I think one of the big problems is that no one completely understands the entire picture. I will try to explain it all in the next few bullet points:



1. If you are a Bantam, Midget, Novice, or Schoolboy you MUST go to the camp in order to be allowed to compete in the Southern Plains tournament.

2. If you are a Bantam, Midget, Novice, or Schoolboy you MUST compete in the Southern Plains tournament if you wish to compete in the FS/GR Nationals in Green Bay, WI held the last weekend in June (Wednesday thru Saturday.)

3. If you are on the Schoolboy Dual team if you will be gone Wednesday thru Sunday competing in Indianapolis. You will then have to return from Indy very early Monday morning, regroup and report into Camp on Tuesday if you wish to compete in the Southern Plains tournament.

4. If you are a Cadet you can compete in any regional or the Kansas State tournament to qualify for Fargo. If you want to compete in the Southern Plains regional you MUST attend the Southern Plains camp.

5. A Kansas Cadet wrestler can travel to any other regional in the US other than Southern Plains without a requirement to be allowed to compete but if they want to compete in Southern Plains, in their home state, they have to attend the camp.

6. Juniors have not, to date, been required to attend camp but they would fall under the same guidelines as the Cadets.



I feel strongly that a large majority of the coaches, dads, and wrestlers do not want the camp mandate so partisan politics have somehow led to a slight majority voting in favor at the Executive Board level. Jeff Sheets told me that he needs to hear more from those who oppose the mandate. I spoke with the group from USA Wrestling who organize these events and they are against any requirement. Bob Phillips contends this is a team event but no team scores, team trophies, or any team competition of any sort is performed at this tournament. Bob further states there is a problem with kids needing coaching so they must go to the camp so that the Kansas coaches know the kids. Somehow Kansas kids manage to get coaching at all of the other national tournaments during Folkstyle season so this argument is truly weak. I am VERY uncertain what the motive behind the camp mandate. I know of at least 20 kids who would go to the tournament if they didn’t have to go to the camp. The number is probably more like 50. It is a serious burden on time and economics. If a kid wants to go to Nationals in Green Bay they have to give up nearly two weeks of their time. Kids, parents, and coaches should be allowed to cho0se their own means of preparation. If the camp is great then they will choose the camp if they can afford the time and cost. There is more apathy than anything else when it comes to this issue. I am working on getting everyone educated on the issues and get more support to lift the mandate. The funny thing is, my son has gone to that camp every year he could and so did I. One of the major differences from then to now is that we didn’t mix eight year olds with fifteen to eighteen year olds. Fourteen year olds were the oldest. I think this mix presents another potential problem.

For just one moment put your apathy for summer wrestling aside. I understand that only 500 of the 8,000 USA Kansas wrestlers participate past the State Folkstyle tournament. We need to hear from those 500. The question I ask is Does anyone SUPPORT mandating the camp?