randalllynch

How does anyone know how mature a middle school kid is going to be 4 or 5 years later? Just my opinion but from 20 years in the military the 17/18 years old coming out of basic training who wrestled were for the most part much more prepared for life than those who had not. They knew how to work, how the succeed, how to respect, and most importantly how recover from failing.

Just a question, and I am definitely not questioning any of the quals of ranked kids, Bailey Lahue did not make the list. Was it a question of the weight he will be going?

You also have to be careful using off-season data to do inferential analysis against the high school season. Since most wrestlers don't wrestle the same weights in the ISWA season as they do in the IHSAA season your analysis could off. Also, the ISWA season is more or less individual in nature with where as the IHSAA season has a team perspective with individuals moving up and down to keep a team competitive (and also wrestlers looking for a spot in the varsity line-up).

Boston and Micic should be the favorites at 106

USA Preseason Nationals 10/29/2011 University of Northern Iowa UNI Dome 2501 Hudson Rd. Cedar Falls, IA 50614 You can sign your kids up via trackwrestling.com

I am taking some kids to the pre-season nationals in Iowa. Schoolboy and Cadets Randy Lynch Scribner Middle School New Albany Wrestling Club

Tristen Dowell - returning 7th grader

Bailey Lahue from Corydon - I believe he won everything he entered this last year. He will be a freshman.

Wondering if there is any word yet?

I agree on the a point you make a coach can "GUIDE" the athlete and enforce the rules. I took it as a given that coaches are already working with any wrestler who has decided to go down in weight on nutrition and the minimum weight the athlete could be (according to the IHSAA). I do know the weight the kids I coach are trying to get to, especially during the school season, I talk to the parents and the wrestler but if they are meeting the confines of the rules all I can really do is watch to make sure the wrestler is safe when they are under my charge. One thing I would like to add to this is that I believe extreme weight loss is rarer now than ever. It happens but not like 30 years ago, kids are physically stronger and better wrestlers now so there is not as much of an advantage as there used to be. It is the lack of understanding the affects of weight loss on performance and the toll it takes on the mental part of the game that I believe is a bigger issue (thus losing kids to the sport all together).

I just don't see how a school program can control weight loss other than by enforcing the rules and what the kids can wear to practice in. Diet and other weigh loss methods come back to the parents and the individual wrestlers, unless the kids are moving in with the coach during the season. I played the yoyo game in high school, 134 to 119 every week, and it did take all the enjoyment out of my senior year, and I was so burned out by regional I sadly didn't care if I won or lost. But my coaches had nothing to do with it, and my parents didn't understand the sport enough to stop me. While I don't necessarily agree with the number, if the 1.5% is enforced during the practice week then the "yoyo" methodology would not even be a player. I now have a son who wrestles and I manage my sons weight loss and provide him a diet and the other tools (stationary bike, treadmill, running shoes) to facilitate losing weight if that is what he feels he needs to do. But I don't lock him from the refrigerator either, he has to have the will power and fortitude to do it, if he wants to eat and still make weight I explain to him the additional exercise he will need to do (calories in vs calories used). No short cuts, no saunas, no plastic suites, no water loss to make weight, we have a hot tub but he is not allowed to use it except to alleviate soreness and only for 15 minutes. I have a set of calipers and I measure his body fat, 7% is the rule, so 7% is what we go by. We don't even talk about pounds until the days just prior to getting on the scales. He grew 5 inches this year and it definitely had an affect on his weight, but he stayed around 7% and went up 2 weight classes (much to his dismay and many arguments from him about wanting to stay in the lower class). Not saying this is for everyone, but I wish I would have done it this way.

Are there any plans in the works for a pre-season tourney this year?

Last 6 years: 2011 ? Boston (Freshman) 2010 ? Phillips (Sophomore) 2009 ? Phillips (Freshman) 2008 ? Raley (Freshman) - Senior Won 135 2007 ? Eppert (Sophomore) - Senior Won 119 2006 ? Harper (Freshman) - Senior Won125 Not sure the concern over Freshman doing so well is a valid concern as it appears that when they become seniors they performed equally well at a higher weight.

