Wisconsin Wrestling Challenge Series 2015

[imnofish]

How about two 106 classes, A & B?  See what the field looks like and divide the bracket, if warranted.  No new fat test required, because they are still in the same weight class. 

[boowrestle]

Giving up a little wt is not going to kill these smaller kids,my kid weighed 100lbs soaking wet,airk furseth 84lbs freshman yr, both kids had almost 30 varsity wins at 106lbs they never complained they paid there dues and are both highly ranked seniors.Jmo it never seems to be the kids that complain and want these changes,but almost always is the parents.

[imnofish]

I get what you are saying, but most undersized kids will not have that same experience.  Remember, this is about providing a good experience for sub-varsity wrestlers.  I think posters are just looking for ways to encourage those kids to stick with it long enough to mature and grow into the weight class.  One of my high school teammates was about 80 lbs. as a freshman and it was pretty tough on him.  Soph. year he was about 85, so he was a bit more competitive and the 90 lb. class allowed him to get more wins.  He won our Soph. Conference at 90 lbs. that year.  He only grew to be 4' 10" tall, so he had to lift weights religiously to become a full-fledged 95 lb. varsity wrestler as a junior.  His senior year, the weight class became 98 lbs., and he actually had to lose a couple pounds to make scratch weight.  He was Conference and Regional runner-up that year; a key factor in us winning the Regional title.  The turning point for him came during his soph. year, when he had the chance to compete with guys his own size.  No parents demanded it, but some smart adults gave him and other undersized kids a better opportunity...  and he made the most of it, despite not having a great deal of natural ability. 

[Quack]

Back in the day. I wrestled in the 185lb weight class, weighed in at state on the second day at 171lbs. Our heavy weighed in at 186. We didnt whine about it. We didnt care, we were wrestling.

[imnofish]

Yes, life was different, back in the day, and we liked it...   

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A0LEVjRuBrBUfWsA9EUPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?p=youtube+and+we+liked+it+dana&tnr=21&vid=C23AE8DA02E553E19189C23AE8DA02E553E19189&l=151&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DUN.608041514103603863%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DBbU4Cb4A4-o&sigr=11bhj80ua&tt=b&tit=That%26%2339%3Bs+The+Way+It+Was+And+We+Liked+It&sigt=119132ub4&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dyoutube%2Band%2Bwe%2Bliked%2Bit%2Bdana%26ei%3DUTF-8%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla&sigb=138at7vfr&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

[MNbadger]

In regard to the overall debate about weight classes.... there are states that have an extra lower weight than 106 for varsity competition.  they also had these lower classes when the minimum was 103.

[Mack]

I have enjoyed reading various opinions on adding a lower weight class for JV.  "Old School" opinions crack me up.  I feel like I'm reading a wrestling version of "Footloose". 

Shouldn't the objective be to take whatever action is good for kids and good for the sport?  That's awesome if someone's son battled through as an undersized 106 pound Freshman.  What does that have to do with making the best decision for the most amount of kids involved right now? 

I also have a freshman wrestling varsity at 106.  My son also weighs about 100 pounds.  He's doing fine.   I don't know what my son's situation has to do with creating more opportunities for undersized, less experienced kids to love wrestling and competing.

My son wrestled one 80-something pound boy at a tournament, and my son said the boy actually whimpered like a puppy when my son had him in the air.  My son ended it quickly, and told us later that he wished that boy did not have to be on varsity.  My son said the boy looked miserable all day. 

So, that's where I'm coming from. If there was a place for that boy my son wrestled to compete, maybe have a little success (not be demoralized) and learn to love wrestling, I'm all for it.

[bkraus]

I've got an idea...  before we sit and discuss how to fix a tournament series that hasn't happened yet, let's let the tournament happen on Saturday and see what works and didn't work.  Then let the tournament committee discuss and figure out changes for the future.  This is a work in progress and it is doing it's goal already of promoting sub-varsity level wrestling with an important tournament. 

[1Iota]

I've got an idea...  before we sit and discuss how to fix a tournament series that hasn't happened yet, let's let the tournament happen on Saturday and see what works and didn't work.  Then let the tournament committee discuss and figure out changes for the future.  This is a work in progress and it is doing it's goal already of promoting sub-varsity level wrestling with an important tournament. 

I must take the blame for this as I think I was the first to offer the opinion.  I was simply offering an idea that I felt might enhance what is without question a great step towards promoting wrestling at the sub-varsity level.  I no longer have any kids in HS, but remain focused on anything that will keep kids in the sport & growing our numbers.  Wrestling has always been the one sport that undersized athletes gravitated towards & with that in mind I was offering an idea that I feel would help retain that tradition. 

No matter what, I applaud the individuals behind this series &  appreciate their efforts. 

[bkraus]

Numbers participating in each regional:

Eau Claire North 196
Homestead 270
Merrill 162
Mineral Point 81
Sauk Prairie 300
Stoughton  135
Whitnall 299
Wrightstown  160

Total 1603 kids wrestling tomorrow that might not have been without this series.  I would say that is a success!

