Greg Ratliff

Happy for Coach Jones and his team. Nobody deserves this more. 

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about this, but it's the south and the Pony Express still is active there!
 
Jennings County broke ground on a new wrestling facility and it looks....amazing. I believe it's a stand alone facility.
Here is an article about it
https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/41854194/work-to-begin-on-jennings-county-wrestling-facility

I talk about this rivalry every year to my team...
 
Clark beat Macke by something like 14 at MD Classic. 
Then like a major at semi-state.
Then 1 at state. 
Then Macke beat Clark at Team State.
 
Maybe my memory is rough at this point, but I'm pretty close there I know.

I talk about this rivalry every year to my team...
 
Clark beat Macke by something like 14 at MD Classic. 
Then like a major at semi-state.
Then 1 at state. 
Then Macke beat Clark at Team State.
 
Maybe my memory is rough at this point, but I'm pretty close there I know.

No one has contacted me from New Castle. Can you send me the coach’s email? I emailed the AD.

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

You guys don't even understand how amazing @maligned is... This is crazy work on his part. And he doesn't even live in this country. A lot of people go into making this Team State possible without the help of the IHSAA, but I think person 1 is Maligned.
 
Thanks!

So, this was a discussion after an athletic director proposed it as a rule change. I was just part of the explanations and not the proposal.
 
But if I remember the explanation correctly, the commish said it was not proposed correctly. If the proposal had said something to the sorts of competing against teams outside of the travel restriction, as long as they came to us or a neutral place within our travel limits, that most likely would have passed. But because the proposal was about lifting travel restrictions, they would not go with it and to try again the next proposal series.

There is a GPA cut-off. Therefore anyone meeting that criteria is in. More the merrier!

Working to make things even better... just need a few days to hammer out details!

Working to make things even better... just need a few days to hammer out details!

Working to make things even better... just need a few days to hammer out details!

Working to make things even better... just need a few days to hammer out details!

Working to make things even better... just need a few days to hammer out details!

Working to make things even better... just need a few days to hammer out details!

Friday night at Maconaquah was filled with some great action and a lot of young ladies putting themselves on the line, but I wanted to share with all of you a photo I took that really hit me. 
 
Heritage High School hasn't (according to IndianaMat results) won a dual meet in the last four years and they are 0-47 in that time. But every time I see coaches Lockett and Martin, I am impressed at the way they run their program. They are full of energy and passion for their kids. I have seen it at home dual meets, at the ACAC duals and I saw it on Friday night. 
 
Heritage had one girl wrestling. One girl. Yet the entire team (almost, I think) and both coaches were in attendance and coaching their hearts out and laughing with their kids. This made a huge impression on me and I will be rooting for the Patriots the rest of the year. 
The whole team spent six hours in a gym to watch Amber Hoy wrestle four matches. 
 
Kudos to the Heritage team and to both coaches for the role they are playing in their program and congrats to Amber Hoy on her placement Friday night. 

Is a must for what? The training "365 a year" is a big downfall to this whole conversation. We've lost casual wrestlers because a combination of things.  But training every day of the year is going to drop retention rates terribly. 
Youth are getting burnt out from a youth season that starts in November and ends in March. But "if you want to be good you need to do Freestyle and Greco too." So now youth wrestling can be until May. It's no wonder that retention rate of athletes and coaches is so low. 
This isn't just wrestling, but the youth sports culture is so out of control that parents are pulled 100 different directions. It's easy to stop taking their child to wrestling when they have to travel for wrestling, baseball and basketball, etc...
 
At the high school level, we are asking our kids to train year round because we want them to be the best. But at smaller schools where those athletes do more than 1 sport they don't have time to train year round for 2 or 3 sports. I know coaches that get upset at athletes that aren't there all summer and spring, but if you want to know the truth, those part-time athletes are what is going to keep this sport competitive at semi-state and regional levels. We can't diminish their value because they aren't a state placer or aren't there every off-season practice. More participants will always help increase the competition level.  

Is a must for what? The training "365 a year" is a big downfall to this whole conversation. We've lost casual wrestlers because a combination of things.  But training every day of the year is going to drop retention rates terribly. 
Youth are getting burnt out from a youth season that starts in November and ends in March. But "if you want to be good you need to do Freestyle and Greco too." So now youth wrestling can be until May. It's no wonder that retention rate of athletes and coaches is so low. 
This isn't just wrestling, but the youth sports culture is so out of control that parents are pulled 100 different directions. It's easy to stop taking their child to wrestling when they have to travel for wrestling, baseball and basketball, etc...
 
At the high school level, we are asking our kids to train year round because we want them to be the best. But at smaller schools where those athletes do more than 1 sport they don't have time to train year round for 2 or 3 sports. I know coaches that get upset at athletes that aren't there all summer and spring, but if you want to know the truth, those part-time athletes are what is going to keep this sport competitive at semi-state and regional levels. We can't diminish their value because they aren't a state placer or aren't there every off-season practice. More participants will always help increase the competition level.  

Is a must for what? The training "365 a year" is a big downfall to this whole conversation. We've lost casual wrestlers because a combination of things.  But training every day of the year is going to drop retention rates terribly. 
Youth are getting burnt out from a youth season that starts in November and ends in March. But "if you want to be good you need to do Freestyle and Greco too." So now youth wrestling can be until May. It's no wonder that retention rate of athletes and coaches is so low. 
This isn't just wrestling, but the youth sports culture is so out of control that parents are pulled 100 different directions. It's easy to stop taking their child to wrestling when they have to travel for wrestling, baseball and basketball, etc...
 
At the high school level, we are asking our kids to train year round because we want them to be the best. But at smaller schools where those athletes do more than 1 sport they don't have time to train year round for 2 or 3 sports. I know coaches that get upset at athletes that aren't there all summer and spring, but if you want to know the truth, those part-time athletes are what is going to keep this sport competitive at semi-state and regional levels. We can't diminish their value because they aren't a state placer or aren't there every off-season practice. More participants will always help increase the competition level.  

I worried that one day we would cut weight classes, but I always thought it would be by 1 to 13 so that there was a logical tie-breaker in a dual meet.
 
I always hoped they added 1 for a tie-breaker. I can’t see how cutting 2 is good for the sport. I do like the idea of 14 total wrestlers regardless of weight class on varsity.