WVYWA Regionals

[baxter841]

Area 1,2, and 3 have all set the regional date for March 5th according to the website.
Is it safe to assume that areas 4,5 and 6 will be on the same date?

[RickDunbar]

We have asked them to change their Regional dates so kids will have the opportunity to participate in the Jr. States in Parkersburg which will be held on March 5-6. It is my undesrstanding that this is being discussed.

[baxter841]

Ok, will you please share that information when you find it out?
Thank you!

[abettnman]

The only regional tournament that is not the same weekend as the Parkersburg Open tournament is the Wood County region.

The other five regional tournaments is being held that same weekend.

Since facilities for the regional tournaments have already been scheduled, I don't see the dates changing, and they shouldn't be.

[baxter841]

How is that fair? All regionals should be on the same date, and hopefully that date is the same as the Wood County regionals. This would allow ALL wrestlers to participate in both tournaments. If what you are stating is correct then only a select number of teams will able to do both.

[wrestler152215]

Why is wood counties regional tournament not the same weekend as the others. They should have it the same weekend as the others. People will have to make a decision which one to attend just like all the other regions.

[ready2wrestle]

Would it not be easier to move Jr. States (1 tournament) instead of asking the regionals for WVYWA to move their tournaments? According to their website they currently have 3 regional tournaments scheduled for the dates of Parkersburg Junior States.

[coach_williams]

I don't understand all of the hubbub. Jr States is just an open tournament called Jr States. It is not a true state championship. Anyone can pay to get in even if they are from out of state and because of the age structure of the classes it is possible for a middle school 6th grade student to wrestle in a bracket with all elementary 4th and 5th grade students and for a high school 9th grader to wrestle in a bracket with all middle school 7th and 8th graders.

Basically you have two choices:

A. An open tournament with no sanctioning, no qualifying requirements, no residency requirements, allows wrestlers to enter at any weight as long as they meet that weight on the date of the tournament, a questionable age structure of classes, and I am guessing no actual seeding, that calls itself the Jr State Championsips.

B. A tournament that is sanctioned by a governing body with publicly posted rules and guidelines, requires qualifying, requires the wrestlers be a resident of the state of West Virginia, uses seeding/qualifying points, restricts age classes, and requires making base weight at least once to compete at that weight.

Doesn't strike me as that difficult of a decision to make.

[baxter841]

I dont have anything bad to say about he new WVYWA - but if it is as professional as advertised then ALL of the regionals should be on the same date.

As for Jr States - I dont have anything bad to say about them either, 38 years i believe, a lot of very good wrestlers went through Jr. States. Its an established tournament.

As for the age/grade debate - some kids are 10 and in 5th grade, others are 10 and in 3rd. Kids are old or young for their grade. the Jan 1 age deadline is an established method of placing kids in a division.

The whole point of this thread was to check on the regional dates for all areas in the WVYWA, because I know several people who are interested in doing both, But that doesnt sound like an option, unless you are in wood county's area. The teams pleasants, wood, wirt, jackson, calhoun, gilmer, mason, and roane all are in area 6 would allow them to participate in both tournaments. Thats great for them, but not everyone else. I think most of the wrestlers would like to do both, but right now I am fearful that both tournaments will not be very well represented.

So back to the question - when are all of the regional tournaments for the WVYWA? I only see 3 posted on the website.

[coach_williams]

I wasn't trying to be nasty about Jr States, although I see it came off that way somewhat. It just seems that there is a lot of unhappiness over the scheduling. Some want Jr States to move, others want WVYWA to move their qualifiers. My .02 is pick which one you value the most and attend and accept that the other was not doable. It's not like there has never been an issue with good tournaments scheduled on the same date before.

As for the regional qualifiers, my guess is they are getting stuff posted as fast as they can. I don't have any insider info, but I assume they would need to get people from areas 4/5/6 that are willing to either have their tourney be a WVYWA qualifier to agree to do it or plan one out with a club in the region. Considering we are talking about two months from now, I would assume they will have something hashed out shortly. For some reason I can't even get on the WVYWA website right now to see where areas 4/5/6 are at.

