DAL

Way to go Nathan Jones and Cody Humphrey! Both of you guys have worked very hard this season and you both deserve to be All-Americans!

As soon as I get the results I will post them, This will be a USA Sanctioned event. This was Coach Brands idea, it is my understanding, so this is one of their events in Tennessee. This event will take place. I am sure that they have been waiting for info from us so they can post it on their schedule page. Here in East Tennessee, tryouts for the event wil be conducted at a yet to be named site. I will get with Greg Foreman, who is over AAU Freestyle Wrestling, and see what his plans are. Karns had 450 wrestlers and Kingsport had over 350 I believe. I wil know exactly as soon as I get the numbers from them

The AAU Youth Nationals Wrestling Tournament will once again be held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Wrestlers from Iowa, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alalbama, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee competed in last years event! Here is some brief infor concerning the event. For a complete tournament flyer, please go to www.aausports.org Click on wrestling and click on National Events. 2006 AAU Youth Nationals Date: March 31 to April 1, 2006 City: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Site: The Grand Hotel Convention Center Schedule: • Friday, March 31st 4-8 PM Weigh-ins for all Divisions Weigh-ins will take place at the Grand Hotel Wrestlers must weigh-in wearing a singlet and will be given a 2 LB allowance. • Saturday, April 1st 8 AM Doors Open for Wrestlers / Spectators 9 AM Wrestling begins Pre-Registration and Information can be found at: www.seaausports.org • Match Duration: Tot thru Novice 3 – 1 ½ minute periods. Schoolboy 3 – 2 minute periods • Folkstyle Rules • Tournament will Place the TOP 8 in each Weight Class Each Champion will Receive Gold Medal and a Trophy Each Wrestler and Coach will receive an AAU NATIONALS Wrestling Tournament T-shirt Hotel Information Grand Hotel 3171 Parkway Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 1-800-251-4444 www.grandresorthotel.com The Convention Center is a parking lot walk, 300- 400 feet, from the Grand Hotel. If you have any questions or simply need more information concerning this event, please contact: Darrel Lauderdale at darrelllauderdale@sevier.org

Can't leave out Waylon Lowe. Tennessee State Champ and 3X NCAA Div. II Champion.

Not this year but... Nick Breeden 1x 215 lb State Champ, 1x Runner-up played Football, Wrestled, and played Soccer Ian McPherson 125 lb Runner-up played Football, Wrestled, and Played Soccer

Here is the response I received from PA Pennsylvania does not rank or seed wrestlers for the state tournament but we do place wrestlers into brackets based on what place they won at the regional tournaments. The only exception is that in a case where more than one wrestler is a returning state champion, they are placed on opposite sides of the bracket. I attached two files (pdf format) that show the pairings for this year. The brackets are used for different weight classes each year. The system works fairly well except for a few instances where a wrestler will appear to intentionally lose a match in the regional finals in order to get a better draw in the state bracket. Some coaches feel that the brackets should be hidden until after all regional results are in but others fear that this would lead to more problems since the tournament officials would know which wrestlers would be placed in each bracket. There are definitely brackets that favor certain regions and other brackets give the same region a very difficult draw. We have certain regions that are strong every year while others are weak every year. 2006 AA (small schools) 2006 AAA (large schools)

Bruinsdad, I am glad to here that everything went well and I am very glad the Boys from Bradley enjoyed the William Blount Tournament. Marty Carpenter does a very good job at running his events. He also had a very good staff of dedicated helpers who work very hard at running a good event. Thanks to all of the wrestlers, coaches, and parents who attended our AAU Wrestling events this weekend. Also, Congrats to the guys in Nashville and the TWF. I have been getting updates all day from the Fr. and Soph. State Event. It sounded like everything was going well.

BIG JOHN VANDERGRIFF STATE HWT CHAMPION: 3 YEAR STARTER IN FOOTBALL AND WRESTLING Sorry Beale, I too failed to see the 3. I hope Dale (Big E) will forgive because I always notice the 3.

Here is the reply I got from Iowa concerning how they seed for their state tournament: There is no seeding in Iowa. District champs are matched up with District runner-ups. But other than that, the No. 1 ranked kid can meet the No. 2 ranked kid in the first round by luck (or unluck) of the draw. Our State Tournament starts today and we have three matches in the first round where the top two ranked kids at a weight class meet.

