Mattyb

I think that you are talking about depth of talent, more or less. I think I get what your talking about. It just comes down to the softening of our society in general. Back in your day, if you committed to be a part of a team or do something... your parents made you do it, and follow through with your commitment. Also... there was a lot less for kids to do back then. It seems now we as parents (yes... myself included) are allowing kids to do what they want. Back when... football had two a days. You had no choice. You went to practice! That doesn't exist anymore. Seems that more and more parents are giving kids a choice on rather or not to put in the work to excel at stuff like sports. Guess what??? If you give most kids a choice on rather or not to go to a tough practice, the majority will say... “naw”. The kids that are excelling are the kids that either (A) don’t want to miss a workout to play video games... or (B) parents do not allow them to skip workouts. With all of that said... I think that you have been referring to the gap between the haves and the have nots. Where as a typical (non year round) varsity kid is not that “tough”. It is just a sign of the times my friend. Society is changing. With all of that said, I don’t think that the talent level is decreasing..... yet. Youth football numbers are currently taking a plunge. Our youth numbers seem to be remaining strong. Who knows???.... wrestling may be the next football. If that does happen, that’s when we will see the decrease in talent.

Maybe. I’m sure that there are some dudes up there with five o’clock shadows and or a tattoo or two that may not agree with you. I could be wrong. 3 or 4 years difference is just a tough thing to deal with at 160. We shall see. With that said... I have seen some held back freshman do ok recently at the upper weights. Not sure if that applies in this situation??? Btw... Mason Parris is the only non-heldback freshman upper weight that I can remember to finish top three? Who else can we put on that list?

Tough kid. It’s just very hard for a freshman at an upper weight to place top 3. What is his weight? Who on these list do you have him beating?

Ours is 100 percent as tough as it ever has been, and only getting better with MCWA, Red Cobra, Outlaws, and Contenders kids feeding into some of the state’s best programs.

All of these kids are great. I do know this. Been keeping my eye on our grads from last year that are going D1 (been getting updates from people in the rooms). 4 at IU and 2 at Ohio U. Proud to say they are all making it through the grind and by all accounts adjusting well. We got Littell coming to Ohio next year. I’m guessing others may end up there or at IU. Most of this years champs wrestled on teams together since early in elementary school. Looks like they are sticking together in college. Pretty cool stuff. Most of if not all of this years graduated champs are redshirting. Look for them to wrestle unattached at opens this year. They all should be at the Michigan State Open the first week of November. Mosconni and Washington should be there too. My point is that we have a bunch of D1 talent coming out of Indiana. Not seeing fall off. With that said.. 2016 was a REALLY tough group. Don’t know if any class would beat them.

Good job at IHPO kid. Let’s see your post tourney thoughts? Give us an updated list kiddo.

Not sure if that was a defensive pin. They were in a scramble, Bailey caught him on his back during the scramble, and continued to drive into him to he got the fall. Give it up... it was legit.

The kid was flat two or three times. Just watch the moms sitting against the wall. They were calling for the pin!!! Not sure who they are (😜🤥) but they are watching from the other side and clearly saw the pin.

The kid has been in some national rankings. He won his state title at 152 last year in Michigan. The Willis kid from Florida was also in that bracket he is a two timer from Florida. He was also a Tulsa finalist back when. Jaden Reynolds gave Willis all he wanted and lost a though one 4-3, for 3rd and 4th. Jaden looked good. 148 was the toughest bracket in my opinion. Again, some kids got weight down and came to win.

My OW goes to Logan Bailey. Mendez put on a show too. Crown Point, Avon, Brownsburg, EMD, Cathedral, Chesterton, Roncolli, and Mishawaka with multiple placers. Sorry if I missed any other school with multiple placers. Only top 4 place. Btw... weights were all funky, so take the results with a grain of salt. Some kids wrestled at off season walk around weight, and some kids cut hard. I like that fact. We get to see match ups that we would never get to see in season.

Here’s a question... What’s more difficult to win, State or IHPO?

There are 50 places in Indiana that can get down 12 mats. That the easy part. Then you have to have a place for a thousand people (or more) to watch, bathrooms, and food. That narrows it down to just a handful. Can UIndy puts all those mats down, and have enough space to sit everyone? You need a pretty massive seating area also.

You gotta figure he really couldn’t ever train full time year round, prior to this year. He was killing it in football and track. Which I’m sure that he does not regret and had tons of fun. As a middle school coach I try to encourage all my kids to do the same. Mason is a great example of what a young well rounded student athlete should be. My kids will hear about Masons journey no less than 10 times a season! Now that he is training for wrestling year round and full time, the sky is the limit. Can’t wait to see what the future holds!!

Here’s an idea... have a designated person near the corner (a challenge expert). Have that person watch the table refs. If the table refs don’t see what the coach sees and don’t score the call differently then the mat ref, I rarely see a call over turned. On the other hand, the vast majority of the calls that I see reversed are seen differently by at least on of the table refs. The coaches are too busy coaching to look at the table refs. With that said... watching table refs can be a great indicator if a call should be challenged.

Hidlay lost by one in the semis to a Russian. That’s a tough head to head loss. Carr did beat a Russian earlier. Which was a big win.