I am a mother of a wrestler and don't attend many of the tournaments. When I went this weekend to see my son wrestle at one of the bigger tournaments held here in Kansas I was a bit shocked at the venue you had chosen to host this event. As I said I don't attend all of the tournaments but the ones I have gone to were enjoyble to watch.
According to my husband the preparation and scheduling of the matches seemed fairly well done and the competition was of good caliber, but I must say the venue was lacking!
We sat down on the floor to eat lunch as there was not enough tables to eat at and I could smell horse urine on my hands when I got up. As a family that has managed large animal operations, I know that it could have been more throughly sanitized and had a cleaner smell. Several disenfectants could have been used that would have eliminated the odor and any other harmful pathogens.
The restroom facilities were not adequate for the amount of people!
When I come to see wrestling matches it is very annoying not to be able to see, as people always tend to stand around the mats and block the view of the wrestling but at this venue there were many around me also aggravated that they couldn't see. During finals I did notice that all matches were stopped just to TRY to get people to at least sit near or in the bleachers.(although there was not enough seating and the facilty itself doesn't allow for seating to watch wrestling)
If you compare the venue to the T.O.C. in Salina, or any of the Roller events,the Brute events, USJOC, the Wichita Classic is lacking, and that is mainly because of the venue chosen to hold it in.
And then knowing that right next to the wrestling tournament, a gun show was being held in the Wichita collisium, (I have no problem with gun shows) but yet the kids had to wrestle on a horse barn floor while guns were being layed on tables in a nicer venue. As this is one of the bigger tournaments held in the state of Kansas I would think that it could be made possible to have it held in a venue that not only represents the sport of wrestling but also the State of Kansas in a better light. Until you change the venue, people will not recongnize the Wichita Classic as a higher caliber event but rather consider it just a wrestling tourny that is held in a horse barn.
It makes me think of the new Kansas motto/phrase .........~As BIG as you can think~ I think we CAN think bigger, it wouldn't take much.
Rebecca Schmidt/Chuck's mom