Katanakahn

I can pick up what you're putting down now.  I think I interpreted your original message a little differently than it was intended.

I'm the parent of a wrestler than plans to be there.
 
As much as I LOVE to watch my sons wrestle, I would be more than willing to stay out if that helps the kids wrestle.

And that goes for the entire IHSAA season as well.  If that's what it takes to pull this off, make it so.

We like to say (think) it's about the kids.  Time to live up to that if needed

I so want to be there, I've maybe missed two matches ever, but this is about him, not me.

Our plan that we submitted to the board of health is basically this.
 
Three sessions with approximately 250 athletes in each session. We'll have a Saturday evening session(5-9pm), Sunday morning session(9am-1pm), and a Sunday afternoon session(1-5pm). Each session should be about 4 hours in length.
 
Each athlete will be allowed to bring in two guests(parent, coach, etc) and they will obviously need to pay. We are doing away with the coaches passes just to make it easier on our staff for this year. Which means "anyone" can coach.
 
Obviously it is highly likely that facial coverings will be required for everyone unless you are warming up or wrestling. I am anticipating a response very soon on our status. 

I hope high school doesn't follow NCAA. They're different at risk. NCAA you're dealing with traveling out of state and region in a a lot of cases. High school they can be restricted to instate travel only which is most cases in Indiana anyways. High School should be based on state by state not the entire nation. College makes sense to be based off of the nation since the travel and teams a made up of many different home towns. This is just my opinion. 

I'm the parent of a wrestler than plans to be there.
 
As much as I LOVE to watch my sons wrestle, I would be more than willing to stay out if that helps the kids wrestle.

And that goes for the entire IHSAA season as well.  If that's what it takes to pull this off, make it so.

We like to say (think) it's about the kids.  Time to live up to that if needed

I so want to be there, I've maybe missed two matches ever, but this is about him, not me.

I'm the parent of a wrestler than plans to be there.
 
As much as I LOVE to watch my sons wrestle, I would be more than willing to stay out if that helps the kids wrestle.

And that goes for the entire IHSAA season as well.  If that's what it takes to pull this off, make it so.

We like to say (think) it's about the kids.  Time to live up to that if needed

I so want to be there, I've maybe missed two matches ever, but this is about him, not me.

I'm the parent of a wrestler than plans to be there.
 
As much as I LOVE to watch my sons wrestle, I would be more than willing to stay out if that helps the kids wrestle.

And that goes for the entire IHSAA season as well.  If that's what it takes to pull this off, make it so.

We like to say (think) it's about the kids.  Time to live up to that if needed

I so want to be there, I've maybe missed two matches ever, but this is about him, not me.

I think we are at 6.  Many of the top dual teams from elementary to HS are littered with Indiana kids.  If we ever put our best on 1 team it would be scary.  Bryan Bailey was probably the closet to accomplishing that goal.  Check out his facebook, where everyone has been posting their memories with his teams.  He has coached just about every stud in the state.
 
We just need to get rid of travel restriction and other states will start getting exposed to some of our depth.  Our top guys already travel, but getting rid of travel restriction will help some of our other talented wrestlers get exposure that can't or don't travel during the summer.

It’s harder to make a sectional roster at a big school, so how is this relevant to the stats I gave? If you are from a big school, your sectional qualifier (wrestle off) is harder than a small school. 
This seems to buy into the idea that schools deserve medals, where I think students deserve the chance at medals which is happening already. 

Let me just throw in here...
 
TEAM class wrestling = YES
INDIVIDUAL class wrestling = NO
 
How in the wide world of sports did Silas Allred possibly manage to compete at the state level being from a 1A school, let alone win the whole shebang?!?

Considering Allred was the only wrestler in 1A or 2A to win a state title, I think the better question is why aren't there others like him? 

For all of those people that think school size and location doesn't matter. Please move your child to a small rural school out in the middle of a corn field 2-3 hours away from all or just any Academies to wrestle at on any given day of the week. Then throw in the other sports they most likely are involved in.
 
If small school kids knew the had a chance to win a state title there would be more emphasis on club and off season wrestling. Which would increase those numbers as well. It would also keep those coaches more involved year around.
 
The numbers don't lie big school vs small school in any sport. The day of I might get a chance doesn't exist anymore. Kids move on to other sports that they know they can compete in.

I hate this post.  It is unsportsmanlike and Elitist.  I hate it every year.
Root for your team/wrestler, not against others.
And please don't say "It's all in good fun!"  That is no better than "It's just locker room talk!"

Theres a lot of wrestlers around the state saying maybe wrestlebacks arent bad, and im better than that guy that just qualified to state with the lucky draw..

Wrestle backs will ensure the best four advance, not the four who got the best draw. 
Miranda and Dalton could of easily wrestled back to make a run at a state title. 
 

I hate this post.  It is unsportsmanlike and Elitist.  I hate it every year.
Root for your team/wrestler, not against others.
And please don't say "It's all in good fun!"  That is no better than "It's just locker room talk!"

Not everyone gets to experience that the third week of February. Some kids regional championship will be their biggest accomplishment. It’s still a high school athletic event. 

