WingMan

As promised. Here are my responses.. 1. How many times did you have to dry their tears when they got their butts beat at the age of 4? The age of 5 , 6 and beyond? Until he was 8 years old. 2. How many times did they want to quit? Every day until he started wining around the age of 8. 3. How old were they when they decided this was their sport? And when did they decide they were going to be a state champion? 8 years old. 4. Did you buy a wrestling mat to support their passion? Fell into the mat at little money as he was beating the heck out of the living room. 5. How many different clubs did you sign you kid up for and how many miles did you drive to get them there? No way to post the number of miles...IN, OH, TN, IL 6. How many confrontations did you have with parent who you wrestler ended up being great friends with? One where they accused Tanner of grabbing a kids stuff...the dad and kid apologized but the mom was very mad at my wrestler's dad. That's a funny one as we have seen the family many times since and there has been no mention of this "event" since the day it happened. 7. Did you ever buy a food-steamer to assist in weight management? Yes, and Tanner gets to shoot it before he leaves for college. I raised my kids on fried foods and butter...and it hasn't killed them yet, but the steamer helped. 8. How many conversations have you had regarding the "right" tattoo. I still want a crib sheet to know the tribal tattoos. T wants a tattoo...he needs to convince me why, what...I am still paying the bills don't give a crap how old he is. I am ex-military and don't have one so this better mean something really special. 9. How many times did you bring the "extra" pair of wrestling shoes with you because someone other than your wrestler needed them? Every meet I have two pairs of shoes with me. 10. How many times have you seen those parents that were your wrestler's opponents at an event and you prefer to speak to them before you want speak to your own school's parents. Every event starting at Confererence but the best is at State...We all know each other. 11. Have you ever given your Copper wrist band to another parent so they could be mat-side. Yes I have...DJ's mother was the recipient of mine. 12. How many times has your wrestler been beat fair and square and comes home and tell you play-by-play where he screwed up. Not angy, merely a lesson. That happens win or lose. Points are points and the wrestler knows when they were given an advantage and when they were not...it's the wrestlers character that takes them through that. 13. How many times has a parent approached you mad... and embarassed their own. I cannot even count...but one comes up when my daughter wrestled and beat the kid...mother approached us and told us we were a total disgrace. I assume she and her son own a dress shop somewhere now. 14. How many times has your wrestler lost only to have the official come up and say they "screwed up." Never with my wrestler, but truth be told, it happens a lot fom what I hear from coaches from various schools. 15. How many loads of laundry do you do for your wrestler? School days, 3 loads of laundry due to the work-out gear. 16. Does your wrestler freak out when you over-react to a mosquito bite because you think it skin-funk. - Every time... 17. How many times have you used bleach on skin-funk? - When the prescriptions don't work... 18. How many family vacations were to go wrestle (trust me...for non-wrestling siblings this is a big one) - Every vacation since 1996 19. Does your wrestler get really mad when you ask their weight. - Everytime...the scales travel with us where ever we go. 21. Have you ever thought of buying stock in Gatorade or Power-Aid...because water isn't cool. - Blue anything needs to be outlawed. But his senior year he finally figured out that water is just fine. 22. Have you ever thought "is this worth it?" Every day I think back to when he was little and what he has done and sacrifices he and the family has done (see vacations) and yes, every family member would agree that it has been worth it. The friendships, the lessons the struggles...it makes champions and champions are not defined by wins and losses...it is defined by character. Anyone want to buy a steamer?

