In the next eight days the Kansas Kids Folkstyle season will wind down and wrap up with the awarding of the plaques to the top six in each age and weight group. This culminates a long season of driving to practice, traveling to tournaments, blood, sweat, and many tears. I want to congratulate not only all of those who will place but all of those who set foot on a mat this year.

On the Monday after the state tournament time the readership of this forum will fall drastically and most of you will go into wrestling hibernation. Before you go into that well deserved slumber read this and send email to our leadership about the things you support and the things you would like changed.

Each year for the past three years the number of card buyers has increased but the number of sub district participants has fallen. The majority of parents site the length of the season but little has been discussed at the Executive Board level to implement changes to the present schedule. How many of you would like to have a spring break that didn't involve three or four nights of practice for districts? How many of you would love to take your wrestlers to the Big 12 or NCAA wrestling tournament (Next year the NCAA's are in Omaha)? How many of you (and clearly the number of card buyers speaks for this) would like to see a 6U Division at State? How many of you would like to eliminate subdistricts for 16U (the largest group of no shows EVERY year)?

In April the Executive Board will be voting for a state tournament site in 2010. I am advocating and looking for all of you to support a 1 year contract that will allow us to explore some options that will REALLY make a difference. 6U, 8U, 10U State could be held the weekend before high school regionals which would allow it to move around the state to each district. This would allow our current tournament to grow.

Believe it or not we are at capacity folks. Wichita is the ONLY city that can comfortably host our existing event. There are hotel room issues, parking issues, mat space issues, etc. We couldn't add an age group if we had to!

Eliminate subs for 12U, 14U, and 16U. After high school state have a district tournament the FOLLOWING WEEKEND for 12U, 14U, 16U, and 18U. Use high school weights for 16 and 18. This tournament would be able to move around the state as well. Gross Coliseum in Hays, Lee Arena, Expo Center, Bicentennial Center, Kansas Coliseum, etc.

This would close our Folkstyle season two weeks earlier eliminating spring break conflict, NCAA Conflict, USA Middle School Duals Conflict, Baseball conflict, soccer conflict, etc.

Nobody on here loves wrestling more than I do so I am not saying kids should stop wrestling earlier. There are plenty of other wrestling options. Wichita could host a national kids tournament, so could Hays. More FS/GR tournaments could be created. There are lots and lots of wrestling opportunities YEAR ROUND. Our season is too long for the majority of our members and this is causing a shrinkage in the participation level of state tournament series.

If your organization is NOT GROWING then it is SHRINKING. Please believe me, we are SHRINKING at this time. Our state tournament cannot grow in its present state, IT MUST CHANGE. When you fail to change inside your organization faster than the changes outside of your organization then your organization will become obsolete! The idea above will promote growth and capture a larger percentage of our card buyers into our two state tournament series. I don't want to hear that people cannot afford two state tournaments because those same people would be going to a tournament somewhere every weekend just like they are now. This proposal eliminates two weeks of mandatory wrestling for the present state series for the older kids and four weeks for the younger kids. We have to figure out how to GROW and how to RETAIN our members from one year to the next.

Remember, only an idiot thinks that improvement will happen without change. I want to believe we have NO idiots in our organization so it is time to IMPROVE our sport. Encourage your District's leadership to vote for a one year contract and start generating some ideas to grow now. If we keep shrinking sooner, not later, it will be too late.

I think that Will is right on here. The only thing I would change is to cut out 16U and add 6U and finish the season the week before HS State. We would still have folkstyle nationals to prepare for and freestyle/greco could start sooner. By cutting the season a month shorter we could increase the amount of athletes competing in freestyle/greco.

As far as moving state to Wichita...no brainer. It has to be done. Topeka is running out of space and Wichita is a much better choice.

We have to accomodate the middle schoolers for 12U and 14U. Middle school seasons are not over in time so we would not be able to have a true state that early. KSHSAA member JH and MS programs are NOT allowed to participate in non-school sanctioned events during their season. Stupid rule but nontheless it is in place.