[Wrestlingprodigy40]

My 2 cents is that in order to establish WVYWA as the go to states you won't be able to have it on a different date. Yes wood county region is different because I don't think anyone would come because the Jr states pays them and only them. If it's on two different dates this early in the game it's not doing much to try to make it the Wv true states. I don't have insider information either. It is just my take on it. I'm sure after its established that it's like the OACs compared to the OH WAY then it might change.

[oroyos]

I don't understand all of the hubbub. Jr States is just an open tournament called Jr States. It is not a true state championship. Anyone can pay to get in even if they are from out of state and because of the age structure of the classes it is possible for a middle school 6th grade student to wrestle in a bracket with all elementary 4th and 5th grade students and for a high school 9th grader to wrestle in a bracket with all middle school 7th and 8th graders.

Basically you have two choices:

A. An open tournament with no sanctioning, no qualifying requirements, no residency requirements, allows wrestlers to enter at any weight as long as they meet that weight on the date of the tournament, a questionable age structure of classes, and I am guessing no actual seeding, that calls itself the Jr State Championsips.

B. A tournament that is sanctioned by a governing body with publicly posted rules and guidelines, requires qualifying, requires the wrestlers be a resident of the state of West Virginia, uses seeding/qualifying points, restricts age classes, and requires making base weight at least once to compete at that weight.

Doesn't strike me as that difficult of a decision to make.

Not taking sides. But there are definately residency requirements when it comes to jr states. Haven't looked into the rest of the allocations u have made but I'm sure some of them are skewed as well.

[coach_williams]

I don't understand all of the hubbub. Jr States is just an open tournament called Jr States. It is not a true state championship. Anyone can pay to get in even if they are from out of state and because of the age structure of the classes it is possible for a middle school 6th grade student to wrestle in a bracket with all elementary 4th and 5th grade students and for a high school 9th grader to wrestle in a bracket with all middle school 7th and 8th graders.

Basically you have two choices:

A. An open tournament with no sanctioning, no qualifying requirements, no residency requirements, allows wrestlers to enter at any weight as long as they meet that weight on the date of the tournament, a questionable age structure of classes, and I am guessing no actual seeding, that calls itself the Jr State Championsips.

B. A tournament that is sanctioned by a governing body with publicly posted rules and guidelines, requires qualifying, requires the wrestlers be a resident of the state of West Virginia, uses seeding/qualifying points, restricts age classes, and requires making base weight at least once to compete at that weight.

Doesn't strike me as that difficult of a decision to make.

Not taking sides. But there are definately residency requirements when it comes to jr states. Haven't looked into the rest of the allocations u have made but I'm sure some of them are skewed as well.

As I said in my previous post, I wasn't trying to be nasty about Jr States. I didn't intend for it to come off that way.

Wasn't really making an allegation as much as an observation. I see the latest entry form restricts entrants to WV residents. I don't recall seeing that on previous entry forms, but I could be wrong. Likewise for the age group thing. I see they now have that a wrestler who has been on a high school roster can not participate. Again, I could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing that before. Admittedly, in both cases I wasn't looking for it before, so I may have overlooked it.

I guess if there is an "allegation" that I am going to stand by, it is that Jr States is an open tournament with no qualifying required, while WVYWA requires that you meet criteria to enter.

[eaglematmonkey]

The wvywa is to much like government gun-control. To many back ground checks. Just have an open tournament on one weekend and be done with it. Golf has a U.S. Open National Championship, what's wrong with West Virginia having an open youth Jr. State Championship? A sanctioning body doesn't make it an official state tournament. Not if they tell an 80 pounder they can't wrestle 80 pounds since they wrestled 85 pounds all year. Sounds like discrimination to me. The beauty of an open tournament is there are no restrictions of a governing body telling a kid where he can and can't wrestle.

