truthsquad

Questioning every move they make. If they pass, parents say they should run. If they run, parents say they should pass. If they punt, they should went for it. If they play one QB, they shoulda played the other. Parents yelling from the bleachers. Parents playing Monday morning QB on Facebook.

Both teams are way down this year. It seems the whole city has turned on the coaching staff in Bristol. What happens with this one on Friday?

Just came across this ranking site for Tennessee. http://www.bestwrestlerlist.com/

No--that's not what I said at all NewCoach215. You may have chosen to interpret this way for arguments sake, but not what I said. What I said was those from Region 1 who post on here have their heads in the sand. I don't think many of the posts are from the wrestlers themselves. The point is there seems to be a vague sense of reality amongst the parents. You, for example always seem to tout the Morristown squads who were, for lack of a better term, AWFUL, last year. I'm just saying...I live in a small town near some of the power house teams in the state. I rarely, if ever, see parents here go on a message board trying to blow smoke about how there team will dominate. Maybe its blind optimism on your part, or maybe its just a different take on reality up there in East TN. Keep the change.

I have watched the Region 1 threads for a while but I can longer sit by and watch as you all continue to stick your heads in the sand. Region 1 is so far from being competitive on the state level its beyond funny. What did you have, 2 or 3 place winners last year? Out of a possible 84--not a very good percentage. And then to hear this talk of the kids from Science Hill who will "dominate" and move around at will to gain an easy 6. This is just ridiculous. Come on Region 1, get your blinders off!

Yes I have!!!!! Not only have I had discussions with him regarding his calls but I have witnessed several other coaches doing so as well. This ref is always right, just ask him. He is very arrogant and unprofessional. I attempted to discuss this referee with Darrell and was told that I should speak with Don Elsea. I already had but nothing has changed. I applaud you for putting in a rating system, I believe this is a step in the right direction, but I believe you could get more benefit by taking some feedback from coaches. Do an anonymous survey of referees at multiple tournaments and I'm certain you will see a pattern witht this guy. And don't just wait until there is a problem, because as a tournament director I know the benefit of the doubt always goes to the referee and most issues are chalked up to a coach/dad being dissatisfied that his wrestler lost.

Good tournament and overall good officiating but there is one huge exception. The ref with the brown curly hair that always verbalizes (loudly) his near fall count. This guy is a complete joke when it comes to officiating. I don't get why he is allowed to ref matches after the amount of disputes I see him in at tournaments. This guy makes up the rules as he goes. He stops matches for illegal holds that the rule book clearly shows are 100% legal. He is constantly talking to the kids throughout the match saying stuff like "improve, improve, improve; or "watch that, watch that"; or "careful, slow down" With a higher level wrestler they may ignore him, but I have witnessed many wrestlers putting themselves in bad situations because of his urging to "improve." He almost always calls arm bars and power half's as potentially dangerous. I witnessed one match where one wrestler had the other in a cradle and he was urging the top wrestler to "improve." I saw him call stalling on a top wrestler running a 1/2 while the bottom man was balled up almost fetal position. I saw him call a stalling less than 5 seconds into a match on a final OT ride out. He wants to be seen and "in the match" so to speak, so bad that he is costing kids matches and really upsetting many coaches. I know the other refs see it and heard a few actually talking about how bad he was. And before you say its sour grapes over a loss, it is not. Luckily he did not ref my kids matches and my kid won every match without controversy. This is simply an observation I have made over the past several tournaments where he is a ref. I'm thinking there should be some type of rating system in place to elminate fools like this guy. He really leaves a sour taste.

If your kid is the true #2 in the bracket then he will beat the others who are seeded ahead of him. It makes no sense to use the Top 100 tournaments as seeding criteria because attendance is sporadic. Its a fact of life to those who live in tougher regions that your kid who is 2nd best in the region may be 2nd best in state. If so, thats great, but its not equitable to the Region Champ from another Region to be seeded below a runner up or 3rd placer in your region because he was the unlucky kid who's parent does not live in Chattanooga. This situation happens in high school every year. There are some wrestlers from Region 3 & 4 (high school) who placed 5th or 6th in their region and could be top 6 in the state, when you see the Region Champ from other regions going 0-2. Its just a fact of life, but the region champ from the other region is doing what they are supposed to do, they beat the best in their Region. You can't punish a kid based on sporadic attendance at other tournaments especially given the fact that out of state wreslters attend these tournaments and some of the better TN wrestlers are traveling to national tournaments on these dates and you shouldn't force a kid to choose a lesser tournament because they are worried about state seeding. The only fair way is to seed based on region placement. If your son is truly the #2 seed, he should see your region champion in the finals because 1s & 2s from the same region should be seperated in a standard system. If you are going to use a point system, throw out the Region Tournaments all together and only invite the top 16 from the state at each weight based on your point system. Not a good idea.

Gasp! Airing AAU dirty laundry on a message board. Why, the nerve!!! Please, please don't let the word get out that something is not perfect in the land of TN AAU. You're right Darrell, lets keep it hush hush since Salter has now publicly showed his character.

