UncleJimmy

Also the mandatory odometer check to be sure you've driven the prerequisite 300 miles or more to other tourneys or ISWA meetings in the past month....to prove you REALLY want to be at FK state.

Special shout out to the flyweight wrestler from Benton Central who made the 2 hour drive! Commitment!

In reply to D'sDad post....... No..that's not the answer. The answer is "mandating" one tourney not two. I promised myself I wouldn't get sucked back in but your "answer" is incorrect. Lets say there are 6 weekends to fit in these 2 mandates and give you there are tourneys all over the north, now take out 2 weekends of Spring break (sorry kids can't go anywhere this year the ISWA mandated 2 fs/gk tourneys!) and I have 4 weekends to fit in 2. Doable?? Yes in a vacuum of no other family members or obligations or national tourneys, but still not understanding how that's going to increase the number of kids in my kids weight class at state. Last year that was 3! We were out of the gym by 10am Saturday! Gave me alot of time to stalk the ponies for the KY derby later that day but as far as bang for the buck wrestling action it was a bummer.

I'd venture to guess there will be more wrestling fans in attendance than basketball fans based on what I've seen recently. What about a Harper vs Al Rhodes exhibition cage match at halftime?

It appears Murphy has dropped off the bracket? Or did they change again.......any other scratches thruout the weight classes?

I was extremely impressed by the 2 Laf Jeff flyweights Miller and Anderson. Not sure about their draws but those 2 looked good. Coming from the Logan regional and not being named Lukaszka they haven't received much pub. Both long/strong and technically sound.

So, if some "unseemly" parent wanted Little Johnny to excel in wrestling, it seems learning how to hack into systems and change the Track brackets might be a good approach...since the precedent has been set that "hey, look at this Tom..the brackets changed since last night!! Ahhh, let's just go with it now, wouldn't want to change it back..too much work!" That's ok tho! It's wrestling! You gotta beat everybody anway. Maybe the guy from last nite that started the Worthy Read thread can look into this avenue!

Then who do you feel is?

A tad better than Merrillville's!

No, blaming people won't change anything but determining the how's and why's can certainly prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

Leave it to da RegionRats to "F" things up....

So applying this logic to a real world business issue...RadioShack should have opened more stores at a time their customers were dwindling and they would not have gone bankrupt! Got it....

Here's another issue I don't think has been touched on or thought thru... If the ISWA goal is to grow these styles (which in turns will lead to more club revenue a win/win), what level and below i.e schoolboy, novice, cadet is the focus group? Example, I assume the high school wrestler class (Cadet, Jr) will not be "growing" in numbers. If they aren't wrestling now, they more than likely won't be. So mandating that group to attend 2 more isn't growing the sport, but would grow revenue as that is a captive clientele. They're invested/committed at this point so they will attend if at all possible. So that gets us to the schoolboy and below levels. This is a good group/pool/age to to find growth in due to numbers, interests etc. So, say we agree on that (for the sake of this argument). For the most part then, we are looking at young kids and can anyone else think of another sport played in the Spring that is quite popular? I can. Baseball! I would guess most of those leagues start in mid-late April at the latest. So at a time when we're on this site pumping Urban Meyer for promoting kids to not concentrate on just one sport, the ISWA is basically telling a kid and family in the age group they are hoping to grow from, that they MUST attend 2 more events to qualify for a state tourney. Now that family might be getting the wrestling bug, and really want to go to the state event, but if they have to take the kid away from his little league team for 2 more weekends (beside state), plus the added travel/costs of doing so as compared to driving to a local park as a family...I'm guessing they choose baseball which doesn't promote growth in wrestling. I get their are travel teams etc, but if they are already on baseball travel teams at that age, I don't think they're going to the 2 mandated ISWA events anyway! I'm just really confused. If we want TEAM IN to dominate the styles, mandating attendance will work because only the committed will be there and the elite will get better...if we want to grow the sport and the styles (and in turn revenue), mandating attendance will backfire in my opinion because the time/monetary/sport choice decision is not one that will be won by wrestling for those families/kids just tipping their toes in the wrestling water, which is the age group where growth can come from. I'm with AJ. The vision/goal must be decided. Is it to increase FS/GK ability, promote growth of the overall sport, or just increase club revenues. I think if we're truthful on that answer, the path becomes clearer. Disclaimer: I support the ISWA. I hope I can figure out a way to qualify for FS/GK state.

I couldn't help but notice that yesterday there was a post by the ISWA on this site about the recent weigh in changes for the upcoming FK state!!! AttaBoy!!! I also noticed that they have 3 posts so it must be a new approach that was possibly discussed last Sunday. I assume that someone took to heart what we up in the North are trying to convey..use the technology! Someone stated previously that this year's changes were mentioned at the annual meeting and were heard being discussed by coaches and officials at last year's state FS/GK event. I'm sorry I was not privy to those conversation! I do have the interwebs/twitter/email tho! I think that's the point. If the ISWA had posted this change either on their web page, on this site, or via email to the emails they did have (I know they have mine, I did not get one), then we could have had these conversations for the past 8-10 months instead of the past week. As Sig/BigDan state, we just can't get down there. We care, we want the same things but the times of relying on in person meetings/mailings/PUBLICATIONS is past! I used to get SI/Time mags. I no longer do. Not because I don't care about sports and the world...I get the info from a different source! Embrace the technology. Good Lord, we're all pumped for a Wed Google Hangout....why don't we all just get a 6 pack and driver over to Joe's house and talk wrestling?? That's what the ISWA would propose. Technology be darned!! I suppose I could be wrong and missing the point.