Ill play devils advocate to that one.     Keep in mind that Indiana has the lowest state qualifier ratio in the country,  meaning it has the smallest percentage of participants qualify for state.   So in affect, to many teams (not the perennial powerhouses like Merrillville), the semi-state tournament is equivalent to the state tournament in other states.   These wrestlers still have a shot at state,  but in so many cases they know the odds are stacked against them, and they're not likely to go.    So Semi-State is like their state tournament, their year end celebration, the big event they still succeeded in getting to.  So maybe it should be on a bigger stage, with all the drama and theatrics and at the large sports arena.   
 
The semi-state is just a big speed bump for programs like Crown Point, Merrillville and Portage or even Cathedral, Avon and  EMD.    But still its the final destination for most wresters.

I hate this post.  It is unsportsmanlike and Elitist.  I hate it every year.
Root for your team/wrestler, not against others.
And please don't say "It's all in good fun!"  That is no better than "It's just locker room talk!"

2017 NCAA Wrestling Championship Placement Points By State

 

I used to be a one class supporter..I wrestled at a larger school and coached at a larger school.  Now I coach at a 2A school.  If you believe that a small rural school has the same advantages as a school in a highly populated area then you are either insane or have never spent time in a rural school.  You can have a competitive group of kids, but its highly unlikely you will be competitive year in and year out.  The funny thing about Hickory Hoosiers you never hear about is how did they do the year after all those kids graduated? How did they do the next 10 years? 
 
1.  Limited pool of kids to choose from
2.  Limited access to open mats and other competitors. (our closest would be :30 hour- :45 minutes away)
3.  Limited competition opportunities. 
4.  The best athletes in the school are pulled between 3 different sports. 
5.  Limited resources. 
6.  This is not a wealthy community, families cant spend hundreds of dollars to send kids to camps and trips. 
 
There are so many more disadvantages as compared to metro city schools.  These not only affect the team aspect but they also affect the individuals.  These are not excuses, these are facts. 2 years ago we win Regionals this season we send no one to Regionals. Coaching hasnt changed, size hasnt changed...the difference is a large group of seniors graduate and now we have to rebuild. If a kid quits on our team we have a ff, if a kid gets injured we have a ff.  Other schools have 30+ kids that they reload with, small schools dont have that luxury. 

It is never a good idea to tell people that have criticisms the "Sounds like you should run it then" response.  I also don't think it is helpful to reply to every suggestion with a reason why that suggestion "won't work".  It comes off as very defensive and will create one of two reactions.  Some people will stop giving feedback, and others will get mad and escalate.  The best response is:  "Thank you for your feedback.  We are commited to making this event better and we promise to weigh all the feedback carefully as we prepare for next year's event."
 
The fact is, MANY spectators were frustrated by a lot of different issues yesterday.  I'll list a few, and no, I don;t want to run the event.  I simply hope that I can add some other perspectives so that the current organizers can have feedback from people that were there in order to make imporvements going forward.
 
Needed more communication in advance We were forwarded the information that our coach received, and a lot of detail was lacking: The inability to bring in outside food was never communicated $15 a ticket was never communicated $5 for parking was never communicated The schedule we had, was not the schedule that took place.  Our bye was wrong, and while I am GLAD that ths consi round was at 3 and not 5, the schedule said 5 and some parents left to kill the time and either had to rush back or missed their child all together. Not enough concession stands Not enough bathroom space, and sharing with the wrestlers is never a pleasant experience.  If I pay Bankers Life prices for my ticket, I exect a better experience once inside. I do not think having 12 mats in one space is important.  I was there to watch my son and his team.  I would rather have been in a different space with a better view. You should cater to the fans of the specific teams first, people who just want to see wrestilng without a specific affilitation can make a choice on which area/class to watch Need more guranteed matches for the 2 points spent Why did we stop at ties for 9th and 11th?  There were four teams per class in the Consilation, have the winners wrestle the winners and the losers wrestle the losers.  At least that way all the wrestlers get at least 4 matches out of the deal. I know, I know, if you want more matches, WIN!  That is a great way to get teams to stop coming.  Some programs are buidling and really want to experience the higher caliber of competition that an event like this can offer.  They can learn a lot in these defeats and build from it.  More matches is always a good thing. You need more volunteers. After paying my $15 to get in and having to take my food back to the car, I was asked to work a table for the day.  I didn't get so much as a bottle of water for my time.  I had good seats for two matches, that were other teams.  
TL;DR version:  Too much focus on having all the mats in one space, not enough focus on Spectator experience and number of matches for the wrestlers.

 

How is it weaker overall talent?  This isn't scarcity unless we make it that.  There isn't only so much talent to go around, we can grow MORE talent.  Success, breeds success.  Getting more athletes wrestling makes everyone better.  The cream will still rise to the top.  The best wrestlers will still get the best offers.
 
 More wrestlers get to taste success, and that takes nothing away from anyone.
 
Wrestling was sent a strong message by the IOC.  Failure to change with the demands of modern society will get wrestling left behind and is much more of a threat than any supposed weakening of the sanctity of the sport by instituting a class tournament like pretty much every other sport in the state.
 
Smaller schools have to fight for every athlete in every sport.  Many good athletes will choose the sport that gives them the best chance at making it deep into the tournament.  So if an athlete has to choose between class A basketball and single class wrestling and they have a decent basketball team and they are competent in each sport, something has to break the tie.  A better chance at making it to State would be a strong influence in such a scenario.