doctorWrestling

The tickets are all sold! Thanks for letting me post here.

I sold 2 tickets. Only 2 left now.

Great question. The NCAA site says it is up to the location ( Little Caesars Arena ). I found this on their site - "Proof of a negative COVID test is not currently required for entry to our venues."

Hey everybody. I put in for the "max" number of tickets for the NCAA championships in Detroit March 17-19 and got a lot more than I thought I would. I have 4 tickets in section 119 row 15 for all sessions. Have to buy all 4 or will split into 2/2. I am asking $500 for each all sessions ticket which is WAY less than you will find on line. Got the tickets through the University of Michigan who is the host school for the tournament - not kidding, they are really good seats. All 4 seats are together. I will transfer the tickets ( they are electronic ) after I receive payment - venmo preferred. Please message me through the forum if you are interested.

Why not look at Michigan's transfer rule and just adopt it? Maybe because you have seen that we are just starting our season and it is also almost over? Don't let that stop you. Michigan's rule is: Unless a high school student meets one of the 15 stated exceptions - most exceptions involve a defined residential change - a student will not be eligible for the next season in a sport he or she participated in at his or her former high school (any level) during the most recent previous school year. A student would be eligible in sports he or she did not participate in during the previous or current school year. The main exception is moving. If you actually change addresses, you are home free. If you don't, you can play basketball that season or any other sport you didn't previously play at your former school, but no way in heck you can wrestle ( except for the other 14 unlikely exceptions ). We live on the Indiana border on the MI side. Our friend chose to go to a private IN school a few miles from their home starting his freshman year of high school. As a senior, he had ran out of classes to take at the small private school and wanted to come back to the school district he lived in his whole life in Michigan to take more classes. But he didn't need to move since he lived there already, so he was inelegible to play any sport he had previously played at the school in Indiana. The MHSAA was clearly protecting other kids from allowing a kid from playing for a high school where he lived his whole life. Now that's just good common sense rules from your neighbors from the north.

I grew up in Indiana and now help coach in a state with classes - Michigan. I am not against classes and I am not for them either. I would like ask though if you are sure all your new wrestlers are quitting because they see how tough your sectionals are or if you just think that is the reason? I think it sounds like you have a plan to grow your youth and middle school programs. You will have fewer and fewer first year wrestlers starting in high school. Your youth will know what they face at sectional and will prepare for that. You live in a city that has tons of close opportunities for off season development. Build a team that has fun and wants to be together and they won't quit because of your sectional. It takes time but it is a challenge you will face no matter if there are classes or not. I like that you have ideas for growth and change. I don't know if they will work or not. Nobody does. I do think you have a lot of things going for you though and I am sure you will be successful either way.

Michigan just got delayed again - first possible contact practice would be 2/21. Not sure there will be a season after the governor's talk this morning. If it does proceed, it will be the 6th version of the schedule and most likely will run through spring break which will mess up a lot of plans. Anyway, from the outside looking in, you guys are really lucky. Best of luck to everyone and enjoy it as much as possible even though it makes no sense and should be better for the kids and parents.

That's some good stuff. They were both very fun to watch. I ran into Koontz at our kid's soccer tournament in Fort Wayne a couple years ago and he was in the process of buying a Jimmy John's in Huntington I believe. He does have a high school aged son now but he was only playing soccer when I saw him. Venable was really good and could have won it all but had a bad day at state - it happens.

True. There were tournaments all summer that we traveled to, some states have started high school, college has started, Flo is putting on events, Rokfin has events, Trackwrestling has events, Fite TV has events, I believe UWW is holding tournaments. I haven't heard of 1 issue. So reality is true also.

You are lucky to have a reasonable governor. I am rooting for Indiana to prove the rest of these states wrong so we can get back at it. It appears clear to me that it can be done if they follow reality instead of theoretical models or "science".

