Chris Cooper

My team is in that sectional and it is night and day to previous years.  We have VERY few kids or weight classes that would be considered "top tier", but there are a few good wrestlers that know what there doing (and yest will most likely struggle at the regional), but I do look forward to seeing several weight classes that have kids who are very competitive at this sectional (126, 160, and 285 come to mind quickly) and most of those kids are just as nervous and anxious as those kids preparing for the Avon sectional.  
More importantly though if you are only looking at the top tier kids, how they do competing with each other, you may be missing a piece of the sport that makes most of us smile especially at sectional.  It is the kids seeded 6th or unseeded at sectional who overcomes all odds and their own doubts to place 4th and get to wrestle at regional.  Some of them will have achieved their only goal in wrestling after 4 years taking a beating in practice, never even believing they could do it because they wrestled behind a stud or had 5 studs in the sectional.  That kid will ll be just as happy (and most likely or more so) than most of the wrestlers who lose in the go round or on Friday night. 
Weak or strong there is a lot of happiness and tears getting ready to happen on Saturday, but that is what make sectional entertaining and brings a lot of smiles.  

Man... TripleB beat me to it... Legendary poster right there...  Well known from the streets of Broad Ripple all the way to Windsor, Canada.
 
 

Last match at 12:30. Good job Dustin
 
Phil Cook

Shout out to coach Cooper and the Columbus East Wrestling team on a great tournament.. 
 
My vote for wrestler of the day would have to Corban Pollitt on beating Foster of Floyd Central and wathen of Jennings County ...both ranked kids and Foster beat Corban at the beginning of December in the team dual.. 
 
1 Columbus East  261.0 2 Floyd Central  194.0 3 Jeffersonville  179.5 4 Jennings County  149.0 5 New Albany  143.0 6 Seymour  141.0 7 Madison Consolidated  113.5 8 Bedford North Lawrence  62.0

Cade Rooks is getting over an illness.  Believe me, he would have loved nothing more than being able to compete against Brownsburg.
Good dual tonight.  Thanks to Brownsburg for being willing to switch the date on late notice and coming down to compete.  Fantastic team.

Best ones I have seen this year was Columbus East.  I thought the fit on their shorts and shirts were ideal and looked good too.  Everybody else I have seen wear the shorts I feel have been a little bit on the baggy side, but as far as functionality, there were no issues I seen during the matches.  An ideal thing to do when introducing anything new however, is to reevaluate how it worked out for the year and make necessary adjustments.  Crossing my fingers.

To the diehard wrestling people the 2 piece uniform (shirt and loose fitting shorts) may not be the look they would like to see in a wrestling match. But, to the casual wrestling fan, parent, random student that showed up to watch, the 2 piece uniform with loose fitting shorts is by far a better look. I have asked many of our new fans and all have said they like seeing the 2 piece uniform much more than the singlet. I am a diehard obviously so I have no problem with the singlet. Just giving the opinions from our casual fans.

There is definitely a negative correlation between a kid with a tougher schedule and the number of forfeits he receives.  It’s certainly not an r value of -1, probably more like a -0.6.
That certainly doesn’t mean the kid who wrestles the toughest schedule in the state doesn’t see a lot of forfeits.  I would bet a great deal that Mason Parris gets a ton of forfeits, where as probably any other Lawrenceburg kid with the same schedule has less forfeits.  It also doesn’t mean that a kid with a very weak schedule catches a ton of forfeits either.  But I think on average, a kid with a tougher schedule receives less forfeits than a kid who wrestles a stronger schedule.
No one can look at those numbers above and say who wrestles a tougher schedule.  Give me the team names and I probably could.  I could tell you the teams in our sectional and how their schedule stacks up with the other teams because I am familiar with them.  The debate is, when the only remaining determination of a seed is winning percentage, is it better to only look at the actual matches wrestled, or include the forfeits he has taken.  I say, only the matches wrestled.
 