This post is for the parents who have been involved in Indiana Wrestling for the last 14 to 16 years. I start this post with my son starting wrestling at the age of 4...many can relate, many won't... 1. How many times did you have to dry their tears when they got their butts beat at the age of 4? The age of 5 , 6 and beyond? 2. How many times did they want to quit? 3. How old were they when they decided this was their sport? And when did they decide they were going to be a state champion? 4. Did you buy a wrestling mat to support their passion? 5. How many different clubs did you sign you kid up for and how many miles did you drive to get them there? 6. How many confrontations did you have with parent who you wrestler ended up being great friends with? 7. Did you ever buy a food-steamer to assist in weight management? 8. How many conversations have you had regarding the "right" tattoo. I still want a crib sheet to know the tribal tattoos. 9. How many times did you bring the "extra" pair of wrestling shoes with you because someone other than your wrestler needed them? 10. How many times have you seen those parents that were your wrestler's opponents at an event and you prefer to speak to them before you want speak to your own school's parents. 11. Have you ever given your Copper wrist band to another parent so they could be mat-side. 12. How many times has your wrestler been beat fair and square and comes home and tell you play-by-play where he screwed up. Not angy, merely a lesson. 13. How many times has a parent approached you mad... and embarassed their own. 14. How many times has your wrestler lost only to have the official come up and say they "screwed up." 15. How many loads of laundry do you do for your wrestler? 16. Does your wrestler freak out when you over-react to a mosquito bite because you think it skin-funk. 17. How many times have you used bleach on skin-funk? 18. How many family vacations were to go wrestle (trust me...for non-wrestling siblings this is a big one) 19. Does your wrestler get really mad when you ask their weight. 21. Have you ever thought of buying stock in Gatorade or Power-Aid...because water isn't cool. 22. Have you ever thought "is this worth it?" I am posting this and will respond with my answers in the next post. I am posting this as most of the State top three have been in these situations with me...should be a fun post to read for moms and dads. I am sure there are more as my experience with my wrestler is about 15 years...my school parents don't understand the time, fun and friendships that develop in this sport from such a young age. I have answers, and could give names to everyone of these items. This is it for those of us who are parents to seniors...

Just two very simple questions. What is Mville's capacity in their gym and what is attendence? If those numbers don't match, then it's out of any AD/politician's hands as if the number of attendees exceed the seating limitations (in the gym) as that would make it a safety issue. Has anyone looked into those stats? Mathmatically, those numbers should be total tickets sold, wrestlers and coaches accounted for compared to the seating capacity in the gym. Does anyone know this info? In regards to the Mackey idea...quite frankly I love that idea, there is plenty of seating, hotels in the area (at all price ranges much like MVille) and I know that college coaches respect the rules of recruiting so I would take that notion off of the table. Someone mentioned in a previous thread of pulling together a committee to investigate and review what it would take to run such a tournament at a different venue. Sign me up as I will support ANY prospecting of another venue. And yes, I heard the same rumor (for 4 years now) about the MVille's AD's link with the IHSAA and how she gets to keep the event because of those links...no proof...just rumor so let's use some facts to change this moving forward. OK, last question. Has a fire-marshal attended this event to investigate the number of people? I take three kids with me plus a wrestler, grandparents...God forbid something happens as my group is so dispersed due to seating that I would not be able to round my family up to evacuate them all together if there was an emergency.

Tanner is planning on wrestling 174, it shouldn't be a difficult cut for him unless he has a growth spurt. I think he weighed in at state under 180 pounds on Saturday, and I know he weighed under 178 two hours after his finals match. Looking forward to watching Tanner and Braden compete for the "old gold and black".

I watched "THE Girl" yesterday and was very, very impressed. Not only did she dominate at times, she was relentless even in defeat. So I say, give her a chance and support her. I didn't see her once expecting special treatment or complaining. I know it would be hard to for a male to be beat in this sport by a female, but when the female is in better condition and has better technique the cards will fall where they may. My daughter wrestled through the 5th grade and in all of that time beat one kid (a boy) and the boy's mother got in my face telling me what a disgrace it was to have a girl on the mat. She promptly packed her kid up and left the tournament (hopefully to take him home and wean him) and I say good-bye to any wrestler (or wrestler's parents) who can't stomach the thought of a girl beating them or their boy. I have been watching this sport for 15 years and I will be cheering for her to beat all of her opponents because she deserves the support and respect of everyone as there as there is nothing a male is doing right now to prepare for the end of the season that she isn't doing. Fair is fair. Chromosones don't matter, it is the heart of the wrestler, the conditioning, the skill in technique and the desire. Who could hold anything against a wrestler who has everything going for her but the wrong XY combination as defined by many for this sport? Just my opinion...

