Coach Day

Anyone who knows me, knows I love the dual part of wrestling.  As I give an opinion, keep in mind I’m at Brownsburg.  We don’t have a dog in the fight.  We will be largest division regardless.   Our goal is to win so it doesn’t matter if 8 or 12 teams go.  
 
Those that have an issue with the new system, would Joe’s suggestion/compromise take care of this -
4A and 3A have 8 teams.
1A and 2A have 12 teams.  
 
Is there a schedule or space concern I’m not aware of?
 
If this is best for 1A and 2A schools, I’d say do it.  Just my 2 cents.  Thanks to everyone who makes Team State such a great event.  
 
Snyder

Weigh in sheets

If we have 8 teams per division...
why not have a straightforward bracket that we can show to non-wrestling people, publish in a newspaper, put on a t-shirt, promote without sounding like weirdos, predict results without round-robin tie-breakers, etc.
 
Are we thirsty for a fourth/fifth match at the championships? Why not have 4 rounds: quarters, conso/semis together, conso, finals
and place six or eight? 

The Takedown the Stigma-Wrestling for Mental Health Awareness was a success bringing in over $1900 in donations!  Thanks to Bowen Center, Parkview Behavior Health, Parkview Sports Medicine, Remedy Live, the Snider Counselors, and fans!

Triple B--
I don't know you so I can't impugn your character like you did mine. I used a real word, with a real and definite meaning. I do not engage in our current looking-to-be-offended-cancel-culture.
 
Our LIfe Skills students at PH are part of our program as managers. I would never use a word designed to demean a person with a disability. The word is a VERB. The horrible term you refer to is a slang term that I never use and have admonished my wrestlers and football players for using. If you wish to speak to me directly as opposed to attacking me in a public forum, my phone is 765-610-8150.
 
Dave Cloud

A great time at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony today (kudos to HoF direct Scott Schwarz and the IHSWCA executive staff).) Great to hear the stories about the inductees and what they have done to build our great sport. I will be forever indebted to all those who helped me along the way. Special thanks to Coach Rex Peckinpaugh for his touching induction speech for me. Rex shared a poem he wrote about the rivalry and enduring friendships between coaches and I wanted to share it with all of you.Thanks, Rex, I love you, brother.
I look across the mat
And I see a friend
I see a man who has toiled like I
And never gives up until the end
 
I see a man who is a leader
One that I certainly have admired
I see a guy who I know keeps going
Even at times when he is oh so tired
 
I see a man who I want to beat
But one I love just the same
A man I have struggled against
In this crazy coaching game
 
I see a friend I have cried with
One I have laughed with as well
A man who I know if I needed him
Would always answer the bell
 
I see a friend over there
In that corner across the way
I see a brother I have fought with
But one I will love till my dying day.
                               --Rex Peckinpaugh      2/2019

I would just like to give credit to the young men and coaches for carrying yourselves like champions win or lose this weekend.  The overwhelming majority showed great sportsmanship and respect for their competitors no matter the match outcome.  There are a lot of people that want to point out the negative, but I think it's important that we take a minute and point out the positive, as well.  Way to represent your school, your wrestling program, your coaches, and your family!  These young men have put a lot of time, sweat, and tears (and certainly a lot of blood) into this and when you don't get the outcome you desire, it is tough to control your emotions.  These life lessons are far more important than any win or loss.  Well done to the competitors and well done to the coaching staffs.  

Just curious who has the best and worst wrestling rooms in the State. Please share! Thanks!

What the heck? Why are they different than what they showed! Anybody have answers?

Coach Day and I want answers now!!!! @Y2CJ41 Did you order the code red.... I mean the brackets to be changed!!!! 

What the heck? Why are they different than what they showed! Anybody have answers?

I second KC Battlegear, BEST Prices! Great to work with!

I second KC Battlegear, BEST Prices! Great to work with!