I like a lot of your ideas and do realize that my 6u son is done about the beginning of March and he gets tired of practice and tournaments. When my oldest on was 6u he never got tired of practice. I can see at our practices that it is the 6u and some 8u that get tired of it. My oldest on which is 10u this year cried for an hour because his season ended early with a torn rotator cuff. I don't think that we can keep the season long enough for him. I would love to see a 6u state even if it is with only the 8u and 10u. I can see some problem and that being that if you do a sub and district 2 weeks before what will the 12u-18u we will have two tournaments to go to. I don't know if that would get more participation. That would split our family up and so then either my husband or I would havee to miss my 6u-10u state to participate with the 12u-18u in another tournament. (If Im understanding what you are saying). I do understand that most places can't handle anymore people and Topeka can only handle so much before something has to give. I also understand that things can't stay the same something has to give for growth. I wouldn't want all of your jobs due to the conflict that will happen. Most people will be very angry if you try to promote change. Will, I am glad that you have an open mind to change. I do know that most will not be as open as you to change. A lot of people will have to speak up to get this changed. I think it is great and good luck.

I agree with Will 95%. I like Coach Craig's idea of just cutting out the 16U. We are already behind most of the country on starting Freestyle and Greco. For the last two years I have complained about not getting to watch the NCAA's. Jake learns more watching the Big 12 championships then going to four tournaments. There are several reasons to shorten the season and very few to leave it like it is.

Let me start by saying, I love the sport of wrestling. My passion for wrestling is very deep. That being said, I don't have a problem with having Subs, Districts, then State (folkstyle). My son wrestled Jr High for the first time this year and he has been wrestling since October. We hope to be seeing a lot of you the weekend after this one. After that, it will be time to move on to baseball, soccer and Jr High track. He is probably missing out by not wrestling Greco and Freestyle as far as progressing in the sport of wrestling. I am ok with that, and I believe that he is as well. I think that he will be a very good High School wrestler when the time comes. If your son/daughter wants to wrestle year 'round, that is great. I don't think we need to cut the Kids' (Folkstlye) Wrestling season back to make time for more Greco/Freestyle time on the mat. Most wrestlers are moving on to other sports.

The middle school season is odd anyway. They need to make it more efficient. Not enough mat time for the length. I know that some kids would miss out on the season, but I don't think that this minority of kids should dictate what is best for the majority. Not trying to say that the Middle School programs are not important, but USAWKS has to do what is best for USAWKS as a whole. Plus, I think there are a good amount of middle school programs that are lacking. Unqualified coaches and some kids have regressed. I am just going by my expierences.

My son wrestled seventeen matches in a seven week season. The first week and a half was practice, so seventeen matches in five and half weeks. Our coaches were very good and the experience (wrestling Jr High for a team) was priceless.

I love the idea of change. Every year all of this stuff comes up on the forum. I think that most people on here understand about 75% of what you are saying. I would also guess about 85% really agree qith most of your ideas but I would guess th only 20% really understand what steps they would need to take to help us make these much needed changes.
I think someone (maybe Will or Beeson or a few others as well) needs to come on here and walk some people through the process of who to get into touch with to help make these changes.

Get email addresses and start gathering names of supporters.
Have every idea listed out and people can send if they agree or disagree to each topic to one person and then it can presented to the Board. Then, if & when change is NOT made we can have facts and numbers to hold the board (or certain district level personel accountable for not listening to the peoples voice.

So to ramble but if we want this done then the time is short and someone needs to take the lead!

Change is need

I don't think that we would be short changing the folkstyle for greco and freestyle by cutting the season short one month. The season as it is, is too long (6 months). High School and College wrestling are shorter than Kids wrestling. There is not one sport that has a longer season than wrestling. 6U, 8U, 10U, and 12U should be done by February. That way the kids can go and watch High School State, Big 12 championships, and NCAA championships. Let the kids watch these events so they will have goals and dreams to participate in them.

