I believe that the sportsmanship being shown at today's tournaments, while is shown greatly by many individuals, still needs a lot of improvement from others. At Saturday's Subdistrict tournament I witnessed NUMEROUS outbreaks of unsportsmanlike conduct with no say whatsoever from many of the coaches, and while i understand it's extremely hard to keep track of EVERY wrestler on the team, the effort doesn't seem great enough. It shouldn't be an issue though, for the wrestlers themselves have ALL been taught right and wrong.
LET'S CLEAN UP THE ACTS WRESTLERS!!

Coaches have a great job to teach these wrestler but when It comes to the tournaments there are a few things that I feel the parents should help out. I feel that all in all I have seen very good things from wrestlers and Coaches. As a coach you try to teach as much as you can but some help in the childs mannerism on and off the mat need to come from the parents too. I know as a parent I don't see this as a babysitter and there are a few parents out ther that do! BUT THE MAJORITY ARE GREAT PARENTS AND SUPPORTERS!!!!

I can understand in some cases, when a wrestler has put allot of time, and training into being the best that he or she can be and loose by a bad call from a ref (which has happened). Or in a double OT match to move on to the next round. There are many instances I could mention in where at the end of a match ones feelings and emotions are running very high, and this is when you notice the class acts. The ones who congradulate the winner, and wish them well going into the next round, telling them to represent their district the best that they can. Than practicing harder, learning more so that next time the outcome may be different. Than you have the ones that cuss the Ref, throw their leg band, toss their head gear into the next County, yell at their coaches, refuse to shake hands, the list goes on and anyone who has been at these tournaments know what I mean. Is it the coaches fault (Only if its his child)or if these are the same childern that at practice are dirutive, or allways wanting to horse play. Most of this type of behavior starts at home, and will be trickeled down into anything most of these childern are involved in outside of wrestling. This topic could go many ways, but most of us know what needs done to eliminate this type of behavior.

The coaches at our club stress good sportsmanship and will make wrestlers who have fits on the mats run during the next practice. I also see many of our wrestlers shakeing the ref's hands after every match. I don't know if this is what the coach has requested but I always think it's neat to see. I know as a parent it would upset me greatly to see my boys throw a fit on or off the mat. Most of these kids will not go on to be college or Olympic wrestlers so the lessons they learn should have more to do with life than wrestling.