Kookie953

Lee wins match 2 as well. Got hit with a passive early and gave up 1 then went on to Win 8-1. Congrats Brayton

Those are some excellent ideas to enhance both numbers of kids and the overall quality of experience they have with the sport. 
Here are a couple of thoughts I'd add:
The first idea would be indirect recruitment via increased interest in the meets. Reach out to non-sports departments like the band director, art teacher, drama/theatre club, and cheer coach (I know this is technically a sport). Getting the pep band to perform at matches adds energy and excitement as well as putting additional parents and friends in the stands. Drama club for lightning up the mat, creating showy entrances and adding additional flair, making the meets fun events. Those kids would have parents and friends too. Art teacher for potentially making a class project of creating promotional posters for individual home meets. They could be like WWE or Concert posters or whatever the kids come up with. The art kid would suddenly have an interest in attending an event they did the promo poster for and there folks would too.
All are low to no cost options to utilize the resources available, and give kids opportunities to apply their skills doing what they enjoy in a practical environment. All this creates ownership in the wrestling program from the various groups that are contributing in their way to grand event. The greater interest in the meets will make it a lot easier to recruit kids out for the team.

A constant recruiting effort benefits our program directly by making forfeits less likely, giving us future wrestlers in training and having larger crowds. But perhaps most importantly, if you believe in what wrestling stands for, why wouldn't you want the maximum number of students to benefit from being a part of the sport? You never know where or how someone may benefit the sport. A former wrestler of ours, who never made the varsity, became the coach of a state championship middle school team in Illinois. He loves the sport and passes on the lessons he learned as a wrestler to his wrestlers. I couldn't be prouder of him. 
With that being said, I would like to hear what coaches are having success with in recruiting kids into their programs. I have listed three we do to start the conversation.
1) After 30 years of coaching high school football, and recruiting like mad the whole time, I moved to our middle school football program three years ago. One of my assistant coaches there is on my middle school wrestling coaching staff. We use every opportunity to recruit kids into the program. A player that I started recruiting as a seventh grader finally went out for the team as an eighth grader. He fell in love with the sport and this year as a freshman went 10-5 as a varsity fill-in, earned a letter and established himself as a very promising member of the lineup for next season.
2) I work to have a good relationship with our high school and middle school basketball coaches. We've had a few kids who got cut in high school come out. Watch out for those kids who quit basketball after their freshman year! We got a heavyweight who played basketball as a freshman but didn't go out as a sophomore. He came out for wrestling knowing almost nothing about wrestling but was a state qualifier as a junior and placed sixth as a senior. We had another heavyweight who came out after quitting basketball as a freshman (I spoke to the basketball coach first to make sure it was not going to be a problem). He was a Regional champion and 2X Semi-State qualifier. I speak to the boys middle school coach each year and ask him to refer the boys who get cut to wrestling. We also encourage the middle school basketball players to come out for wrestling for the last month or so of the wrestling season after basketball is over. We got a fifth place 215 lb.state placer that way when he chose to wrestle instead of play basketball in high school.
3) Do something special for a match. Last season we partnered with Chad Masters to televise our match with the Marauders. Josh Holden of Greenfield and Courtney Duncan of Frankton graciously agreed to do the play-by-play and color (the only objection the TV station offered when I asked them was that they didn't have anyone who knew wrestling to call the match) for the broadcast. We had the best home dual meet crowd ever. Next season Coach Holden and I are broadcasting our dual meet from Hoosier Gym. I have seen other schools do the match on a theater stage (great job Floyd Central!). Randy Qualitza did a varsity match before a varsity basketball game decades ago. Be creative. Could it flop? Sure. Who cares. Let your kids know you are trying things to make your meets an event.
It will always be a slog for most programs to get kids in large numbers in but I believe it is worth it. What works for you?

Just copy, paste the class rankings here from Indianamat that was as listed . A few wrestlers missing from this year State Finals . I’d put Jaden Reynolds on this list . Just curious on who everyone would choose . 

in my opinion brownsburg braden haines will be the “dark horse” in an out of a great brownsburg lineup and finished 4th at a very deep 120 bracket was impressive 

At 149, I'd take a full-sized Brayton Lee over an overweight Red. He was 26-7 this year wrestling unattached for Minnesota and just beat two WrestleStat Top 30 guys (including the Cal Baptist guy who was the D2 national champ last year) while winning the National Collegiate Open.
I'd leave McCormick up at 165 where he belongs over a sucked down Hughes. McCormick is rolling right now. 
Finding a 157 would be the challenge. You could be right that it would maybe have to be someone who sucked down (maybe Brad Laughlin with his 18-10 record backing up McCormick), but Kasper McIntosh had a winning record wrestling unattached for Minnesota and Mason Gaines and Brett Johnson were NAIA national qualifiers.
At 184, our best option might be Thomas Penola, who looked tough in open tournaments for Purdue this year (16-7).

Good Quality wins by Indiana today , most noteable to me was : 
285- Cartwright over State Champ Guttridge, great match 
195- Willham over Fox 
170- South over State Champ Deadmon, great match 
126- Watts over State Champ Molton, great match 
Illinois pulled out to a 13-0 lead then Indiana went on a tear at 126,132,138,145,160,170,182,195, 285  
 
 

Isaiah said “man I need to work on tilts !”  Lol 😂 
First Dual Win In 5 or 6 years for Indiana. 

Nice showing for Indiana wrestlers, coaches and officials. Thanks Coach Behling for organizing a great event!
Chuck B

Indiana got it done today!!! Congrats on great careers for all of our boys!!! 

Wishing all the Indiana wrestlers Good Luck. Have some fun. 

