Better enjoy it....

[Rhea Co.]

Teams from Cleveland (reg 3) and Chattanooga (reg 4) have gone 1st, 2nd and 3rd the last 2 years and if the regions remain the same, there's a great chance it would happen again next year and the year after (Bradley is reloading next year and Cleveland and Soddy have a bunch of young guns on the horizon).

 

But no...

 

The TSSAA in its' infinite wisdom has realigned the regions next year and the new AAA Dual Region 4 will consist of;

 

Bradley

Soddy

Cleveland

Ooltewah

Walker Valley

McMinn Co

Rhea Co

 

Though it has not been announced, I would expect the top 2 teams from each region will go to the State Duals since there will again be 8 regions. The unadulterated lunacy of this is underscored when one considers both Ooltewah and Walker Valley were better than more than half of the teams entered this year.

Or the new AAA Dual Region 3

Sevier Co

Seymour

So Doyle

Cookeville

Cumberland

Heritage

Maryville

W. Blount

 

 

Well not to surprised with the new Region 4 it is the football district. But two teams that are totally out of place in Region 3 is Cookeville and Cumberland. Cumberland would be better off coming to Region 4, and Cookeville well they probably would be better off in a region in the middle part of the state. It won't change much besides Chattanooga area teams won't be able to finish 1-2-3 just 1-2 and one team from the chattanooga area will be left out in the cold.

[Sommers]

The way I see it is that everyone used to compete against everyone. Some teams got tired of losing too or competeing against some teams they thought had an unfair advantage, Baylor, McCallie...etc. It looks to me that this is accomplishing the same thing by taking out some of the competetion. But really hasn't our great nation turned into a cry fest about everything being fair or on an equal playing field. Whats fair about life. We really have turned into a nation of whiners, if we dont get the result we were hoping for then lets water down the competetion to see if that want make us happy. What ever happened too just pulling up your boot straps and making the best of what you have to work on. I believe this is called the dumming down of america in educational circles, or no child left behind. If little johnny can't make the grade we will just lower the standard of what is exceptable. If little Johnnys team can't win a state championship then we will just water down the competetion. Isnt this what the public schools did to the private schools, you kicked us off your playground and now you ridicule us for not having enough competetion in our state championships. I doubt you would find any complaints from the top six teams in DII about having to compete against the mighty DI programs, most of us would relish the opportunity to have more competetion and enjoy being with our friends that go to public schools. I'd much rather been with glc and bcb this weekend, I needed a shoulder to lean on after the less than stellar performance of my young wrestler.

 

Amen, Brother Henry!!

 

Hey, look what Smyrna did two yers in a roll by finally getting past Riverdale in football and then they get the easy games against 13-0 teams like Ooltewah. Well, I'll take that bck cause The Owls really did look tough a couple of years ago and coulda shoulda...

 

Anyway, you get the point, WV and those Blue Raiders can move right up after getting by their toughest competition in the same county. Sort of like Florida over some other SEC teams to take on a big ten school every now and again. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[wrestlerbk160]

Personally, IMHO, I would like to see a 16 team tourney based off of strength rankings. I'll elaborate. If you have a good team like Bradley they will wrestle anyone that gives them a challenge. If you are a good team in a weak region I do not believe you should get a free ride to the Duals. When I was in high school (At Rhea Co.) my junior year we were 20-7 and finished 4th in the region (came in last in a 3 way tie Rhea-Cleveland-Cookeville for 2nd) my senior year we were 4th again I believe; with a record of 21-5. I strongly believe, had we been anywhere other then the glorious powerhouse of region 3, we would have went to the state duals (not that we were one of the elite teams in the state; just trying to prove a point). I'm not complaining a bit. We lost fair and square. My point is that with the strength rankings it would force teams to wrestle outside of their region to get a legit shot at the duals. Teams like Bradley, Cleveland, Soddy, Ooltewah, and possibly even Walker Valley and Cookeville should be left at home. With the strength rankings the best teams would go because they had wrestled the best teams in the state.

 

 

AGAIN THIS IS MY HUMBLE OPINION ON A SOLUTION!

[taketop]

But won't this "even the playing field". There a number of a little better than mediocre teams that deserve an opportunity to go to Clarksville.

 

 

 

Deserve? You only deserve what you earn.

 

The system is not about getting the best teams to the state duals and it is getting worse with the new regions.

[countrypk]

Coach Henry displays a rather equanimous attitude to getting shafted by the TSSAA. I hope his parents appreciate lack of whining on his part. I don't think I would have been so temperate in my remarks.

 

New rules impact state duals in area

 

 

 

TSSAA changes will hits local wrestling

 

 

By Ward Gossett wgossett@timesfreepress.com

 

 

 

???As a coach in that region, I guess we??™re looking for perfection in an imperfect world. It??™s going to hit our region hard next year,??? Soddy-Daisy coach Steve Henry said. ???Chattanooga is an area that produced the top three Class AAA teams, the top two A/AA teams and the top Division II team (Baylor). I say it with pride and with no intention of degrading other areas of the state.???

Based on the last coaches??™ poll, that new southeastern Tennessee region includes five of the state??™s top 10 teams. Under the guidelines in place for next year, only two of those will advance to the state duals.

???I have mixed emotions,??? said Henry, whose team finished third in the state this past weekend behind Bradley and Cleveland. ???The competitor in me says that we??™ll be one of those that get to Clarksville next year, but the realist in me understands the geography of what is happening. You look on the map and Bradley is the closest school to us geographically.???

 

???What??™s going to happen is that you??™re going to eliminate one of the teams from the Chattanooga area that has gone to the state in the past, and everything else stays the same,??? Henry said. ???I understand what has happened and why, but that doesn??™t mean I like it.