Do you think it would have been ok if they had crossed the invisible line to the safe area and rented a space in Indiana to have the tournament instead? Indiana seems to be moving along fine with wrestling. Its crazy how it would kill everyone in some states for high school age kids to wrestle but others have no issue.

What is the purpose of that headgear?

Michigan posted their return to play guidelines. We are limited to 1 competition per week with a max of 4 total teams at an event. Just for your fun, here are some of the mask rules: Face Covering Match FAQs: Q. How do matches start? A. Matches are started with face coverings made of cloth or approved medical grade fabric/material that cover each wrestler’s nose and mouth. Officials are also required to wear a face covering. Q. What if a wrestler’s face covering falls below the nose and mouth while wrestling? A. If a mask comes down while wrestling, it should be treated the same as if a head gear comes off during a match. The official will verbally inform the wrestler in question to adjust the face covering appropriately. The official will stop action for the adjustment as soon as action allows or either wrestler is placed in a dangerous situation. Q. What if a wrestler’s mask comes down while a scoring situation is occurring, or during a pinning situation? A. The scoring situation will continue, similar to if a head gear comes off or unsecured. The correction should be made at the conclusion of the scoring situation. Q. What if a wrestler purposely pulls down his/her own face mask to avoid a scoring or pinning situation? A. The scoring situation will continue, and the offending wrestler shall be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Q. What if a wrestler purposely pulls down or alters his/her opponent’s face covering? A. The official will stop the match, allow the offended wrestler the opportunity to correct the altered face covering, and the offending wrestler shall be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Q. I am wrestling out of state. Can I choose to not wear a face covering while competing? A. NO Q. An out-of-state team is wrestling in Michigan. Can they choose to not wear face coverings while competing? A. NO From what I read, a team from MI could wrestle out of state as long as we suffocate ourselves while the other teams get to breathe.

It remains to be seen what it looks like. The limitations of 4 teams MAX at events and possibly only 1 event a week would mean a MAX of 21 matches I believe. Then if you consider all the small schools in MI that will get stuck wrestling other small schools with teams with many forfeits, you could easily enter the post season with around 10 matches. Say you don't make it out of districts, and you get 12 matches for the year. Then look across the border at Ohio, IN, and Wisconsin who are all having many more opportunities and you would not be thrilled. Again, I am speculating but don't think I am going too far out on a limb here. There were many tournaments this summer where kids did not wear masks and were not spreaders. Many reports say wrestling is not more dangerous than other sports who get to have normal seasons. Just pointing out the over reaction without scientific backing and what it will do to our "season" compared to our neighboring states.

Michigan is a great state but the governor, health dept, and MHSAA are not so good. I am not sure if this goes for high school also, but here is the middle school memo the MHSAA put out. I have not seen an official high school memo ( which is weird ). https://www.mhsaa.com/portals/0/Documents/WR/mswrcovid.pdf Some highlights are include: 1. Wearing mask during competition 2. Middle school can only compete on Tuesday or Wednesday and only 1 time per week. 5-6 days BETWEEN competitions. I THINK this will be the same for high school but they will be only on Friday or Saturday and only 1 time per week. Not 100% sure on that yet. 3. Max of 4 teams at any competition. I believe this is the same for high school. This is my favorite though - To minimize official’s exposure, when starting in the neutral position, wrestlers will start with their back foot on the 10’ circle, directly opposite the RED and GREEN starting line. This is in an attempt to eliminate the need for the official to stand between two (2) wrestlers in close proximity each time while in the neutral position. The wrestlers must move forward after the official has blown the whistle. I really hope that high school doesn't get restricted the same but I think it will be somewhat similar. MI has lost all common sense.

I am not against people wearing masks IF THEY WANT TO. I do believe it isn't just all positives from wearing them though and the PPE experts should be listened to. Its hard for me to believe that kids breathing their own air all day long with a mask that has collected garbage all day is good. I just think it should be up to the individual to make their own decision. There are states that do not require them and are somehow surviving. Just suggesting people consider the down side and research what is best for kids.

