As a former college wrestler i think that they should make high school more like college wrestling so the future wrestlers have a little more taste of it and are more ready. Such as riding time and i agree with the 7 match Cokeley is saying. Let these kids get more from the sports they love and deserve.

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Been away from the sport for three years…so here’s my 2 cents (if it is worth even that!):

I understand the need for some regulation to foster some fairness and to avoid any blatant disregard for kid’s health and safety by potentially overzealous coaches and parents of the sport.

However...I believe that often regulations from "governing bodies" of any kind can take on a life of its own and hinder the ambitions of those striving to be the best they can be. In fact, I believe that in today’s world this might more often be the case than not.

The rule making bodies should strive at all times not to limit a kid’s pursuit of excellence. Wrestling is a tremendously competitive sport. Kids with lofty college aspirations are competing not just within the boundaries of the state but nationwide for scholarships and opportunities. There are some decisions that belong with parents, coaches, perhaps school administrators. Governing bodies can at times run a risk of applying almost a lowest common denominator standard to all and therefore, however unintentionally, hinder the ambitions of those striving toward elite goals.

Maybe the burden of proof should be as follows: unless there are very large risks that cannot be reasonably addressed by parents, coaches, school administrators maybe, then regulatory bodies should not impose restrictions.

I expect that these regulatory entities probably believe that they are doing this already. And I know reasonable minds can differ but my sense is that some of these rules affect more the goals of the elite than they do protect the participants.

Just my humble opinion.

I would propose an additional weighin before the placement rounds of all tournaments with an additional pound from the previous weighin. So one day tournaments would have a second weighin, and two day tournaments would have a 3rd. That way the placements rounds would be more representative of kids ability to compete fairly at the weight they are representing, rather than being 15 pounds or so over by the finals. There is a clear difference in the big cutters from Friday of a two day tournament to Saturday night. If we can't have matside weighins this would be a close second. It would eliminate the big cutters and make a fair playing field. And don't give me it would cause kids to starve longer speach. They would only do tha once, then they would realize they cannot cut that much and compete for a WHOLE tournament sucked down and they would move up. Food for thought. Blast away.

I like Badbo's idea. It would be a lot more practical than matside weigh ins from a logistics/time perspective and still achieve the same affect. I think excessive weight cutting is the number one thing that hurts this great sport. Hope somebody at least tries this.

I think now is a great time to change the 5 match a day rule, but not make it unlimited. The only way to change the 5 match a day rule is to propose it like this:

Wrestlers will be allowed to participate in 6 matches in a day, if they are participating in a tournament with a 16 man bracket.

This is a financial issue now. There are many two day tournaments that could be wrestled in one day if this rule is changed. This would help schools defray costs of travel and lodging and would allow many schools who have recently been forced by their districts to drop two-day tournaments to get back in the tournaments they want to be at. There is no need to wrestle 8 times a day in a dual tournament or a tourny that uses pools. The season is plenty lengthy to get enough mat time in.

Next:

End hydration testing.

The test that Kansas uses is not a legitimate hydration test. An official hydration test can only be conducted by a certified person. Holding a cup of urine up to a color chart does not prove or disprove a person's hydration level. We are simply going through the motions to satisfy the National Federation Rules which we, as a state, do not have to follow. This test is a waste of time, it is a waste of money, and it hurts the perception of our great sport.

The question I came up with this week was, would this include regionals? Would the coaches be in favor of having the 3-2-1A and 4A regionals run as a one day tournament? Moving those regionals to one day would help the host school have a more profitable tournament, and would eliminate some expenses of attending schools. It seems to me that would be the way to sell the change to the KSHSAA board.

I like it also!!

There are a lot of ideas being floated around out here. I am going to list the one's that I think could be implemented very easily without incurring additional costs to the school system....

1. Increase the match limit to 6 or 7 matches in a day. I think this would actually save the school district $$$ because a lot of tournaments could go from 2 day tournaments to 1 day tournaments.

2. Incorporate Bad Bo's idea of an additonal weigh in before the placing rounds. He is spot on with his reasoning and it doesn't cost a thing. In fact I think it would do more to keep kids from cutting an unhealthy amount of weight than the current certification and hydration testing does.

3. Increase the season point limit in order to do more duals. We are losing the casual sports fans and the support from the student bodies because hardly anyone has home duals at the school anymore. The mid-week duals are great to get the student body energized about the wrestling team. We need to improve this.

4. Lift the 500 mile rule. What purpose does it actually serve? The schools that can afford it or want to fund raise should have the freedom to do so. If a school doesn't want to travel like that.....they don't have to.