My opinion of regional qualifiers in West Virginia is it's a waste of time and effort. The Jr. States can get done in one weekend what the wvywa is stringing out over several weekends. Again, a waste of time and money. It will be interesting to see how many of the regionals qualifiers will even bother to show up for the wvywa state tournament. Making all their efforts go to waste. The wvywa needs to be realists and not idealists. They will probably dissolve after two years.

[justawrestlingfan]

The wvywa is to much like government gun-control. To many back ground checks. Just have an open tournament on one weekend and be done with it. Golf has a U.S. Open National Championship, what's wrong with West Virginia having an open youth Jr. State Championship? A sanctioning body doesn't make it an official state tournament. Not if they tell an 80 pounder they can't wrestle 80 pounds since they wrestled 85 pounds all year. Sounds like discrimination to me. The beauty of an open tournament is there are no restrictions of a governing body telling a kid where he can and can't wrestle.

My opinion of regional qualifiers in West Virginia is it's a waste of time and effort. The Jr. States can get done in one weekend what the wvywa is stringing out over several weekends. Again, a waste of time and money. It will be interesting to see how many of the regionals qualifiers will even bother to show up for the wvywa state tournament. Making all their efforts go to waste. The wvywa needs to be realists and not idealists. They will probably dissolve after two years.

Fair enough. Just a few points. The US Open actually has a qualifying requirements. It is called "Open" because anyone can qualify, not because anyone can compete. You can not have a handicap over 1.4 and you must win a local qualifying 18 hole golf tournament. So maybe not the best example.

The weight thing doesn't really carry any water since that is the way it is done for every significant "state championship". You must make base weight at least once at a sanctioned meet to compete at that weight for OVACs, for WSAZs in middle school and for states in high school.

Regional qualifiers won't be a waste. They are tournaments that are already being held anyway from what I can tell.

[Sparsons26105]

I have sat back and read alot about the "new" WVYWA system and here are my thoughts

While I do not believe that qualifier should be out of question, I too see several issues with the WVYWA regionals and point system.

1. - look over the website for the WVYWA - how many kids are receiving points in each weight class? Several have less than 8 kids on it that have received points in a weight class.
2 - If there are more and results have yet to be posted, how bad will the confusion be at a regional seeding meeting? Are seeding meetings going to occur? Who is in charge of having the final say of "this kid has this many points?" Because I see several kids that are listed with points, but there names are spelled differently. This has the potential to become a cluster very quickly.
3 - Tournaments like Cameron and David Hypes have yet to submit results? What about points that kids earned during those times
4. Combined weight classes - I have looked and there are several tournaments that posted results and combined a ton of weight classes. In my opinion, if a tournament is going to be a "qualifier" then NO combining weight classes should occur at any time in order to maintain an accurate amount of points.
5. no communication. There has been no true good communication from this organization. What we have is what has been posted on this forum - some information has been garbage, other good. Regionals being on separate weekends are a true example of this. Along with combining weight classes.
6. Having 6 regionals? Look back at my number 1. If there are only 8 kids in the entire state that have received points, why are we having 6 regionals? How many kids will be in each weight class for regions? Looks like to me if you make weight in most classes you will qualify for states.
7. Base weight. While I do agree that a base weight needs to be determined and kids need to be held to that. What about some of the qualifiers that have given 1bs?

Overall, I do believe that WV needs to go to a point system to be seeded for WV Junior States. I do not believe that you will find too many people that will argue that statement. However, to try to make our state "legit" by jumping in neck deep does nothing other than make us look unorganized and watered down even more. Plus who really cares what the other states think? We need to do what is best for WV, not OH or PA who happens to have 10 times our population. While I do not know anything about the money issue with Wood County getting all monies generated from Junior States, I do believe that it is not a good decision to deliberately undercut Wood County - they have improved Junior States greatly over the years and while I do not know Rick Dunbar and Brent Sams personally, I do believe that they would always be willing to take suggestions and work with folks who may have a solid idea. Undercutting them and simply saying "your either with us or against us" is not the way to deal with this situation. Especially now that it is coming up on decision time for alot of families, which never should have occurred the way it did.

