RMC

No, No...I was joking. My wife, you may remember Maria, says I'm addicted to wreslting. This forum is sort of like Wrestling Anonymous.

I feel like I should have said........Hi, I'm Ross and I have a wrestling problem.

Sommers....I'm Ross Copeland from Hixson and now attached to Collins Hill wrestling in Suwanee, Ga. I have another generation wrestling too; my son Kenny is wrestling here in Georgia and my daughter is a trainer for the high school team. If you follow Baylor I have one nephew there now, Alex Copeland and Drew Woodward was there a couple of years ago. Drew is recovering from a fracture of the L-1 vertebrae he suffered wrestling against Iowa State a few weeks ago. He'll should be ready to go again in a few more weeks.

I'm guessing that Sommers is the same guy I went to school with at Hixson that was a crazed Dallas Cowboy fan and now has 5 kids. I think you also had a brother that was a state champion. Am I close?

Having seen both Great Bridge, Va. and Bradley this year, Bradley can hang with anyone. In my opinion Bradley would beat Great Bridge and that's a match I'd love to see.

That is great news. Thanks for keeping us informed.

FYI: (article from local paper) HBO to spotlight Maynard From Staff Reports Collins Hill wrestler Kyle Maynard, who won his matches Saturday at 103 pounds in the Area 8-AAAAA Duals, will be featured on an upcoming episode of the HBO television program, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Camera crews taped wrestling footage and conducted interviews for the story on Saturday at the area duals, held at Parkview High School. Crews have followed Maynard the previous few days during his practices and his daily life. Maynard, who wrestles despite being born without fully developed arms and legs, has been an inspiration for the Collins Hill community since he wrestled and played football in youth leagues. The episode of Real Sports featuring Maynard will air Tuesday, January 20 at 10 p.m. For more information on the show, check the Web at www.hbo.com.

No probelm SilentJohn........I happen to find this one on Ebay and it never sold. I asked the owner what the reserve was and I figured at $2500 for a full size mat it was a steal. I don't have a stake in it, just trying to save some wreslting organization some money.

I have some info on a mat we were looking at if you want to drop me an email. It'a green and white 42 x 40 mat. If I remember correctly the asking price was $2500 and it's located in North Carolina. Ross Copeland (RMC) ross.copeland@globalpay.com

The teams attending are Grissom - Alabama, Mt. Tabor - North Carolina, Baylor - Tennessee, Soddy Daisy - Tennessee, Ringgold - Georgia, Lassiter - Georgia, Woodland - Georgia and McEachern - Georgia. I wouldn't be surprised if Baylor and Soddy-Daisy make it into the final.

My guess would be that they are trying get specific matchups. I noticed Scott went from 152 to 145 and Manley to 140. There must be nationally ranked talent at those weights that the coach feels his wrestlers match up well with. A first place finish or even a second will give his wrestlers a chance to improve their national rankings and put them on the radar screen of more schools. I've known some coaches to only take one or two kids to a tough tournament for just those reasons.

I'm not defending McCallie, but sometimes you have take your kids where the recruiters can see them. Sure they could have stayed home, but Manley and Scott will get seen by many more recruiters and coaches at Bethlehem and wrestle tougher competition.

Taken from the Georgia USA Youth Wrestling board: The Pope High School Takedown Club invites you to compete at the 2004 Kim Andrews Classic. Bring in the New Year with one of the premier, best run and most competitive tournaments in Georgia. In past years the Kim Andrews Classic has brought together between 500-600 wrestlers from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. This year we are expecting the same level of participation. Details about the tournament can be found below or you can go to the Pope Jr Greyhounds website at www.eteamz.com/popejrwrestling to get information, as well as directions to Pope High School. Date: January 3, 2004 Location: Pope High School Main Gym (6 mats). Standard USA Weight Classes will be utilized. Wrestlers can compete in multiple weight classes. Medals: Medals will be awarded to the top 4 finishers in each weight class. Trophies: Trophies will be awarded to the Elementary and Middle School team champions and runners up. Scoring based upon wrestlers reaching the championship and consolation finals in each weight class. 4 points - 1st; 3 points - 2nd; 2 points - 3rd; and 1 point - 4th. If you compete in multiple classes, team points can only be earned within your "true" weight class. Weigh Ins: Saturday, January 3rd, standard times, 7:00am-8:00am - 10U; 11:30am-12:30pm - 11-14 **PLEASE NOTE** There will be an optional weigh in for all wrestlers on Friday, January 2nd from 5:00pm-8:00pm. Tournament Director: Jim Haskin, Varsity Wrestling Coach - Pope High School; (770) 509-6197