Has anyone cross-referenced the number of Academic All-State wrestlers to the Merrillville semi-state wrestlers to see how many made it to semi-state and out (in short, on both lists)? Quickly skimming the two lists I think it would be pretty impressive and say a lot about the region that flows into MVille semi-state. Didn't want to re-invent the wheel if someone had this information.

Love this topic as I have posted this question for the last 4 years and seen some great responses. From my perspective, it's the 80-20 rule. 80% of the wrestlers don't know they are stalling (the less experienced wrestlers) and 20% of the wrestlers (the seasoned wrestlers) know exactly what they are doing. I believe 100% of the coaches know exactly what is going on and allow it or not. I see a lot of stalemate calls where I believe "double" stalling should be called to send the warning to each wrestler and let them know the official is looking closely. Yesterday at sectionals I watched a match where mid-3rd period (score was 2 us, 1 them) the opponent was moving forward pushing our wrestler off the mat with no offense (no shots, no setups...) but our wrestler backed out without trying to circle the opponent back to center. This happened about 4 times before our wrestler got called for stalling. Should have been double stalling in my opinion as both were definitely stalling. The results of the match don't matter but the opponent, by not being penalized didn't change his behavior as he didn't see it as a violation so did he learn anything? Will that strategy work for him the next match? Ok, I will tell you the result, the opponent did the same thing again and our guy circled back, swept a leg and pinned him (this was in the finals by the way) and the opponent was a decent wrestler, he just chose to be passive in the finals which cost him the championship. As long as stalling is an objective call from the official, I don't see a concrete set of criteria for stalling ever being established. We tell our wrestler to never get into a position to where stalling should be considered as an option or alternative. I think that is the best advice one can give. In short, don't put yourself in a position where the official can effect the end result. Many of the responses I have received on this topic I believe are from coaches where the tactic of stalling is part of their "strategery" which I find dissappointing. I know, many, many will disagree with my opinion and thats fine.

www.jconline.com has a summary of the results.

for?feit   /ˈfɔrfɪt/ Show Spelled[fawr-fit] Show IPA noun 1. a fine; penalty. 2. an act of forfeiting; forfeiture. 3. something to which the right is lost, as for commission of a crime or misdeed, neglect of duty, or violation of a contract. 4. an article deposited in a game because of a mistake and redeemable by a fine or penalty. 5. forfeits, ( used with a singular verb ) a game in which such articles are taken from the players. Above is copy and pasted from Dictionary.com regarding the meaning of a forfeit. My question is why are we seeing so many forfeits in this sport when the forfeiting team has competent wrestlers? For example, if you have a kid at weight "X" who has wrestled three matches in a tournament yet they forfeit a match in the fourth round and then wrestle again in the fifth round (keep in mind this is an example). How is that fair to the opponent and the kid at weight "X?" I guess I don't understand the strategy. I have heard so many explanations...kid isn't capable, kid's morale is fragile, don't want the kid getting hurt, his record...these are responses from coaches and I find them all crap. How does one get better? How about the boy sent back to the bench because his coaches don't have confidence in him? I personally think a forfeit should count as a loss just like an injury-default. I also think that wrestlers should enter tournaments at one weight. They choose not to wrestle a round, a loss for them and the team. Or, if a team forfeits a weight in one round you are done with that weight for the rest of the tournament. I just do not see this as strategy and the message to the athletes is pathetic, so please someone explain this genius plan to me. At least send your second-string wrestler on the mat and take a chance. Clearly I am missing something.