There have been a ton of interesting topics and threads about the subjects listed in my title...every year they come up.  We are a very passionate group and I think we all agree that wrestling needs to grow.  From my little perch in Rochester, Indiana here is my 2 cents...which my step-dad always used to say "Wouldn't buy me a cheap cup of coffee"...so take it as you will.
1. I am a class supporter...both individual and team.  I don't think it will solve every problem but I do believe, in my heart, it will affect the numbers of our sport and more kids will participate and benefit from wrestling.  Yes basketball is classed and viewing numbers have dropped BUT, at Rochester, basketball still has a full varsity, a full JV, and a full freshman team.  People may not attend as much as they used to, but kids are still playing.  No offense to our basketball coaches, but we aren't very good and about 5-6 of those kids should really be wrestling.  I believe that those individuals wrestling in a state championship tournament from a Class 1A or 2A school, will bring notoriety to their school, be talked to by college coaches, and ultimately attract kids to give it a shot...especially at the younger levels.
2. We are fighting a bigger battle than class wrestling and that is a societal change from our youth programs to the HS Seniors.  I love kids, love teaching them, and love coaching them...but the fact is there aren't has many kids to choose from now days that are willing to do what you have to do to just be on the team.  I'm not talking about wrestling varsity.  I'm talking about just being on the team. Very few young men want to endure the physicality of wrestling to wrestle JV.  Kids are used to getting it now or hitting the "reset" button and being able to start over when they lose.  Wrestling requires a ton of work to get what one wants.  Kids don't want to do the work and wait around for 2-3 years to earn their spot...they especially don't want to wrestle year round to have to earn it.  While I don't understand that way of thinking, I do recognize it as an issue.
3.  I'm going to get crucified for this...We, coaches and lovers of wrestling, have done a really bad job of making our sport fun, marketable, and fan/family friendly to the masses.  I include myself in that as well.  
We wrestle too many all day super duals, two-day 10 ways, and too many matches.  At Rochester, we have adjusted our schedule to make it more marketable to kids, families, and fans.  This year it helped with attendance and numbers.  We had a dual with Northwestern and brought in our elementary and MS teams to wrestle before the HS dual.  Had a DJ and spotlights...each kid had their own walk-out song.  Nothing but positive feedback.  We also took some long Saturday's off of our schedule and put in some week night Quads so kids could have their weekend back. That was a hit with parents.  HS season is long...even longer for the elite kids that go year round.  Can you imagine how long it is for those kids with a .500 or losing record wrestling every Saturday and going 0-5, 1-4, 2-3 and maybe earning 1-2 wins or getting forfeits? How many more youth events can we host in a year...especially in Folkstyle?  We got HYWAY, ISWA (From November to April), Elementary Friendship meets, etc.  Yep, I'm guilty as a Coach and a Dad...we take advantage of it. But that doesn't make me right.  I started wrestling at 14. Wrestled the HS Season, went to Freestyle and wrestled as much as I could, but it was over in April. Nothing from May to November unless you made a Fargo team.  Now there is something EVERY single month of the year to choose from.  We want kids to be kids and play other sports but there is something for wrestling EVERY.SINGLE.MONTH.  We don't stop.  The argument is, and it's valid, the family or coach has to choose and know when to back off.  An argument to the argument, and it's valid, is that if it's not available then the family or coach doesn't feel like they need to do it.  Our kids also don't feel like they have to choose.  I'm NOT advocating that we throw the baby out with the bath water, but coaches and our associations should take a look at how we can retain kids, give them experience, and not have an event EVERY.SINGLE.MONTH!! 4.  Bring back the Freestyle and Greco season after the IHSAA State Tournament.  If the ISWA won't give up Folkstyle State, then at least look at a different date.  HS kids don't have to be included in that.  They just wrestled an entire season of folkstyle.  Once IHSAA State ends, have 3 weeks off with no tournaments.  RTC's open all over Indiana and train exclusively in FS and Greco.  Starting in Mid-March, have 5 tournaments on a Saturday or Sunday.  One in the North, South, East, West, and Central for 2 consecutive weeks.  Then 2 weeks of training.  First week within in your RTC, then the second bring 2-3 RTC's together to train.  1 week of tournaments...same as before.  Then the State Tournament.  Be done in April instead of May.  I'm sure this would need tweaking and my weeks might be off...but the idea has merit.
5.  This kind of goes along with #3 and all of the folkstyle events for our youth, but I believe we need a true youth season.  I'd like to see us go November Practice, December Compete, and have Folkstyle State the same weekend as the ISWA Elementary Duals and then be done with Folkstyle.  Janauary...OFF...no wrestling.  Start them training in FS and Greco in February, no tournaments. Tournaments start in Mid-March and go to Freestyle State in April.  This stuff of going November - December with duals, wrestling state duals over break, then coming right back to the "individual" season from January to March, then freestyle (for those that can't control themselves and just have to do it :)) from March to May...it's kind of ridiculous.  We tell our kids that they shouldn't play tackle football year round, we tell our baseball players that they really can't throw year round...but we have kids at 8-9 years old wrestling from October (most practices start) to May.  Before you tear me up...just think about that...from October to May.  Why is that ok for wrestling but not ok for other sports?
I know there are arguments against my points and we have some kids that want to train all the time.  I get it.  If there would have been year round wrestling in Richmond, Indiana when I was 14, I would have done it.  I love it that much.  I would have hit the RTC's, the tournaments, everything.  But I don't coach me and the majority of our kids and families can't afford to, don't have the time to, or just don't want to train/compete as much as the die hards do.  Do the kids who want to train/wrestle year round deserve the chance to do it, yep, and I'm sure we can all find a way for those killers to do that...heck they will anyway.  But as a group, wrestling can do better to attract and retain those kids and families that don't.  We have pretty much given the masses the ultimatum of either do this to be great or quit...unfortunately I think too many quit.
Side note: This doesn't include summer camps, academies, and off season open mats.
Just my 2 cents...
Ready...GO!

