samaj

NWCA Duals at Wabash on April 4-6. - We need Renegades at 138 and 195. 5lb allowance. 1 weigh in. No seniors. Need to be Semi State or State Level Wrestler to compete in this event. Very tough tournament. entry packet with cost etc etc can be emailed to you. If your interested please Email your “resume” to Eisports@sigecom.net

E.I. Sports and Apparel, in Evansville, is looking to hire some part time / full time sales representatives to service areas throughout the state of Indiana. If you love wrestling, are a people person, have good communication skills, and have the time to add this workload to you life, you could earn some extra cash and we could be a great fit for each other. The right person would be somebody who is willing to call on coaches and youth program directors and provide them with unmatched hands on customer service while representing E.I. Sports. E.I. Sports and Apparel is a full line wrestling team dealer. We represent the best brands in our great sport. Brands like Brute, Cliff Keen, Adidas, Asics, and Matman. We also sell any and all other supplies needed to run a wrestling program and have a complete in house screen printing and embroidery. In the last 16 years, we have worked with close to 200 of the 330 IHSAA Wrestling programs in the state of Indiana and we are a proud supporter and supplier of the IHSWCA and the ISWA. If you have any interest in one of these positions, please email me a copy of a resume or any other information that tells me why you are a great fit for our team. Our customers deserve the best service possible, are you the person to help make that happen? Jeff Schaefer eisports@sigecom.net

We have been working hard on getting this information ready so that we can put out educated information to our customers. We are glad to have 3 of our 4 major vendors information ready to publish. Please review the flyer and let us know if we can be of any help. For those that interested in Adidas, they are still a couple weeks away from being ready to release info. a couple of notes- Our vendors have made adjustments to not only meet the new standards but also made improvements to ,make sure that what you buy will perform better in the competitive environment that they will be subjected to. The Brute upgrades are huge....better cloth with more stretch, a lycra crotch insert, and more stitches per inch on seams (seam burst strength) that will accomodate the stress that they will go through. A note from a coach to coaches - if you are in the market for this type of uniform and looking at a "non-major" brand (the majors being Brute and Cliff Keen), I would ask them point blank if they made any upgrades in "quality" of their previous shorts that will help withstand the much higher degree of wear and tear that these shorts will take. Many companies seem to be making the cut adjustments but no other adjustments to seam burst strengths, more forgiving cloth, roomier cuts that allow for wider range of movements, etc etc. Bottom line...if your seriously considering these uniforms...please consider giving us a call. We are not a manufacturer pushing only our line...we are a team dealer that can push multiple lines, and I have been in contact with the owners and upper management of each of these companies and understand what changes have been made. (along with who is cutting corners) I can discuss this with you and help you get what you need. Here is our initial flyer....

We have been working hard on getting this information ready so that we can put out educated information to our customers. We are glad to have 3 of our 4 major vendors information ready to publish. Please review the flyer and let us know if we can be of any help. For those that interested in Adidas, they are still a couple weeks away from being ready to release info. Our vendors have made adjustments to not only meet the new standards but also made improvements to ,make sure that what you buy will perform better in the competitive environment that they will be subjected to. The Brute upgrades are huge....better cloth with more stretch and a lycra crotch insert that will accomodate the stress that they will go through.

Coaches- Be sure to read what I posted in another post about what you need to know about the new legal 2 pc uniform.

