meveler

Situation at Elkhart Memorial Sectional was completely different - Mask was worn to protect a fractured nose and was worn during all four of the wrestler's matches. The mask had nothing to do with any skin issue. Spot on face was ringworm that was diagnosed by our family physician the Monday before Sectional and had been treated three times daily for four days prior to the meet. Family physician also completed and signed the IHSAA form.

I was not promoting MYWAY, but the method in which they run a tournament. True satellite weigh-ins, split start times for various age groups, licensed officials, mat side pairings and punctual start times. With the exception of the satellite weigh-ins these are all concepts used at ISWA state, but rarely if ever incorporated in tournaments in the northern part of Indiana.

We wrestle both ISWA & MYWAY tournaments. The solution to the honor system that MYWAY uses is a true satellite weigh-in the night prior to the event. If there is a tournament within the Southwest region of the state you can weigh-in the night before the event at the actual tournament location or at one of two alternative weigh-in sites witin the same region. Weigh-ins are generally from 6-8pm the night before the event. They still allow weigh-ins the day of the tournament, however they end them an hour and a half before the start of the tournament, which encourages people to attend the satellite weigh-ins. I also find it disheartening that a parent or coach of a youth wrestler would stoop to cheating to win a tournament at any level. Too often parents fail to realize that wrestling is a great sport for developing lifeskills and although victory is the ultimate goal when you step on the mat, they are undermining the lifeskills component of the sport by lying about a child's weight, especially since wrestlers are typically aware of their own weight.

Living near the Indiana/Michigan border we normally attend three or four of the MYWAY tournaments a year mixed in with our ISWA wrestling. In addition to the scheduling tools available on the MYWAY website they also post results within a day or so of the event on the same site. This is what draws us to these tournaments: 1) Off site satellite weigh-ins; typically located halfway between our location and the host school the night before - On site weigh ins are conducted the day of the event, however they end an hour and a half before the event starts, which means the morning session of a split tournament starts at the scheduled time. 2) Licensed officials on all mats all day long. 3) Mat side pairings - wrestle all day on one mat 4) Similar competition as we see in ISWA 5) New opponents 6) MYWAY wrestles for true second at all events ( If you get third and did not meet the second place finisher throughout the day you have the opportunity to wrestle for second ) 7) No card required 8) Split start times The last couple of events that we have attended have been capped at 550 participants and have had split start times. We still wrestle more ISWA events than MYWAY events, however they do seem more organized. There are always exceptions to the rule and we have been to a couple of these events that left something to be desired. The Penn Folkstyle tournament earlier this year incorporated some of these same ideas and was by far the best ISWA event that we have attended this year.