When handing out coaches passes, Ned mentioned something about possibly having to purchase extra coaches passes next year and using some of the money for a nice hospitality room next year. That was the last I have heard about it and I was wondering if there had been any more discussion on it.
Personally, I think it is a great idea, the hospitality room was a lot better this year and was greatly appreciated. I would be more than happy to pay for an extra coaches pass and be able to have a fully stocked hospitality room, plus help the state tournament make a little extra money. But, I would still suggest that if your club doesn't go to the state body meeting, your club is not allowed to purchase extra passes.

Anyway, if there has been anymore discussion on this, please inform the rest of us.
If there hasn't been, what's everyones opinion.

I would be against selling coaches passes. The money would make it too tempting to sell them to anyone wanting on the floor. If we need additonal money for the hospitality room lets find it somewhere else.

Not having enough coaches passes for matches is a disadvantage for some of those clubs that have 4-5 wrestlers competing at the approximately the same time.

I believe Missouri places no limits on passes other than having a USAW card and bronze card.

If all the coaches were allowed on the floor in the weeks before would it be such a large problem to continue to allow them on the floor?

I would nominate the Turner, Salina, or the Ottawa club to take care of the hospitality room and the state pays them to do it, those were incredible hospitality rooms at their tourneys.

I think we should sell them and use the additional funds to hire a PI to unmask Sportsfan02.

It was an idea that we discussed during the Kids State Tournament this past year (selling coaches passes and putting the money back into the coaches / table workers hospitality room).

However, if we did sell additional passes, they may not be at what some would consider "reasonable". It is an idea that will be discussed at the Kids Executive Council Meeting and possibly presented at the State Body Meeting to be voted on later this year.

I do like the idea of not being able to purchase additional passes if you DO NOT attend the State Body Meeting.

At Brute Adidas Nationals, Danny Grater & Tyler Gonzales helped sell additional coaches passes. For the amount of $$$ they said they collected, $50 was NOT ENOUGH to detour individuals from purchase a pass!!

We are open to suggestions and comments -

1. No additional passes can be purchased if you do not have a representative at State Body Meeting

2. Do away with "free passes" and go 1 pass per three wrestlers. Sale any additional passes for $75 each. Passes would not be transferrable -

3. Leave as it

4. OPEN SUGGESTIONS ?????


Leanna Grater
State Tournament Committee Member

Leanna,
Number two (2) on your list is the best idea. One pass per five (5) wrestlers is just not enough. One per three (3) is a good number and if we sold 30 extra passes that would translate to 2,250 dollars. I think more than enough to take care of the hospitality room. Cokely--I am a PI! I will see what I can do.

I think there are 2 great ideas here.

1. hiring the PI
2. selling the passes.

I agree that no additional passes should be able to be purchased if representation is not at the state Body Meeting.

Don't' stop the free passes or 1 to 5 ratio

I think that the passes should be priced at $100.00 each. This might be enough to detour just anyone WITH a bronze card from purchasing one. At $100 each there would be more than enough $$ for a great hospitality room. NON-TRASFERABLE passes.

I don't disagree about having Salina take care of the hospitality room. Salina is by far the best at putting one together. State needs to either let someone else take care of it or have a hospitality room that is stocked ALL day long.

What about a # of purchasable passes according to the # of qualifiers should come into play also. 1 purchase of a pass per every 5 wrestlers per club. Coaches card # could be wrote on the pass itself. If organized right, the passes to be purchased could be packaged up before weigh-in. Set up a table for all coaches passes and wrist bands starting 2 hours before weigh-in and get all the coaches out of the room to help with weigh-in congestion. This would also allow the workers to get out of there sooner.

Here is how it would play out.

5 Wrestlers = 3 passes current/4 passes proposed method
10=4/6
15=5/8
20=6/10
25=7/12
30=8/14
35=9/16
40=10/18
45=11/20
50=12/22

Is this enough? I just don't think that you want to open it up to anyone bronze or copper certified to be able to purchase a pass. If so, then raise it to $150 or even $200. If someone wants to get onto the floor bad enough they will pay it.

Just some ideas to ponder, right or wrong?

Here is the problem with selling passes. Clubs do not control who gets bronze or coaches cards and then additionally would not control who bought their own coaches pass. I don't care how ridiculously high you price them, there will be parents willng to pay. In many cases these are the people we should attempt to keep off the floor. We already have enough problems with sportsmanship from "legitimate" coaches, do we need another dozen more problems? If the number of passes per club is a problem simply make an adjustment at the state meeting on how many per club.

Sell Passes for hospitality room only - different wrist band.
Each coach could pay $5 per day or $10 per day or each club could pay an amount equal to the number of coaches passes they are elgible. It is nice to have a place to go and just sit down and not have to wait in a line to get something to eat. This year was much better than past years. I can not speak for table workers and other volunteers. Or each club could pay maybe a set amount for their table workers $50 - I am not sure the amount.

sf02 ... does make a lot of sense ... imagine that!

Initially selling passes sounds like a great idea but we might gain "more" undesirables on the floor! I think the clubs still need to maintain some control on this. Maybe present a list of coaches they will allow on the floor!

