WaltHarris

Making it MANDATORY to attend a local tournament or two is not going to make things better
Making it an incentive to attend a local tournament or two...will do more
 
For instance instead of making it mandatory, give $5 off registration if you attend a local event, $10 for two. Then take that extra money and divide it up with the clubs that host local tournaments.
 
Let's say 800 kids are at freestyle state
400 do two tournaments
200 do one($1000 extra)
200 do none($2000 extra)
 
That's $3000 to divide amongst the 15 or so clubs that host tournaments.

Obviously the current way of doing things is not growing Freestyle/Greco. I'm sure that the ISWA is trying to build these styles as USAW is the governing body of Olympic wrestling. If you watch the worlds you know that we are not where we should be. We produce athletes but we are not at the same level as the Russians, Iranians, etc. in order to be the best something has to change. It needs to start at the grass roots level. I'm with Skinner. If this doesn't change numbers then I'm open to something else. Maybe more Freestyle/ Greco big names coming to RTCs? Something has to change at the coaches level too. Meaning, I think many coaches could care less about FS/Greco but if you can get a state title, cool! I feel like that is the attitude of many.

For Tonte to make the finals was a Herculean effort. I tip my cap to Mr. Tonte.

7 Champs and 4 runner-ups in this "DOWN YEAR"....

Heck a couple of the finals is merr ss finals.

I expected New Castle Semistate to be 5+ finalists ahead of everyone else, but the Merrillville Semi-state really impressed me today as I believe both NC and MERR have 11 finalists. Even in a down year, after the lost some generational guys, and some topped rank guys this year that didn't perform well, they still had depth to push guys through to the finals.
Team wise 1,4,5,and 7 is quite good.
 
Also in the Lee vs James match, kudos to the young Lee. However, I have no love loss for Meridian but IMO, James got screwed on the take down at the end of the 2nd/early 3rd at the edge of the mat; it Changed the complection of the match and you could see it in James. These refs are so inconsistent on out of bounds that I don't know what the rule is any more. But you have to overcome.
 
At 182, The Parris kid is tough, calling it now, next year's final, Parris vs. Davison of Chesterton

Has to be cash

Has to be cash. Only a handful of kid ever pinned all at state. Then tonight we had 3 do it.

I've had similar thoughts to this possibility. And I think it is the type of proposal that the IHSAA might actually consider.
 
An individual with a good relationship with the IHSAA has spent time explaining to them how 8 mats could be put on the floor of Bankers Life. That opens up the possibility of doubling the number of matches on Friday night in the same amount of time. 24 wrestlers per weight could be run in 2 rounds with the semi state champs and runners-up with a first round bye and 3 vs 6 (winner gets a 2) and 4 vs 5 (winner gets a 1). More wrestlers in the same amount of time means more money for the IHSAA.
 
For semistate, we ask to bring back the IHSAA's own idea of wrestling to 5th/6th from the quarter final losers. At most, this would add about an hour or none if semistates were doing the semifinals on only 2 mats. Just use the other 2 mats for the consolation semis and wrestle a third mat during the finals for 5th place. Heck, don't even get them ribbons - they're just happy to have the chance to qualify for state. Plus they get to earn team points which could have impacted at least 2 semistate championships this year.
 
The only snag I can see is Merrillville's gym because they wouldn't be able to break down to 2 mats to add more seating after the second round. But it could be used as a push to finally move that semistate to a bigger gym. Just propose it while the pink lady is on vacation or something.
 
Overall, I think it could be a great plan that is feasibly acceptable by the IHSAA. Just imagine how exciting semistate would be... You still get the same ticket round where you win and you qualify plus you get semifinals that are more meaningful to earn a bye at state and we all get another ticket round side-by-side with the semis. And it's all with very little time added to either Saturday.

Place 6. Yea,  then we would have to give out 5th and 6th place ribbons to 112 more wrestlers even though they didnt earn it, and also have the false satisfaction of achieving something even though they didnt earn it.   These guys bedrooms would look like Gaylord Faulker's bedroom,  with their sixth place ribbons and participation certificates.  This would be another brick in the sissification wall of America.

Just a little idea to toss out for discussion.  How about we expand the number of wrestlers at state to 32 per weight class?
 