Up to him. He legit eats them everyday.  Really just planning on going up representing the state, taking care of business, and not ruffling any more feathers at culver. All about team Indiana. Same as it has always been all the other times that he represented on a national team. It’s gonna be a great dual. 

Not sure why this matters to you. He moved his family 150 or more miles away to a better opportunity for him and his family. Not across town to Mater Dei or Memorial or Castle. Hard to argue that he isn't going to a better school and that his dad didn't get a better job. And maybe it was partially for a better wrestling opportunity too. Can you blame him? Maybe KT gets a scholarship to wrestle in college that he never would have gotten had he stayed at the same school in Evansville. Think about that. That move could change the kids life. Good for him for having the guts to go.

Straight from the indystar. States Brownsburg has the best combined scores. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.indystar.com/amp/1507804002
Here is the link. Not sure a bad stat is the correct term. I believe it is all relevant, happy and lucky to be at one of the best schools in the state.
 

Why is this a debate ? @Matthew Nelson Said he did for the better of his Family. 
Doesn’t matter where, he made the best decision for kid(s). I did the same thing 12 years ago , Muncie to Avon . Gotta do what’s best for them . You posters wanna talk like he did something wrong . He moved his family like ***(175) MILES away*** Lol . Not like it’s 5 miles away or to  a different neighborhood thats 15 mins away in Evansville. 
 

I second this.  Cheaney is going to make some noise.  A lot of noise.  
It wasn't fun at the time, but my 7th grade son got the "pleasure" of having his 3 man workout group often be him (a beginner), Logan Miller, and Cheaney.  Obviously, he couldn't ask for better partners and he got WAY better...but got way better by having his face smashed into the mat repeatedly.  LOL.  
It was not fun then but was pretty cool for him now watching Logan do his thing this year, and Cheaney will do the same next year.  

We used  block weights for our tournament a few weeks ago. We put ALL the kids in 4 man brackets and everyone wrestled round robins so everyone got 3 matches.  We were cleaned up and at home by 2pm.....   

8th Graders Impact : 
I got Sam Goin as a contender for IHSAA State Title next year . (106) (113) . Really impressive performance. 
By Rounds : Tech Fall, Pin, High Major (16-2), Pin, Pin 
Key Wins - 
*Pin over IHSAA SP - Miller 
*Pin over MS National Ranked - Schoeff 
.................................... 
Key Win in 106 bracket 
Cheaney Schoeff 
Pin over IHSAA SQ -Ruble 
Ruble won Fresh/Sop State 
 
 

That's spot on.
I think the current local tourney formats are a turnoff. Trying to squeeze HS thru K wrestlers into one gym(s) and making kids wait all day to wrestle twice is turning kids away not growing the sport. I understand local clubs have to generate revenue and this has always been the model but maybe we need to explore other options. Volunteers put countess hours in to make these tourneys go, and not one of them intentionally makes kids wait for 5 hours between matches. Unfortunately it still happens and will continue to happen under the current system.
Wouldn't that volunteer time be better spent on something that was driving interest in our sport, or at the very least not driving them away?
I'm not sure what that looks like, but maybe some Round Robin as Galagore mentions or the evening tourneys where kids can get in and out quick. More age specific events? 

They do things to facilitate more matches in a shorter period of time.   
1.   Most tournaments don't have pre-defined weights.   You show up and weigh in and they group the brackets by closest weights to get an even distribution of wrestlers.  They don't waste time trying to seed. They don't have huge overloaded brackets that slow a tournament down and they avoid the super small brackets with 1or 2 guys in a bracket.
2.  They used modified wrestling rules.   If you go out of bounds or have a whistle,  you start in the neutral position all the time.  It really improves the flow  of the tournament.
3.  the best thing is they schedule age groups with time allotments.   6 -12 for example wrestle from the slot of 8 to 11.  So youre there for 3 hours and  done.   Then the 12 to 18 years wrestle from 11 to 2pm.  You're only at the gym for 3 to 4 hours.  Its much  more manageable.
4.  You don't have to buy a USA wrestling card. No offense,  I never bought a card in Ohio because the tournaments weren't sanctioned.  And that was fine.    It gives you more flexibility.
 
 
 

ISWA format doesn't work well in my opinion and think partially responsible for high turnover rate.   I still remember the last ISWA tournament I took my son to.   Weigh ins were at 6 AM,  my son wrestled only 3 matches that day and was on the math for about 5 minutes.   We didn't get out till 5PM.  5 minutes wrestling for taking up 11 hours of his and my time.  Its just plain stupid,  and I quit going to tournaments after that.  And keep in mind I was a hardcore dad.     Wrestling has to figure a way to schedule it so kids get can compete in a 3 to 4 hour window.    Parents just don't like sitting in the stands doing nothing and spending on unhealthy concessions.   And theres competition out there from other sports,  need to find a better way.   Ohio does a much better job of this than the ISWA.

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!

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!

I want to give kudos to IU's Jake Kleimola (Merrillville).  While he was a IN HS State Champion, wrestling at 197 in college hasn't been easy.  
2017 - He redshirted his freshman year and went 3-4 with his only wins against wrestlers from Eastern Michigan (non-starter), DII Findlay and Muskegon Community College.
2018  - Things didn't get much better as he stepped into a starting role for IU, obviously before he was ready.  Jake went 0-13 last year but only 4 of those lossed were major (or higher) decisions.  There were several close matches, including seven by one or two.
2019 - Jake finished a respectable 13-18 on the season with an 8th Place finish at the Big Ten Tournament.  That's a huge jump and one I thought should be recognized.  He has two more seasons to go.  

Congrats on the two 113lb titles this weekend Papa Nelson.  Glad you didn’t miss that match!