I think its crazy to sell passes for $50-$100. Why not make each club fill out a form listing the coaches they want on the floor and give all of those coaches a pass. Most clubs will not give passes to people that cause problems. At every other tournament including subs, district anyone can coach. Then all of a sudden the state wants to act like nazis and tell coaches who have coached all year to sit in the stands.

If you decided to sell the coaches passes and were worried about certain people getting them, make them buy them through their club. The club would have to be responsible for screening who they want representing their club.

I believe we have forgotten the purpose of the state body for Kids Wrestling - customer service. From early November through the state tournament the 'coaches' volunteer time and spend tons of money on this sport. They are customers of USAK. Figuring many are parents of wrestlers, if you figure 15 tournaments during a season at a $15 entry fee, plus concessions, gas, sometimes hotels, the USA card, club dues, camps, shoes and singlets, these coaches (or parents) have spent close to a $1000 or much more for a season. And then, lets do not forget the countless hours many of these so call un-desirables spend coaching other peoples kids in practice and tournaments. Now you want to tell them they cannot be on the floor at the biggest tournament of the year in the State of Kansas. Sportsfan02, even though I normally disagree with most of your posts, I actually (surprising me) agreed with a few of your recent posts that dealt with keeping this forum open to the expression of ideas without too much censorship. But, I wonder if the intent was selfish. Don't tell me you like freedom to make posts, but want to limit the people on the floor at State.

There is a problem at the state tournament - too much time between matches - kids should wrestle more than once every 5 hours. Maybe the state board should look at moving the 16U's to the other side of the expo center. This would free up space and allow for matches to happen faster and more room for all the coaches who have dedicated themselves all year long to a sport they love to be down there to coach. I am not saying this is the solution, but just a suggestion.

Our club has never had a problem getting extra passes when needed. This should not change. Remember its customer service - find a way to let them coach without charging them.

And, on the charging - how much money does the state tournament make??? It doesn't make enough to cover a decent hospitality room???

Jeff is right the small clubs get hurt by this rule and Turner and Salina run great rooms.

The customers in wrestling are the kids, their parents and the coaches (who not always parents). I think Holton understood that when they put on the D1 sub-districts. They were not out just to make money and understood who the customers were.

As I said earlier, find a way to make it work without taking more money from us or excluding people. I hope this did not upset anyone, but as one of those fringe coaches, where this thread was going really upset me. And, I know most who made posts were just thinking about making things work smoothly, I just think we need to look another direction.

I think that selling extra passes is a great idea,but not at the suggested prices. State is usually an expensive weekend anyways. As far as having "questionable coaches" on the floor, it needs to be up to the clubs who they will allow to coach. I am the head coach of a club and anyone that wants to become a coach must come and talk to me. Then I decide if they are allowed to coach for the club based on wrestling experience, the ability to work with children of all ages, and the understanding of the club rules regarding coaches.

The leadership of USAW-Kansas Kids is elected by vote.

The State Tournament committee is appointed.

However, if there were "countless other coaches" I believe that opinion would be reflected by those democratically elected.

The clubs presenting a list of coaches, then allowing all that meet the qualifications for coaching at the other tournaments to be on the floor is probably the best way to handle this issue.

Why would we as a group limit the amount of passes and add more stress by trying to run around the building to get the passes? I think the kids get a little stressed when we aren't able to be there like other meets.

This is a free forum, created for the purpose of promoting Kansas wrestling, and those who wrestle, through the exchange of thoughts and suggestions, and for the recognition of the accomplishments of those involved in our sport.

There are just two basic rules that are necessary to keep in mind. First, remember that this is a family oriented forum, and is regularly viewed by young wrestlers. Second, "cheap shots" will not be tolerated. If you are going to post a message critical of an individual, group or idea, you must give your true name and/or email address. Be willing to stand behind your comments, or keep them to yourself.

Why were two Clay center wrestlers allowed to weigh in 20 -30 min early, This was witnessed by several people. One of the tournament directors went and got these kids out of line and personally took them to the weigh in area. Also one paricular person on the state tournement committee is extremely rude to anyone not in their inner circle. I was not leveling cheap shots only stating facts. Since when was this new rule instituted mike, it sounds like you are trying to stifle discussion on this topic. There was nothing in my post that was inappropriate for young kids to read. This is a topic that needs discussion. I called out no one by name let this post stand

I have sent Mike a message asking him to produce these so called rules, I could not find them, I guess it all depends on who or what the subject is. One of the biggest problems with Kansas wrestling is the old guard won't even allow subjects to be discussed if they don't agree with it.

How much money is in the state fund already?? Come on guys, this is about the kids and they do need coaches. I believe it is getting out of control, lets look at how many wrestlers can be coached at 1 time. for every 2-3 wrestlers 1 coach. If we need more passes sell them at a reasonable cost $5.00 - $15.00 and put that to the hospitality room. As for Brute, yes we do pay a pretty penny to coach, but if you dont and there is not enough coaches, your kid could be wrestling without a coach. That is how its done at Brute, they do not wait for coaches, they wrestle with or without a coach.... So think about it who are we at state for? allow an adequate number of coaches so we do not hurt the kids by not having enough coaches.


Mel