Biffmar4

Williamson county hasn’t allowed us on campus since last Monday. Saw some kids getting in work at young guns tho. When our rec center was open in fairview saw a few of our kids in there, the grinders. We sent out at home workouts, but …

There’s too much to unpack here. I would not discourage or recommend a division for any kid. Dream big, relentlessly chase your dreams, and you will grow and learn life along the way. If your dream is to wrestle D1, don’t settle for something different. If your goal is to start your freshman year, find a way to make it happen at whatever division. One thing I know about the best wrestlers in this state past, present, and future is that they aren’t quitters and they don’t settle. They never stop working. Also, Rob Atwood has spent several years wrestling all over the country and I believe has AA at Virginia Beach Nationals. Lastly, my son is wrestling against Duke tomorrow, first dual start as a true freshman, bumping up a weight class to fill in at heavyweight. For a small school kid who lost almost every match when he started in this sport from a traditional non-powerhouse wrestling state to have an opportunity to wrestle at the highest level of competition in folkstyle wrestling, I would call that success already. But I will tell you, for my son, he wasn’t recruited for being a top 20 nationally ranked kid, he was recruited for his work ethic, discipline, and passion to improve - which translates into what he can be when he is surrounded with with top notch talent and coaching. #moreworktodo

I'll take Rob Atwood over the field at whatever weight class he decides to wrestle this year. Great list to start with and will be fun watching some of the guys expected to lead their weight class take on all challengers and watching for relatively unknowns fight their way to recognition. Best sport in the world!

Looked like another well run tournament Coach! Thank you for giving our kids a local option to go get those competitive juices flowing!

Well done to Cleveland wrestling and TNUSA and all who were involved in ideating and manifesting this years WNO. Thankful that kids in our state have the opportunity to compete and to be recognized for the commitment and sacrifice they make to be as good as they are. Great matchups, great effort by the wrestlers and besides the commentators leaving out Coach Kramer’s hospitality room at Wilson Central as one of the best in the state, everything else about the production was just fine for me as a wrestling fan and fan of these kids. Well done and thanks again for the showcase!

After early session today, we have 3 JRs still gunning for the top spot in the Rd of 16 (Hilton, Sturgill, Stacey) and 3 Jrs still fighting back in Consi Rd of 16 #1 (Dupill, Little, Fowler). 16U just kicking off

16U has 8 in RD of 16 and 2 in RD of 32 with 2 fighting back in consis JR have 3 in RD of 16 (Hilton, Sturgill, Stacey) and 9 fighting back in consis Some great matches going on right now

In the FS pool, we lost by 2 to Utah and 1 to NJ and the kids wrestled hard. The wrestlers didn't maximize their opportunities and some of their inexperience in the dual aspect of these two disciplines showed (giving away a caution pt before TF their opponent giving them 1 team point, teching kids instead of pinning them losing another net 1 team point, etc). The jersey kids were in the same room as us waiting hours upon hours to wrestle talking about how they would just plow through us, so was satisfying to have a competitive dual with a chance of winning going into the last two bouts. Saw some of these "soft" TN kids take the NJ kids that showed up to deep water, which was also satisfying. All in all, great tournament for TN and the kids and culture continue to trend up and to the right. Shoot, Heckert was woken up Monday morning with the ask to compete in greco and freestyle, neither of which he'd ever done before, and flew out that night to join the team bc the 195 that had committed never bothered to tell anyone he was injured and wasn't going to show up. Talk about scrappy and fearless. Was fun to watch him throw down. Carson, Jarvis, Sturgill, and Norman wrestled lights out. Jake Stacey is a savage!

Guys like the Uhorchuks, Colin Dupill, Hunter Mason, Cooper Hilton, Omaury Alvarez, and others would have definitely made us more competitive.

Guys like the Uhorchuks, Colin Dupill, Hunter Mason, Cooper Hilton, Omaury Alvarez, and others would have definitely made us more competitive.