Coaches- I have already had a couple of coaches contact me today about looking at purchasing new sets of the compression shirt and loose fit short uniforms that were just recently approved. I wanted to get word out to everyone to be careful when you are buying these. Yes, I want you to purchase them from EI Sports and Apparel if your in the market for them, BUT I am also a informing everyone, as a wrestling coach, AND a uniform supplier that the "cart is before the horse" on this right now. There are MANY uniform supplier options out there to choose from, but the newly voted in 2 pc uniform option is still being developed by the manufacturers. If anybody approaches you about selling you 2 pc uniforms this early in the game, they very well could be selling you something that will be illegal. The reason is that the NFHS sent out TODAY, to a select few manufacturers, the "specifications" that these uniforms must meet to be considered legal. Things like inseam length etc etc, have very specific guidelines that must be met to be legal. I have been in touch with 4 major manufacturers this morning and all of them are STILL WORKING on the final products because they had already met with the NFHS (in a small meeting a couple weekends ago in Indianapolis), and they were waiting for the specifications that they got today. So basically, be careful. If the manufacturer is not privy to the specifications that must be met, they have no clue what they are doing right now, and they very well could be pushing an illegal uniform. I wont say who was supplied with the specifications today, but I will say that many of the manufacturers that many of you use are not "in the know" as of this moment. As far as EI Sports, we are working very closely with 4 manufacturers on this project. We have confirmed that all 4 of those companies have the specifications in hand and are working on what they intend to market as quickly as possible. It is our intention to bring all for options to all of you as quickly as possible and provide everyone with 4 different options that will provide an answer for everyone in the market. Whether you are interested more in quality, price, or fastest delivery....we will have something to take care of everyone. Let me know if you have any other questions. I can be contacted at eisports@sigecom.net Jeff Schaefer EI Sports and Apparel - Owner Asst Coach - Evansville Memorial HS

Castle losing the regional is a travesty. A huge part SW Indiana HS Wrestling tradition is going away. Very sad day.

In the past, for the IHSWCA teams, it was always a rule that you wrestle the weight class that you qualify at. I know that many wrestlers over the years have turned down spots for not wanting to cut weight again. If they did not do that it opened the door up to way to many grey areas and deserving kids within the weight they competed at get left out. I also know that the IHSWCA teams have had many kids drop out on them at the last minute and have had to scramble to find a replacement at the last minute. That could explain some of the movement. As far as the Renegades go, we have free reign to do as we want so we will occasionally allow a wrestler to move if we can put a state qualifier on the team etc etc. I think everyone tries to work the list in the order of finish but it's gets late and eventually you have to find a guy to fill the spot. Coaches and parents really string us along sometimes only to say no eventually. The Renegades have put a 5 day limit on our invites. We have paperwork and payment within 5 days of your invite or we move to next name on the list.