[Sling Shot]

Good points sparsons.

I have been saying since the announcement of the "qualifying" tournaments that they are not needed in WV. They are needed in OH and PA because if not you likely would have hundreds in a bracket. I decided to check myself to see how the math works out for WV. The new system will take the top 4 from 6 regions. That is 24 wrestlers. I looked at every bracket, every age group from WV Junior States last year (keeping in mind this is an open tournament format where anyone in the state can enter). There was 1 bracket that had more than 24 wrestlers. Again, that is every age from 4U through 13-15, only 1, one, bracket had more than 24 wrestlers, and I believe it was 27.

I have said before and will say again, I am not a person that believes that everyone should get a trophy. You have to earn a championship. I am not sure how coming in first in a tournament that anyone in that age and weight can enter is not legitimate. The only argument that I have heard with this new system is that they want to make it "legitimate". I don't understand how it is not legitimate when you have beat everyone and anyone who can enter, no excuses. Is it all about being able to say "I was a state qualifier"?

I do want to give credit to the folks who are heading up the WVYWA for their work. I do agree that a bigger venue is needed, a sanctioning body is needed, and that a point system that is well run, accurate, and kept updated will help with seeding (which, from what I can see the current one is not). But I do not believe that undercutting an established state tournament is the way to go about it. In my mind it mostly comes down to one thing.....money. Having said that, I do not have the solution. I believe, as it has freely been stated by several people, that there are those that are upset that Wood County rec league is getting all the money. Again, I don't have a solution but surely a there can be discussions that take place that can come up with some resolution other than dividing the wrestling community.

One last note, then I will shut up. Someone mentioned above about JR States being open to non residence. Look at the form, it clearly says WV residence only and always has. It also states that high school wrestlers are not allowed. I am not clear on what you mean about the age structure of classes??? I do agree with you that some system of establishing a base weight would be good, along with the valid point system. I guess I just wish that the WVYWA would work WITH the folks at JR States and build it up, rather than break it down and divide a sport that needs all the promotion it can get in WV.

[justwrestle]

I can answer a few of these questions
A wrestler must make the base weight without the 1lb. Allowance. He can wrestle in that tournament if he uses the 1lb. However the wrestler did not make base weight. All weights are being recorded by the qualifiers.
I have been to several qualifiers and they have been very competitive tournaments. These tournaments have brought in money to alot if small clubs. we have been to tournaments this season that we have not attended in the past. Most of the qualifiers are giving medals to the placers which saves alot of money.
The qualifiers are running very smoothly (for the most part.)
Some of the qualifiers are having meetings to answer any questions or concerns. Usually they occur at the scratch meeting or between morning and evening sessions. There is also a website, facebook page and I believe a twitter account full of information.

There will be alot more kids added to the top 100 after some of the leagues have there qualifying championships. Some kids may only go to one qualifying tournament and I think they have until Feb. 13th to make their baseweight.
The brackets should have more wrestlers since the weights will be every 5lbs. Instead of every 3lbs. So the argument isn't valid about the number of wrestlers in the bracket. 5lbs. Makes alot more sense if you want it to be competitive.

I happen to think the wvywa is doing a tremendous job so far. To be the 1st yr. with all the changes I am impressed with how smoothly it is running. Keep it up guys, some of the people complaining must not be involved because the concerns do not even make sense to the people that have been participating.