Official announcement is supposed to be o/a 1 may

Has anyone heard if a decision has been made - they met this week

Some people may be forgetting, Folkstyle State is already broken up into two events, as many coaches will be traveling back to Indy this weekend for the second half; Schoolboys, Cadets, and Juniors.

This is not a complaint but a confirmation that I don't see how it could have gone any faster. I had one of wrestlers wrestle twice in 5 1/2 hours. BUT the mat was never empty, there were no delays from the table, and the wrestlers were there to start the matches. For the environment that they had to work in I don't see how it could have been improved!

Don't be surprised to see Baily Lahue make a statement as a freshman

Why do you think that a 103 doesn't take any lumps? They get pounded in practice, if they are a freshman for the most they get pounded on the mat every time they wrestle an upper upperclassman during the matches. Does anyone really believe wrestling is an easier sport for kids who weigh 103 than those who weigh 145. If a kid stays out for the wrestling team a whole year they deserve respect for doing it, regardless of what they weigh. And remember a 103 pounder only gets to work out (and mostly pounded by) with heavier kids every day at practice, not during matches, every day! So lets put on those shoes before anyone throws stones about if they deserve a letter at the end of the year. Yes I was a 105 pounder as a freshman and a 119 as a senior, and now I see my son, a 98 pounder, get demolished by the 119-130's at practice. I really don't see him enjoying it much.

I don't disagree that stalling is a problem, but a 1-0 match does not mean that stalling was an issue. Please take a look at the college ranks, the best matches are low scoring. If a match is 11-10 that only means the two individuals made a lot of mistakes and the the opponent was good enough to catch it.

Deferring is a strategy to win in regulation so the kid knows what he/she needs to win in the third. I.E. how much risk to take, if they ride out the second they only need an escape to win, if they don't/can't ride out then they can adapt their options to what they need. But the goal is to win in regulation, not overtime,where sudden death determines it for the most part and a slip or 1 good move ends it. But this is also dependent on the kid, some kids are not very good on bottom and I tend to put them at neutral or on top in the third, especially if they are against a strong rider, which I would know (hopefully) by the third period.

New Albany High School is starting their club season March 7, Coach Burris will be leading it and his email is available at the NAHS website. I will be assisting as needed if you have any questions.

My son was in this weight class at freestyle state last year, Miracle wrestled a very smart match, but the strategy appeared to be to prevent Micic from his offense (he leg laced everyone). She couldn't execute any offense. I don't think anyone else there could beat her (and she did wrestle all the tough opponents that day), but this tournament was all Micic and he was definately on a different level, no one was going to beat him.

Some of the comments concerning efforts to retain team state are disheartening. For there to be no definitive decision on a proposal to save it at this point is not a positive factor. This could easily be considered a lack of support for retention of the team state tournament by the coaches association leadership or the rank and file as a whole. I am a change managment consultant and I would recommend having a proposal ready and endorsed by the coaches (all) by the team state finals (requesting a meeting at the finals is a good idea and would definately clear the air as to where the IHSAA is on this). Also, based on recent incidents, there will need to be changes to the tournament in the recommendation, not just a marketing effort, or we give the IHSAA the fodder to say any increase in attendance is only blip on the radar for this year, and as trends have already shown, the attendance will revert back to its downward spiral. In other words marketing is not a measurable long term change, and short term stop gap measures only save programs that management wants to find a way to keep, that does not appear to be the environment the team state tournament is in. These are just some recommendations, I love the sport, I am proud to be involved with it as a coach, parent, and official. But mostly it makes me very happy to see that my son is getting the same positive life changing perspectives that helped me.

One thing I am having trouble with on this issue is whatever happened to "I make a committment, I keep it". By entering into the "IHSAA" sectional the schools make a committment to both the team and individual tournaments. As of now the two tournaments are connected, individuals qualify the team for the team tournament, it is not the other way. It may be harsh, but why would a team be allowed to pull out of the team regional event then the kids be allowed to wrestle in the individual regional? This makes no sense, the singlets those kids are wearing have the school names on them, so don't they represent the school still? I have seen several schoold go to meets this year able to fill 7 or less weight classes due to injuries and illness, one school could only fill 4 weight classes due to low participation. But they always showed up, knowing they would lose, they showed!