I think these 4 rules are very easy to implement without a large cost burden on the respective school districts.

Shawn Budke

I'm not sure increasing the point limit is the answer. How many schools will use the extra points for home duals? My bet is that they will just find another weekend dual tournament to attend. There are not anymore points allowed now as when I was in school, and we had plenty of thursday night duals. We also only wrestled about 30 matches a year. The problem is that too many coaches got greedy, and went to dual tournaments. They trashed the weekly duals, and in turn the student body support dwindled.

I agree with Beeson on this. If your program is losing support and you think the problem is the lack of home duals, then the coach of that program needs to change his schedule. I agree with Budke that duals increase the local fan base and I am a strong supporter of home duals. However, I would be totally against any home dual against one of Beeson's old high school teams.

The increase in points would be ONLY for Mon, Tue, Wed, or Thur night SINGLE DUALS.

There are nine competition weekends in the season. You could wrestle 9 one day tournaments and only have three points left for duals. 30 points is too few. Other states are getting 60-70 matches while we struggle to get 45. Tournaments are the best way to improve your individuals. At most duals, if you have a good kid, the coach runs away from them. Dual team events are cool but many times the best individuals don't get to wrestle each other. If a coach doesn't want to use of all of his points no problem, DON'T! 30 Points doesn't offer much flexibility. Points for WEEKDAY ONLY DUALS will force teams to host such. I am talking about two teams, one dual. Something a crowd is willing to give up 1.5 to 2 hours for. Pack the gym once a week.

Obviously Will and I have talked. I didn't explain very well that I would make the extra points only for weekday duals.

As I was thinking about this I had another idea of how to solve this and almost guarantee to increase weekday duals.

If we increase the points and say they are only used for weekday duals we run a risk of them being used differently and not getting at the intended outcome....therefore what are your thoughts on this idea.....

1. Keep the points the same but they only count toward weekend matches.

2. Make it so that weekday duals don't count any points at all.

3. If you are concerned that people would then be trying to wrestle duals everyday of the week you could say they can only have 2 duals per week. That would mean if you have a tri-dual during the week.....you have met your allocation. Or you could do 1 dual on Wed and 1 dual on Thurs for example.

Thoughts?

Shawn Budke

Regional Start Times.

Just looking at some very recently published regional start times.

4A and 321A 2 day regionals starting at 2 Pm on Friday and final rounds starting at 6 to 6:30 Pm. Probably not ending till close to 9 PM. Saturuday starting 11 AM, again not ending till 9 PM with ceremonies and awards. Two long, long days

The only 6A Regional with apublished start time is Manhattan. They are starting at 9 Am and finals start at 4 PM. A full day, but only one day.

Are we making the regionals too long. Realize that lots of schools, especially 321A, have to travel a long way to get where they are going. Not as bad for 4A. No problems for 5A and 6A.

Why cannot 4A and 321A start at ll AM or 12 Noon on both days. Start early, finish earlier, get home earlier. All 5A and 6A regionals should start, if not 9 AM, surely not later than 10 AM.

why is it necessary to wrestle so many rounds?? Why not eliminate the first round of the looser's bracket. How many wrestlers advanc very far out of the first round of that bracket. Elimination of this round for 4A and 321A would than have the looser's of the 2nd round winners bracket becoming the new first round of the loosers bracket. The first cross brackets would pit the winner of the new first round loosers bracket against the loosers of the Championship semi-finals. 5A and 6A would not require cross bracketing.

Won't save much time--probably two++ hours.

How about this RULE CHANGE "The Puffer Rule".

"If a wrestler stops a match for any reason other than blood or an illegal move injury, or referees time out (for head gear or shoes), the other wrestler gets awarded a point. THis would keep the puffers from getting a free timeout!!!!

you can also add when the coach asks the ref a question every time they go out of bounds or the whistle blows. I have seen coaches ask the ref about the scoring just so the kid can get a free timeout.

Do you seriously think using an inhaler is an advantage? Now we're getting a little out there. He's got an advantage, he can breath again. Give me a break.

Gary - I think you are misinterpreting the term puffer. The puffer rule is in regard to those out of shape kids who find any reason to take a break to catch their breath and get back into the match.

Why not allow near-fall points and pins when a wrestler’s shoulders are out of bounds. It seems like we are rewarding those who look for the edge of the mat when they are on their backs. If you can score a takedown in that situation it seems like you should be able to score near-fall points. It would also eliminate another judgment call for the officials.