[baxter841]

Don't you all get it, There are a lot of people that want to do both. The WVYWA will benefit by having more wrestlers form across the state. As will Jr States. Maybe the WVYWA is the future and will be great. But, Its the 1st year. Let wrestlers go to both this year and then they can pick next year. Dividing the entire youth wrestling community the 1st year of introducing the new organization just doesn't make sense. What is the goal?
As of right now I can see both tournaments and their place winners not being a true representation of our states best wrestlers. The problem is fixable, but someone who really cares about the sport has to give, has to compromise, and it doesn't appear that's going to happen. Sorry to all of the 8th graders competing in their final Jr States or 1st WVYWA Championship - The adults ruined 2016 for you, but hey their heart was in the right place.....EGO got in the way. Did OBAMA have something to do with this? This crap is enough to make your say the dreaded "B" word..........basketball. .....oh forgive me. Beam up scotty Im outta hear....

[justwrestle]

You simply cannot expect to go to both, then it would be the same next yr. My guess is you already know if your wrestler qualifies where you will go. Take a look at the teams committed to participating. Aside from the Wood co.rec league there is very few that isn't on board.

[coach_williams]

Good points sparsons.

I have been saying since the announcement of the "qualifying" tournaments that they are not needed in WV. They are needed in OH and PA because if not you likely would have hundreds in a bracket. I decided to check myself to see how the math works out for WV. The new system will take the top 4 from 6 regions. That is 24 wrestlers. I looked at every bracket, every age group from WV Junior States last year (keeping in mind this is an open tournament format where anyone in the state can enter). There was 1 bracket that had more than 24 wrestlers. Again, that is every age from 4U through 13-15, only 1, one, bracket had more than 24 wrestlers, and I believe it was 27.

I think this lack of attendance is because of location. Parkersburg is a long way from most of the state. It is 1.5-2 hours from Charleston, a little over 2 hours from Morgantown, 2.5 hours from Beckley and 3+ hours from Lewisburg. If I live in the Beckley area and want my 8 year old to attend then I have to get him up and be on the road by no later than 5:30AM. A lot of people simply are not going to make that trip. That is why it is mostly attended by wrestlers from Wood county and the surrounding area. A more centrally located tournament makes sense to boost attendance, although I would prefer Charleston over Huntington which would make the drive 2 hours or less for most of the state.

I have said before and will say again, I am not a person that believes that everyone should get a trophy. You have to earn a championship. I am not sure how coming in first in a tournament that anyone in that age and weight can enter is not legitimate. The only argument that I have heard with this new system is that they want to make it "legitimate". I don't understand how it is not legitimate when you have beat everyone and anyone who can enter, no excuses. Is it all about being able to say "I was a state qualifier"?

Using your logic, coming in first place at high school states is no more a big deal than coming in first at any plain ole wrestling meet. We both know that isn't true. When you have qualifying requirements you generally end up with the best level of competition. At a true open tournament it is conceivable for a wrestler to make it to the championships having faced nobody but first year wrestlers. That is highly unlikely in a qualifier tournament.

One last note, then I will shut up. Someone mentioned above about JR States being open to non residence. Look at the form, it clearly says WV residence only and always has. It also states that high school wrestlers are not allowed. I am not clear on what you mean about the age structure of classes??? I do agree with you that some system of establishing a base weight would be good, along with the valid point system. I guess I just wish that the WVYWA would work WITH the folks at JR States and build it up, rather than break it down and divide a sport that needs all the promotion it can get in WV.

That was me. I took it back. I see it on the current form, but I don't recall seeing it on previous year's forms. I admit that I could be wrong and it was there but I didn't notice it.

[Wrestle_DaD]

Location??? How far away is Huntington for your above listed locations? Location has nothing to do with it. The number of kids wrestling at the youth level in west viginia has everything to do with it. There's just not that many. Don't try to be what we are not. Small state. Small numbers. That's what we are.

[Sling Shot]

If distance is the problem, it's worse now....
According to Mapquest:
Martinsburg, WV to PKBG HS - 4 hrs 20 min
Martinsburg, WV to Big Sandy- 5 hrs 48 min
I don't see where it is mostly Wood Co in results. Appears to me that iron eagle, wheeling, and mahindra did pretty well.

You hit the nail on the head wrestledad.

