Likeachamp171

Don't be bitter just because something didn't go the way you wanted. The refs did a very good job.

He was wrestling in the finals, and the match was stopped for injury time when he was taken down and hurt his knee...not the one that had been giving him problems, but his other knee. I'm not sure how extensive the injury was, but either way, the coach made a good decision to stop the match. No point in putting the state tournament in jeopardy for a regular season tournament, especially against a D-2 kid. He had a great tournament up until that point.

The award isn't for the most outstanding obstacle overcome in the tournament...the award is most outstanding wrestler. There are many outstanding wrestlers in TN, and plenty of guys could've received the award. However, as one of you pointed out...Kelly EASILY won state...which by any means is not an easy task to accomplish, even if there aren't returning state champs in his weight class. And I personally heard kids say that they changed weight classes to avoid wrestling him. I'm not objecting to the fact that other kids could have recieved the award, but Kelly ran through his weight class by pinning all of his opponents (except for one tech fall) and earned his third straight title. What is the point in making a thread trying to take the pride out of that kind of showing by saying that somebody else deserved the award that he EARNED?

The three qualifiers at 189 from region 6 all placed as well.

Many of you might think you understand what it is like for a referee to make calls out there on the mat, but you have absolutely no idea (unless, of course, you've done it). I blamed several of my matches on the referee back in high school...including season ending matches...but I tell you now that I hold no official accountable for any match I have ever lost. Stalling calls are very easy to make when you're a coach or a spectator, because you're bias. You might not think you are...but you are. Given, officials miss calls at times and might make a mistake or two, but so would any given one of you out there. And as for the guy who complained about the potentially dangerous call earlier...any and every move can be considered potentially dangerous. If you want to complain about a ref stopping a match on a potentially dangerous call, then don't blame anyone but yourself when one of the kids get hurt. This thread is ridiculous and completely unnecessary, not to mention the horrible timing. And I'm not saying this to all of you, because many people do have respect for officials and know what it's like. But give these guys a break...they work hard to do what they do and take a lot of crap for it. And if they weren't out there, our kids wouldn't even have a sport to participate in. Thanks to every one of the refs out there trying and doing their job.

the home team doesn't decide on who gets OW. it is usually decided by all of the coaches and/or the officials. wrestling at your school for a tournament doesn't give you any better edge on recieving the OW as wrestling in a cross state tournament.

I just got done taking Sport Psych at MTSU with Whiteside. And you're right, it's all about the mental aspects of athletes. Mainly stuff like arousal and relaxation and things to that matter. It's not active in the least bit, but it's an interesting class.

Friendship Christian did not come, and Lipscomb beat WH.

I would certainly say that Phillip Simpson ranks over him, but I just wanted to give mention to Matt Keller. He was an amazing wrestler and 4x Div. I state champion and he made a great showing at Senior Nationals. He definitely ranks up there with the best, but I still say Phillip takes it with his accomplishments both here in TN and in college at the NCAA tournaments.

Bond Davis, definitely. He had great technique and was an all-around outstanding wrestler. He just fell a little short 3 years in a row...including the overtime match in the finals in 2003 against Luke Sanders.

That was an excellent match. Congratulations to Cody N., and David Carter put up a great fight. He's one tough kid.

Yeah...I certainly wouldn't say that you are one to talk about showing respect...or originality.

Now how about you go back and read the very beginning of those rule listings? "if the offensive wrestler causes a potentially dangerous hold to become illegal". If a legal hold becomes illegal because the arm was unintentionally moved too high or slides to an illegal position, then it will be stopped for potentially dangerous (looking out for the safety of your kids). If the offensive wrestler forces the hold illegal and is driving with it, then it is consider illegal. Sometimes it may be hard to distinguish between the two in the heat of the match, but the call can be made either way depending on the APPLICATION of the move. And Dadof125, I can assure you that no referree out there is waiting for your child to come out on that mat so that he can screw him over. Mistakes may be made and that's unfortunate, but nobody has set out against your child. And if you don't mind, could you give your interpretation of the words "SLAM / POTENTIALITY DANGEROUS/STALLING/PIN/NEAR-FALL?" I'm just curious to know how you see it.

One of the many aspects that makes this sport so great is it's foundation of sportsmanship and respect to everyone in the wrestling community. It's the reason that wrestler's are obligated to shake hands with eachother before and after the match. It's the reason why they are sent to the opposing coach's corner after the match to shake his hand. And it is the reason why officials are allowed to penalize teams for inappropriate behavior from wrestlers, coaches, teams, and even spectators. This sport changed my personality and entire life for the better because it disciplined me, taught me respect, and taught me to be responsible for my mistakes. There were plenty of matches where I blamed the official for losing, but now that I look back on it I have nobody to blame but myself. The officials do the best job they can. They can't be in every position on the mat to make the right call all the time. They can't see threw human bodies to be able to call a pin in certain pinning combinations. Given, there are some officials who haven't quite gotten it down to an art, yet...but they're out there learning and doing what they can. They can't go to seminars and classes in other other states during the off season, because believe or not, they're just like you and have careers that they have to tend to. Everybody misses a call or doesn't see a situation correctly at times, but that's no reason to say that Tennessee officials are bad at what they do. It's far more stressful than you think. It's not comparable to the wrestle-offs some of you might have helped ref at a practice. They are all doing what they can and without them, you children wouldn't even have the pleasure of participating in this great sport. Try to look at everything from their perspective and give them a break. Every call they make is only 50% right 100% of the time. Imagine having that statistic in your office. It's not easy.

I have to throw out Coach Chad Nikazy, of Centennial. I don't know if he's one of the top 10 in the state, but I do know that he's a great coach. Our team kinda got "shafted" last year when we were given a coach who wrestled one season in high school. They hired him primarily as a football coach, but gave him the head wrestling coach position with it so that we'd have somebody after coach Peck left. The first meeting we had he asked how many minutes were in a period. So needless to say, we coached ourselves through the season last year. Then Nikazy was hired for this season, and he's turned the team around. He made this team a competitor again by reestablishing discipline and order. He has done a great job coaching and teaching us what to do on and off the mat. He's already done a great deal for the Centennial team, and we all thank him for that. If being able to turn a team around like he did doesn't make a great coach, then I don't know what