I don't want to get on here and talk bad about any club's tournament. We attended a Derby open tournament a few year's ago and the tournament was very well run. I've heard good things about the Derby novice tournament, so I decided to take my youngest son to this tournament. We decided to go to this tournament because out west we just don't have any novice tournaments to go to. Derby posted the entries and had 17 entries listed for 6U 40lbs. (looks like a 32 man bracket to me). We weigh in around 7:15 and then go to look at the brackets. They put 11 wrestlers in a 16 man bracket and 6 wrestlers in an 8 man bracket. We were placed in the 16 man bracket against a wrestler that we wrestled at Hutch a few weeks ago and lost 6-4. I thought cool because it was a close match. That was the only wrestler we faced out of all the kids in both brackets. I didn't care. As I looked at the bracket there was two coaches or dad's griping about the 37lb bracket because the two best wrestlers were on the same side of the bracket. I was thinking who cares it's just a novice tournament not a qualifier tournament. Coaches meeting roles around at 8:20. The tournament directer says there was some scratches and go check the brackets before wrestling starts at 8:30. I went looked at the bracket no changes. We're match 4 on mat 1 supposed to be wrestling a wrestler from Ark City. A coach/dad from Maize comes to the table and said there was a scratch and they had to redo the bracket. I knew something was fishy going on because I could see the wrestler from Ark City that we were supposed to wrestle. Just because there was a scratch in the other bracket. You don't pull a wrestler out of that bracket and switch that wrestler with another wrestler in another bracket. You either turn that bracket that had 6 wrestlers into a 5 man round robin or place the 5 wrestlers in the bye slots in the 16 man bracket. The tournament directer came to the table and he asked me if I wanted him to just rebracket into a 32 man bracket. He thought there was still 17 wrestlers. I said, no I just wanted to wrestle the match we were supposed to. They wouldn't do that. So we just wrestled the match against the Maize wrestler. I found an Ark City coach and asked him what was going on. He said the Maize dad was mad because his son was placed in the B bracket and that his son had beat all the kids in that bracket. (who cares!) I believe the dad/coach worked something out with the Derby tournament committee and singled my son out because we're from Russell and the only wrestler not from that area. If he wanted in that bracket so bad he should have been placed in one of the bye slots. Actually, with the scratch we should have had a full 16man bracket. I'm sure with all the kids in the 16 man bracket your wrestler has wrestled several of those wrestlers also especially with all the open tournaments and novice tournaments in the Wichita area. I believe you didn't want to see your sons name in the "B" bracket on the results page. (Your son is a very good wrestler) because he has been placing well in the "A" brackets in open tournaments. I've seen a lot in youth wrestlng but this is just plain stupid!! As I look at the Derby Novice tournament flier I can't find anywhere even in the fine print that says if you don't like your wrestlers bracket just come talk to us and we'll change to suit your needs. Heck, with this type of bracketing parents and coaches can just show up on Sat. or Sun. weigh in their wrestlers. Go look at the brackets. Oh, we've beat all of these wrestlers go to the head table and ask for the 1st place trophy and go home. Heck, this would help at sub-district seedings. All the coaches need to do is pick the top 4 wrestlers. The wrestlers wouldn't even have to wrestle. Then next week the coaches from both subs in each district meet and pick the top 4 again. Just think we don't have to sit in those crowded gyms again. Maybe just have a few tournaments in Dec. and Jan. Wow this would shorten the season and have state in early Feb. Because all we have to do is bracket by who each wrestler has beaten and just hand out the trophies. Another reason why I'm pissed off about this is because my son was looking forward to wrestling the Ark City wrestler. Instead he went out and got his butt kicked by a very highly skilled novice wrestler. Then he didn't want to wrestle anymore that day. I tried to get him to because I seen some wrestlers he could have had some good matches with on the backside. So, we scratched and went home. I'm sorry I rambled on about this but, this was just a bunch of crap. Especially how far we drove to get some matches in. Not looking for hardware. Just matches. Also, I just want to thank Derby for the wonderful tournament they put on. If you want some matches to wrestle or just want some different wrestlers to wrestle why don't you come out to the Western Kansas Classic in Hays on March 3. I know the tournament directer in Hays maybe I could sit down with him give you a call and set your bracket to how you want it.
Thanks,
Mark Baldwin
Russell, KS
