. Huge thanks to all the IN coaches out here helping all these kids achieve success.

Thanks! Good to know...woulda saved me alot if time and effort.

Noticed that as well last weekend. I can only assume it is so no "research" can be done and a wrestler can keep the "element of surprise". What they fail to realize tho, that in today's technological age all you have to do is a quick google search of the name/state/school and whatever other parameters and you can usually get a "hit" to find out info anyway. Had to do this last week for the NHSCA event as it seems the East Coast doesn't believe in Track. Ironically, not only are there articles but most of these parents like to put little Johnny on Youtube so the videos come up as well which are even a better scouting tool than Track! I don't know....I understand there are different theories/opinions on whether it's a good thing or not to have opponent info but whether it's right there for you i.e Track or you have to do some digging, it's all out there anyway.

An unofficial list of IN kids undefeated and advancing to the quarter finals... Freshman division Ty Mills #PainTrain 106 Sophomore Kory Cavanaugh Penn 106 Jarod Swank Penn 152 Breyden Bailey Cathedral 126 Tristan Tonte Perry 195 Evan Ellis Gtown..not sure if he won 2nd match? 220 Junior Drew Hildebrandt Penn 113 Kobe Woods Penn 220 Following this tourney without a Flo subscription is a debacle. Nothing is updated timely, if at all. Not sure how the East Coast does it without Track! Great start and several other IN kids grinding in the wrestle backs tomorrow. Good luck to all. If I left anyone out I apologize and please add to list.

I tried to send a private message with a situation but got error msg "no msgs being accepted"? I'd rather not put the instance on the board.

I ask because I'm not sure but does one have to wrestle a state series to qualify for central regionals? If not, why? If the US is deficient at worlds wouldn't USAW want to mandate that so as to improve the quality of the US teams? Maybe they should mandate entry into 2 state series....I kid, of course.