oceansize42

Potential Ferrari vs Cody for all the marbles in their respective arenas.  Think on those fireworks.  Boom.... as the boom ranch would say.

The meltdown in the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling forums will be monumental lol.

Iowa wrestling forum is where I saw it stated by one of the members.  Could be false but those Iowa guys, as you would imagine, are pretty plugged in to their program.  No definitive reason given.

Chittum Leaving

Anyone know where he intends to go?  Assuming what I’ve read is true. 

Congrats to all those young (and old) guys for getting things done and working hard.  Shout out to Nashon who took third in Senior FS at 61kg.  Only loss was to Arujau who went on to win with 10-0 TF over DeSanto.  Nashon isn't from Tennessee but he did some time here helping kids out where he could and this was IMO the sharpest I've ever seen him. Really dialed in and purposeful. 

Side story involving Nashon, early days and he had a clinic happening and a lot of really good kids in his room.  Well some of those kids decide they're going to push Nashon, I mean really go after him, mistake. Jeebus batman, he put on a whooping on quite a few of those boys and those whoopings went on for ten to fifteen minutes each, he blast doubled every kid in that room regardless of weight/size.  A couple boys puked their guts out because the wrestling wasn't over until Nashon said it was over.  Good times, lol.   Nashon is ridiculously quick is all I can say.

5 minutes ago, cbg said:

The one thing that the TSSAA will not do is combine everyone back together for one state championship even though the girls are not separated.  I would like nothing more than to sit back and laugh at the crying from both the soft parents parents and coaches if “LITTLE JOHNNY” would have to compete against everyone in Tennessee for a state championship.  I can hear it now, IT’S NOT FAIR

You go a tad overboard on what parents really think in my opinion.  What you espouse was definitely not my experience which, granted, is anecdotal.  The vast majority of parents whose kid qualified went to states, watched their kid lose, and went home with out much more than a "well shoot" or some derivation.   

What percentage of parents do you think complain to leadership (leadership that matters) about their kid not winning a state medal?

I think most who want one division are really thinking the following. Perhaps I'm wrong.

1. The parents, coaches, and administrators who want three divisions are soft, not the kids, as kids feed off what leadership adults provide.

2. Regardless of how everyone feels, myself included, it is indeed easier (unarguably so) to medal in the state of TN so if someone feels that kids didn't work quite as hard or earn it just as much it is a valid opinion regardless of popularity of said opinion.  Again, this isn't due to the kids as kids don't make the rules.

I've been steady in that I personally don't know what the best answer is but I do understand both points-of-view.  I've also been steady in that I would 100% combine 1A and 1AA while using 32 man brackets.  I like kids, respect their efforts, and I don't play the game of "kids today" because every old man that ever existed since the dawn of man played that same game. That game is dumb, if a kid stinks then his parents stink (exceptions of course). I've met very few bad kids but I've met many bad parents.

Chittum is out due to injury, that sucks, was looking forward to seeing him wrestle.

Agree on Flynn.  He can't seem to beat Ventresca and he is only a year older than Flynn so he has a while to sit unless someone is moving up. 

1 hour ago, BobCorker said:

They are all certainly talented enough, but that is the same narrative the whole state has been saying for the last 25 years.  Everyone always points to a few superstars who will carry the torch, but it never actually happens for whatever reason. 

Agreed but to @cbg point if Chittum can stay healthy I think he gets it done.  At Iowa and working under the Brand's brothers certainly seems like a match made in heaven, at least from the outside.  Chittum has performed extremely well in international freestyle this past year.   Chittum and Trae are in the U20 US Open coming up. 

McDaniel is an interesting one. He really came on strong but to AA he will have to level up yet again.  I'm certainly not going to doubt him because Trae really seems to like wrestling, well at least as much as anyone can like it. 

Palmer, man he is a wizard.  That freaking crotch lock to offensive positions is ridiculous but I would like to see him open up a bit more or else I fear he can't beat who he needs to in order to achieve what I'm sure his goals are.  He is going to keep every match close.  Blows my mind.  I'm rooting for him super hard.  Would love to see him get it done.

