With all the criticism on tournaments, I thought I would start a positive thread. Let's hear what has helped your tournament run smoother. I'll start.
1) Practice matches at practice during live wrestling time, a complete table with scorekeeping.
2) A bullpen style for every mat, have the next 3 matches ready to go, with wrestlers up next, ankle bands on ready to go.
3) Coaches bands, or coaches cards visible for the refs to see, no card, move back to the stands. Right now in Kansas they are pretty much worthless, anyone can get next to a mat. Make that class and card worth something. Good job for an adult of the host club for each mat, they can oversee the table workers and make sure they are on task.

THANKS CC'S DAD. I TOTALLY AGREE WITH #1 AND #3. #2 goes back to space, it's nice, but not always practical.

here's how we supply $$$ for camps, rooms, travel, singlets, shoes, headgear etc.

we work hard for it, have fundraisers, other than our tournaments to build $$$.

-we host the camps and discount our wrestlers
-we pay for rooms when a wrestler makes it to state
-we have team singlets that the wrestlers can wear/ and return
-we keep on hand shoes, headgear etc. that wrestlers have outgrown and offer them to first year kids or families in need
-we also as officers watch for close outs and buy in bulk, and have been able to offer really cheap shoes, head gear, etc.
-we also furnish warm-ups to the state qualifiers

BE NICE this is a big one.It is eazyer to work though things if the people running the tournament are very nice.

Also Talk to the head high school coach.He will know what kids are responsible and what kids are not.Every kid is needed,just where and what should they do.

This also gose for every one.Dont put some one at the table that has to be on the phone or on call all the time.

I think #2 works great, we are always fortunate to have a bowl gym, so we don't have to deal with mom, dad, brother and sister matside. But if you enforce #3, it creates room in the place needed. Although it is a lot tougher to do with regular gyms, but still very doable with the threat of ejection. You could even block off row 1 of the bleachers for the next 2 or 3 matches coming up.

Mill Valley did that last year, worked great. More tournaments should try it.

I may be the only person in the world that it doesn't bother on bit if parents or other people are at mat side.

As long as they are not in the coaching box or in front of the table I really could care less.

Probably the biggest thing that can improve the speed and accuracy is having table workers that know what they are doing. Even with TW there always seems to be confusion at the tables. Everyone has to learn at some point but keeping one or two experienced table workers at each table helps a ton.

it would not bother you if your kid was wrestling and you had 20 people standing matside and could not see your child wrestle. or there was so many people matside your kid did not have a place to warm up. yea i guess i see your point it would not bother me to not see my kid wrestle. and he probaly does not need a place to warm up either. hell lets forget the stands and all bring lawn chairs.

but i do respect your opinion. just i disagree

Observe the three tenets of proper tournament management.

I. Thou shall NOT GET GREEDY. Thou will accept only as many entries as thy facilities and workers are capable of adequately handling.

II. Tournaments shall start ON time. No excuses just do it.

III. See tenets I and II.

It would really help if coaches would not try to add in "just one wrestler" or "hey, can we move our kid to this bracket" right before the tournament starts.

Many times it is these little "additions" and "changes" by other teams that make a tournament start late.

Realize that technology does break down and plan for it to happen. Have a backup computer, a backup printer and a plan for when the server goes down.

heres my opinion and it solves everything. free entries, no parents allowed. 1 coach in each kids corner but no coaching allowed. kids make their own decision. no hospitality room buy your own food since you have some that complain about free food. now that would direct all the attention to what its all about and thats the kids learning and getting better.

We are having several table practices during our regular wrestling practice for our parents and volunteers to get familiar with all of the jobs at the table. We use live wrestling and the coaches ref the matches. Experienced table workers train and oversee any questions or clarifications.

I've watched parents begin the practice not knowing what to do in the beginning and teaching others by the time we were done. Parents new to wrestling also learn the calls and have a better understanding of what is going on while their kid wrestles. They also see first hand how chaotic the tables can be and have a new found appreciation for giving respectable distance from the mats.

I also agree that if there was more control over who is allowed at the mat, spectators would not have a need to move closer to see their wrestlers match.

Being nice and having respect for each other is another point I agree with and sets an example to the younger generations.

Satellite weigh-ins are a big help in starting on-time. As parents, we take advantage of them every time so our wrestler can get a nights sleep and eat properly vs. worrying about weight in the morning. (helps if you don't cut it close to the weight too :))

Thanks for starting this chat and great suggestions! We all know what we dislike, but communicating solutions is what helps us achieve better results.

I always love this conversation each year. Makes me smile!

Round Robbins for 6 wrestlers or less.

selling hot dogs in the stands, ring girls for rounds and a good halftime show would be great.

but on a serious note imo i think we have a very small group of people who complain about tounaments and they would complain about it even if it went perfect.

for those who complain about the tournament starting late well i have to ask have you ever been late for work or late for somthing well then you have no right to complain then do you.

the ones who complain about the hospitality room well it's free.

and for those who complain about mistakes that tournaments make, well if your perfect and have never made a mistake by all means complain. but if you have made a mistake in life what gives you the right to complain about others mistakes.

i do think tournaments need to supply alot of tissues, so those who cry on here can cry there instead.

sry so long but once again these are my own opinion. not facts

We have a computer program but we still have blank bout sheets at the table so if the computer goes down we can continue. We have four at a table two who have done it before and two newbies.

Wouldn't it stand to reason then that there would be complaints on here about every tournament then?


We all know people who have never been late a day in their life. Is that just dumb luck on their part?



If a tournament makes the same "mistake" year after year, is that in fact a "mistake" or something different?

your math just doesn't add up. the reason there aren't complaints every weekend is the small group of complainers not the large number of perfect tournaments.

get over yourself.

i know people who have never been late, most of them clock out right on time too, and most of them are stuck in ruts and don't know how to get out.

quit standing by the timeclock, and go home, i'm not getting anything out of you anyway.

you are right if it's the same mistake year after year then yes it is a problem.

however i haven't seen too, many complaints about recurring problems, cc's dad says it was the same, yet it was the first tournamet at said facility. i think he's on something. imo.