Match Summary TN NJ 120 Carson Dupill (Tennessee) over Vincent Paino (New Jersey) Dec 7-0 3.0 0 126 Mikey Bautista (New Jersey) over Hunter Heflin(Tennessee) TF 10-0 0 4.0 132 Jarvis Little (Tennessee) over Sebastian Ortega (New Jersey) TF 11-0 4.0 0 138 Donny Almeyda (New Jersey) over Alex Ropski(Tennessee) TF 10-0 0 4.0 145 August Hibler (New Jersey) over Harlen Hunley(Tennessee) TF 10-0 0 4.0 152 Hunter Sturgill (Tennessee) over Zachary Ballante(New Jersey) TF 10-0 4.0 0 160 Brandon Dean (New Jersey) over Jacob Barlow(Tennessee) TF 17-6 1 4.0 170 Maximus Norman (Tennessee) over John Quinonez(New Jersey) TF 10-0 4.0 0 182 Jake Stacey (Tennessee) over Dan Rella Jr. (New Jersey) TF 18-8 4.0 1 195 Logan Heckert (Tennessee) over Nazareth Pina (New Jersey) Fall 2:06 5.0 0 220 Aidan Schlett (New Jersey) over Kendrick Curtis(Tennessee) TF 13-2 1 4.0 285 Rocco Dellagatta (New Jersey) over Keimel Redford(Tennessee) TF 11-0 0 4.0 100 Jose Cordero (Tennessee) over Ryan Haynes (New Jersey) TF 12-2 4.0 1 106 Kaleb Ambrose (New Jersey) over Locke Sessions(Tennessee) Dec 10-10 1 3.0 113 Anthony DiAndrea (New Jersey) over Sebron Colson(Tennessee) TF 16-5 1 4.0 Dual Meet Score 32.0 33.0

These things don't matter and it doesn't water anything down. It's just showing the general public who placed top four. What does "all state" mean, what does it get you? At least it has objective criteria. There was an article that just came out in the tennessean where we have all mid-state and it's not accurate bc the guy who wrote it doesn't appear to follow wrestling, didn't appear to invest much time researching, and seemed to pander to his largest readership. At the end of the day, what does it even matter? Again, is this so when a 70 year old man and a 50 year old man sitting around the fire can say, I was "all-state" back in 2023? Who the heck cares? No one is getting to the next level with an "All State" on their resume.

I'll also add that there appears to be an obvious love and deeper commitment for this sport from this generation of wrestlers that didn't exist 10-20-30 years ago. We have more than one guy in the state who loves the pursuit of perfecting his craft. With a higher level of commitment from the athletes, better coaching, more opportunities to compete, and better rooms geographically filled with tougher competition we will continue to improve as a state.

But we only need one to tie Japan! Anyways, I love our trajectory as a state and to the point of one versus three divisions, the more recognition a team or individuals get, the more likely others are to get involved in wrestling that otherwise wouldn’t have. I see the sport as more mainstreamed than ever before and maybe just bc I’m more submersed in it at the moment, feels like we have more guys competing and succeeding at the national level from all three divisions and I would say in all age groups, with some great talent and experience coming up from middle school and elementary school. We will never be PA, but this sport has a bright future as it continues to mature in this state IMO.

Cody Chittum, Brayden Palmer, Trae McDaniel and I'm sure there's more that will AA in the next year or so.

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.

They are 100% putting in the extra work as a team. Fun to watch them work.

Totally respect that opinion. I don’t agree with it 100% though. There are some kids that will try to find the best weight class to win a state championship in any of the three divisions. I think you’d still have that to some degree if there were just one. Most of the kids I know that won a state championship this year in any division have been wrestling 10+ years and are putting in several types of year round work. I think the days are gone in TN where you can just be a good athlete and win a state championship. You might find 1 or 2 out of the 42 champions last year. Also, some of these kids putting in work year round while also participating in other extra curricular activities and attaining and carrying high gpas, I’m just not sure how much harder they can work. I definitely don’t see a lack of hard work and discipline among the top tier wrestlers in the state. One division or three divisions won’t change the effort these guys put in. I’m curious, back in the day when they had one division, did you have kids driving 120 miles round trip in the off season 3-5 days a week to get in a room to practice with the best competition in the area (regardless of division)? That’s definitely happening today and I’m speaking from firsthand experience. For these kids, there are goals beyond a state championship that they are working year round for. It doesn’t always manifest itself in a state championship but it does appear to be manifesting itself in next level wrestling opportunities. I’d also say that the wrestling that takes place between March and August is what makes the best high school wrestlers who they are, not the wrestling that takes place from October to February.

You’re right. Do you have any proof that 3 state champs or more accurately stated, three divisions, decreases the number of kids competing at the next level? I’m just curious how three divisions hurts wrestling in TN. I think there are lots of reasons it helps. Just curious on your take there.

And....? What does that do to hurt our sport? 3 state champs equals less kids competing in college at all levels than if we had 1 state champ?