Update, Trevor Ramos was released from the hospital on Friday and has started on the road to recovery. I still find it hard to believe that someone can go from being on a ventilator on Sunday to being home on Friday. I think it's truly a miracle. On behalf of the Collins Hill wrestling family, thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Just got an update on Coach Ramos' son. First of all he wants to extend his appreciation to everyone for the prayers. He also apologizes for not being able to return all the phone calls he has received. Trevor was fitted for a back brace yesterday (he has 2 cracked vertibrae in addition to his head injuries) and they are trying to get him to walk a bit. His communication skills continue to slowly improve. He will be hospitilized at least through today, at which time the doctors will make further determinations regarding treatment, therapy, etc. Again, on behalf of the CHHS wrestling family, thanks to everyone for your continued prayers.

best_of_the_west...I'll see if I can get the names, but Nick has beaten 4 of the kids that are ranked in above him. In my previous post I meant no disrespect to Kyle James. I thought he would be someone of comparable level and someone this board would know.

I feel really dumb right now. He is ranked, but I can't remember by who. I think he is ranked around 15th or 16th in the nation. Nick is one of the two guys on our team that we feel deserve to be ranked in the top 10 on our team. Nick has performed well at the national level by placing 1st and 2nd in two national tournaments. The latest of those being the NHSCA Pre-season National held in Winston-Salem. Nick is also a 3 time state 5A placer with a 1st (2003), 2nd (2002), and 4th(2001) place finish. The other kid is Tyler Parker. Tyler is a two time Georgia 5A state champion and is only a Junior. Tyler has also perfomed well at the national level with 3 of his 4 loses in the last 2 years coming to wrestlers that were ranked 6th or higher. The other loss came to Kyle James in overtime at the McCallie tournament last year. He followed that loss up by defeating Kyle at the Winder-Barrow tournament the following week.

Looks like our prayers may have been answered. I just returned from the hospital and Trevor is doing very well. He sat up today and fed himself. It's possible he may go home tomorrow. I don't think you could ask for a better Christmas present. Coach Ramos and family wanted me to extend his thanks to the wrestling community.

112 - Cody Black 5th 125 - Michael Johns 5th 130 - Tyler Parker 2nd 140 - Sean Patrick 3rd 145 - Nick Lukacs 1st

Thanks Sly. Our 103 pounder, Kyle Maynard, was given the award for Courage. You may or may not remember, Kyle doesn't have any arms or legs. He lost to the #1 ranked kid from Virginia and eventual tournament champion. Our 130 pounder, Tyler Parker, lost to Vincent Ramirez in the finals 4 - 1. Ramirez is the #1 ranked kid in the nation for that weight. For some reason Tyler isn't ranked.

After being at the Tiger Holiday Classic in Chapel Hill, NC. with 42 teams from Va., NC., SC., and Georgia I'll have to say that I think Tennessee has as good of wrestling teams as anybody in the South East. We, Collins Hill, Ga., came in the 3rd. We took 12 wrestlers and 5 placed. We didn't take our 171 and 189 pounders because of illness and injury. Great Bridge from Va. came in 1st. They had some studs, but only one or two champions. Summerville from SC. came in 2nd. In head to head matchups with Great Bridge we won all three of our matches. If you are interested in the brackets you can find them at: http://www.tigerholidayclassic.com/thc_home.htm

I wanted to add an update to Trevor Ramos' condition. For those of you that don't know me I'm associated with Collins Hill. He is doing much better and is out of ICU. He sufferend a serious head injury, but thankfully is expected to make a full recovery. As with all head injuries, only time will tell. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Ross Copeland(RMC)

Chattcity...McEachern (Ga.) won it last year.

delaWarr...thanks, you are correct 1973. Dean was my next door neighbor. His brother Gary was a pretty fair wrestler too. I should remember that year, my brother was on that team too! delaWarr.....Lets check your memory; do you remember who the coach of that team was?

Not Freshman year, but 8th grade....Dean Smith from Hixson lost every single match. He went on to a State Championship his senior year (1972) and a pretty good career at UTC. I use Dean as an example for young kids all the time.