Then trackwrestling program is easy to fix brackets then according to Mr. Lund. Then at Goddard there was three brackets for one weight and when the touny started the three brackets were 2- 7man brackets and 1-3man bracket. My question is shouldn't they have accommidated the 3-man to make it a little better than "we are leaving things they way thy are". I thought Goddard attempted to do right but they were not very flexible. Goddard was all ready starting 1 1/2 hr late so they could make changes in the 2 instances of bracket that have been brought up in here. I know it is tought to run a big tourny using new stuff but atleast the people in charge of running the tourny could be more resonable to "common sense" changes to bracket changes instead of relying on the computer.
These are "open" tourny's, if there are 14 kids then 16-man bracket. I am all for brackets not being bigger than 16 man in local tourny's. Leave then 32+ for Salina, Classic, etc. If kids are in novice then wrestle on Sunday or welcome to open tourny's.

In Track Werstling's defense Johnson County did not use Track Wrestling this weekend & started 45 minutes late. Then there were scratches at the score tables. Yuck! At the tournaments that we have been to using Track Wrestling (Rossville,Valley Center) once the action started it was much smoother then the tournaments not using track wrestling (Emporia, Johnson County).

...and the results are still not posted for Johnson County

I noticed some kids advanced with a (FF). I assumed that was a forfeit, but I noticed that wasn't the case in some brackets. What does the (FF) stand for?

The trackwrestling system is the way to go. I ran it with no problems worth talking about. It was my first time. These are some tips for clubs using the system. 1-- When justin from trackwrestling suggests doing something a certin way DO IT. You dont know more than the expert. 2-- cut off weigh in one & a half hours before start. 3--Put the brackets on the wall in different areas accordingly to age groups. We did not do this in rossville & had a croud all wanting to see thier bracket & match number at same time. Spread them out!!! 4--Have a medals & brackets table. The reason for this is the people filling out the bout sheets cannot be interrupted by people asking for medals & brackets.We had a few bout sheets filled out incorrectly & I think this would have helped. The brackets should not be created & posted untill the last wrestler weighs in this way there is very few scratches & forfits, & your wrestler does not have a first match at sixty something because of a scratch. I do not understand why tournys are starting late with this system. We had many (50 or more) changes & scratches the morning of the tourny & I changed them all myself & still started close to nine. The trackwrestling system creates brackets that are better than I could ever have created by hand. Rossville will be using it again next year. Justin & Kevin at trackwrestling never failed to take the time to answer any of my questions,& backed us up 100%. When I e-mailed them I always got a response within 10 min. When I called them they always answered. This meant alot to me because not everyone wanted to use the system. If any thing went wrong it would have been (I tryed to tell him) or (I knew it). It all went smooth & I think everybody is a believer in the system now. Thanks trackwrestling.

Michael,
Great Post!!!

The one thing that I would add...

Put your computers somewhere that everyone does not have access to. Do not put them in a common area or in the gym you are wrestling.

We ran the system without any flaws as well.
The only thing we would have done differently is have a wider gap between the end of weigh-ins and the planned start time of our tournament.

Should probably let this issue die, but can't just yet.

As applied, it has not worked at the tourneys we have attended. The wait is too long from final weigh-in to start time.

We are all used to getting brackets the night before or at weigh-in and like to know who our kids wrestle and when. It's nice to tell grandma or grandpa you don't need to get there at start time because he wrestles match no. 18. Or the opposite if he goes right away.

Two solutions: One, we all give up the early info and get used to long delays from close of weigh-in until tourney begins and only learning the match numbers right before start time. Two, the program is changed to simply scratch a kid, and the brackets on the wall are marked out like they used to be.

Most tourneys say no rebracketing if you scratch or you don't make weight. Why reinvent the wheel just because the computer can do it easier than by hand. I think Douglas (snow excusably hurt them) and Goddard prove rebracketing is a poor decision, regardless of how you do it.

Use the program for its advantages, but leave out the rebracketing. Just scratch who is not there and do it the old fashioned way from that point on.

People were used to riding horses for transportation at one time also. But when the better system came around most accepted it was better some sooner some later. This system is better the sooner it is accepted the better for ks wrestling. The brackets on the wall the night before does not change who you wrestle. If there is a scratch in your bracket grandma & gramps are in for a unexpected wait. If the brackets are printed after weigh in they will see their wrestler in action sooner. When the brackets are printed after the last weigh in their are no scratches except those who scratch during the tourny. All wrestlers will wrestle sooner & more often. The advantages to brackting the morning of the tourny are full brackets & no scratches. I had the same opinions as talkwrestle until I ran the system, then I understood why they set it up this way. Keep in mind it only took me 10-20 min to make aprox 50 changes & print all brackets & first round bout sheets. Michael Luellen Rossville

The reason for any tournament is PARENTS.Hoping there kid makes weight and if not they know they can change it up at any tournament in Kansas.Tournament directors need to put there foot down and not allow any changes for any reason and if they do charge a $25 rebracketing fee like Colorado does and that will definetly put a stop to tournaments running late.

We went to Rossville and Paola which both used Track Wrestling. Both were well ran tournaments. We will go back to both. AND, I like the things it offers, like being able to check the participants early and seeing the brackets afterwards. But, remember, this information is only as good as what gets imputed. I would imagine a well ran tournament will be well ran with or without Track Wrestling and a poorly ran tournament will not improve because of it. In other words, the problems you had with the tournaments maybe didn't have anything to do with the program. Its a tool, nothing more. The major complaint seems to be the brackets get posted late. I have seen this happen at other tournaments in the past that did not use the program. I know I only have about 5 years of going to kids tournaments, but I think this is the future and I think it will make things better.

I know that Mike changed about 50 kid's weight and the tourney started without a hitch! Instead of making such a huge deal about charging for weight changes at this young age, if it is indeed that easy why not do away with little kids cutting weight and let them enter at a proposed weight and if the child is indeed one puound over due to one too many soda pops let the system move them up. I'm not saying to do this if hand bracketing but this seems to be just another perk of using track wrestling!

I think that is how the use of computers will eventually impact tournaments. You will still need to pre-register X amount of wrestlers from the Acme Wrestling Club just so the host knows they have enough entries to actually have a tournament. But the morning of or the evening before, Acme Wrestling will show up with their kids and weigh in and be bracketed at the appropriate weight. Regardless, you will still have fanatics out here having kids cut weight, I just don't see any way around that.