Not at all. I think we need to have better defined off seasons, I think we need to practice and train more...wrestle in competitions less.  We need to get away from everything being folkstyle.  I think we need to do a better job of eliminating all day Saturday/Sunday events.  We aren’t losing the kids who are all in.  We are losing the kids and families who aren’t.  There are lot more kids that are middle of the road than killers. We keep losing them...look at the FF data from 2015 to 2018.  
A lot of people get on here and argue or complain.  I offered up some solutions.  Sorry if that’s too much reading for you. If we continue doing what we are doing, the data will continue the same trend. 

He wears the green strings in honor of his late friend Levi Black and for Suicide Awareness. Thanks for noticing.

I'm sure the buzz around Monrovia right now will help get some more wrestlers out for the program.
Many small schools have clubs and have had clubs for MANY years.
 
Simply starting a club doesn't magically make great wrestlers.

Three class --3A--2A--1A 1st--8----5---1 2nd--8----4---2 3rd--12---1---1 4th--12---2---0 5th--10---4---0 6th--11---3---0 7th--10---4---0 8th--6----6---2 Qua--139--69--16 Placers 3A- 77 2A- 29 1A- 6   2 Class --2A--1A 1st---11---3 2nd---10---4 3rd---12---2 4th---12---2 5th---12---2 6th---13---1 7th---10---4 8th---10---4 Qua--167--57  
Placers
2A- 90 1A- 22

Casual if we had classes we would be treated as a team sport and not an individual is basically what I've been told. I felt there was a little confusion from the IHSAA on exactally what we wanted, but I felt that the IHSAA didn't seem real keen on having us have a multi class team championship, and a 1 class individual tournament. I also didn't get the vibe that they were real interested in having our individual portion classed at this point as none of the other individual sports are classed.

I get everything that is being stated above, but other than giving us more clout with the IHSAA I don't see how having a three week tournament really helps out our sport.
I see a lot of discussion about how small teams need more representation at state, but wouldn't having less opportunities to make it to regionals and semi-state negatively effect the small schools even more? That would mean less patches, less sectional champ pictures on the wall, less accomplishments and opportunities overall.
I'm not being snarky here in the least, just legitimately wondering what positives it would bring.

Mike Day
Centerville