All great points and a few quick takes: Sounds like most on here are in agreement that having 3 divisions doesn't hurt the top-level talent in each division. They still compete year-round (basically) and so giving an opportunity to a small school kid to earn 6th place in that division doesn't negatively impact or diminish the top tier talent in the state's ability to go on and compete at the next level. More divisions, also means more kids experiencing disappointment. They may fall one short of districts or sectionals which makes them push harder in the off season or the following year. They may fall one short at the state level from placing and that motivates them, or they may even place 5th or 6th and realize they are capable of more and that motivates them. I would say to place at state in any division is not a participation trophy. There is preparation, commitment, sacrifice, nerves, expectations, whether you are big, small, or private all translatable to life. IMO, the current number of athletes that get to experience this in our state in our sport is a great number. Not too few, not too many; roughly 252 (6 places * 3 divisions *14 weight classes) kids placing out of 2800 (200 schools * 14 weight classes) starting wrestlers or just under 1% of TN high school wrestlers place at state. To be a state champ in any division, you are the top .013% to top .015% of your respective division or across all wrestlers in the state. That leaves 2,548 (or double that if you count the rest of the roster) wrestlers without a participation trophy. Parents in any sport can be bad, but I would argue wrestling less so than other sports. If Billy beats Bobby in a wrestling match, there is much less room for subjectivity than Bobby has a better glove and Billy has a better bat, but Bobby is my son and I coach the team so Bobby is starting. That being said, I will also say that parents appear to grow in the sport as their wrestlers do. New parents are louder and more nervous and don't understand the rules or the commitment both kids have put in to be on the mat. They yell and scream more. As parents mature in the sport, they also understand that losing is not the end of the world and that if you aren't losing, you aren't competing in tough enough tournaments for your wrestler to improve. I don't have a negative experience with a coach or a club as my son came up. I remember my anxiety and anger when he didn't give his best effort, when he quit on himself or his team and how that manifested in our conversations. As he matured, so did I. I learned to give him space, to talk with me if and when he was ready. Once the effort was there, there was nothing left for me to be angry about, but that took time for both of us to understand. These days, even at state when he was considered the favorite to repeat as state champion and he lost in the semis, as he came off the mat, it was a hug and an "I love you and you'll always be enough in my eyes" and away he went to beat himself up and start to reconcile the loss and start to move forward again. All this to say, it certainly feels like the sport is growing tremendously in our state. It is becoming more mature. We will begin to compete better at the national level across all collegiate divisions, and I think you will see TN wrestlers AA at NCAAs, if not win D1 National Championships in the next few years. I'm beyond thankful what this sport has provided for my son and myself and I just don't see how 3 divisions or 1 division would have changed that one way or another. Last thing, unless your wrestler is a nationally ranked blue chipper, don't expect a lot, if any D1 money. There are 35 roster spots on a D1 squad and most schools have between 6 and 9.9 1-year scholarships to go around for the whole team. I think overall, D1 coaches look at the upside of TN wrestlers. Are they passionate about wrestling, have they traveled the country to get their butt whooped and still kept swinging or even experiencing success at the national level, are they constantly working on their physique and craft? I think D1 coaches see potential and room for improvement when TN wrestlers get in the room. That being said, if you have a young wrestler that wants to compete in college at any level, have them focus on their grades from day one. There is a lot of academic money available for kids with good grades and good test scores that can help get them an opportunity to get in the room to learn and grow more, level up, earn a starting spot, and compete for their goals.

So what’s the real metric we are measuring the growth and strength of the state of wrestling in TN? Is it number of kids going D1? Would we have more kids going to the next level if we only had one division? I’d argue we are stronger now as a state in this sport than we’ve ever been. Is the high school season competition really watered down if we are growing and getting stronger in wrestling as a state? Also, small school is putting more kids in D1 this year than any other division based on what I’ve seen so far, so not sure how that all fits in the picture. Could sixth place big school beat sixth place small school? In most cases bc of athlete pool, but are we diluting the sport by having three divisions? I don’t think so. Also, for the best wrestlers in the state, the season has just started and there are no school divisions. Soddy and Halls dang near had their full rosters at Ironman this weekend. I’ll add this too, I see several multi sport athletes doing just fine and moving on to the next level in one sport or another (Kobe Smith, Littles, Medina, Redford and on and on). I also see several year round athletes doing the same thing and excelling on the national level. We also have clubs growing across the state like young guns and minions and we have families that have stayed in TN and are creating dynasties like the Uhorchuks, Fowlers, Chittums, and Littles. Not sure what we are really looking for in our state other than having the wrestling trajectory moving up and to the right and that’s what I’m seeing from both male and female wrestling. IMO, we are doing something right.

I’m all for the growth and success of women wrestling. I just don’t enjoy watching it. Nothing against the sport. I actually like watching women UFC fighters. Can’t dispute the fact that girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the country.

Appreciate the insight and looks like Cougar will help fundraise next year.

Cougar, when you heard that border wars was going to happen last year, what did you do? Did you ask if it was going to happen again this year so you could get involved? When you saw it happening again this year, did you ask the event planners how you could help (fundraising) or just sit on the sidelines and wait until the event was over to speak up? There’s some questions I doubt you’ll answer.