awood1

Interested in how you came up with that #? 16 qualify from 320 HS's (making the leap, although not true, that everyone that has football also has wrestling)...that means 5% or 1:20 qualifies for state. CA has 40 qualify out of 1,442 HS's....that means about 2.7% or 1:36 qualifies for state. I will go a step further (out on a limb) and say that "qualifying" is no measure of success and point that both states only "recognize" the top 8. That means 8 from 320 schools in IN or the top 2.5%.....in CA that means 8 from 1,442 schools or the top 0.55%.

True...but they only have 1 state champion at each weight! ;D

Teams only wrestle to the Division level (which is about equal to the number of schools in he state of IN). Much like football, that only plays to a "Section champion". They have 5 Divisions and you qualify by winning you league, then your section tournament.

It pains me to say it, but after experiencing it for 5 seasons now I gotta say California got it right....class for team, all in for individual titles. But then again, they regularly have all day tnmts on a school day and run MS tnmts. like freestyle tnmts....good and bad everywhere I guess.

Funny that most of the footage was at Clovis and Fullerton..both within a couple hours of me.

Just as the modifications to create folkstyle have "wimpified" the American wrestling landscape? And you have every right to feel that way if you do, but don't complain when it is you alone in the dance studio (formerly known as the wrestling room)

Every coach, kid and school has some similarities and differences, but it really should be the parents giving the advice and the kids making the decisions. We heard for years about "If your son really dedicated himself to _____ he could be ____." In every case, the second blank was never "happy" or "a great person" or even "content". We heard it even more when we moved to CA. The most honest advice I could give was this, "People will encourage you to "dedicate" yourself to something under the pretense that it will result in something you want. Reality is that if YOU don't want it, it isn't worth it. Every coach has a job to put the absolute best product possible out there. You are only a HS kid once. Once you graduate chances to wrestle, play football, basketball, baseball, run track, act in a play, go to a formal dance, teepee a friend's house or drink chocolate milk at lunch are few and far between. Take advantage of every opportunity you have to live in the moment and do what YOU want to do, because you will never get a chance to change regret." He chose to drop basketball and focus on just wrestling in the winter!! ;D (He didn't letter in football and baseball until his sophomore year)

It's OK if you think it's OK, just don't whine when wrestling continues to drop in numbers. : If the kid signed up for MMA, he should accept that as normal...but I think he thought he was wrestling, who knows what he's thinking now (probably something like "I don't wanna go to school today momma...I wanna stay home and make cookies with yooouuu?")

AS SOON AS I GET MY VALIDATION CODE, then I will have something to say! HAHA

Always a good option....We were talking last week that EVERY broken hand that I have ever witnessed at a wrestling tournament happened in a hallway?! ;D

I got a very powerful MOJO! I went to MSA for a dozen years...then it moved to Conseco and IT happened. The regualtion nazi's started to take hold. No more seat saving, no signs, no alcohol (unless you are in a suite, then anything goes). I bitched and moaned about the fact that I had to drag my newborn son, dripping in sweat from the heat, in to sub-zero temperatures and re-enter again. At that moment, the seed of hatefor the IHSAA was planted and the curse began. I listened to the crap about fire marshall and head count then....all TOTAL bs. The folks in the suites sipping cocktaisl at a HS sporting event were poetic symbolism for the elitest attitude of the IHSAA. They do what they want and answer to no one. So the economy heads southand the internet comes to fruition and viola!! Die hard fans that used to bust both legs and sell blood to get there are staying home DESPITE the product on the mat getting better every year. Well at some point jumping through hoops and being treated like $hit gets old...or it could be thatI have the power equivalent to the goat at Wrigley field and the IHSAA State Tournament is doomed to fail until I receive an apology and fans start getting treated like guests (WOW what a novel idea!!) ;D ;D

Obviously you haven't seen very many decades of the tnmt. ;D Remeber, if it weren't for the illegal move this situation never happens. As a matter of fact, if a kid fakes and injury while in near-fall its an additional pt. Sorry your fella lost and it would be best if all matches were decided by the actions of the participants, but there are rules and they must be enforced.

Okay, I am coming clean on 2 fronts... A.) As a kid I was part of the wear a trash bag under 6 layers of clothes and spit in a cup in class all day generation. Losing 8-10 lbs throughout a day was NO PROBLEM. Running at lunch meant you may be able to stop at the water fountain between classes to rinse out your mouth. There is absolutely no doubt that is hurt my health on several fronts. Onset of juvenile diabetes, hyperthyroid, high blood pressure and cholesterol all have some relationship to the "old school" practices I and many others practiced. When I hear of the "lessons learned" from showing the discipline of not eating or drinking, I shutter to think now that if I went a few hours past missing a meal I could go in to insulin shock and die. How's that for a useless skill? I still know how (and have the mental discipline too) to lose 10 lbs in a day....and possibly my life..OOPS. and 2.) I am blessed to have a son that is a 3 sport athlete. (He was previously a 4 sport athlete until he learned some life lessons about politics and dropped basketball) Last year as a freshmen he competed at Varsity 171lbs for a good team (in CA, you don't know him) that won their League. He advanced through league finishing 2nd and fell 1 match short of Masters (about the equivalent of losing at the SS ticket rd. in IN). He is wrestling this year at 189 lbs. (191 at this pt. in the season with allowances) and has never weighed in at more than 185lbs. Last weekend he wrestled well to place 3rd and qualify for Masters next weekend. He has never had to lose more than 1lb. within 24 hrs. of a match. So what is my point (other than bragging on my kid!)? is that he has never had to cut weight, but still loves the sport and as far as I can tell is learning the same things that I did. Respect for the hard work of both you and your opponent, discipline and responsibility (he has to maintain a 3.5+ or drop the next seasons sport....house rule), and hard work (he knows he has to work his tail off to compete with guys that ONLY wrestle and are dropping weight to get there). So when someone says "it is what makes our sport great" I cringe. I agree with all of the folks that talk about the epidemic of fat lazy kids that we see every day. But those aren't the kids that are in the room. Hell, most teams have a HVY that wouldn't pass a healthy BMI test. But sometimes I wonder if the residual effects of the "old school" mentality that a lot for us still carry around in our heads is really valid anymore. I am not saying a kid should eat a box of Little Debbies at every weigh-in, but if a kid eats healthy and has a 10% body fat, is it really the smart thing to say, "If you get that to 7% you could wrestle 140 instead of 145!" as if that was they real key to their success.

