Thoughts on the Weekend
- Thread starter Eagle Hater 3333
- Start date
Leaving the officials alone, here’s my take on what needs to be done to make our State Tournament better:
Venue:
Get it out of the Anderson Civic Center. I don’t know of any coach or wrestling fan who likes it there. There’s no space to warm up, no separation of spectators and wrestlers, no separate section for wrestlers and coaches to sit, and limited bathrooms and concession stands. Having an inadequate venue leads to most of the other problems that our State Tournament is having, or at least doesn’t make it easy to run a quality event.
Format:
Being from a state that has only one individual champ, I am in favor of one Champ- SC doesn’t need four. That being said, I do understand the argument for two and like it. I had the opportunity to read the two class proposal that I believe Mike Newton was passing out, and like it. There’s some little tweaking that I would do, but it is good. We already have a one classification system set up for the Carolina Invitational, so one or two classes can be done.
I am also in favor of having a seeding criteria for the Upper/Lower State and State Tournaments. Using nothing but a winning percentage to seed the Upper/Lower State doesn’t take into account the level of competition that one has wrestled- it also doesn’t look at who wrestled who. Having kids forfeiting the consolation finals to get a better spot in the State bracket isn’t good, but the wrestlers are screwing over a system(predetermined brackets) that screws them over. Why not use a set criteria similar to what NJ does for their District, Region and State tournaments. It does a great job of separating the best wrestlers and is very fair. The link is here: http://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/document/16-17 Wrestling REGIONS AND STATES_0.pdf
Presentation and Organization:
Keep the spectators in the stands. There were no coaches bands or credentials this year, and I noticed that some realized this on Saturday which resulted in a lot more people mat side that didn’t need to be there. We had that one official that it appeared his only job was to hassle coaches and wrestlers trying to warm-up, but nothing to the people who should have been in the stands. If we have a warm-up/staging area, the wrestlers and coaches can warm-up there and not head out to the mat until the match before theirs is over. This keeps the wrestling area organized, and also makes it easy for the fans to see the action. What happened with the crowd being allowed on the open mats during the finals should have never happened or been allowed. The podium should have been set up in an area that everyone could see them. The Parade of Champions before the finals is usually done better, we’ll chalk that up as a breakdown for this year.
Just a few of my ideas that I’m sure other people share with me or have stated before. I’m hoping if enough speak out something can be done. We also need to get more wrestling people in administrative positions at the school and state level to help this sport get the respect and recognition it deserves.
Venue:
Get it out of the Anderson Civic Center. I don’t know of any coach or wrestling fan who likes it there. There’s no space to warm up, no separation of spectators and wrestlers, no separate section for wrestlers and coaches to sit, and limited bathrooms and concession stands. Having an inadequate venue leads to most of the other problems that our State Tournament is having, or at least doesn’t make it easy to run a quality event.
Format:
Being from a state that has only one individual champ, I am in favor of one Champ- SC doesn’t need four. That being said, I do understand the argument for two and like it. I had the opportunity to read the two class proposal that I believe Mike Newton was passing out, and like it. There’s some little tweaking that I would do, but it is good. We already have a one classification system set up for the Carolina Invitational, so one or two classes can be done.
I am also in favor of having a seeding criteria for the Upper/Lower State and State Tournaments. Using nothing but a winning percentage to seed the Upper/Lower State doesn’t take into account the level of competition that one has wrestled- it also doesn’t look at who wrestled who. Having kids forfeiting the consolation finals to get a better spot in the State bracket isn’t good, but the wrestlers are screwing over a system(predetermined brackets) that screws them over. Why not use a set criteria similar to what NJ does for their District, Region and State tournaments. It does a great job of separating the best wrestlers and is very fair. The link is here: http://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/document/16-17 Wrestling REGIONS AND STATES_0.pdf
Presentation and Organization:
Keep the spectators in the stands. There were no coaches bands or credentials this year, and I noticed that some realized this on Saturday which resulted in a lot more people mat side that didn’t need to be there. We had that one official that it appeared his only job was to hassle coaches and wrestlers trying to warm-up, but nothing to the people who should have been in the stands. If we have a warm-up/staging area, the wrestlers and coaches can warm-up there and not head out to the mat until the match before theirs is over. This keeps the wrestling area organized, and also makes it easy for the fans to see the action. What happened with the crowd being allowed on the open mats during the finals should have never happened or been allowed. The podium should have been set up in an area that everyone could see them. The Parade of Champions before the finals is usually done better, we’ll chalk that up as a breakdown for this year.
Just a few of my ideas that I’m sure other people share with me or have stated before. I’m hoping if enough speak out something can be done. We also need to get more wrestling people in administrative positions at the school and state level to help this sport get the respect and recognition it deserves.
