When my oldest was still doing kids wrestling, we would go to Nebraska tournaments specifically because they where split format. The ones in Fairbury was run so smoothly that as a spectator, I looked forward to it.

They had students in grades K-4 or 5 in the morning and then grades 5-8 in the afternoon. Every bracket was a round robin and they used four full mats. But not only was the split format used, they also had a great system with the wrestlers. They didn't really use bout numbers but instead ran it more like HS tournaments. So all kids in the same age group and same weight were divided into groups and then into their bracket by the director in charge. They then were assigned a place to sit in the bleachers and sat in their group starting with the youngest at the bottom and working on up. When it was time to start, the director would have the 8 youngest and smallest kids stand up and they followed another tournament person down to the mat. Everyone else in the stands scooted down and over with the next 8 at the bottom. The Bout sheets where given to the tables by the wrestlers and they all wrestled. When all four matches where done, those eight followed a leader back up to the stands where they sat together at the top and the next group went down and wrestled. It was like watching a swimming event and was so organized.

As parents, you didn't have to worry about missing a bout or wondering when your son/daughter wrestled. You just sat in the stands and watched the wrestling. The kids sitting next to each other made friends during the tournament and it was neat seeing kids that just got done wrestling each other talking and laughing together in the stands.

With the older kids in the afternoon, they didn't do the whole sitting together thing, it was run just like HS tournaments where they start with the light weights, first open matt, kids get their bout sheet, hand in at the table and wrestle.

If you where a parent with a young 6 year old, you knew you would be done by 11:00 and could go home.....not bad. If you had a wrestler in both sessions, yeah, you where there all day but usually no longer than a regular tournament.

The benefit of a split tournament is that younger kids don't have to wait so long between matches.