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I would hope they would stay there, I would love to see Jackson and Tsirtsis go at it again.

Come on you non handshakers, go and shake the bus drivers hand? I loved the post though got a good chuckle out of it. "It is cold and flu season so I don't want any germs." Come on man, if you are really involved in this sport, shaking someone's hand should be the least way of physical contact you are worried about getting GERMS. I would repsect you more if you just come out and say I don't believe in the act of shaking the other coaches hand at the end of a match. To me it is a matter of personal preference, I would not think differently of a team if they did not want to shake my hand if I was in the corner. Can it be a show of good sportsmanship, sure. Can it turn into a show of bad sportsmanship, absolutely. Let's let this topic go already, I am sure with the Holiday tourneys coming up we can find more suitable topics for discussions. P.S. To all you fist bumpers out there, if I was still coaching I would just have my wrestlers reach out and shake that fist! ;D

I guess Y2 or Karl should just lock this topic out since there is pretty much negative feedback, or let's just change the minimum age requirement to start adding a name into this topic to Senior year. To add to the topic of discussion in this thread, I have not seen him wrestle yet, but I am told the Boston kid from Lawerence North is the real deal. I would put some good money on Tsirtsis pulling off the feat and as long as Phillips stays with the lightweights, I think he has a legitimate shot at four as well.

Rusty Head - EMD

I would assume you would have to bet on the 3 returning Champs, Tsirtsis, Roach, and Ayersman. Strong consideration according to Rankings would be Micic @ 103, Petrov 0r Brooks @ 112, Quoriz @ 160, and Gregory @130.

One thing I think needs to happen if the Team State portion is going to stick around is to start holding the A.D.s responsible as well. Cocahces need to preach what they are preaching on this board to them. I pose a question to the handfull of schools that have made the trip to Team State, has your school ever provided buses for fans interested in going down and supporting your school? Maybe this can help with the attendance issue and more fans would go if they had ample transportation to make the trip to Indianapolis. I guess after reading the article, I can see why they have concerns about the attendance. Three local schools in the torunament and the attendance is that low does not say a whole lot for the fan support of the tournament. If they did decide to class the tournament, whether it be two or three classes, I believe you have to keep the qualifing number for each class at 8. It would not make much sense to class the tournament, let's say for example into two classes, and allow for four teams to qualify at each. The whole goal in classing the Team poriton is to give the oppurtunity to some of the smaller schools and boost attendance. If this proposal to class the Team portion is a success, then I definitely think the next logical step would be to class individual portion. I have been against it for many years, but have come to terms that a classes individual portion could only help us progress. As y2 has pointed out, you can apply the same prinicples that are argued for the team portion and apply them to the individual portion.

WOW! Glad I had 10.5 hours to read through most of the posts. Actually it helped that the same thoughts were just reiterated in the most recent posts. Well, y2, Karl, tspray, I think I am on board with the classing of both the individual and team. I have always wanted to see the Team portion classed. I am seeing the benefits classing the individual would have as well. I actually think classing the individual would help in getting wrestlebacks implemented as well. Karl, I know you are in favor of a 3 class system, but I say let's crawl before we can walk. I would say a two class system would be a good start. If we are getting 11,000 now to the Individual tourney, I think it is only logical to say that our attendance would go up with the addition of more wrestlers, which equals more revenue, which equals happy IHSAA. For the Team portion, I say you would want to have 8 teams from each class participating. I think we have seen the benefit of successful individuals affecting the long term performance but also interest to a paticular team. Take Perry for instance, according to Coach Tonte was not very good but turned it around. As the program begun having more success, it generated interest in the wresting program which is backed by the increase in numbers over the years. Everyone wants to be part of a SUCCESSFUL program(which sometimes is interperted as WINNING by kids). I think long term the popularity of the sport would grow under a classed individual tourney. I would definitely miss the good ole days of the 14 matches at the end of the night Saturday, but heck it is still pretty electric in the semis when 2 matches are going on at the same time, wait that is 4 now. I think we could still have a pretty electric atmosphere there with 2 State Title matches going on at once. Heck I bet the folks at Conseco could even spotlight both mats for us if we asked them nicely. Please forgive me if I am jummping around or not making much sense right now. I am a little tired and ready to go home in a few. Karl and Y2 on another note. I do agree with some of the posts as well that your comments can be condescending and sarcastic. Those replies in my eyes are no better than the personel attacks made at you from certain individuals on the board. Hey, your board though so I guess you are entitled to it. ;D Y2 nd Karl, question for both of you. It seems that you both can be critical of the IHSWCA at times. Have any of you considered tryng for a position on the board? Oh yeah this post was about Team State, I am Pro keeping it around and PRO classing it now.

I think Devon Jackson gets a little overlooked here, let's not forget he pinned his way through the State Tournament and probably took who most consider THE best pound for pound into OT. I would say I was most impressed by him last year after watching him wrestle. I would say Top 4 in my opinion.

