Anytime you are trying something new, there are going to be some bugs that need to work through. There are going to be coaches and parents who are confused. But you must look at the long-term effect. My husband has coached at both open and split-tournaments. He much prefer's the split-tournaments that are run in Nebraska as he can focus on small "chunks" of wrestlers (making sure they are were they need to be, getting them ready, ect.) He doesn't have to spend valuable time trying to find wrestlers or worry about having too many kids wrestling at the same time. They gym is less crowded as more people are coming and going.

If you are going to use a first open mat available scenerio, can it be done like a high school tournament? Go by weight and display the weight number on the scoreboards. Have the younger kids (age 5-8) use 2 to 3 mats and the older kids (age 9-12) use the other 2 or 3 mats. In the afternoon, you would run the tournament the same way but with the older kids. Parents would just need to watch the posted weight. However, I don't know if this will allow enough time for the wrestlers to rest between matches.