Point well taken to Unknown Wrestler. Had the BC coaches sent out a 182 pounder, Lynde wouldn't have wrestled up and Ricks would most likely still be undefeated. The BC program has improved tremendously over the years, but I think the coaches screwed up. Too many forfiets in this sport where there are capable wrestlers. Seems like too many coaches are willing to give up the 6 points rather than sending a "less-than-seasoned" wrestler on the mat (and I don't mean that mean). If I were a wrestler that got benched because a coach was protecting my record, or didn't want me getting hurt or "damaging my morale" I would be really upset not getting my time on the mat. Now, maybe the 182 pounder was hurt, but I don't think so. I think they mis-judged Tanner's willingness to get a match even if he had to wrestle-up.

Ricks kid a beast?

They are now taking deposits on the suites at Conseco for state. $1750 for the 20 seat suite. Includes your entrance and 4 parking passes. Right now, they are just looking for a $500 deposit and they had some left when I booked on Friday. Call Mike White at 317-917-2819, great guy and easy to work with.

This is an awesome publication. To see the kids that I first met at Kingsport, TN when they were 8 years old wrestling for "Team Indiana" as top contenders in the state this year and the pictures! I am buying 5 more copies. This years senior class has to be setting some records (and the underclassmen will most likely make this class look "average" in a few years). We all know there is more in Indiana than Basketball. :) Well done!

WC182Dad, Why all of the questions about T. Lynde?

T Lynde is weighing 145.

Just a quick Good Luck to Daniel as he heads off to the Marines. A great wrestler doing a great thing. Dad, you know who this is so send me an email so we can write to him (me from The Ville, madre of Wingman...)..I am ex-military as is my spouse, so I would love to hear how things are going for him. I am very proud of him as is my family. Congrats for having such a brave son, and God be with him always. We wish him the best.

Pretty sure there is a sport (maybe not considered a sport to many) for weight lifting. Wrestling is a sport of strength along with balance, agility, intelligence and TECHNIQUE. Maybe you guys should start a new thread on who's kids can bench more than others (granted there should be pics and video for our viewing pleasure). Thought this was about wrestling and I have seen some pretty strong kids go down pretty easily. Seriously, my kid's stronger than your kid? Let's talk about wrestling moves and who is best at what move and why. Heck those kids on Jersey Shore can probably bench quite a bit but that doesn't mean I watch that crap. I am also pretty sure that wrestling requires not only upper body strength but core strength and some pretty strong hips and legs...with everything I am reading I am going to see some sad kids leaving Conseco on a Friday night who are built like little kids toy tops. :'(

Anyone have an update on Penn Xtreme Gold?

Just want to note that there are a lot of upper-classemen wrestler's names in this thread that started out at a "bad/unfortunate" weight as freshmen. My son started as a freshmen at 135/140 - tough weight as a freshman. He didn't complain as I am sure others didn't. I just want to note that some of the wrestler's listed in this thread as "exceptions" started out in tough weight classes (mine suffered many losses ) and the reason one might think they are exceptions is because what they put into the sport, behind the scene. They work this sport year round like it's their job, no one is born a great wrestler. I don't want to hear or read about some low-weight freshman or young heavy weight is not getting a fair shake. If he or her puts the time into the sport then they will prevail, and that is why I pay $6 for a coke at Conseco...to watch them. This isn't a sport where everyone gets a trophy, that crap is for little league baseball or T-ball and proves no point other than sending the message that they deserve something they didn't work for or deserve. No one deserves respect in this sport unless they pay for it at some point... Wrestling is the greatest sport around and the best prevail. Condition, condition, condition...quit complaining (please) and quit mentioning wrestlers names as exceptions...because those exceptions have became exceptions due their work ethic and dedication, weight class change or not. Feel free to send the hate mail now...