I did a little checking around at other states to see how their state tournament was seeded. Here is the reply from Iowa: There is no seeding in Iowa. District champs are matched up with District runner-ups. But other than that, the No. 1 ranked kid can meet the No. 2 ranked kid in the first round by luck (or unluck) of the draw. Our State Tournament starts today and we have three matches in the first round where the top two ranked kids at a weight class meet.

I just received a phone call from a club in South Carolina. The coach said there are a couple of their clubs planning on attending the William Blount Tournament this weekend. It seems this is an open week for them. I had an email from a coach from VA wanting directions to Blountville. The Rebel Classic has committments from several teams from Western VA. This event will be a good one! It wil be good for our Tennessee boys to compete with kids outside the state. Good Luck and have a great weekend guys!

I hope the wrestlers will be OK. My wife and I will keep them in our prayers. My family is from Greeneville and I have allot of respect for Coach Brimer and the Greeneville Program and Community. I hope the guys will be OK!

THE NEW FLYER HAS NOW BEEN POSTED ON THE SEAAUSPORTS WEB SITE.

Goldminer too would like to see a small school division established. There are over 130 Div. I schools, (based on what info is on the TSSAA Web site and there are some schools with programs that are not listed so I am guessing over 130) that have wrestling teams. The decision to draw the dividing line for divisions is based on enrollment. You could divide the 130 plus in half, based on enrollment: 65+teams in Large School and 65+ teams in small. That part is easy. The tough part comes when you look at the geographic lay out of where the small schools are located. How is this: bring all the schools back together, no more public and private. Then establish a Small School and Large School format. I have researched this idea before and I believe the enrollment divide would be somewhere around the 1,000 - 1,050 students. Its been a couple of years since I researched it but I think that is where it would be. I'll go back and update my numbers and see where it would be. Now, as far as the Soddy Hosp. Room goes, since I am not coaching this year, I will base my opinion on my previous years experience. I think they do a wonderful job and I always believed so. Its was always worth every penny and I can see why they need to increase the cost from time to time. Its a tough job for all the Soddy Supporters to take on and they always did an outstanding job. I probably did not thank them enough when I was coaching, so I will do it now. Hey Soddy Daisy Take Down Club: THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL THAT YOU DO!

If you are planning on attending the Rebel Classic in Blountville this weekend, I made a mistake, so please be aware that the tournament info has changed. The Directors of the event have been handing/sending out flyers for the last several monthes. That flyer and the one I created and posted it on our seaausports web site are different. Please, if you or anyone you know are planning on attending this event please have them contact Lew at 423-914-2237 or lew4you@aol.com. for the correct tournament info. I have asked the tournament directors to email me a copy of the flyer they were handing out so I could post it on our web site. For info concerning our other TNAAU events please go to www.seaausports.com D. Lauderdale

Congrats to: Soddy Wrestling Baylor Wrestling Bradley Central McCallie School Class coaches! Class programs! Also, Congrats to Chris "The Animal" Vandergriff and "The Cub" for winning the GOLD. It could not happen to 2 more deserving or better people! John, did you eat all of the Cheeseburger? I have got to see the picture of you with that Cheeseburger on your head. Darrel Lauderdale

The Tournament Flyers have been updated since Thursday, Feb. 16th. All those planning on competeing in our events this year, really need to review the new flyers. Please pass this message on your youth coaches and parents. Explaination about the late registration fee. The late fee will only be applied to those wrestlers who just show up at the door on the day of the event. Not to those teams/wrestlers who fail fax/email their entries in by the Wednesday prior to the event. The reason for the late fee: An event director needs to know how many wrestlers are planning on attending an event, so they may properly prepare for the event, ie: how many mats will be needed, how many medals, clocks, workers, etc. Tournament Directors want/.need people to enter their kids early.

No RC, you are correct. I got a year ahead of myself. I will make the change! Good Luck this season!

Thanks Gobbler. Anyone who hosts an event works very hard. Allow me to make a few changes to my last post. We will actually have 7 or 8 Divisions at our state event (I have received some emails concerning an Open Division, we will discuss this on the 11th). Also, since not all divisions run at the same time/day, you could get by with only 3 computers/printers, etc, but still, very difficult to do with a computer. Runing the bout sheet from the scoretable to the head table, typing in the results, printing bout sheets, assigning bouts to a match, and running the bout sheets back to the scoretable takes alot of time and man power. For events that have multiple divisions, the system we use and should have used at last years state is much more efficient. I know Cumberland County will do a good job as host and I know Vance Tisdale will run a great event!

