I support Kansas wrestling 150% so don't get on here crying and talking about supporting Kansas wrestling. If you guys really wanted to support Kansas wrestling you would have gone to Mulvane a Kansas club that had a tournament, not some tournament that isn't affiliated with a club, taking entries from a Kansas club. Jmo.
It was announced LAST YEAR the date for Sprawl. Now in saying that I know how difficult it can be to not "step on toes" when it comes to tourney dates. True this tournament isn't affiliated with any club, however, if it wasn't for the clubs that helped out with various things such as mats, volunteers, etc. there would be no tournament. This was opened up to any club who wanted to help out and the clubs that helped out were compensated in some monetary way either by actual money or comp'ed entries. From the beginning of this tournament last year I have been involved with this group trying to make this tournament the best thing in Kansas. In order for that to happen, we need the support of the Kansas clubs. Not only with the entries, but also with the volunteers and other various things that a tournament needs. Does Roller productions have a team of workers that only work tournaments? I don't think so, I believe that he works something out with the clubs of Oklahoma to get their help. Does USJOC have hired workers? No, they have a conglomeration of clubs that volunteer for the tournament.
The biggest obstacle we face in growing this thing to the size that it could be is our own state. I hate to say it, but our season is too long and it gets started way too late because of the length of the season. Most clubs we talked to didn't start practicing till around Thanksgiving or after so of course they aren't ready to hit a tournament with only a week of practice. If clubs started their practices earlier, this wouldn't be an issue. But I also see that the season can be really long if you start wrestling in October going through March.
As for the out of state entries. I was talking to one of the guys from Iowa who commented on the tournament and told us that they would definetly be back next year and that they would probably bring more kids from Iowa down in December.
Just my two cents.
Craig Gash