I wrestled middle school and had a great expierence. I think it is a very important part of the transition to High School. Kids do not get as much of the team aspect in club wrestling as they do in Middle school. What I am getting at is make the season a true season for them. I don't think that 1 1/2 months constitutes as a season. I would like to see more JR High wrestling in Wichita, but it won't happen due to the amount of middle schools. Also, don't think for a second that I think that all Jr High coaches are not qualified...from my expierence I have heard more stories of unqualified coaches. Please do not take one piece of the comment and make it out to be a representation of my point of view. I am working with my own expierences and those, more than likely, will be different than everyone else on the board.

Now back to the topic.....

Cut the USAWKS season back a month. This could cut out middle school wrstlers, but they would still be able to compete at the national level or dive right into freestyle/greco.

With the middle school topic on my mind....

Why not a Jr high State??? Oklahoma does it.

Not all kids wrestle Jr. high in our club we have kids that are homeschooled and they wouldn't wrestle for the jr. high. That would not be fair to these kids. Just a thought

Beeson,

I have really enjoyed reading your posts on the Kansas Wrestling website. You are definitely very knowledgeable and have some great comments. Our Kids' Wrestling season starts the first Monday after Thanksgiving. A majority of our kids don't wrestle in a tournament until mid/late December. Counting practice, our season is really only about 4 months long. Believe me, down the stretch, I am ready for it to be over. At the same time, within a few months, I am ready for it to begin again. Good luck this weekend.

Then these kids would wrestle in their respective age brackets with USAWKS. I have a whole slew of JR High kids that don't wrestle middle school.

BLT brings up a good point. Who do we need to talk to make the necessary changes? I’ll jump on that band wagon. Point me in the right direction.

Why not let JR High kids wrestle for kids club and middle school as long there is not a conflict with the schools schedule. Can the middle school season move to earlier in the year? This would allow them to get more wrestling in.

coach craig,

You took the words right out of my mouth. I wanted to say something about the Jr High to High School transition, the whole team concept of wrestling, the comaraderie of these young adults. You nailed it on the head. As far as our Jr High coaches, they are very good. I realize that we are very fortunate to have them, even more fortunate to have Jr High wrestling as a school activity. I know that many of the schools in the KC area don't have Jr High wrestling. I just hope that we don't lose these programs to budget cuts across the state.

It also needs to be remembered that in western Kansas, we don't have the convenience of close tournaments set up much before the beginning of January. We don't even start kids wrestling practice until the beginning of December as a club, so therefore, our length of season is already down to 4 months including the month of practice. You don't realize how lucky you are in Eastern Kansas at times. My other concern is with the fact that you would be asking a family, like my own, with 4 kids, that would fall into 3 different state tournaments, to travel to 3 different sites on 3 differnet weekends. Yes, I would find a way to afford it for my kids, but there are others in this economy that wouldn't be able to find a way to make it work. Yes, changes need to be made and the way you have described it Will, would be great, I am just saying we need to take into consideration the families that can't afford to give their kids the luxuries you and I have where wrestling is concerned. I would also like to see our MS season moved as indicated by another thread. It would give our MS athletes a better opportunity to participate in Kids wrestling and not have to make a choice between the MS team and Kids.

Good ideas all,

I have already mentioned in other posts that if we dropped the Sub-districts that would save both time and money. You would get full brackets and shorten the season by one week.

Also would like the see the Weight brackets change so that they make more sense esp on the high and low ends. Too many at the low and not enough on the high in my opinion.

Also would like us try and get a National tournament in this state. I think we are shorting ourselves in this regard.

I think alot of people are missing why some kids dont go to state.There is more to it than time.To some kids it is just fun,when it gets hard [state-tournaments] they do not want to go.If people hear the kids some would like to go all year,some only 1 day a week and some just what to go to touraments.There is also the $ factor some can not spend the cash to go all over the place.
Than you think making 3 difrant state tournaments for difrant ages will make it better.I think of this as a family time.So if you have to split up or go on difrant day,the cost will be to high for some.
For me it is a no brainer.This is my sons 2nd year.He is 8 and under.In the start of the year he did not get it much at all.In the middle of the year he was doing ok maby less than ok.In the last 5 tournaments he has gotten it.It will be a hard road to get to state but he has a very good chance to do it at this time.Six weeks ago he would not have made it though subs.It takes some of the kids alittle longer to grasp all of it.

Charles