I thought I would write some history on the Scholastic Duals, the IHSWCA involvement, and the Renegades.. I will try to keep this short, but doubt it ends up that way. First - Who am I? My name is Jeff Schaefer. I own E.I. Sports and Apparel in Evansville, I am an assistant coach at Evansville Memorial, I am the team gear provider and sponsor for the IHSWCA Scholastic teams (I provide the team gear for the IHSWCA Gold and Blue teams at my cost each year which provides them top quality gear at a greatly reduced cost), I am the coordinator of the Renegades teams and I helped promote, plan, fill spots, and coached with the IHSWCA Scholastic Duals teams for 10-12 years. So basically, I know a lot of the inside story on a lot of the questions and issues that are happening right now. The IHSWCA - The coaches association has been sponsoring two teams at this event for many years. My first year was in 2003 and at that time they had been involved for several years already. At the time I joined the fray in 2003 the event was at Delaware Univ. but it went to Delaware State for a couple of years, then to York College in PA, and maybe one other location before being moved to Indiana and Wabash College. Back when I started helping, the IHSWCA had trouble filling the team with our top notch kids. We got some blue chippers but it was a struggle. Many of our best programs and coaches simply would not buy in and commit to this event. Over the next few years we made a significant push to educate the coaches and programs in the state and recruit the very best kids by talking about the event, talking to coaches earlier, and just working harder to be better prepared. The results were great. We got better kids each year and for a few years we had teams that were truly powerhouses at a very prestigious event. We had some great showings out on the East coast, including a runner up finish one year. The Renegades - (who are they and why?)- The early days, the Blue team would almost always be hard to fill and the coaches who put time into the event would be able to place a wrestler on the Blue team and travel with that wrestler as a coach to a national event on the East coast. It was a great deal! However, as the IHSWCA started getting the better kids, the spots on the Blue team became filled with those same upper echelon kids as were on the Gold team. This pushed the "coaches kids" out of the picture since they were no longer needed to fill spots on the Blue team. The coaches who put the Blue and Gold teams together for this event had an idea to create a 3rd Indiana team (the White Team) and fill it with coaches kids. This team would get destroyed in the competition but it would give the coaches a small perk for traveling to the East Coast for 4 days on a charter bus etc etc. The Idea of the White team was nixed by an IHSWCA president who did not want to show favortism to a group of coaches and was worried that the White team not having a "qualifying system" would cause issues. At that time, I stepped down from helping the IHSWCA teams and approached the Scholastic Duals tournament director about putting a team of Indiana Renegades into the event. The tournament director needed a few teams to fill out the tournament brackets and allowed us to put a team together. The only stipulation was that we would not try to take any of the wrestlers that have qualified for the IHSWCA teams and we have always lived by that. To us, there is not even a question of if we should do that or not, because to those of us that do this, we have always felt like the Renegades are an extension of the IHSWCA teams. The Renegades have been putting teams into this event ever since then, and we work very closely with the IHSWCA to not approach or try to take the same wrestlers that our IHSWCA teams need to put the best possible Indiana teams on the mat. A "National" Championship??? - This is where many of the problems that we are seeing stem from. In 2003 - 2010, this event truly was a National Event. When we went to Deleware, there would be 18-22 teams of hammers. 2 teams from PA, NY, NJ, DE, VA, IN, NE, IL, and OH, plus single teams from Florida, Colorado, and Michigan. When PA and NJ went at it, it was awesome to watch and it was not for women and children!! BUT....then the event moved to Indiana. Since then, the east coast powerhouses have decided to stop coming. Is it fair after all the years we all went out there? no its not, but what can you do about it? The tournament leadership has tried (save for another discussion) but has had little luck on bringing the powerhouses back into the picture. Instead, we now have IN, IL, Colorado, KY, and some other teams. The event is still very tough but is NOT what it once was. When it was on the east coast, Mike Moyer and Jeff Peanut Bower with the NWCA were at the event and Jason Bryant was involved and covered it. Today, the NWCA has its name on the event but I do not know if they actually have anything to do with the event at all. To the old school coaches who have been involved in this event forever, yes we like to call it a national championship, but the reality is that while it is called a national championship, it is not a national championship caliber event because we know there is a LOT of fire power not attending. So whats the problem and how do we fix it? The Scholastic Duals needs teams every year. They need teams to fill brackets and pay the entry fees to cover expenses and make sure the tournament happens. National Event, regional event, whatever you want to call it, we would all call it a huge loss if it suddenly no longer happened. As a coach who saw this event back in the hayday, I would like nothing more than to see PA, NJ, NY, VA, etc etc show up with teams and give all of us the greatest HS Wrestling show this side of our State Finals every April. In a perfect world, this would happen and there would be no need for the Renegades or the Gorillas and I would support that decision 100% while sitting in the front row of beachers watching our states best compete as one team. Back to the Renegades - Because the event needs teams, the Renegades are allowed in. We don't rock the boat and we pull on the same end of the rope as the IHSWCA so we are welcomed each year. We are allowed to bring 3 teams and the teams are put together by a group of coaches in the Northern, the Central and the Southwestern portions of the state. Our Teams allow 42 wrestlers the chance to get 7-8 dual meets matches versus some of the best wrestlers in the midwest in a tournament that cannot be replicated anywhere else. Our teams purposely do not approach wrestlers who may end up on the Gold and Blue teams, and in fact, our teams got pilfered for approx 8 wrestlers at the last minute last year to fill spots on the IHSWCA Teams which caused us to scramble to fill spots at the midnight hour. It has become increasingly harder to fill the Renegade teams each year. The coaches know about us, and we get emails every year from many coaches who want to get 3 or 4 wrestlers onto our teams. Our teams have evolved enough that we don't want 3-4 guys from any one team and we like to spread the wealth and have a nice mix of teams represented. (Full Transparency - the SW Renegades team is the original team and we usually pull from the Castle Regional first where we can before going out to other areas...this is also why we usually finish lower than the other Renegade teams) We try our best to get state qualifiers first then work down to the semi state level kids. All in all, we have given MANY guys who were knocking on the door a chance to improve by participating in this event. The Gorillas - I will not state my opinion of Joe and the Gorillas. In all honesty, I like to stay out of all of that mess and have done so the last couple of years. What I will say, is that Joe's picture of what this tournament is and what some of the old timers picture of what this tournament is are two totally different things. To Joe, this is NOT a National Championship so its comical to him that some people see it that way. To the Tournament Director, and in the event entry paperwork, this event is indeed thought of as a National Championship and they have put many years of work and effort into seeing it happen each year. The entry info suggests that teams are made of wrestlers from the same state, and that each state has a qualifying process. This was the case back in the day....not so much anymore. These two different ways of thinking have made it a difficult situation. If the event was full of state teams from all over, like it was back in the old days, this would not be an issue, because there would only be the 2 original IHSWCA teams and we would have two REALLY good teams that we could all root for. So basically....blame all of this nonsense on PA and the other East Coast teams who wont do what we did for years, travel and compete.