Carter does not have a program yet. It would be great to see Gatlinburg-Pittman, Kings Academy, Oak Ridge, Anderson County, Clinton, Oliver Springs, Loudon, and Carter pick up the sport. That would pretty much include all the schools in our area.

We have and will continue to improve. The purpose of this meeting is to get everyone on the same page. Gobbler2 thank you for your suggestion and I will copy your idea down and share it with all those in attendence at the meeting. I like the idea of dividing the mats, maybe in half, not in quarters, for the little guys and we have done that in the past at some of our events here in Seymour. The Brute/AAU event in Pigeon Forge was run with the same system that was supposed to be used at all the TNAAU Events. Its the same system that was used at the 2004 TNAAU State Tournament that was held at Roane State Community College. Its a system that has developed through a trial and error process. We also incorporated many of the ideas that are used at the OHIO Tournament of Champions. ibhiii: Some events run better without the use of a computer. Lets look at both ways to run an event like our TNAAU State Tournament. 6 Divisions. Approx. 90 weight classes. Using 6 mats. 700 plus wrestlers. Run with a computer you will need: 6 people working the Head Tables; 6 computers; 6 laser printers; 2 cases of paper; 6 tables for the head table; 6 surge protectors; 12 Score Table Runners (2 for each table who can also double as boppers); min of 6 score keepers, 6 people running the clock; 2 people keeping the brackets updated, 2-3 people running the Match Board, and a Tournament Director to make sure all goes well. So far that is a minium of 34-36 people needed to just run the wrestling segment of the event . As far as money goes: 6 computers, software, 6 printers, 2 cases of paper, surge protectors, not to mention the Tournament Director Fee. The system we use: you will need: 6 official pairers (one at each score table. All pairing is done at the table), 6 scoreclock operators, 6 score keepers, 6 boppers, and 1 tournament director. Now you only need 25-26 people to manage the wrestling segment of the event. No Head Table needed. No computers needed. No printers. No match board or match board operators. Compered to the event using the computer, not using a computer saves you time and laborers. Save time. No time wasted. Save space. Save money. For this type of an event, a computer actually slows things way down. Trust me, it does. Computers are good for 1 maybe a 2 division event, but not 6. This years State Event will follow this format. It will go much better than the event did last year.

I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT THANKSGIVING! THE 2005 TNAAU WRESTLING MEETING WILL BE HELD ON DEC. 11TH. THE MEETING WILL BE HELD AT SEYMOUR HIGH SCHOOL AND WILL BE HELD IN THE CAFETERIA. THE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT 2 PM EST AND WILL NO GO PAST 4 PM EST. STOP LAUGHING, I MEAN IT, IT WILL BE OVER AT 4 PM. CURRENTLY, NOT INCLUDING TEAM DUAL MATCHES, TNAAU WILL BE HOSTING 15 EVENTS IN TENNESSEE, INCLUDING 2 NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS. ALL WRESTLING CLUBS WHO HAVE COMMITTED TO HOSTING AN EVENT MUST HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE ATTEND THIS DEC. 11TH MEETING AND MUST BRING THEIR EVENT SANCTION WITH THEM. ALL TNAAU WRESTLING EVENTS THAT ARE ON THE 2006 SCHEDULE WILL HAVE THEIR SANCTION FEE PAID FOR BY TEAM TENNESSEE. PLEASE NO MORE THAN 2 REPS PER CLUB. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED, SO PLEASE RSVP SEAAUWRESTLING@CHARTERTN.NET AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Sometimes when a team loses a "star" player it pulls the team closer. Also, losing a teammate can motivate players to play harder and to focus more on their responsibilities. Also, this ALCOA team will be out to prove that they are a very good team and that their success is not due to just one player but should be creditied to the entire team. Good Luck ALCOA!

I went to Maryville College with Stan Ballard. He was very good basketball player at MC as well. He did the best impersonation of Maryville College Head Coach Randy Lambert that I have ever seen/heard. To Stan and his family, hang in there and keep fighting. My wife and I will keep you in our prayers.

According to the rule book the visor must be clear. One of our players had a visor that was just slightly tinted an the Head Official threw the flag, 15 yard penalty on the head coach for allowing a player on the field who was inappropriately. The Ref also made him leave the field until the visor was removed. This happened during the 5th or 6th game of the season. We explained to the official that no other officials had said a thing about it. He told us the rule book states the visor must be clear. Period. I guess whether it gets called or not depends on who the official is.