Okay, so I keep seeing the 4 times thing thrown out there...what are we talking about here really? If they said he could lose .5lbs and he actually lost 2 whole lbs (the equivalent of a minimal workout)?

As I re-read it I guess it could be taken that way, but thats not what I read. In the coach saying flat out that it was his fault and a result of his actions it sounded like he was stepping in front of the bullet to me. Also, the read I get from the posters that are saying "everyone does it" are not trying to rationalize or protect anyone, I THINK they are saying that the most literal interpretation of the rules "could" leave just about everyone in violation....but I am a glass half full type of guy.

"Todays Tom Sawyer, he's a mean mean guy!" duh duh duh duhm....duh duh duh duhm...dum dum duh da dum!! ;D

I have a ton of memories of "oddities", but few true firsts.....I remember a kid being announced as his schools 1st ever state qualifier in ANY sport but can't remember the schools name? (Chase Akers) How about the 1st kid to have a reason to complain about the timing of the addition of a weight class? Damon Hummell!! ;D

Now seems like an appropriate time to reveal that awood10 is in no way related to or endorsed by awood1, awood2, awood3, awood1a, awood1b, awood0 or any of it's subsidiaries.

I would have guessed that as an "average" year...actually would expected that as higher, 50-60 would not surprise me.

Believe me, I know...a GALLON of pee weighs 8lbs (go ahead and TRY to fill a 1/2 gallon jug withn a 24 hr. period) It is much faster (and possible) to lose a gallon of liquid sweating then it is peeing and isn't that what we are trying to discourage by the rule (i.e. dehydration?) Y2's "research" may prove my scientific hypothesis wrong, but I don't believe that any wrestler EVER died of starvation? :

OOORRRR...they could avoid the whole "thirsty" thing and stop dehydrating themselves!?! It COULD be done in ANY tournament....you CHOSE to not agree because you assume that a kid is losing weight to wrestle.

Stahlllllllinnnngggg!! ;D

I didn't actually feel like ramblong through the previous 9 pages of the same old same old, but living in CA for a few years now I feel like sharing that experience is worth the typing. California has classes for TEAM AND THE FIRST ROUND OF INDIVIDUAL ONLY!! AND they only do that 1 ROUND! Basically all of the conference champs within a section (about as many schools as the entire state of IN, there are 10 sections total in CA) So as far as "class" wrestling goes in CA, its ONLY for teams and the 1st Rd. of the individual tnmt. In the individual tnmt., they have wrestlebacks at EVERY LEVEL!! In the 1st Round of the individual tnmt They call them Divisions (i.e. Each Division (class) has a "local" tnmt. against schools of similar size) and a # of wrestlers from schools of similar size all advance to Masters. They have 32 entries at Masters, all from the same Section (6 each from D1 North and D1 South, 5 each from D2, D3, D4 and D5) Then a certain # of wrestlers from each Sections Masters advance to State for a 40 man bracket. Of course each step along the way has full wrestle backs. The State tournament is comprised of 1146 matches over 2 days. The highest placing kid from the local HS last year won his 1st 2, then lost 1, then won 4, lost 1 (to the same guy he lost to before) and won his final match for 5th place. He was a Senior and went on to Senior Nationals.....and placed 5th there also! I guess what I am seeing is that "class" wrestling does exist in CA, but no kid has ever said I am a _____ Division State Champion, runner-up or placer. When you are State Champ in CA, you are the best in the state without question.

It's not often that I feel compelled to deliver lessons in parenting to anyone, but in this case it seems worth repeating. Since my kids were old enough to carry on a conversation I have told them, "There will always be choices in your life and you will have to face the outcome of those choices. Mom and I will do our best to help you and guide you to make the right choices along the way, but truth is you will be alone more often then not when those choices ar made. When that time comes, you WILL know the right answer. Whether or not you CHOOSE to make the right choice is a question of whether or not you choose to listen to your heart." I don't think there is a man among us that can say in his heart of hearts that losing on purpose for an easier route to advancement is EVER the right choice. I could be wrong, but the voice is pretty clear when I ask myself that question.

If you would get off your arse and post your location, I might hit you up with a cool pt. AND buy your butt a beer at a wrestling tnmt in CA!! I will be at Rosemont HS this weekend! ;D