There is definitely a negative correlation between a kid with a tougher schedule and the number of forfeits he receives.  It’s certainly not an r value of -1, probably more like a -0.6.
That certainly doesn’t mean the kid who wrestles the toughest schedule in the state doesn’t see a lot of forfeits.  I would bet a great deal that Mason Parris gets a ton of forfeits, where as probably any other Lawrenceburg kid with the same schedule has less forfeits.  It also doesn’t mean that a kid with a very weak schedule catches a ton of forfeits either.  But I think on average, a kid with a tougher schedule receives less forfeits than a kid who wrestles a stronger schedule.
No one can look at those numbers above and say who wrestles a tougher schedule.  Give me the team names and I probably could.  I could tell you the teams in our sectional and how their schedule stacks up with the other teams because I am familiar with them.  The debate is, when the only remaining determination of a seed is winning percentage, is it better to only look at the actual matches wrestled, or include the forfeits he has taken.  I say, only the matches wrestled.
 

There is definitely a negative correlation between a kid with a tougher schedule and the number of forfeits he receives.  It’s certainly not an r value of -1, probably more like a -0.6.
That certainly doesn’t mean the kid who wrestles the toughest schedule in the state doesn’t see a lot of forfeits.  I would bet a great deal that Mason Parris gets a ton of forfeits, where as probably any other Lawrenceburg kid with the same schedule has less forfeits.  It also doesn’t mean that a kid with a very weak schedule catches a ton of forfeits either.  But I think on average, a kid with a tougher schedule receives less forfeits than a kid who wrestles a stronger schedule.
No one can look at those numbers above and say who wrestles a tougher schedule.  Give me the team names and I probably could.  I could tell you the teams in our sectional and how their schedule stacks up with the other teams because I am familiar with them.  The debate is, when the only remaining determination of a seed is winning percentage, is it better to only look at the actual matches wrestled, or include the forfeits he has taken.  I say, only the matches wrestled.
 

I have never once, nor have any of my kids, ever, ever, equated the purpose of the regular season to garner a record to get seeds at sectionals.

I have never once, nor have any of my kids, ever, ever, equated the purpose of the regular season to garner a record to get seeds at sectionals.

I agree with this.  But to me, this is just a general statement that doesn't really apply to the issue of using forfeits to determine seeds.  I'm not scheduling a team that has a lot of forfeits because I want my kids to get matches.  
Do you think a coach will decide... hey, I'm not scheduling team xyz anymore because we can't use their forfeits in the seeding meeting?  Maybe someone thinks this way, but it seems crazy to me.

The example I gave isn’t fictional, at least the part about the 16 forfeits.  
If anyone gets “penalized” at a seed meeting it’s the kid who wrestles the toughest schedule.  It’s not like the kid with all the forfeits has to sit the tournament out, he just won’t be seeded based off of his forfeits alone.
If one criteria to separate kids is winning percentage, it seems logical that strength of schedule should play a part.  While it is diffficult to measure strength of schedule, it is easy to see and count forfeits.

forfeits do not tell you who the better wrestler is.
I get the scare of the new, and how it might be perceived it could hurt someone.   I completly respect the opinion, but hope that people will give it an open minded try, as I think there are more positives then negatives.  The only reason rules are made in the first place is because someone was trying to manipulate something.   The intent to hurt is not there.  The likelihood of it helping more kids is definitely there.  The possibility of a coach minipulating a rule to his advantage is always there - no matter what way it goes. 
Instead of talking and comparing the actual wins and losses, maybe we should discuss and compare the quality of forfeits? My forfeits are better than your forfeits? (just joking)
In no other sport would you use a forfeit to seed someone, just think of the NCAA basketball tourney seeding based on games not actually played.  "well, we didnt play duke, but could have, and didnt, so that is a win, seed me higher than them."
It does come down to morals - people were dodging people before this rule came about - they will dodge kids with this rule and they will dodge kids without this rule.  this rule has nothing to do with dodging.  If a kid and coach want competition, they will seek competition.  If they want to avoid, they will. Schools that actually sought out forfeits to make their record look better will remain - their record is their record.  The larger schools will wrestle the smaller schools at the same rate they already do - cause forfeits won't count and now coaches will possibly actually want that match to happen.  We can never stop people avoiding matches, we can never stop teams with tougher or weaker schedules.  Although i wish all schools in Indiana were the exact same size - we can't control that either.  
But what we can do is compare actual wrestled matches to actual wrestled matches.  Not an actual wrestled match to a ghost match.
I can't speak for others, but I know ill keep schools I need for sectional seeding cause i want the actual head to head match wrestled.  the forfeits in their lineup have nothing to do with us wanting the head to head competion.  Ill keep inviting all sizes of school to jeff classic because I want to see our smaller schools have that platform.  Ill keep doing battle of the bridge and including smaller schools because I want their kids to grow too and have opportunities too.  We can't stop coaches that dont or wont seek competition.  We can help comparing actual matches.
if forfeits actually showed the strength of a wrestler, on the results page we should start writing - Freddie had 4 quality forfeits today in his tourney. (again just kidding)
forfeits do not tell you who the better wrestler is.

