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Kookie953

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Kookie953 last won the day on March 6 2019

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  1. The only local tournament I've seen do this is the Dan Nelson tournament that Carmel hosts. SO much better of a process to not have predetermined weight classes.
  2. This topic is near and dear to me as I'm relatively new to the sport, have now been in two different states, and I have a kid that wants to be great but is by no means there yet...but is mature enough and old enough when he started to know the process (although he still does get down on himself). But damn if so many don't take it too seriously, and others not seriously enough. And they go together...especially when it comes to growing the sport. First and foremost, if you are running a tournament...AT ALL COSTS START THE DAMN TOURNAMENT ON TIME!! As we all know, there's nothing more frustrating than travelling 1-2 hours at the butt-crack of dawn to get to a weigh-in at 7:30 for a "Wrestling will start at 9am SHARP" to which the wrestling actually starts about 10:15 if you're lucky. Which leads me to my next point, which is the whole business of weight management and making weight and cutting. Why are their weight classes for individual tournaments at the elementary level? Except for maybe truly "elite" tournaments like state? Group kids into 8 man brackets or round robin by experience and let them get mat time. I love taking my kid to go wrestle good competition, but like Mr. Brewer said it's a little like "man, what am I doing?" when you make this effort for your kid to lose 3-1 to the eventual champ in the opening round then run into another hammer that finishes 2nd or 3rd the next round. Yes, it was good he was "close" to the guys that finished strong...but also a bit frustrating to make that much effort into 2 matches for a tournament that started way late. And it's not about my kid "winning" bur rather just making it worth it. I'm the first to tell my son "If you don't like losing, get your ass in the gym and work harder". But I also would like to see a value in driving all over and getting my son more mat time (which is why we all love duals). I can see how some parents that aren't so into it can say "to hell with this" and disencourage their kid to continue with the sport. I just think the target customer needs to be identified and someone needs to take the lead on making the sport more enjoyable all the way around to everyone, not just the die-hards. Very interesting convo!
  3. Clearly the Brewer kid must have a really smart mom. Only thing questionable is her decision on who to marry.
  4. That's an excellent point (and I'm a football coach). We recently just moved down here to Texas, where wrestling and wrestling culture is not as prevalent...obviously football is. You wouldn't believe how many wrestling people I've talked to where football coaches are the biggest obstacle to getting kids to wrestle, despite the transference. But it's mainly due to the issue of cutting and the thought of the football coaches is their kids are now not getting bigger, stronger, and faster in the winter. Yes, I'm doing my part to try to change that thinking too...but when your 175 lb running back or linebacker is all the sudden wrestling 160 then there is some merit to the argument.
  5. Mat-side weigh ins. You said I'm czar for the day. Haha. As a process guy in my "professional" life, the whole idiocy of weigh-ins days or hours before actually wrestling defeats the purpose. It would literally take a few seconds per match. You miss weight, it's a forfeit. All the sudden you have eliminated your issue of kids cutting too much and people will wrestle their true weight.
  6. First of all, I hope you didn't interpret my comments as "jumping on" you...I truly admire and appreciate what small school coaches do in all sports and I accept all the challenges you face. It's awesome what you're able to get done! I am just saying that not all "big school" kids are single sport athletes that specialize. Nathan Walton was 3X All-Conference in Football. Gunnar Larson from Avon was a stud on the football field. Lawson Aiken was All-State this year in football, and Dorian Keys has a good chance to be next year (he was all conference). Cody Edmonds was a starting DE and the 195 lb Semi-state wrestler. Even more than that what I find amazing about Coach Snyder is he doesnt WANT to see his kids that are in other sports during their other seasons...and they are major contributors to his team. That takes some discipline on a coaching level. Now in the offseason and the summer...you need to be committed to whatever it is youre doing and it isn't easy but there is good coordination among all sports. If it wasn't for a knee injury, Brownsburg's Division 1 RB would be putting on a singlet and contributing. Good example, all those wrestlers that are football players go compete in the Disney Duals. That takes some discipline for the football staff to give up a week in the summer to have almost your entire defensive line gone when every day in the summer is valuable. So I truly do understand the challenge and do not mean to diminish it...all I'm trying to say is that it's not impossible to overcome but it takes cooperation and support from the AD on down to each individual coach. That's obviously easier said than done, I realize.
  7. No, because there are no absolutes. There's no limit to an INDIVIDUAL doing well. I have never typed that a team dual state championship should not be classed...and honestly how the IHSAA crowns a "team" champion is stupid but that's another post. There's too many outliers to any point about classing the individual tournament. There are plenty of small school kids that do just fine to show that class of the individual isn't the end all to success, or lack thereof. My point was to show that great wresters gravitate to the larger schools, and simple statistics show that a varsity wrestler at a large school is really good. Logan Boe somehow is a 2X state placer at Danville...and again this year at Plainfield. Nobody is saying that larger schools have some advantages, but those advantages don't outweigh changing the current individual tournament setup and further diluting the product.
  8. And to add to my above post...if you truly are "elite" and have been and as a parent you want you child to be successful, then many times that's why those families migrate to a major metro area or move in to a school system with a great wrestling program. So success breeds success within this topic that nobody wants to acknowledge. Just by the nature of the size of the program, if you're wrestling varsity for Avon, Brownsburg, Cathedral, Perry Meridian, Warren...you have to be pretty damn good just to make one of those 14 spots. And another kid that comes to mind is Gavinn Alstott. His family sacrifices and gets him to the best gyms hours away because the kid wants to work and get better. So they go to extraordinary circumstances to make that happen. He's a fun kid to watch have success. Or is Floyd Central too big?
  9. Does Monrovia count? Are they small enough? Ben Dalton has done OK, and in a region with the heavyweights. I don't know the kid at all besides seeing him around and seeing the work he puts in...but his wrestling career has been OK last time I checked. He's just one that came to mind. And obviously Asa's talent has something to do with his 3X State Champ success.
  10. Little known fact, but Estell Ritter was held back solely for wrestling. Also for farming because it was a tough crop back in 1924, but none the less his parents seemed to be concerned with his wrestling career.
  11. I appreciate your response, but the big schools have lots of dual-sport kids as well. Obviously the smaller weights don't necessarily play football at the 6A level, but the mid to upper weights sure do and seem to do OK sharing athletes. I can only speak for specifics for Brownsburg, but there are lots of shared kids and no issues there. It's a testament to the coaches of each sport there that they work together.
  12. I just simply don't think it will matter...but it will make the Indiana tournament less meaningful. It's the same arguments as class basketball, except basketball is actually a team sport. That kid at the small school that "has to" go do other sports is not gonna all the sudden say "Yup, I'm going to bust my ass at wrestling and maybe have another dude's junk in my face while he cranks on my shoulder because I now have a chance for a 1A SQ. Yay, wrestling!" I just can't make that leap. Wrestling is not track or tennis or golf. You either can do it or you can't mentally. So it doesn't matter...so don't mess with the coolest high school event there is for participants AND fans.
  13. We'll never get agreement on the topicso I'll just leave you with this. There is no evidence that a class individual state tournament will do anything for participation numbers at a small school. It's not a magic bullet. You think it might be. I disagree, but respect your opinion. I just do not want to mess with the event that led to me even being on this board, because it's the event that ignited the fire in my kid to go give the sport a try. And I actually would be interested in forfeits in the Missouri 1A state championships. The other states you mention are better wrestling states from an "enthusiasm" standpoint.
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