Coach Williams: I'm not sure youth wrestling should be compared to high school wrestling (just like it should not have been compared to the US Open.) It is youth wrestling. I hate to be redundant, but why have regionals when it's not needed. Still haven't got an answer that makes
sense. As wrestledad said, don't try to make us something we are not. Hopefully someday qualifiers will be needed!
Regarding the comment about wrestling 1st year wrestlers....If you look at the results, most of the placers were seeded. Each weight class has a couple that weren't, which you would expect with upsets. They could not have wrestled all first year wrestlers, they had to have wrestled other seeded wrestlers to place the majority of time. For the most part it seems that the coaches that attend the seeding meeting get it close. There are of course some head scratchers when seeds come out, but there always will be.
Anyway, wish we were not having this debate and both sides could compromise and work together. Good luck to all the youth wrestlers this year regardless of what you chose.

[Sparsons26105]

I agree 100% with Wrestle_DaD - short and to the point, but somehow I have read so much on this over the summer and wrestling season that I am going to have trouble being brief.

Location really should not have anything to do with a discussion, unless the tournament is held in Braxton County (the most central county in the state) then someone will always have to drive 2 or 3 hours to go to the state tournament. That racks up as it is what it is.

justwrestle wrote:
"There will be alot more kids added to the top 100 after some of the leagues have there qualifying championships. Some kids may only go to one qualifying tournament and I think they have until Feb. 13th to make their baseweight.
The brackets should have more wrestlers since the weights will be every 5lbs. Instead of every 3lbs. So the argument isn't valid about the number of wrestlers in the bracket. 5lbs. Makes alot more sense if you want it to be competitive.

I happen to think the wvywa is doing a tremendous job so far. To be the 1st yr. with all the changes I am impressed with how smoothly it is running. Keep it up guys, some of the people complaining must not be involved because the concerns do not even make sense to the people that have been participating."

I personally have a few issues with this part of your response. If kids are not coming to the qualifiers (as we can all see from what results have been posted) then where will they be coming from for a regional tournament? I do not see certain regions having more than a small round robin of entries. How competitive is that? Numbers don't lie. We have a probably less than 1000 kids wrestling in elementary school for the state of WV when Ohio and PA will have 10,000. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Junior States being an open format tournament except for the seeding aspect. If that was to change, then my satisfaction with Junior States would be 100%. To think that there are going to be kids coming out of the wood work to enter into this new state tournament is thinking a bit on the optimistic level if you ask me. I think bottom line is that someone from wood county must have made someone from Mahindra mad and now that individual/group is out for blood. And if the qualifiers are running so smoothly then again I ask, why the inconsistencies with combining of weight classes and more importantly no results for several and no updated points. I don't believe it is right to just through up the points after everyone has their qualifiers and say "this is your top 100" - part of accumulating points should give people options of knowing where they stand so they know if they need to place in a specific tournament or keep attending qualifiers to build up their points. The smoke and mirrors of it will be made right after regionals does not work in my mind.

And as for the WV residency requirement for Jr States, I have been watching my kids and relatives wrestle in this state for about 17 years now. I never recall Jr. States being open to anyone that lives outside of WV. There may be a few kids from counties that border WV that sneak a kid or two into it with a fake address or an address of a relative, but for that topic just refer back to the cheating thread that is on this youth forum.

And finally, who is going to run this tournament? Jr. States has a couple of stand up guys that put it on their shoulders. Who are the guys that are doing it for this new group?