I have never once, nor have any of my kids, ever, ever, equated the purpose of the regular season to garner a record to get seeds at sectionals.

This logic is crazy..... So you are saying, you will forfeit any matches in which you don't have a chance to win if the team score is no longer in doubt?
This rule does not punish all kids in the 3-6th seed range.  How could a rule about seeding wrestlers possibly punish all the wrestlers?
The only kid that is negatively effected by this is the kid that previously was getting unwarrented seeds based on an inflated record due to forfeits.
It's not like the rule counts forfeits in winning percentage for one wrestler but doesn't count them for another wrestler.

I believe it's an effort to account for strength of schedule.
Just an example of why this is a good idea.... one kid is 22-9, another 8-4.  No head to head, no common opponents.  22-9 is a better win %, but the 22-9 kid has received 16 forfeits.  So you really are looking at a kid who is 6-9 in matches wrestled, compared to the one that is 8-4.

Gotcha... I guess my reply is it’s still the same as before.  
If a coach was going to try and cheat by giving false info on matches won, he was probably cheating before giving false info on the kids record.

This logic is crazy..... So you are saying, you will forfeit any matches in which you don't have a chance to win if the team score is no longer in doubt?
This rule does not punish all kids in the 3-6th seed range.  How could a rule about seeding wrestlers possibly punish all the wrestlers?
The only kid that is negatively effected by this is the kid that previously was getting unwarrented seeds based on an inflated record due to forfeits.
It's not like the rule counts forfeits in winning percentage for one wrestler but doesn't count them for another wrestler.

Team Balboa (Columbus East) wrestled in about 40 duals and another 10+ individual matches in a two piece this summer and I only remember one instance where there was even remotely an issue and it was very minimal.  A kid got his shorts wrapped up in a shoe, match didn't even need to be stopped.  No penality points, no tangled body parts, etc.

Absolutely 100% workout/lift on game/meet day.  Of course it's bball, but research some of Michael Jordan's game day workouts.

I couldn't say enough good things about Team Balboa.  Kids battled hard all duals vs some very tough teams, especially after all the other wrestling we did down here before the duals.  Thanks to Social Circle GA, Manatee FL, and Brandon FL teams and coaches for allowing us to come workout and compete at their schools.  Very coachable and hard working group.  It was nice to see all the Indiana teams compete and do well.  Hope everyone has a safe trip home.

I couldn't say enough good things about Team Balboa.  Kids battled hard all duals vs some very tough teams, especially after all the other wrestling we did down here before the duals.  Thanks to Social Circle GA, Manatee FL, and Brandon FL teams and coaches for allowing us to come workout and compete at their schools.  Very coachable and hard working group.  It was nice to see all the Indiana teams compete and do well.  Hope everyone has a safe trip home.

I couldn't say enough good things about Team Balboa.  Kids battled hard all duals vs some very tough teams, especially after all the other wrestling we did down here before the duals.  Thanks to Social Circle GA, Manatee FL, and Brandon FL teams and coaches for allowing us to come workout and compete at their schools.  Very coachable and hard working group.  It was nice to see all the Indiana teams compete and do well.  Hope everyone has a safe trip home.