???I don??™t think there was a

plot. But if this isn??™t an ideal situation, how do we remedy it????

Bradley has wrestled in the championship dual the last 11 years, but Bears coach Steve Logsdon can see as well as anyone that Cleveland is improving. He has shared the state title over the years with Soddy-Daisy.

???I can??™t understand why Cleveland, which is three miles from Bradley, is in one district and we??™re in another,??? he said. ???My level of frustration with pencil pushers who change rules and add to your workload as a coach with the weight management has peaked.

???For some people, it is no longer about figuring out who are the best four teams in the state as much as having equal representation.???

ON THE WEB

Read Ward Gossett??™s blog on high school wrestling at timesfreepress.com

[kilroyO]

How do THEY decide which schools are placed in which regions? Is it sport specific, or do THEY decide based on football?

 

I think all teams should have a chance to compete and a chance to win. Let's face it, some schools will never have strong teams that rule state championships for years in a row. Mostly, what they coud hope for is to have an occasional state champion.

 

If a wrestler looses every match that he / she wrestles, how long will that wrestler will stay in the sport? Now if this sport is all about the "end result" for our young adults but, they give it up because all they do is loose (and that's no fun) what did they learn? What did they get out of wrestling? Did they get what we as coaches and parents have always told them that they would achieve

 

What about McMinn Co. and some other teams that have been placed in regions with "power houses"? How much fun will it be for a team / wrestler not to win a single match. Is it possible that some schools would drop a wrestling program because no one wants to join? How could you ever expect to win a match when you forfiet 6 to eight divisions because no one wants to loose all the time.

 

Just as it's not fair for the power house teams to be regioned together, the weaker teams should be regioned together so that those teams / wrestlers can enjoy the experience that wrestling can bring.

This is definetly a bad choice on TSSAA's part.

[LovinIt]

Just throw all the names in a pot and draw for it next year.

That way all the wrestlers who slept until 11 all summer will have the same opportunity as the ones who were at the Y at 5:30 or in the practice room at 6 have. After all they deserve it. Hard work pays off. What are we teaching our kids?

[ru4mocs]

Teams from Cleveland (reg 3) and Chattanooga (reg 4) have gone 1st, 2nd and 3rd the last 2 years and if the regions remain the same, there's a great chance it would happen again next year and the year after (Bradley is reloading next year and Cleveland and Soddy have a bunch of young guns on the horizon).

 

But no...

 

The TSSAA in its' infinite wisdom has realigned the regions next year and the new AAA Dual Region 4 will consist of;

 

Bradley

Soddy

Cleveland

Ooltewah

Walker Valley

McMinn Co

Rhea Co

 

Though it has not been announced, I would expect the top 2 teams from each region will go to the State Duals since there will again be 8 regions. The unadulterated lunacy of this is underscored when one considers both Ooltewah and Walker Valley were better than more than half of the teams entered this year.

 

Independence people are complaining about seeding but at least they had their shot. Next year, without question, the 3rd best team in the state will not be going to the state duals.

 

Take a look at the new AAA Dual Region 2:

Hardin Valley (1st year)

Karns

Knox Central

Halls

Powell

Bearden

Farragut

Knox Catholic

West

 

Or the new AAA Dual Region 3

Sevier Co

Seymour

So Doyle

Cookeville

Cumberland

Heritage

Maryville

W. Blount

 

These teams may not be happy with me for posting this but "facts is facts". Four of the teams above will wrestle in the state duals while either Bradley, Cleveland or Soddy will be at home.

 

How can that possible be right?

 

So, ATTENTION INDEPENDENCE, you will get a better draw next year unless the TSSAA has an epiphany and actually tries to get the best teams to the state duals.

 

 

 

e-mail: tssaa@tssaa.org

fax: 1-615-889-0544

phone: 1-615-889-6740

[BenAround]

Teams from Cleveland (reg 3) and Chattanooga (reg 4) have gone 1st, 2nd and 3rd the last 2 years and if the regions remain the same, there's a great chance it would happen again next year and the year after (Bradley is reloading next year and Cleveland and Soddy have a bunch of young guns on the horizon).

 

 

 

Actually Chattanooga/ Cleveland Schools have Gone 1,2,3 the past 3 years. In 2007 it was Soddy, Bradley, and Ooltewah, Last year, Bradley, Ooltewah, and Cleveland, and Last week, Bradley, Cleveland, and soddy.

[Xander Zone]

So Nashville and Memphis finally get their wish? The whole thing is based off of travel? Football and basketball more than anything. They (TSSAA) have shaken their "magic eight ball" and it has spoken...Nashville and Memphis will get their wish and finally have a level playing field (wrestling mat) in making a chattanooga team stay home. It doesn't look good for the southeastern part of the state? Its not right. Correct me if I'm wrong but do we or do we not want the best teams being represented at the State Duals in the state? To be the Best you have to beat the Best. For the most part your best teams in the state are in the southeastern part of this state. All we can do is just tighten the straps tighter and get ready for the battles to come...

[drem2acheve]

Reg 3 and 4 are the best. But is it best for our sport to always have them 1,2,3, or what ever.

We must have a system in place and stick to it usually that involves regions which are set up

by location of the schools. This happens in all sports football, basketball, baseball all sports.

There is always someone at the house that is better that the worst. Should wrestling be any

different. This attitude is killing college wrestling, and will hurt Tn. high school wrestling if it

is allowed to set the rules.

[countrypk]

Deserve? You only deserve what you earn.

 

The system is not about getting the best teams to the state duals and it is getting worse with the new regions.

 

 

I was being sarcastic but apparently too subtly. My wife will be proud.