I understand wanting to have your coach around, but I see where Mr. Harris is coming from. You are right having a coach there can make a big difference. I personally do not like coaching my own child even though I am more than capable of doing it. I would prefer someone else to do it, but if nobody is around I will do what needs to be done. I think the discussion is weather or not it is fair to hold up matches because a child does not have a coach. I agian think if there is nobody in ihis corner at all, then I don't have a problem with holding it up. If there is an adult in his corner then i do not see why the match should not go on. Is you yelling "get out of that" gonna be as effective as someone more knowledgeable screaming specifically what to do. Maybe not, but I have heard "get out of that" from plenty of copper certified oaches as well. Heck, CIA is a big thing now, are you saying that every match should be held up til a CIA coach gets there. They have quite a few kids from my understanding and I am sure they dont get to every kid who has come thru their academy. I am sure they would like to, but it is more than likely humanly impossible for them to do it. I guess the point I am trying to make is that it is nice to have a coach, depeding on how you define it, in your corner, but there will be times when you will not have "the " coach that you want in your corner. When that happens IMO you have to deal with it and no tournament should be delayed because of it.

This is a tough decision to make. I agree that it is far to the kid waiting for the coach, but what about the kid that has his coach there, but there is another match being held up for this coach waiting for the other kid's coach. Where do we draw the line. Everyone likes a smooth running tournament, and waiting on coaches can be a big detriment to that happening. I think this is where the parent needs to step up and take responsability. Most local tournament do not require a "copper certified coach", so in my opinion, if there is an adult matside let's wrestle. I can see holding up a match if the kid has absolutely nobody in his corner, but lets face it, even at state there were plenty of parents matside yelling out instructions. It does not take much to take that "copper certification" test but about $30 in fees which is pretty much what that "copper certification" is about. $$$$$. So, if there is absolutely nobody around then I can agree with skipping a match, but if there is an adult or parent around, then I see no reason why this match so not go on as scheduled.

I thought this was pretty cool to read considering the bloodline of Gelen Robinson! Nice to see wrestling "steal" one away from the sport they play with a pumpkin. http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/local/article_e13bd91f-7d21-5c41-8756-1fbaa551492f.html

Back in '72-'73, my dad decided he was gonna try out for the basketball team at the "Dub" (East Chicago Washington). It did not go exactly as planned so the wrestling coach at the time, which I believe was John Flores, suggested that he go out for this sport called Wrestling. Being the competetior my dad was, he decided to give it a shot. Turned out my Dad was pretty darn good at the sport. So in turn, coming from a family of what would eventually include 7 brothers,he took a liking to the sport and turned out to be pretty successful. Turned out his brothers took a liking to the sport as well. Turned out the children of the brothers took a liking to the sport as well. Turned out that the children of the brother's children took a liking to the sport as welll......and..... well I think as they say the rest is pretty much history. ;D

Thanks Y2. As you are probably aware, I sign in on a few different computers, some of which I am not allowed to download or install any programs, but I will definitely install it on my PC at home.

This is a pretty solid team, but I am willing to bet that if we had a class system in place though, we would compete even more with the far superior states around us like Michagan, Ohio, Illinois.

Thanks, in the age of spell check never really concerned about spelling and grammAr. It has been so long since I have had to worry about it, I tend to be forgetting things as I get older. Y2 can we get a spell checker on here?

Sounds like he was asked to me. Well, I guess technically speaking he was not asked personally, but his coach was asked.

Yeah, let this go already. I don't think anyone was recruited. I do think the strength of the wrestling team had a MAJOR impact on where these parents decided to move. I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all. When you have an individual as talented as these two young men are, then it would be naive(hope I spelled it right for all the grammar police) not take into consideration the strength of said athletic team.

[sarcasm]Clearly this is not true, I mean you could tell he was 100% and he just laid there after his coaches told him to so he could get a free pass to the finals.[/sarcasm]

Hmmm.....something tells me that y2 has a solution to this problem but is keeping tongue in cheek right now.

I say we start a tradition like the one at the United Center for Blackhawks games. I get chills everytime I go there for the anthem. Here is a link for those who are not sure what I am talking about. Makes me want to go invade Canada as soon as it is over! ;D

That is a very interesting point on the topic. I have this conversation with my dad, who is the referee. It is a judgement call and my argument at times is that one of his options is to turn and kick away from this. When defending this in the center of the mat, there is obviously no penalty. If you were to apply the logic that he is avoiding wrestling when it is near the edge of the mat, then when it is done in the center, why not hit him for stalling, because it would appear that he is avoiding wrestling?

Congrats Sean. What a great accomplishment to be a three-timer. You earned it and wish you the best of luck in the future. You can definitely say Sean has a little swag to him, as I like to call it. I felt the three fingers up could have waited, but it is nowhere close to the worst thing I have ever seen done in a finals match.

We will have to agree to disagree on this.

I think that sums it up pretty good.

Unbelievable. If anybody was gonna be booed yesterday, it should have been Vlahos. The sportsmanship he showed has been about par for the course of the action I have seen from him these past few years. There is a little history there and it does not seem like I am the only one that has observed this. I am tired of hearing people say, "Oh we are booing the situation, not the wrestler". I can accept that for certain calls during a match,heck I will be the first to admit I have done it, but this kid was booed the rest of the night. No situation booing here, the kid, Willis, was the one IMO being booed here and I agree with most on here that are digusted with the actions of the fans. It was an unfortunate way for the match to end, and I know I definitely did not want to see it go down that way. It did give me very good insight into the character of each of these young men as to how the reacted and handled the whole situation from the moment Willis hit the mat until the moment they were accepting there awards.