Clint Gard

Any idea why Manchester isn't represented?

Thanks for the clarification Riley! I don't think Ed violated anything. Just struck me funny and brings to light an issue that I know is out there with others.

"I am not calling you out, P, but we both know that Mitch Sliga spent 2x more time in CIA's room than he did Fishers. He did not need to go searching elsewhere to receive support or partners because you provided that to him through CIA, and he was in there on a year-round basis." Yes, I know out of all of the comments, this struck me. But I thought during season, wrestlers couldn't train with each other. I ask because I know kids are not only training in Academies together but now it has morphed into kids training together at their schools. Isn't this against IHSAA Policy? Asking for a friend.

Who do they have coming in next year?

Lol...you spoke too soon! I'm not mad at Nick. You gotta fight for your program. But, I do believe I have a good argument as well.

If you are going to go in to specifics then lets be specific. Your 152 teched my 152. Your 152 might be better (was on that day) but my 152 had 2 losses to Calhoun from Plymouth, a loss to the Merrillville kid, and lost in OT in the ticket round. He didn't wrestle punks. Our 182 beat your guy pretty handidly at the Al Smith and he was pretty highly touted in the SS Rankings. I think we have some kids that would beat some of your kids as well that might have a better record. It goes both ways and I think we have earned our right to be there based on the data and the information everyone is provided. You do too and should...I have no argument with that. You seem to be hung up on the fact that we came out of the Peru Sectional and Regional. So what's your solution? My understanding is that calculations are adjusted for your argument. Do we just not let those teams from a perceived weaker sectional/regional in for consideration? The question you asked above could very easily be turned around and asked...does your 6 regional qualifiers automatically make you a better team than the team with 10 regional qualifiers (which we didn't have)?

Man, I feel like we suck...

Thanks we might try making the drive on the 27th.

Joe...when is your next RTC? Thinking about bringing a Rochester group over.

And "National" Tournaments!

I appreciate the input Tony! We use wild cards as well but not in place of a Rochester kid. Now, when we do go to local stuff like Columbia City, we use kids from other schools to fill in those weights when our kids can't attend or aren't ready to attend. I have put a few rules in place that have helped us when approached by kids from other clubs. 1. If you want to wrestle on our duals team full time and compete with us as a wild card at team state, then you have to join our club. 2. You have to practice, on a very regular basis, with us and be a part of our team for the season...including the individual season. 3. You have to wrestle off just like any other kid in our club and go by our rules. Passing grades, regular attendance, work hard, and be a positive addition to our program. These duals have really helped our club progress and the kids are doing well. Our kids really like the dual atmosphere and the coaches do too. I'd like to do more weeknight stuff instead of hammering away all day on Sunday. I agree with @dstruckI think we are moving backwards in that regard. I want to continue but I also just want a level playing field at state. If we are going to put rules in place for wild cards, then teams MUST go by the rules and they need to be checked. I'm an open book, so anyone can check our entries anytime they want. It's a never ending battle to find the right balance. @dstruck I agree with you on freestyle and greco. Our kids love the change!

You don't have to start November 1st, just have sign ups. I agree with you on the length of season. I'd be fine with a December 1st date as well. I agree with you, you would have "All-Star" teams but at least they would have to be part of your club and at least everyone else knows what's going on. If I've got a guy on my team from Richmond, Indiana then people know two things...he's a member of my club and he is probably not an active part of my club. Nobody from Richmond is going to travel to Rochester to practice with my club. Now, if I've got a kid from Plymouth, then most likely they are practicing with us and it can be argued/proven they are an active member. Maybe I'm making it too simple...but I'm open to anything that allows for a level playing field. What are your thoughts?