sold...

PM sent

castle over memorial was once.

I am pretty sure that I have heard some news of some Youth Wrestling leagues that have been formed recently and I wanted to check into the current landscape of that. I thought maybe we could share some ideas and thoughts on who is doing what. I think it could make for some great conversation and idea sharing. in 2009 we started the Southern Indiana Elementary Wrestling League aka the SIEWC down here in the southwest corner of the state. We had 8 teams for a couple years, then went to 10, and currently sit at 12 teams. Teams involved are Tell City Heritage Hills Vincennes Jasper Castle Mt. Vernon Gibson Southern Princeton Evansville Reitz Evansville Memorial Evansville Central Evansville North A few unique things that we do. 1. all teams must be ISWA registered clubs and all wrestlers and coaches must have ISWA Cards. 2. we use only IHSAA patched Officials for safety reasons with the young kids. 3. We have 23 weight classes in our league. 11 are for K-2 grade and 10 are for 3-5 grade and those combine to form a 23 weight class dual meet. 4. We wrestle on Sundays and send multiple schools to multiple locations so everyone gets 2-4 duals on the day. 5. one of the best things we do is that we all but eliminate the dreaded weigh in process and the watching of weight. All teams weigh in at the first match of the season. This weigh in locks the wrestlers into that weight class, as his lowest weight class for the year. We give a .9 allowance on digital scales on that first day. So a 50lb wrestler can weigh in at 50.9 and qualify at 50 for the year. All rosters and weigh in results are sent to our league "player agent" who creates spreadsheets for all rosters that show the wrestlers names, ISWA numbers, and what weights they qualified for for the season. These rosters are sent to every coach in the league so they know who is eligible for what weight class on dual meet days. We then wrestle the regular season without weigh ins. This allows the young wrestlers to not have to worry about weight management at all. Teams get to show up, warm up, and wrestle....just like all of the main stream sports. In other words.....Moms and Dads don't have to deal with not allowing little Johnny to eat breakfast on Sunday mornings and a huge negative to parents at that age is removed from the process. 6. At the end of the season, we have a huge Individual tournament, the SIEWC Conference Championships. This is hosted by Castle HS. The weight classes are seeded and we place the top 4 in each weight. We have our second weigh in of the season at this event and all wrestlers must make weight again, this time with a 2lb growth allowance. So 50.9 is now 52.9. 7. another big thing the league does is that all coaches must have an ISWA coaches card and it must be around their necks in a lanyard for them to coach in the corner or be on the floor. If they do not have a card, they cannot be in the corner. There is no filming from the floor, there are no parents bunched up on the edge of the mats. The parents are in the bleachers and the coaches and teams are on the floor. We do this so that we can give the wrestlers a "high school competition" feel to it. We have parents that fight us on it but over all we win more battles than we lose and result is a 300 wrestler championship tournament that looks like a high school sectional or regional taking place. I would be interested in hearing what some of the other leagues that have been formed do and if they have any cool ideas that we could consider adding to our league in the off season. Jeff Schaefer "retired" SEIWC founder and Commissioner....current role is "advisor" haha.

Got this link from our Adidas Rep this morning....thought I would share for all of you shoe freaks out there. The Adidas 2017 Shoe lineup... https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cp4cnuu1qqv4sai/AACXTJON5qEo5m0Ind5vq5Cva?dl=0

I'm glad that SWINfan seems to know the inner workings of MHS Wrestling. I wish this person would be transparent enough to let us know who he is. I'm not sure he has any clue what he is talking about. As far as I know, Mr Rice is no where near even thinking about making or trying to make 106.