aoberlin

I got over forcing a kid to go down a good decade ago, “because they have to learn to get out.”Yes they have to learn to get out and for the most part a practice room is the place to do it. There are some kids that are super tough on top. Especially at National Duals and if you choose down and you aren’t good at getting out you are just asking to get turned. Plus when coaching a team that you aren’t familiar with all the kids strengths and weaknesses asking the kid or their parent what they prefer really helps build the relationship and gives the wrestler confidence he may need to win the match.

I think the general consensus is that even if there was a place to hold it at in Indy that weekend the places to stay would be way too expensive. I would also think that places to eat or do anything would also be overrun.

Trust me that is one of our goals in the end to start getting more kids to Fargo. Once these young ones are old enough that is what we are shooting for. We want to go and compete on that stage. We did see some accidental chest locks and ankle laces this weekend from our wrestlers. If a wrestler we coach on the regular asks us to go help coach them at Fargo we are there.

The weather was awful this weekend! But the wrestling was great and from what I saw the reffing was spot on. I love the fact the windows for wrestling are always accurate and sometimes start early. Our homegrown elementary team qualified for day 3 and wrestled awesome. We bonded even more and got multiple compliments on how our kids supported each other. I love having one event a year our academy comes together and hangs out. There were a ton of Indiana coaches and wrestlers there. Keep up the good work everyone!

Also The Fort will have a girls team this year.

Me sleeping 6 deep in a hotel room with other coaches and kids to save money. The snoring was musical.

No way. Mo's Tacos at the gas station by The Fort. They will not last long in that location because it is great! https://mostacosftw.com/

Lopshire is getting ready to wrestle Ken Chertow! And super awesome on Juwan making the trip and putting himself out there. Great experience having those legends in his corner.

I didn’t think about this. It would definitely change takedown stats for the amount of takedowns they can get in a season.

I will not disagree. I like Ziffle’s ribs but I’m not sure you can actually call them BBQ. There is no smoke or charcoal that they are made with but I like them. As far as actually good BBQ the only place I really really enjoyed was Blue Stack Smokehouse before they closed. Particularly their brisket, they cooked it like I do mine. I cook some decent BBQ and enjoy it. Currently I have 4 pork butts on the smoker for the Howe camp tomorrow.

Tough call. As the parent of the kid that threw the punch the punishment he is going to get from the wrestling community and now the law enforcement I would imagine will take care of the discipline side of things. You will have plenty of opportunity to use this as a learning experience. In the moment I would have left the tournament with my son and had a very long ride home. One of the main goals of the sport is to teach them how to become a monster and then control it. This kid obviously doesn't have the control part down. For me things that happen in heat of the moment are different than things that were on purpose and reoccurring. But... if this kid is a repeat offender that is a different story. If I was the parent of the kid that got punched that would have been hard not to lose my #&*@^ when it happened. In the end though if my kid wasn't actually injured and the other kid apologized I would not hold any grudges. Unless... he continues to do these things. They are kids and they do stupid kid stuff and this kid had a very very bad moment that will haunt him for a very long time. Side note I have been punched in the face more times than I can remember. So... to me it isn't the end of the world.

They should have been wearing headgear. That way he could have just thrown that instead of a punch.

What about whichever wrestler is winning the riding time battle gets a point no matter how much time it is? I haven't really thought this through so don't hate on me.

Shig's is good. But Lucille's is hard to beat. My favorite ribs are Ziffle's by far though.

I would like to stick up for Fort Wayne one more time here. We know how to eat and we have quite a few restaurants and there is a ton more than this. I have highlighted some of my favorites. Kim Vu 800 Degrees Asakusa Hoppy Gnome Teuquilla's Junk Ditch Proximo Chop's Fort Wayne's Famous Coney Klemms Copper Spoon Shig's n Pit Tolon The Han Dynasty Paula's on Main Cork N Cleaver Hideout 125 Banh Mi Barista Dash-In Catablu Grille Oley's Pizza 816 Pint and Slice Big Apple Pizza Big Eyed Fish Powers Casa's Zianno's Five Guys Portillos Skyline Chili Storming Crab BurgerFi Bagger Dave's Biaggi's Eddie Merlots Salvatori's Baker Street Steakhouse Ruth's Chris Sapporo Koto Japanese Umi Fort Wayne Naked Chopsticks Sakura Japanese Cindy's Diner Takaoka of Japan Los Cabos Mexican Grill Cebolla's Mexican Grill Salsa Grill SOLBIRD Kitchen & Tap Mo's Tacos Pizza King B Antonio's Pizza Giordano's Mancino's Pizza and Grinder Korean Fried Chicken Seoul Garden Noodles and Company Smokey Bones Lucille's BBQ ZIFFLES! Buffalo Wings and Ribs Acme BJ's Brewhouse Granite City Summit City Brewerks Marquee at the Landing Nawa

My wife is from Chicago originally I believe she and her family would agree with all your points.

I would like to state that I worked at a Pizza King from the ages 16 - 21 and I can make a mean pie. Got some the other day. Nothing like a Royal Feast dipped in their cheese sauce. Delivering pizzas might have been my best job ever.

No but I can take his server down. Dude gets one lucky slide by over 20 years ago and it is now on his resume for life. He didn't even get a mat return from it.

We are good. I personally apologize to the General also for over reacting and making it public. It’s about the kids and I lost sight of that.

I’m not talking about my school at all as far wanting more opportunities. My wrestlers have no excuses and they just need to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them and be more hungry and they will be fine. Creating that real hunger is what I am focusing on and the youth are the key. My 100+ youth club fell off when CoVid hit and hasn’t opened back up because since then we haven’t had a real wrestling room and the public can’t go in. Which is one reason I started The Fort because I was locked out of the school for my youth programs. I have been head coach for 3 years and we have been 52-17 with 22 semi-state qualifiers. 2 x Sectional Champs and qualified all 14 to Regional 2 years in a row. One we get 2 or more super stars and we are in the mix. (We had a couple very close this year) We have 0 move ins or transfers. Wrestling is a little bit of a fringe sport at my school and we get kids that don’t make the team in the main sports so I really need to change the culture. With that said we are the largest school to not have a qualifier this year. We are one of 3 big schools in Fort Wayne semi-state and we need to pull our weight. I understand all of that more than anyone else. I opened The Fort to get kids in front of local talent and bring national talent to the area because not enough kids were traveling for it. It is working and it is coming but it will not be overnight. Also I talk to coaches every day of the week and I never assume I have all the answers. My concern isn’t even this area so much yet…. It’s coming and I see how hard our youth in the area are working and I would like more opportunity for them. Evansville was insane this year at semi-state and when that truly starts happening here I don’t think that is the best thing for the kids.

All of Evansville if they can recruit them. I will add before anyone gets mad I have nothing but respect for the dynasty that is MD. Probably another unpopular opinion. I think it is easier to build a wrestling culture in a smaller school than a big school. And I feel having a prideful wrestling culture at a school system is everything. It also really helps if you have past wrestlers from the school being a part of the current program. Which goes hand and hand with a wrestling culture. I just don’t care that much anymore about the experience of the tournament as much as I care about wanting more opportunities for the kids we love and watch work hard. If I am truthful I really just want more qualifiers and wrestlebacks. But something has to change.

Again I repeat. It’s not a small school vs a big school for me. It’s just about more opportunities for the kids. Give me 6 from every semistate and wrestlebacks and I think we are back to where we need to be.

For me it’s really not about the size of the school. It’s about more opportunities for the kids. I still think if you have a great wrestling culture at any size school the kids can do well. My mind will not be changed on that.

That's fair. Didn't think about that. Changed.