I have been seeing pictures of a few college teams on social media where they have kids drilling with gaiters around their necks. I would think the sweat from the person wearing it ( and realistically their partner ) would have that wet in no time. Then to think they would pull it up to breathe through it again makes me sort of sick. I will admit that I think relying on masks in a perfect environment is bad idea for healthy people. But wet masks that collect bacteria are going to be a disaster. Even the post where someone said they will wear them during warm up and then technique - where are they going to put the mask between those times? Are you providing new masks or are they wearing the same mask they wore all day? I know masks are supposed to be the cure all for everything, but please take the time to do some research before mandating kids to wear them during exercise. I mean research as in reading what PPE experts say, not what the governor has to say to cover their butt.

Oh, I must have misread - I thought it was at Carroll High School. Is the location still to be determined then?

God bless Indiana for allowing this to happen - especially in a high school. I am glad to see it was possible and am sure it wasn't easy. The Grappler Fall Classic was moved to South Carolina. It was created to give Michigan kids a chance to see the top kids from out of state without traveling but Fort Wayne is a lot closer. With football in MI being moved to the spring, I expect to see a large number of MI kids opting to travel to Fort Wayne instead of SC.

I know its not what you asked, but I think it is interesting that Jimtown has two 4 time AA's at UIndy in Nick Crume and Shane Perkey. The Gimsons were also AA's at Indiana Tech last year. That's a lot of AA's and I would bet there have been others also.

All I am saying is that it seems fair for a state or the NCAA to have to disclose to a program that you are considering cutting the program before doing it behind closed doors so that it cannot possibly be saved. I think your image/logo is for ASU - who cut wrestling but then did fund raise and bring it back. It seems if that is possible that it would be possible to save a program before it is actually cut. I think the motivation to save a program would open pockets that may not give nearly as much. I have heard many stories of NCAA coaches being completely blind sided by the move. For example - Eastern Michigan's AD cut the program and put out bogus expenses associated with the program to make it look much worse than it was. They had no chance to defend or save their program. I can't remember the D2 school in Nebraska who won the D2 national championship and was told they were being cut before they got home from the tournament. Even a 3 month warning could help people verify the numbers and possibly raise enough to keep the program going. I haven't seen cases like this in high school, but I think that is what some of the discussion in this thread was about. If there is not HS football, it is possible.

I wish the state's governing body or the NCAA would at least say that before a sport can be dropped for financial reasons, the team has to be given an opportunity to raise the needed funds before just being given a death penalty. Many times it seems that AD's operate in secret to cut programs that could have been funded if the coaches had been given an opportunity. I could see the same happening in high school. It is complete BS but not sure how it is stopped.

It is possible to opt out of adopting new weights. Michigan never adopted the last set of weight changes which is fine when competing in state, but does cause "problems" when you want to compete with teams from other states who have different weights. Its not a huge problem but you do usually end up taking a starter out of your line up and adding a JV kid into your line up for duals or tournaments. For MI, it meant taking out a kid in the middle of the weights and adding a bigger kid who didn't have as much experience. Ideally the midwest or bordering states would also agree so this can be minimized. The idea of national weights makes it so much easier but losing a weight class is a huge discussion to consider.

I know middle school is wrapping up in Indiana, but thought I would mention that I have a lot of interest from kids from Edwardsburg, MI in the 90lb to 105lb range who plan to come to Jimtown and Mishawaka this spring. We have larger/older kids also but there are plenty of those in the room already. If you are looking for different partners for that size, we should have them.

I wasn't thinking of limiting it to just slams. Sometimes emotions run high and I have considered things that are probably borderline cheating and had to think it has ran through other's minds also. Like for example something like telling a kid to try to time a whistle on a shot to get an unfair advantage. I don't even know the rules for that anymore and I think they are much better because I don't see kids doing it, but I was desperate enough to do that a time or two as a competitor. As much as I want to set a good example and not make it about winning, I can see how it happens.