Why do my posts get you so fired up? Hmmmm TRUTH hurts?

Cause Salter is quitting...

Where is Team A-East?

Too many teams with the word "Academy" in their name, when the teams are really not academies at all. Webster defines Academy as a: a school usually above the elementary level; especially: a private high school b: a high school or college in which special subjects or skills are taught c: higher education —used with the <the functions of the academy in modern society> None of which are actually who seem to be representing themselves as these "schools" for wrestling.

Salter, First of all, thank you for all the sacrifices you have made and time you have given to our state! You sir deserve the Congressional Medal of Honor! Really??? You jackwagon! You come on here as a representative of TN AAU and act like a thug running off your mouth about ALL you have done to better the state, well guess what man, there are tons of others who are working their butts off just like you behind the scenes that take away time from their families and teams for the betterment of the state. I'm sorry, but you are not the state savior! You created the Top 100, well big deal. I never thought it was the best idea anyway, but great job, kudos to you. And you introduced the paperless system to TN? HAHAHAHAHAAA You may have suggested that we use it in the one state tournament (and it was not good). Others in the state have been running a paperless system far longer than when you "introduced it to TN." I guess you & Al Gore must have also invented the Internet?? You are the reason we were slow to transition to track because your love for the paperless tourny. Just because you send out an email with selection criteria doesn't mean you have reinvented the wheel. Thank you for finally quitting. Have fun coaching your team. Stay in your corner and thank god we don't have to listen to your mouth on the pa any longer. I hope the state can survive without you. Fingers crossed.

OMG! I'm agreeing with Sommers. Please say it isn't so!!!

Getreal--obviously you are one of those (or closely related) horrible refs they speak of. Attitudes like yours are the problem. YES the officiating was bad. Rather than making excuses, work to get better and weed out the really pathetic ones. And even though you can't believe it in a million years, some referees do in fact want to make themselves a part of the match. Countless examples have been pointed out here, but there is certainly an elite attitude among the refs that coaches cannot quesiton a call or even ask for explaination without a warning or unsportsman. Like you said yes they are human and to expect that they make the correct call 100% of the time is unrealistic. Therefore why is a coach penalized for asking for explaination on a incorrect call? THATS the problem, no coach can even question or they are unsportsman. A good referee should never be noticed. The attention should be on the wrestlers--most of the time if a referee has been noticed, then he has interjected himself into the action unnecessarily. The truth will set you free.

Oh the Humanity!!! An $11 increase?? No wonder parents would drop out and drive over and hour nightly to put their kid in a Chattanooga club, who can stand that? Come on Josh, you know its more than just an $11 increase thats causing problems down there. And GA sees their neighbor to the north kicking their tail every chance we get. Anyway, good for TN, still a long way to go, but yes the state is definitely growing and getting better.

Was I?

SAC--who says I wasn't there? And its funny you make a snide remark about me to attempt to distance yourself, but the truth is, we are talking about the same issue here. Like it or not you are agreeing with the Truthster. Youthcoach--I'm not sure about your comments on fixing the tournament, this is not my tournament to run and while I appreciate your efforts, you wouldn't be "fixing" my tournaments. Also I guess you were unable to locate me on Saturday???? Also with regards to hosting the tournament at McCallie--my point was not that the tournament was not good, even though you say it was the best tournament ever and there was plenty of space when in reality the floor area was not sufficient and overly crowded. Anyway, my point about McCallie hosting is that MANY other clubs throughout the state have begged to host for several years and was always dismissed based on the space requirements of their gyms. The rule was a gym had to be able to hold at least 8 mats in order to host a state tournament. I know SEVERAL who were not given the opportunity because their gyms couldn't hold 8 mats. The problem here is that an EXCEPTION was made for Chattanooga to host with only 6 mats. COUNTLESS other programs would have accepted the same opportunity if given the chance. And don't give me some bs line about central part of the state as you have just made the point that there are far more people in the west. TO338 is absolutely correct the West is growing, in spite of Team TN. Don't get me wrong, we want in and we are comitted. We see all the positives that are happening because of AAU wrestling in TN and regardless of me pointing out when Team TN has been caught with their pants down, I have been a huge supporter. You think you know who I am, but you honestly have no idea. I am involved and have worked behind the scenes with most of you here in order to help grow our area,. I don't openly push as hard because the resistance is too strong and I don't want to destroy what has been built so far, but I'm one of the few who are closely involved who are not among the "yes men." So why remain anonymous? Because here I can point out the TRUTH and avoid the animosity toward my team. CaptainChaos--I appreciate your concern and believe me, we are working diligently to "fix" our region. You said: "Do you really think kids from region 1 or 3 are gonna drive out there for any local weekend tournaments when they can wrestle in there own region? No and that doesnt even make sense." And you made my point exactly. Some in your area are so near sighted that no it would not make sense to travel outside your backyard to support the other parts of the state as they have you. Yes even for the "local weekend tournaments." Its not just the Top 100's. This is my precisely my point!!! You are so focused on your region you can't see the forest for the trees. Supporting other areas AS THEY HAVE YOU for the past several years will pay dividends back in the grand scheme. The truth will set you free.

