Varsity Reserve Wrestling

[oneshot]

Relatively new to the world of having a wrestler in HS but had a thought that I wanted to shoot out to the group to find the holes in my thinking. It seems that varsity reserve wrestlers lack the opportunity to get matches. Many times schools have a limited number of VR wrestlers and it is difficult to match them up with wrestlers of the same size from other schools. I have seen VR wrestlers have a season of 10 to 15 matches.

In my mind the VR are the ones that hope to get more matches so they can build their skills and become better so they can be productive contributors for the varsity line-up in the coming years. But because of the lack of VR wrestlers and the ability to match up weight classes it seems these wrestlers are not getting matches to test themselves.

I have seen at the junior high level in central Wisconsin a group formed called the CWWC that brings groups of schools together to increase the potential number of matches each wrestler can get in an evening. My question...could schools at the high school level form a group to have VR wrestlers from several schools meet up each week and have a multi-school meet? Bring together the VR wrestlers from Merrill, West, East, Everest, Mosinee, Stratford, Edgar, Athens, Medford...etc and rotate the teams you meet each week.

Okay...feel free to shoot holes in the idea. Thanks

[DarkKnight]

Not a bad idea.. But i would like to see them be able to go to a Varsity Reserve tournament almost every weekend to gain experience.

[cheesemn]

Is there a WIAA limit on VR match count?

[DarkKnight]

i am not sure, they might be limited to 6-7 tournaments, depending on how many meets they wrestle... If they dont wrestle many meets, i would think they should be able to attend 7 tournaments

But I am not sure

[MNbadger]

I know I am in the minority here (and especially in MN where we are dual - meet crazy) but our obsession with dual meets is partly responsible for this.
If we had fewer dual meets and more tournaments allowing multiple entries there would be more matches for everyone.

[Ghetto]

All wrestlers are limited to 7 multi-team events, regardless of level.

[imnofish]

I know I am in the minority here (and especially in MN where we are dual - meet crazy) but our obsession with dual meets is partly responsible for this.
If we had fewer dual meets and more tournaments allowing multiple entries there would be more matches for everyone.

Agreed.  No matter how many dual meets JV kids go to, forfeits will often dominate those contests, so it is often a waste of time.  In rural areas such as ours, JV rosters are typically very small for most teams, so tournaments provide more opportunities for each kid to wrestle.  You end up having to travel far, though, to keep from wrestling the same opponents repeatedly.  Also, some smaller schools have small coaching staffs, which can logistically limit their ability to attend as many of these events as they should.  Any way you slice it, those kids need more opportunities, if we hope to keep them involved and improving. 

[Ty Clark]

There has been progress on this front:

Note 1: JV teams may schedule a maximum of 8 multiple school events and may allow inclusion of additional schools
in (JV) dual meets in effort to provide competition opportunity for all JV wrestlers.

Note 2: Conferences which experience low participation numbers at 2 or more conference member schools may apply to
the WIAA to be allowed to modify maximums to include 8 multiple school events and 6 duals. The additional
multiple school event must be held within the conference and involve only the same conference member schools.

Does anyone know of any conference that the WIAA has allowed to change to 8 multiples? Did anyone even know of this rule?

[bigG]

Not a bad idea.. But i would like to see them be able to go to a Varsity Reserve tournament almost every weekend to gain experience.

Me, too. We have a few really nice ones in my area (Sparta), but not enough. I think this is because there are so many smaller schools that don't have those significant numbers, and many schools now don't have that paid JV guy; usually because they aren't assured enough wrestlers for cost efficacy. Tomah and Sparta both have nice JV tourneys. I wish some of the bigger guys in the area would do the same.

[ramjet]

All wrestlers are limited to 7 multi-team events, regardless of level.

Are "exhibition matches" the exception?

[Ty Clark]

All wrestlers are limited to 7 multi-team events, regardless of level.

Are "exhibition matches" the exception?

JV wrestlers can have multiple matches at a dual competition, so long as they don't exceed 15 minutes of mat time (not including overtime).

d. A student participating at the nonvarsity level in a dual meet may wrestle a maximum of 15 minutes (not including
overtimes) provided:
(1) No match is scheduled for longer than five minutes.
(2) Results of none of these matches are counted toward varsity records.

[bigoil]

All wrestlers are limited to 7 multi-team events, regardless of level.

Are "exhibition matches" the exception?

JV wrestlers can have multiple matches at a dual competition, so long as they don't exceed 15 minutes of mat time (not including overtime).

d. A student participating at the nonvarsity level in a dual meet may wrestle a maximum of 15 minutes (not including
overtimes) provided:
(1) No match is scheduled for longer than five minutes.
(2) Results of none of these matches are counted toward varsity records.

and what would the ramifications be if someone violated that?

[bkraus]

All wrestlers are limited to 7 multi-team events, regardless of level.

Are "exhibition matches" the exception?

JV wrestlers can have multiple matches at a dual competition, so long as they don't exceed 15 minutes of mat time (not including overtime).

d. A student participating at the nonvarsity level in a dual meet may wrestle a maximum of 15 minutes (not including
overtimes) provided:
(1) No match is scheduled for longer than five minutes.
(2) Results of none of these matches are counted toward varsity records.

and what would the ramifications be if someone violated that?

Flogging!   

[1Iota]

What more & More teams are doing in are area is inviting multiple JV teams to the dual.  We had a dual in which 3 additional JV teams were invited on top of the 2 teams in the dual.  It was not difficult securing the commitment from the additional teams as they also were looking for more opportunities for their wrestlers. 

I would not cut back on the number of duals as this is the one chance our athletes get to represent their school in from of their peers.  We have had some outstanding crowds with a great atmosphere that all of our athletes enjoy.  You will never achieve this in a tournament format. 

[bulldog]

1Iota...I like that idea. That is kind of what the CWWC does for the JR High in Central Wisconsin. They invite 3-4 teams and then match up weights so each wrestler gets 2-3 matches. But...doesn't that count as a multi-team event and thus count towards the JV's 7 multi-team event maximum? Or doesn't it count because it is a dual with other JV teams include?

IMO you want to get the JV kids as many matches a possible to build their skills so when time does come for them to step up to the varsity line-up they have more experience and have had a chance to refine their skills