I can name you NO Kansas high school wrestler who has died from cutting too much weight. I certainly hope this is not the standard to be used for moving us in the direction of utilizing the best medical information that we have.

Gibby, You are entitled to your opinion in all that you say. I will however take issue regarding the 7% body fat . It is NOT some "arbitrary" number that was pulled out of the air like the 10% weight loss rule we now have. The 7% (& 12% for females) comes from medical professionals and their professional research--if you want to dispute THEIR research with your anecdotal evidence have at it. Am sure a judge would allow a jury charged with assessing damages in a wrongful injury or death suit to take such an opinion under advisement.

The NF has been known to make some mistakes and correct themselves. You may or may not remember the ill-fated change in weight classes enacted for the 1994-95 wrestling season. It is my opinion that the descent component is an area that will be proven to be a mistake; not due to its philosophy or good intentions, but simply from the inability to oversee and monitor it.

Weigh-ins on-site vs. home-site. Have experienced both ways and in my opinion, and I believe that of most coaches in Kansas, that the on-site is best for most competiors. You may remember that Kansas went back to the on-site weighin seveal years ago after some controversy regarding one school's abuse of the homesite system. The change was made back to the homesite weigh-in after one year, by the KSHSAA, due to the communication received from the coaches and administrators of Kansas. Your opinion is valid and any system can be made to work and any system can be abused or misused; I am just unsure why the NF believes it necessary to have a uniform rule in this area.

As a footnote: It has been my experience over the years that many people consider communication to have been succesful only if they get their way.

In regards to continued discussion regarding this matter I have presented the pilot plan as it is now; and have quite honestly exhausted my limited knowledge! There will be more coming from the KSHSAA vis the work of this committee in the way of refinements, time lines, etc. Is it perfect? No. Will it be perfect? No. Will it require many of us to rethink our current practices and make changes in how we have done things for a long time? Yes.

Those of you who are interested and involved need to stay abreast. The KSHSAA Activities Journal will have further information; I am sure that most school A.D.s will share their issues with you if you don't know where else to find one. I am going to visit with Mr. Bowden about posting the meeting minutes/notes on the KSHSAA web-site. Again, a full listing of the committee members is contained on page 15 of the March Journal; it is an across-the-state representation and you surely know or know of a member. Let them know whether or not we should be full members of the NF; if we should this makes the decision on how to handle this matter a lot simpler!!!!!

The one thing that I can tell you with some certainty is that there is a change in the weight control plan of Kansas coming (acbulldog not withstanding) and it will more closely model the NF rules than it does not.

Yours in wrestling.

Mann
supt211@ruraltel.net