bradley08

When is the last time you went to the youth state tournament? They are very good no doubt but since the inception of team scoring I think Baylor has won every age group at the state tournament. i would also say Higher Calling is just as good but dont have quite the numbers and Soddy in the middle school division. You can go to trackwrestling and see the team results for each age group.

Is the McCallie tournament this upcoming weekend? What teams are coming this year?

how many freshmen do you see win hwt? Im not saying Hwt is the hardest but its not 106. Disillusion yourself all you want but 106 always has been and always will be the easiest. Nothing against those kids but they are wrestling mostly freshmen and in some cases 8th graders. Do you see 8th graders come in and win the 132-152 lb weight classes? no you dont. Not only are the kids all younger but they are also 106 lbs so if there is an older kid he is usually not as physically develoed as other wight classes. Now that being said, there are always exceptions to the rule. Debein and Oliver were studs last year and there have been others but the overall depth isnt there. In my opionion the easiest weights on average are 106,113,hwt,220,195,182, 119,170,126,132,160, 140,145,152.

uh.... its 106

No they did not participate against Heritage. I know West and Austin Oliver didnt anyway and I dont think Hamilton did either.

Who did they wrestle after the pools were completed ?

It does appear to be that way. I cant ever remember this many kids being out from so many different teams. Im sure some are valid injuries, sickness, weight descent. I do think our sport is becoming victim to the same thing that plagues the rest of our society though. Its often more about the individual protecting his record or not wrestling when hes 100% that putting the team and his friends first. I have heard complaints from some schools about certain kids that have done this regularly.

I think there is something in the air. I have never seen a tournament with so many kids out. Besides the Cleveland and Baylor kids mentioned above I think Soddy had atleast three starters out if not more and Cbhs had some missing as well. Not just wrestlers but studs missing left and right. I wonder how much of it is due to the stupid descent rules? Are Deckelman and and Blake Henry hurt for Soddy? Also what about the kid that won the state at 106 a few years ago but got much bigger? Jonah ???

I watched the match with some Bsfbag parents I know. I think they had three starters out with injuries and 2 more out due to the Act test. Then in addition to that they had to bump up I think in most of their weights to compensate.I think they even forfeited a weight or two if Im not mistaken. As far as the forfeits at the end I think that was right in the heart of their lineup so it probably would have been the same outcome. I know several a couple of the guys out were Houston Clements and Holloway but dont know who the others were. That being said, how did Heritage do against Cleveland. I know Cleveland had three of their best wrestlers out in Oliver, Hamilton and the new kid from georgia. I was impressed with Heritage even though especially the big red headed kid about 160 or 170

who will Soddy be missing? I am in Chatt today and thought i might go watch the match but if its not going to be good I can stop and catch Cleveland vs Father Ryan on my way home. Which one will be better?

I would think Asu means he signed with Arizona State University.

I think he was poking fun at you and using the same logig you have been. After all it isnt fair some of these college teams have more $, better coaches, better facilities is it? Some have wrestlers from other countries, some recruit nationally and some are just bar;ey hanging on. Iisnt that what you are saying about the high school teams.

Comparing wrestling to football is ridiculous. There arent enough wrestling schools in Tennessee to support divisions. Let me rephrase that, there arent enough schools who actually care about wrestling in Tennessee to support divisions. Did making classes for the duals help increase participation? No, it did not and neither will creating divisions in the individual tournament. Who is going to coach these proposed new teams? We dont have enough quality coaches right now as it is. Thats why the same schools win year in and year out.

Good points. Its a complex issue and I dont think there is any clear cut answer. I think there are many things that need to happen to grow the sort. I do think that if you have kids growing up wrestling then when they get to middle school or high school they are going to want to continue to wrestle and will be passionate about bringing this to their school district. I know if my sons put in all that time a dedication and then got to middle or high school and didnt have a venue to wrestle I would raise immortal hel* until something was done. If you dont have any wrestlers or wrestling parents I think starting a program is much harder and much more unlikely to happen. If you already have passionate people in place in love with the sport then your odds of getting a program started are much more likely.

Good point Soms! Ive seen it mentioned before but every seems to ignore the most common solution. Put the tournament back together. Keep seperate team points for DI lare, DII small and DII. The kids get to wrestle each other, and the teams can compete for team trophys against the others in their division. When our state grows and gets above a certain number of REAL wrestling teams then start thinking about separating it but not until then.