@JMILL much appreciated. I spoke with Jim Littlejohn more times than he or I care to count I would imagine. He was frustrated. I'll continue to reflect on this weekend and this season and pass along my thoughts. I think WC does a good job with what they have...I wish I had it...but the event is just too big for any one school to handle. The ladies running the brackets, did a fabulous job. Table help was good. That's a thankless job! But I will reiterate...as long as the officiating continues in this trend, Rochester will look at other ways to get quality mat time. I will not subject my kids and my families to this type of officiating or venue for the money they are paying. Keith and Ryan know about the State Duals and we have discussed ways to make verification of age and grade better. I am continuing to think about it and will pass along suggestions. One our coaching staff has thought about is that any participant in the elementary state duals must be a registered member of the club they are wrestling for by a specific date or they cannot wrestle for that club/team. That would do away with all wild cards. We thought a November 1st deadline was fair. This would give parents that signed up in September for their card to change their affiliation to the club they were going to wrestle for. Also, it's just in time for dual tournaments to start throughout the state, so if schools wanted to put that restriction on their tournament they could...so teams couldn't build all-star teams. That type of restriction can be easily tracked on USA Wrestling. Just a thought. Clint

We had a young man pass skin checks on Saturday night but was told "Go buy some antibiotic cream and see me in the morning". This was from one of the trainers. He arrived on Sunday, couldn't find her, so we just wrestled. He wrestled his first match and then I get a text from one of the ISWA Ladies that he was DQ'd because he didn't check in and that when he gets checked he will be back in the bracket. Immediately took him over to the trainers where I was told he could have been checked by any trainer and he didn't need to see that specific person. I said, he was told to see that specific person so we tried to do what we were told. So I said, will you check him and go clear him. He said no because he had already been DQ'd. I explained what happened and he still wouldn't clear him (it was acne btw). So I asked if the rule is that he could have been seen by anyone, why wouldn't he clear him? He said I needed to find the person he saw last night. So...you can imagine I went super nova because of the double speak. I finally just went to Jim Littlejohn and he cleared him. His reasoning was "if he was cleared at weigh-ins, then he is cleared to wrestle. There is no see me in the morning stuff." To answer Jim Calhoun's question, the young man should have been allowed to wrestle. He made it through skin checks at weigh-ins, therefore, the official should have had no say so. This is just one of the many issues our club had with this tournament this weekend. I appreciate all of the time the ISWA people put in to make this tournament happen. I understand how much time and energy go in to it. It's a daunting task. But I will say this...we pay our money to be a chartered club, our kids buy their cards, we pay to host 2 tournament every year, and we pay our entry fees. Our families paid almost $8,000 this weekend to attend this tournament. Hotels, food, entry fees, gate fees, gas, etc. We had 26 families pay on average of $300 (Im guessing low I think). We also paid $400 to enter the ISWA Elementary State Duals and spend over $2000 on hotels for our families to attend. That came from our club to help families offset the cost...So I have every right to be brutally honest and I'm going to be... 1. The officiating was brutal. Barring a handful of instances, at NO time did I feel like the officials we came into contact with knew the rules of the sport or had the kids safety in their best interests. Numerous times our staff was told that "this is my mat and this is my area." Well...it's not. You didn't pay for the mat and your name isn't on it. You are paid to take care of the kids and serve the kids. You didn't do that. We had a coach yell "time" to an official when he didn't hear the buzzer and the towel wasn't thrown. His response "Coach your kid, not me." I had an official tell me that I couldn't talk to the other coach after the match by his mat and that I couldn't talk to my wrestler and his parents who were sitting at the bleachers. He followed me off the mat to tell me that. 4 different officials told me that if wrestler A and wrestler B are hip to hip and B has stepped over the leg of A but A is under both arms...this is not a takedown or reversal by A. One official told me that you can lock around the legs after a takedown or control has been established. 5 different officials didn't know the basic rules of the sport. We had 3 different mats wait for kids to have coaches, which I have no issue with at all. Then I look down and see my kid wrestling. I sprint down to coach about the last minute. I asked the table help and the official why the match was started when my Novice wrestler didn't have a coach. I was told they were given the directions to start the match with or without the coach. So...I asked Littlejohn about that situation and it was made clear to me that they were NOT told that. So again, we had an official just do what he wanted instead of doing what he was told by the head official. 2. Until there is a better system in place to verify the ages and grades of the kids wrestling on teams at the state duals, we most likely won't attend again. You can take that how you want...but many of the teams now know what happened in our division and are aware of the team that did it. 3. Wifi/Cell Service/Track Wrestling - Terrible 4. Bathroom and locker rooms - Terrible There is a better than 50% chance we will not be an ISWA Club next year unless some things change. The ISWA brought in about $77,000 from this tournament. I don't know the net because I don't know the expenses, but with $77,000 you should be able get better officials and, IMO, a better venue. Yep, this tournament had about 400 more kids this year, but I'm telling you, if you don't put out a better product, you will start losing kids again. HYWAY or some other organization will start challenging you again and this time, they might take over. People work hard for their money and this organization and the people the hire better start realizing people won't pay for a crappy event that they feel like they didn't get a fair shake at. Our club had a great day of wrestling and finished really well for a small club in rural Indiana...but we had a terrible experience. I honestly don't know if we will be back. Clint Gard