[foose4]

Numbers participating in each regional:

Eau Claire North 196
Homestead 270
Merrill 162
Mineral Point 81
Sauk Prairie 300
Stoughton  135
Whitnall 299
Wrightstown  160

Total 1603 kids wrestling tomorrow that might not have been without this series.  I would say that is a success!

Agreed.  First step in a great idea.

[crossface21]

Numbers participating in each regional:

Eau Claire North 196
Homestead 270
Merrill 162
Mineral Point 81
Sauk Prairie 300
Stoughton  135
Whitnall 299
Wrightstown  160

Total 1603 kids wrestling tomorrow that might not have been without this series.  I would say that is a success!

Just curious where you got the numbers from since track isn't releasing that info yet. Awesome that there are that many kids.

300 at Sauk Prairie. Yikes. They run 4 mats in the varsity gym. They only can run 4 in the JV gym. Unless they got other mats and another gym, I can't see how that tournament ends....ever.....

[bkraus]

Numbers participating in each regional:

Eau Claire North 196
Homestead 270
Merrill 162
Mineral Point 81
Sauk Prairie 300
Stoughton  135
Whitnall 299
Wrightstown  160

Total 1603 kids wrestling tomorrow that might not have been without this series.  I would say that is a success!

Just curious where you got the numbers from since track isn't releasing that info yet. Awesome that there are that many kids.

300 at Sauk Prairie. Yikes. They run 4 mats in the varsity gym. They only can run 4 in the JV gym. Unless they got other mats and another gym, I can't see how that tournament ends....ever.....

Go on track and click on the teams icon.  It tells you how many kids are entered for each team.  Just can't see which specific kids or weight classes.  Pulled out the calculator and went to town with my mad math skills.

And I thought one of the precursors for hosting this tournament was having to have 6 mats available.

[crossface21]

Numbers participating in each regional:

Eau Claire North 196
Homestead 270
Merrill 162
Mineral Point 81
Sauk Prairie 300
Stoughton  135
Whitnall 299
Wrightstown  160

Total 1603 kids wrestling tomorrow that might not have been without this series.  I would say that is a success!

Just curious where you got the numbers from since track isn't releasing that info yet. Awesome that there are that many kids.

300 at Sauk Prairie. Yikes. They run 4 mats in the varsity gym. They only can run 4 in the JV gym. Unless they got other mats and another gym, I can't see how that tournament ends....ever.....

Go on track and click on the teams icon.  It tells you how many kids are entered for each team.  Just can't see which specific kids or weight classes.  Pulled out the calculator and went to town with my mad math skills.

And I thought one of the precursors for hosting this tournament was having to have 6 mats available.

Having 6 mats is a precursor. From what I understand, and Tom please correct me on this if I am wrong, is that there was nobody to host the Regional. Since Sauk was already having a tournament, they volunteered to do it since there were no sites.

Like I said, Sauk may have another gym that I'm not aware of or may have figured out the logistics for how its gonna work, but that is a TON of wrestlers with not a whole lot of place to put the fans and kids not wrestling, especially if they somehow fit 6 mats into the JV gym they normally use. I wish the best. As much as I wanna go, I'm kinda glad I won't be there tomorrow 2 1/2 bus drive home. We've always been out by 7pm, so getting home by 10 was good for the quality of tournament they put on. The varsity side I think is underrated for how tough its been and the JV has always been run pretty smooth.

[TomM]

Numbers participating in each regional:

Eau Claire North 196
Homestead 270
Merrill 162
Mineral Point 81
Sauk Prairie 300
Stoughton  135
Whitnall 299
Wrightstown  160

Total 1603 kids wrestling tomorrow that might not have been without this series.  I would say that is a success!

Just curious where you got the numbers from since track isn't releasing that info yet. Awesome that there are that many kids.

300 at Sauk Prairie. Yikes. They run 4 mats in the varsity gym. They only can run 4 in the JV gym. Unless they got other mats and another gym, I can't see how that tournament ends....ever.....

Go on track and click on the teams icon.  It tells you how many kids are entered for each team.  Just can't see which specific kids or weight classes.  Pulled out the calculator and went to town with my mad math skills.

And I thought one of the precursors for hosting this tournament was having to have 6 mats available.

Having 6 mats is a precursor. From what I understand, and Tom please correct me on this if I am wrong, is that there was nobody to host the Regional. Since Sauk was already having a tournament, they volunteered to do it since there were no sites.

Like I said, Sauk may have another gym that I'm not aware of or may have figured out the logistics for how its gonna work, but that is a TON of wrestlers with not a whole lot of place to put the fans and kids not wrestling, especially if they somehow fit 6 mats into the JV gym they normally use. I wish the best. As much as I wanna go, I'm kinda glad I won't be there tomorrow 2 1/2 bus drive home. We've always been out by 7pm, so getting home by 10 was good for the quality of tournament they put on. The varsity side I think is underrated for how tough its been and the JV has always been run pretty smooth.

Sauk Prairie is running 6 mats for Wisconsin Wrestling Challenge Series Region event.