Maybe the West didn't send any to your tournament because we are fed up with exactly what were getting back, nothing. For the past 5 years there have litterally been 100's of wrestlers at the Chattanooga tournaments and the payback ratio may be 10 to 1. Since Chattanooga was brought into the AAU mix 6 years ago (I think), there has been a lot of wrestlers traveling to your town for various tournaments. AAU gave you state tournaments, even though your gym (McCallie) didn't hold the required number of mats according to AAU standards. The rest of the state supports you! Most of your tournaments are always over 500 kids because all other parts of the state contribute. The tournaments in other cities seem to average around 400 and usually there are maybe 20-30 of those from Chattanooga. Youthcoach--I know you can't force other teams to travel, and we appreciate that you guys at least do your part (sometimes), but we all crow about improving all areas when in reality we are not doing as much as would could be. I know there are always "reasons" why this team or that can't travel on any given weekend, but it seems there is always an excuse when it comes to showing up out of town for the majority of Chattanooga area youth wrestlers. I know for a fact that clubs, coaches, and parents in the West are fed up with the lack of interest in supporting wrestling west of Nashville. Why would anyone from the West pack up and spend money at a Chattanooga club when they know the money is not coming back home. Why wouldn't we send our money to clubs in Indiana at least they reciprocate.

Pretty sad that the Top 100 in the West has less than 300 and the Whitwell tournament has 200. Just shows what I've said for a while, Chattanooga moans and complains when they don't get participation but not a lot of reciprication. How do we expect to grow the state if we can't get participation in all areas. How about not offering another aau tournament in the state on the same day at Top 100? I know you all aren't the brightest over there in Chattown, but Mapquest can get you there. Step up Chattanooga!!!!!

I'd like to see that meeting: "Hey Don, whats say we get Sutherland to take care of the South and Shannon Region 2, Wes in Nashville...Can I get a 2nd...thanks Wes...All in favor aye, aye, aye. Thanks Greg, Shannon, Mike. Motion carried...Brian make sure you put down that no one else came to the meeting." JUST JOKING--I know it doesn't happen like that (everyone knows Brian doesn't take notes). Great! So this year, prior to the meeting, can I get a commitment from you to post here and on the TN AAU website how I can elect and vote for my Regional Rep. I know you said it was posted, but I don't recall and I'm here a lot, so I hate I missed it. Also maybe have Vandergriff send a message to his email list and put it on Facebook. If you truly want everyone involved, you can do a better job of getting the word out. As for other tournaments on the same date, the decision that was handed down at the fall meeting was that in an effort to spotlight the Top 100 tournaments, ONLY beginners tournaments would be offered an AAU sanction if they were planned on the same day as a TOP 100. And my hats off to East Hamilton for actually paying for certified refs! Lastly, you say it is easy to contact you...I don't know who you are? Tell me who you are and I will send you a private email offering some suggestions and offering a few candidates for regional representatives.

Youthcoach--apparently you don't know your board very well if you don't know which ones have kids wrestling. It is a fact that one of the board member's kids won Best Match. Look it up. And in one division, one team voted multiple times--suggestion: a better system is needed! And I AM a coach that has been involved in TN AAU for several years since we moved over, and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER have I had the opportunity to step up and put my name on a ballot for regional rep nor have I had the opportunity to VOTE for our regional rep. Again, a closed society who chooses which teams and coaches get representation and a vote.

Jones--with all due respect, the "take it to your regional director" route never works. If you haven't noticed, the chosen regional directors are picked because they are yes-men for the organization. I've found, since we moved from USA to AAU that Team TN is not a democracy, rather is it a small select tight knit group that operates within their own thoughts and ideals. I'm not saying that they are not doing good for the sport, they certainly are, but they don't like someone calling their baby ugly and unless it benefits certain people in certain areas, the change is not happening. I have a pretty good idea why there has been such resistance to using TSSAA refs and its not due to the lack of TSSAA officials. Again, I have ran tournaments for years, and with proper planning, officials can be located for youth events, as a matter of fact, if you pay them well, some TSSAA officials will pass up high school matches for youth. Did someone say pay? It seems maybe we could be onto something here...no the TSSAA officials are not cheap, you can't pay them in deer stew.

Jones--they won't sanction other AAU tournaments in the state (except beginners) on the same day as a TOP 100, and I always assumed that since this was the case they would get the best available officials. If what we had on Saturday was the best available, then we truly have a problem. And have you been invited to the meetings? The Fall meeting is nothing more than scheduling and informational. The other meeting where the important issues and topics are discussed is in the Spring and as far as I know is not open to the public--I've tried to find out when and where for the last few years and never get a response. The only spring meeting I'm aware of where the public was invited was several years ago when Kennedy was around and real issues actually were addressed, he seemed to make sure of it.