Just to lighten the mood... Maybe we in North Central IN can petition "da Region" to annex us and then we can officially secede from the state, form dRWA (da Region Wrestling Assoc) and do our own deal. Since they (RegionRats) were already bickering about the official boundaries why not just expand them! I kid....of course.

You're not mistaken. Those are all folkstyle. However, correct me if I'm mistaken, but don't kids "qualify" for folkstyle state without having to wrestle a qualifier? So I miss the point. Forcing kids to wrestle more club level events isn't going to grow the sport, especially in the Spring and especially with added travel and costs. It might make IN better in those styles but I'd argue that level kid is getting better in a room as stated previously in the thread as compared to traveling and facing 3 (if not less) other kids just there to "qualify" for state. If I read all this correctly, it's growth of the styles and not improvement of national teams that ISWA is looking for? I'm just not sure this change will do that.

So we want to grow these styles but I have to be part of a club to participate and/or get the rules or parameters to participate in said styles, and then attend mandatory club events to qualify? Doesn't seem like an effective way to promote growth. What if a kid wrestles in Winamac (for instance) and is not part of a "club"? How does he or his parents get the info? Especially say if he went to FS last year, liked it and intended to go this year? They would be very disappointed to be told he could not participate this year because of the new rules only parsed out thru "clubs". I'm sorry, I'm off tangent. No I did not attend the annual meeting or any meetings after. In today's technological age I have to attend meetings to get info? What's another road trip on top of the 2 new mandatory ones?! Of course, maybe my 8 year old didn't tell me about the changes announced at "club" or didn't give/bring home the flyer the "club" gave out! Silly child....

Concur. Worst part is it wasn't "sprung" on us by them in February. It was found by luck in a flyer. I would think that a nice banner on the website flashing "Changes to ISWA FS/GK State Qualifying" all year might have been appropriate! I've visited the site several times thruout the year but with focus on FK now, just decided to click the FS/GK flyer today. Maybe I'll just put a disclaimer on my posts, but again, I support the ISWA and might even be able to support this change going forward, but with little notice and no reason not to provide said notice on the website at least, it just seems strange.

Not to hijack the thread, but why was this not a requirement for FK state? I know the high school wrestler's issues with FK state, but they could be granted a waiver. If ISWA wants to support the clubs, again which I totally understand, why not do it for FK where there is a larger number of participants so the monetary impact would be greater? Also, when was this going to be "announced" or made public instead of just putting it on the website flyer? Since it hadn't been done in prior year(s), a lot of people I assume would just go to the site and look for the date and make plans. As WaltHarris says, it's not like us up here can run to the next town and find an event..it's going to take some planning to be able to qualify! I support ISWA but it seems this might not prompt the result they are hoping for.

I get that point. However, the ones that want to go on national trips aren't normally your fringe level wrestler. Those kids will now go to the 2 local events as its mandatory. The fringe kid and parent will more likely see 2 more Spring weekends in a stale gym and 2 more entry fees plus travel costs and say "no thank you". So at best it might be a wash..at worst it might hurt the numbers. Imop..

I apologize for getting ahead of the game but I just saw on the ISWA site that a wrestler must participate in 2 local level tourneys to qualify for freestyle/Greco state? Is this new as I don't recall it as a requirement in previous years? I assume that would be to promote the local level events, which I get..but for styles not widely "accepted" might that actually do more harm than good as it seems hard enough to get kids interested for state let alone 2 other weekend events for those styles in the Spring?

Thank you. Sorry to hear that. Good kid..good wrestler.

What happened to Jarrod Cunningham?

BSHS lost 106? I assume Hunt was out?

Thank you for asking. I did not want to be negative on a very positive thread and much gratitude is due those already mentioned! The venue seemed fine, however, the venue staff did not seem to be up to the task. They were obviously understaffed in the admittance area. Standing out in the cold/damp rain was not a great way to start the day. Fortunately we got there early enough to get in by 9am but wonder if someone attendees did not. As a proud Ball U alum, a "welcome to Ball State" would have been a pleasant greeting, especially since you're dealing with many parents/students who are in the process of choosing an institution of higher learning (insert Ball U jokes here!). Next, since the bag police allowed basically nothing in, one would think that the conessions would also be well staffed so as to not have to wait an inordinate amount of time to get refreshments! I know I bypassed the line so as to not miss a bout/match. I would think they left a lot of revenue on the table in that regard. Again, overall the venue was great and those who organized the event deserve applause. It was memorable day.