Galagore

At this point, small schools aren't even playing the same sport as the big schools. South Adams has to balance putting the work in for wrestling while having nearly every single member of our roster playing three sports, all while wrestling in the cafeteria. Next year we might not have a heavy weight because there's only 3-4 kids in the entire school that I could identify as even being the right weight, not even getting to those kids already playing basketball, or not wanting to wrestle. Brownsburg has a million dollar facility filled with year round wrestlers and all the resources they need, in an area surrounded by other talented big school wrestling programs and big city clubs and about 1000 kids to recruit in the school. But sure, we can just outwork them. 
 
I would love to see South Adams have a state champ at some point in my life, but that is going to be highly unlikely with the current state of wrestling in Indiana. Last year, the state finals looked like a Crown Point-Brownsburg-Center Grove dual meet, and that isn't changing any time soon. Last year the 1A wrestler of the year topped out at 5th place, couldn't even get one 1A wrestler in the semis. 

So you would contend that someone from Penn and someone from Culver Community has an equal probability of making the state finals?

So, wouldn’t this exact statement be an indicator that there needs to be classing in order to create parity amongst smaller teams, especially those of which who are losing their stars to powerhouses? Small school athletes are like the small town workers who wear many hats, and the more they get swallowed up by their nearby big city neighbors, the more like they’ll cease to exist.

My opinion remains the same. With the depth of talent Indiana now has we need to find more opportunities for these kids to make it to State. For themselves and for the schools that work hard. If we can’t ever get wrestlebacks and/or more State qualifiers then we need to start looking at classing the State. Times have changed and so have our wrestlers. It’s time to do what is right by them. 

Regardless of what it does to attendance, I sure hope no one ever makes a decision for children's activities based on what the fans want to see.
 
That being said, why don't people hold the same fondness for ticket round matches with no wrestle-backs? It is way more exciting to watch a single-elimination 16-wrestler bracket determine who goes to state than allowing first round losers to wrestle all the way back to qualify for a spot.

Regardless of what it does to attendance, I sure hope no one ever makes a decision for children's activities based on what the fans want to see.
 
That being said, why don't people hold the same fondness for ticket round matches with no wrestle-backs? It is way more exciting to watch a single-elimination 16-wrestler bracket determine who goes to state than allowing first round losers to wrestle all the way back to qualify for a spot.

Regardless of what it does to attendance, I sure hope no one ever makes a decision for children's activities based on what the fans want to see.
 
That being said, why don't people hold the same fondness for ticket round matches with no wrestle-backs? It is way more exciting to watch a single-elimination 16-wrestler bracket determine who goes to state than allowing first round losers to wrestle all the way back to qualify for a spot.

I don't think wrestle-backs is fan friendly adding hours to the event watching losers wrestle.

You had me until the last three words. We should not design children's competitions for fan enjoyment.

Does the IHSAA attempt to achieve competitive balance in any other sports? Would it be wise to try to join forces with other coaches associations and give a more multi-sport argument to the way our state tournaments are generally constructed? Personally, competitive balance is ranked below classing the tournament and having wrestle backs on the priority list. That is because those are specific to our/individual sport(s), where competitive balance calls into question the entire IHSAA post-season philosophy across the board.

Hopefully none of our sports bases their decisions on post season tournaments on fan experience.

Hopefully none of our sports bases their decisions on post season tournaments on fan experience.

They don't consider prior success for sectional placement in any sport. They will bump schools up in classed tournaments if the school shows consistent levels of success, but these same issues happen in every sport. In 1A football, Pioneer and LCC would be by far the top two teams in the state and would routinely meet in the first round or two of sectional about a decade or so ago.
 
Seems like the only way to have the success of a program dictate state series match-ups is if we...oh, never mind...

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

We just keep our roster at single digits, so we don't have to do wrestle-offs.....

Thank you both. We did not get any instructions on removing the wax, but good to know we're not just going nuts. We will investigate and move forward with a solution. IndianaMat for the win once again:}

Thank you both. We did not get any instructions on removing the wax, but good to know we're not just going nuts. We will investigate and move forward with a solution. IndianaMat for the win once again:}