We don't have class wrestling, which I am a supporter of.  So why not try to give more wrestlers an opportunity/honor of competing at state.  It would only be one additional round on Friday at like  2p.m.  Still wouldn't have to allow any wrestlebacks on Friday.  IHSAA could double the money in gate tickets. 

I like the idea in principal, but in practice what the ISWA just said is "No wrestler from northern Indiana will be allowed to wrestle at Freestyle or Greco State!"  Let me explain why.
 
There are only two FS/GR events in the northern half of Indiana this year.  Penn on March 28 and Iron Eagle (Huntington North) on April 18.  If a wrestler places 1st or 2nd at Middle School State in a couple weeks, then they qualify to wrestle on the ISWA Middle School duals team on March 28 at Danville, IL in the USA Wrestling Middle School Duals.  This means any kid on the MS ISWA team cannot go to Penn for FS/GR.  
 
The ISWA 2 event qualifier will have the exact opposite impact then what they hope for.  It's going to decrease FS/GR participation even further.  Any wrestler from northern Indiana will essentially need to drive 2-3 hours to Indy on a couple separate occasions to get 2 FS tournaments.  Heck, even if you live in northern Indiana, Huntington can still be three hours from you.  
 
This is simply totally impractical and will hurt us even more.  I hope the ISWA changes this swiftly.  

I like the idea in principal, but in practice what the ISWA just said is "No wrestler from northern Indiana will be allowed to wrestle at Freestyle or Greco State!"  Let me explain why.
 
There are only two FS/GR events in the northern half of Indiana this year.  Penn on March 28 and Iron Eagle (Huntington North) on April 18.  If a wrestler places 1st or 2nd at Middle School State in a couple weeks, then they qualify to wrestle on the ISWA Middle School duals team on March 28 at Danville, IL in the USA Wrestling Middle School Duals.  This means any kid on the MS ISWA team cannot go to Penn for FS/GR.  
 
The ISWA 2 event qualifier will have the exact opposite impact then what they hope for.  It's going to decrease FS/GR participation even further.  Any wrestler from northern Indiana will essentially need to drive 2-3 hours to Indy on a couple separate occasions to get 2 FS tournaments.  Heck, even if you live in northern Indiana, Huntington can still be three hours from you.  
 
This is simply totally impractical and will hurt us even more.  I hope the ISWA changes this swiftly.  

I like the idea in principal, but in practice what the ISWA just said is "No wrestler from northern Indiana will be allowed to wrestle at Freestyle or Greco State!"  Let me explain why.
 
There are only two FS/GR events in the northern half of Indiana this year.  Penn on March 28 and Iron Eagle (Huntington North) on April 18.  If a wrestler places 1st or 2nd at Middle School State in a couple weeks, then they qualify to wrestle on the ISWA Middle School duals team on March 28 at Danville, IL in the USA Wrestling Middle School Duals.  This means any kid on the MS ISWA team cannot go to Penn for FS/GR.  
 
The ISWA 2 event qualifier will have the exact opposite impact then what they hope for.  It's going to decrease FS/GR participation even further.  Any wrestler from northern Indiana will essentially need to drive 2-3 hours to Indy on a couple separate occasions to get 2 FS tournaments.  Heck, even if you live in northern Indiana, Huntington can still be three hours from you.  
 
This is simply totally impractical and will hurt us even more.  I hope the ISWA changes this swiftly.  

I like the idea in principal, but in practice what the ISWA just said is "No wrestler from northern Indiana will be allowed to wrestle at Freestyle or Greco State!"  Let me explain why.
 
There are only two FS/GR events in the northern half of Indiana this year.  Penn on March 28 and Iron Eagle (Huntington North) on April 18.  If a wrestler places 1st or 2nd at Middle School State in a couple weeks, then they qualify to wrestle on the ISWA Middle School duals team on March 28 at Danville, IL in the USA Wrestling Middle School Duals.  This means any kid on the MS ISWA team cannot go to Penn for FS/GR.  
 
The ISWA 2 event qualifier will have the exact opposite impact then what they hope for.  It's going to decrease FS/GR participation even further.  Any wrestler from northern Indiana will essentially need to drive 2-3 hours to Indy on a couple separate occasions to get 2 FS tournaments.  Heck, even if you live in northern Indiana, Huntington can still be three hours from you.  
 
This is simply totally impractical and will hurt us even more.  I hope the ISWA changes this swiftly.