[justwrestle]

My son has had a bracket in all of the qualifiers in his division. Many middle school isn't able to participate yet. I am certain the results only show the top 4 placers. In fact he has had a full bracket of really good competition, much better than yrs. past. Almost on a regular basis there is 4 state champions and at least 2 state placers from WV in his bracket. I have also seen some out of state teams in attendance.
As far as location I am under the impression that it will rotate across the state each yr. which seems fair enough. I heard something at a meeting about trackwrestling helping run the tournament (that is a very respectable company that runs a lot of big tournaments across the country.)
Always gotta throw Team Mahindra in the mix don't ya? I think I recall a lot of negativity towards Team Mahindra in a few of your posts. A lot of which when the research was done was simply not the truth. I have a feeling there could be something about Mahindra that makes you a bit bitter.
I think there is enough people on board and ready for this change running a tournament should not be an issue. I have seen teams come together like never before to make this successful. I have a feeling more teams will be there than you are aware of some may be coming that you would not have expected. Just wait and see, in the end this is going to be a GREAT for everyone. (even those who cannot except it.)

[coach_williams]

Location??? How far away is Huntington for your above listed locations? Location has nothing to do with it. The number of kids wrestling at the youth level in west viginia has everything to do with it. There's just not that many. Don't try to be what we are not. Small state. Small numbers. That's what we are.

As I said, I prefer Charleston over Huntington for a more central location.

[coach_williams]

If distance is the problem, it's worse now....
According to Mapquest:
Martinsburg, WV to PKBG HS - 4 hrs 20 min
Martinsburg, WV to Big Sandy- 5 hrs 48 min
I don't see where it is mostly Wood Co in results. Appears to me that iron eagle, wheeling, and mahindra did pretty well.

I said mostly ATTENDED and I said Wood county and the SURROUNDING AREA meaning a larger percentage of attendees are from more local. It isn't an insult, it is just a fact. Wood county and the surrounding area makes up the majority of attendees. I don't have the time to look at the brackets and do the math, but the number of attendees from the eastern panhandle and southeast part of the state can literally be counted on your hands. I simply think that if a state tournament were held either A) in a central location like Charleston, or B) in a revolving location like Parkersburg one year, Huntington the next, Beckley the next and Wheeling/Morgantown the next, that it would promote attendance from around the state in a more balanced manner.

Coach Williams: I'm not sure youth wrestling should be compared to high school wrestling (just like it should not have been compared to the US Open.) It is youth wrestling. I hate to be redundant, but why have regionals when it's not needed. Still haven't got an answer that makes
sense. As wrestledad said, don't try to make us something we are not. Hopefully someday qualifiers will be needed!
Regarding the comment about wrestling 1st year wrestlers....If you look at the results, most of the placers were seeded. Each weight class has a couple that weren't, which you would expect with upsets. They could not have wrestled all first year wrestlers, they had to have wrestled other seeded wrestlers to place the majority of time. For the most part it seems that the coaches that attend the seeding meeting get it close. There are of course some head scratchers when seeds come out, but there always will be.
Anyway, wish we were not having this debate and both sides could compromise and work together. Good luck to all the youth wrestlers this year regardless of what you chose.

My high school comparison was to make a point not to imply they are similar. Qualifying for a tournament has value. Perhaps not as much at the 4U or 5-6YO group, but when we are talking 10-12 year olds then there are wrestlers who have been wrestling for 5 years and there are wrestlers who just stepped onto the mat. That was my point. There seems to be a lot of unhappy people with there being a qualifying requirement. I was playing devil's advocate and trying to shine some positive light on the idea.

[Blueandwhite]

My son has been to 4 of the qualifying tournaments and his points are correct. It seems to me that they have been done in a timely manner. I really don't think it was only Mahindra that was ready for a change seems a lot more was ready for the change than wasn't ready for it. The ones that don't want the change are the ones that benefit from it Wood County.

[justwrestle]

Nice to see someone post that has been to qualifiers. I think most of us who has been and went with an ooen mind already see the positives.
My understanding is that it will be rotated Coach Williams. Huntington just happen to have the availability and compacity requirements at the right time.

[wvnorth]

I'm not from Wood Co. i have no affiliation with the jr states aside from my son competing there. What is the motive for placing the regionals on the same date? My son will be in high school next year so where it goes after this year doesn't matter to me. I just hate to show up to the jr states to find a 5 man round robin.