I'm pulling hard for Hunter as well at VT.  Going to be fun to watch.   Super high level kid who should be 100% healthy by that time but man does he have some stout competition in the form of Tom Crook at 141 and Henson at 149 unless they move up or something. 

3 hours ago, Biffmar4 said:

I'm a dad/coach and if you saw me at Virginia Beach when Kendrick was in 8th grade and he was still in his pajamas under a blanket at the end of one of those long rows of mats playing video games on his phone when he was on deck, you would've called me an over the top dad.  Now I help coach our HS team, but I work with the other kids and let Denny and Bubba work with Kendrick as I don't have anything to offer him other than support.  I will say getting to be around my son and in his corner for the last 10/11 years has been the biggest joy of my life.  I work for a living too, but I've busted my tail to put myself in a position to spend time with all three of my kids.  What I'm doing now, wasn't an option a decade or two or three or four ago.  I always say I'm coaching bc of my son, but not for my son.  I love all the kids in the room and I plan to keep coaching next year when my he's in college.  I put together a travel team that competed in Va Beach last year assuming my son would be on it.  We had some of the biggest names in TN wrestling.  He ended up not competing bc of other high school related priorities, but my wife and I still ran up there, drove three kids from Clarksville, Lebanon, and East TN up there so they could get experience, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Then we took another team last July, this time with my son, down to Alabama and whooped up on Morris Fitness to win the Deep South Dual Championship.   He had a football scrimmage Friday night, so he wrestled his matches Friday, we busted it to get to Marshall Co for the scrimmage where he played both ways at MLB and FB, got back to AL about midnight and he wrestled and won all his matches Saturday.  I often think back to me being "that over the top dad" in VA Beach and what impact that had on my son.  I think that was an inflection point in his wrestling journey, my coaching journey, and my parenting journey.  After that day, I never had a reason to doubt his effort and desire again and he never questioned my expectations of him again.  I'm going to miss him next year.

The key thing is you were able to be introspective and course correct because that is what good parents do.  I sure as heck yelled at my kids and I'm sure I did it when they didn't deserve it lol (builds character).   But unfortunately so many cannot let it go or ever seem to learn. When I'm talking about "bad parents" I should be clear. I'm mostly referencing society as a whole.  Kids who are decent enough athletes but have parents who simply don't care and their kids show up for a practice or two and then vanish.  Those are the parents I'm talking about who are killing participation.  I don't want to say its worse for fear of having rose colored glasses but it does sometimes seem that the amount of kids with uncaring parents is really high.  Uncaring parents yields uncaring kids who lack discipline.  Good on you for you for still coaching. I'm going to help coach MS next year, be fun.  

7 minutes ago, cbg said:

Back in the day, moms and dads were not at practice or the training camps unless the father was a coach.  Dads had to work to put food on the table and mothers typically were working or had other kids to watch after.  I really don't remember a parent attending the national tournaments during the summer. Most of the kids did odd jobs to come up with enough money to attend the training camp and national tournament.  The parents would drop off the kids and say bye and good luck! To say that times have changed would be an understatement. 

You aren't lying.  Parents can be really over-the-top.  As for me, I removed myself from all coaching once he hit high school. In four years I think I talked to all of his various coaches for a grand total of 60 minutes.  I knew where I belonged.  What I miss are the car rides home, the trips in the summer I was able to go on (where I did sit in his corner looking like I knew what I was doing if no one else was available), having his friends at the house hanging out, etc.  The little things as it were.

Cheers to all the Dads out there who know what I'm talking about.

@cbg has me beat by miles but I appreciate it. My knowledge is short lived as my son is out of high school and on to college so I've only got a few years before everyone I know has moved on.  I really enjoyed wrestling and I miss the day to day father/son time and you bet I'm envious of all dad's still in the middle of it.

When lessening the degree of difficulty here are my thoughts on why I don’t like it. One, there is more to learn from disappointment than there is middling success.  Two it is important to make some things so difficult to achieve that they seem almost impossible.  
 