Thanks...all I can tell you is the emails I have seen from him to the two other schools, do not say this. We have scheduled 6 single night duals because I think we need to promote those events and create more of a buzz for our program. We also have a triple dual, 1 super dual, two holiday tourneys, and our conference. We have a good mix.

Coach...This needs to be clarified. Robert Faulkens has told multiple schools in our conference two different things. At the coaches clinic this Fall, he told me specifically it had to be 4 single night duals and then we could get creative. I spoke with you and the other association big dogs about it that very day. My AD called for clarification and he told him the same thing. He told 2 other conference schools it had to be 6 single night duals. I know this because when we tried to schedule them for a triple dual, both teams said they couldn't because they need single duals to get to their 6...per what they were told when they contacted Robert. Not all schools and coaches are being told the same thing.

Would you call that in the first period when a kid is riding out a 0-0 score? The situation or score doesn’t dictate when or how stalling should be called. If it’s stalling with :15 left in overtime, then it’s stalling in the first :30 seconds of the first period. It wasn’t stalling...it’s a stalemate. The same call he used in that situation multiple times in that match.

So what happens to the official for the poor call? At :22sec, Mulkey had a front head lock and was snapping it to the mat. Why call stalling at 3-4 seconds left when the hold never changed? Call it at :22 or :15 or :10.if you are going to call it. Don’t wait to call and insert yourself in the match. Best call there was a stalemate...neither could improve. Called stalemate every other front head in the match. I also get tired of seeing Faulkens insert himself at matside. 2x this weekend so far. You want to be there and make decisions at mat side, then pull the officials aside as well and make sure you tell them they screwed up as well. Seeing too many matches decided by the officials in the last 2-3 weeks. And no, I won’t sign up to become an official...just do it right.

Coach Struck, I understand your position and don't necessarily disagree but something has to give. The numbers don't lie. Do you have an idea on how to deal with the FF issue? I'm not trying to be condescending, I'm looking for answers and ideas. Seems people get on here to argue and shoot down ideas but rarely offer up solutions. I am open to opinions and want to discuss. Clint

I'm sure the NWCA and NFHS has the data but it would be nice to see all states and how the FF data would break down by class. I'm guessing most states have similar data. The issue is using that data to make decisions to help wrestling. It's clear, at least in Indiana, something needs to be done with 106 and 113. Don't know that I have the answer but here are my thoughts... 12 Weights: 115, 120, 126, 133, 140, 147, 155, 165, 175, 190, 215, 285 Moving to 12 weights would shorten up dual meets and tournaments, which I firmly believe is a major issue with wrestling. But, if that is a no go, then... 14 Weights: 115, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 215, 245 or 250, 285