Have to say that watching the Indiana boys was a true pleasure. Joked with a lot of their parents and the coaches as we recalled watching many of these boys over 7 years ago at Kingsport when they were little stinkers and several of them came together to compete as a team not knowing each other from Adam. Back in those days there were a lot tears and more losses than wins..but look at them now. The two teams really collected not only the top talent in our state, but those boys are friends and better yet great teammates. With all of the bad officiating never seen one of our guys lose his cool, they rallied around each-other and over came the obsticles. Kudos to the coaches, they kept it above the bar. Does anyone know where the trophy will be kept? Personally, I think it should move around to the coaches to display at their school before retiring it to "headquarters" in hopes that it helps their programs (and they should get some credit for it). Just not sure how that works. One last thing, Alex Griffin of McCutcheon wrestled for Texas as they needed a wrestler at the last minute. I know one of our Indiana coaches bought the Texas singlet for Alex as the rule was he got no gear, just the opportunity to compete and get better and Alex told me he was good with that (Alex is not my son)...but he really wanted that singlet. So, whoever did that is a great person and beat me to it as I was going to get him one hell or high-water. Thank you to whoever did that. If anyone has a great team pic with the sweatshirts on they should post it on this site. I think everyone would appreciate it as these guys made history.

I agree, these are very solid teams. I know the boys are already there but I would like to say this: Pain is inevitable Defeat is optional Honor is forever and Pride can be bruised BUT Regret is hard to over-come ...so no regrets, you are all there on a mission, as individuals but more importantly as a team representing your state. Win or lose, let's represent Indiana in a way like no other. In short: Stick them quick and move on to the next one (this ain't practice). If by chance you lose a match, back-up and re-focus and beat the next one. My phone is ringing, I think it may be the Hallmark greeting card company...

Where do I buy a "Miracle-Whipped" T-shirt? Seriously, I need to pass a few out to some boys she's whipped and quite possibly some people that think women don't belong in this sport...(I get the patent if anyone makes one...). Seriously, it's great to see her successes and I hope to see more.

Hats off to the Welch brothers! I know that the competition is tough there (not personally, but through two of my wrestlers there last year). Great accomplishments and everyone should be proud of you. So congrats from the Delphi area as you both deserve it. Keep it up and I may become a Purdue wrestling fan.

I too would like to see Team State continue...but what can we as individuals do to plead our case to the IHSAA? Seriously, can individuals petition them to continue this venue? I don't believe that any of the wrestlers who competed yesterday cared how big their competition's enrollment was, they wanted to be there as a team and that is what makes that tournament so great. The little guys can wrestle the big guys...we came from a school that ended their year with 2 kids on the varsity wrestling team. Believe it or not, there are so many wrestlers out there who never have known what it is to be a part of a 14-man wrestling team. That is something that many take for granted and we should not. What makes wrestling so great is that there are individual opportunities as well as team opportunities, both opportunities help form our young wrestlers and develop them to be great young adults in the real world as they understand the value of being the best individual they can be but also understand the value of being a team (in a department, business or work group). These are truly valuable lessons, and this sport truly represents the real-world, at least in my opinion. I have heard Mr. Cox isn't too receptive to input, but surely there is some action that could those of us who believe in the Team State tournament could take to plead our case. What if a coach's consortium was created to represent this case? I guess I just don't believe in lost causes if we don't fight for what we believe. Because if we don't fight, then we can't complain if/when it goes away. For those of you who think Team State is in the past, that's fine and I am not going to bust anyone's chops. But for those of us who believe in it we should fight to keep it alive. If anyone believes that a consortium of coaches could be effective to fight this potential change, please respond. We can post a new topic for those of use willing to fight this, but there could be no hiding behind user names, we would need to identify ourselves, coordinate and pull together one message to send up to the IHSAA. Failure to fight this only means we all agree to the change without representation. And if we don't get the point across and lose the battle we would know we battled, and the wrestler's deserve that and it is the least we could do.

Gentelemen and Ladies, I think we have lost the focus of this post. Would you take the sport of wrestling away from the very few young ladies who participate in this sport? What if in fact that they are the better wrestler? You ban them to only compete among their own sex? Why? If it were my own daughter in this predicament (and it is not), then I would encourage her to compete to the best of her ability. That is what parents do. Does anyone get the WIN magazine? Do you honestly think the women in that pub got better by wrestling only women? Please don't take the position that women should not wrestle men for you have then taken the position that women have no place in wrestling. Women have progressed from being the June Cleavers of the world. Everyone needs to accept that.