However I completely understand the other viewpoint and acknowledge there is a possibility it is a better one.  I don’t know.  In the end I wish more parents focused on life skills, actually being good parents, and a lot less on sports.  After all, almost all walk off the mat that last time in HS never to return. 

Every sport is getting better at the top. However, it has become an arms race.  Great athletes can do more than one sport at a super high level but most cannot. The divide between the top and bottom is humungous (and for that the matter the top and the above average) and I'm not sure if that is a good thing for high school sports.  There is a part of me that thinks how things worked in prior decades was better.  Great athletes went on to college sports and honed their craft, the rest went on to the military, trades, or college.  I see quite a few young men now who aren't D1 athletes in D1 athletics due to their excellent high school training but for the most part it doesn't go well for them in terms of their college records, ability to start, etc.    Most would be better served at a lower level unless they are simply at the college for academics and wrestling is a side activity but that is hard road to travel in wrestling. 

@cbg is completely correct that if there was one division then there would only be six medalists per weight class as opposed to the eighteen per weight class we have now.  I go back in forth in my own mind about whether or not I think more medals is better or worse.  My son wouldn't have medaled in one division, no way, as the kids at his weight class or up and down one weight class were nationally significant, and that would have been fine.  In my opinion what kills participation is bad parents, bad coaches, and bad programs in that order.  Not a lack of medals. However, I do think hyper-specialization is also playing a role in hurting high school sports, particularly in individual sports like tennis, wrestling, and golf.  There are many high school tennis players who would destroy professionals from 30 years ago, absolutely destroy them.   Kids are very aware of the massive skill gap between themselves and the hyper-specialists we have today and it has become insurmountable unless you have the parents to fund/shuttle you to and from or you have a program like Cleveland and a perhaps a few others that are very supportive.   

Holy crap I wish I could watch this lol.  I remember when Kemmerer wrestled a bunch of Dad/coaches, lol.  Everyone got some free air miles or at least got to smell the mats up close and personal.

If I was I in charge I would combine 1A and 1AA and expand to 32 man bracket for individuals.  The cream rises and medals mean perhaps a bit more but the opportunity to qualify is there if you're even remotely close to good regardless of how loaded your region/section is..   

1 hour ago, cobrakid8 said:

...the youngest he pulled out and sent to Baylor because he hated what McCallie was becoming.

What exactly did he say McCallie is becoming?  I have a close relative (non financial aid) attending HS there now and he loves it.  Yes he plays sports. 

Goes for Tennis at McCallie as well, as they are pulling athletes from around the world (no idea if they are recruiting or the academics simply pull them).  Why? I don't know for sure but I'm guessing the amount of aid a top flight tennis player from European country "X" needs is very little.  So in a sport like tennis the student athlete isn't simply competing with GA kids down the street. 

 Max Norman grinds it out.  Way to go Max!!!!!

Isn't Higher Calling where most of the quality wrestlers from the Cleveland area originate from? Or has Higher Calling turned into mostly Cleveland HS bound kids?  Seems like years ago there was a fair amount of kids that would end up at both Bradley and Cleveland.  Perhaps it was never that way.  Asking because it would seem to somewhat negate the need for the kids club stuff.

36 minutes ago, Appvol said:

Palmer wrestled Bravo-Young pretty tough. Only lost 5-2

You could tell they game planned for Palmer.  RBY avoided Palmer's crotch lock like a deadbeat dad avoiding child support.  

Flo number 9 Dominic Bambinelli vs unranked Max Norman will be a fun one. Dominic beat Max pretty solidly last summer.  See if Max has closed the gap.

Stinks, it is two allocations at149.  Rough when its two and Yianni is in your weight class.  Nonetheless good showing for Trae.

10 minutes ago, hawks11 said:

Weird. What I was looking at in Intermat said two. I’ll have to do kore research. 

Actually the site I was looking at was last years.  You could, and probably are, be right.

Trae McDaniel is in.  EIWA gets four bids at 149 and the worst he can finish is fourth.  The guy who beat Trae in the main draw made the finals (against Yianni).  Trae has looked really really good. Just really impressed with how he is going about his business.