state meeting

[drem2acheve]

Pummel you get it, not all seem to as henry said he does not think this will happen.

ND and RB are not for it he does not like the ideal. the other 45 or 50 small school

coaches who like it does not really matter. I know reg.1 likes it and reg.2 is on

board. I think reg.1 has one coach that didn't like the ideal. I believe there would

be a large majority of small schools that would favor the separation. In 2006 at the

coaches meeting this came up and I believe there were about 60 coaches in favor

and 12 or 13 against. These were both large and small schools at the meeting.

This will help or sport in the state it will not hurt it. But most only care about who

is really no. 1 that is all that is important. Growth, survival girls wrestling growing

wrestling prospering these are things that are good in theory, but who is the real

no.1 that is what is of utmost importance.

[ETNWrestlingFan]

As someone who wrestled in Virginia and now coaches in Tennessee I fully support the A/AA state individual tournament. Virginia currently has three divisions within the state A, AA, and AAA. The sport has grown dramatically within the state and the competition level has grown dramatically. I know wrestlers that have won A, AA, and AAA state championships and none of them stick an asterisks beside their state titles because someone is better than them at another division. If the goal is to expand the sport of wrestling then allowing the small schools to compete with other small schools gives those wrestlers the best opportunity to compete. A school with 800 kids does not often have the same resources and pool of athletes to compete with a school that has 2200 kids. Two of the most dominant schools in Virginia are Christiansburg and Grundy and both of those schools compete at the AA level. Christiansburg just won their ninth straight state title at the AA level and no one puts then down for winning at that level. By creating a new division this would allow new schools within Tennessee to become the Bradley's and Baylor's at their level. Developing and expanding wrestling within the state should be the main goal not stroking someone's ego by allowing them to say they are the only state champion at their weight class.

[reftn]

As someone who wrestled in Virginia and now coaches in Tennessee I fully support the A/AA state individual tournament. Virginia currently has three divisions within the state A, AA, and AAA. The sport has grown dramatically within the state and the competition level has grown dramatically. I know wrestlers that have won A, AA, and AAA state championships and none of them stick an asterisks beside their state titles because someone is better than them at another division. If the goal is to expand the sport of wrestling then allowing the small schools to compete with other small schools gives those wrestlers the best opportunity to compete. A school with 800 kids does not often have the same resources and pool of athletes to compete with a school that has 2200 kids. Two of the most dominant schools in Virginia are Christiansburg and Grundy and both of those schools compete at the AA level. Christiansburg just won their ninth straight state title at the AA level and no one puts then down for winning at that level. By creating a new division this would allow new schools within Tennessee to become the Bradley's and Baylor's at their level. Developing and expanding wrestling within the state should be the main goal not stroking someone's ego by allowing them to say they are the only state champion at their weight class.

 

Why not take the top four from A, AA, and AAA and have a 12 man bracket the following weekend?

 

I would go along with that.

[Franknbeans]

When does a referee have any say on what schools do? His job is to ref and not get into the logistics of how many divisions there are. I guess that is my warning.

[MatTime]

As someone who wrestled in Virginia and now coaches in Tennessee I fully support the A/AA state individual tournament. Virginia currently has three divisions within the state A, AA, and AAA. The sport has grown dramatically within the state and the competition level has grown dramatically. I know wrestlers that have won A, AA, and AAA state championships and none of them stick an asterisks beside their state titles because someone is better than them at another division. If the goal is to expand the sport of wrestling then allowing the small schools to compete with other small schools gives those wrestlers the best opportunity to compete. A school with 800 kids does not often have the same resources and pool of athletes to compete with a school that has 2200 kids. Two of the most dominant schools in Virginia are Christiansburg and Grundy and both of those schools compete at the AA level. Christiansburg just won their ninth straight state title at the AA level and no one puts then down for winning at that level. By creating a new division this would allow new schools within Tennessee to become the Bradley's and Baylor's at their level. Developing and expanding wrestling within the state should be the main goal not stroking someone's ego by allowing them to say they are the only state champion at their weight class.

 

Why not take the top four from A, AA, and AAA and have a 12 man bracket the following weekend?

 

I would go along with that.

 

 

I love this idea, it could be a Grand Champion!! That would please both sides of this debate.

[reftn]

When does a referee have any say on what schools do? His job is to ref and not get into the logistics of how many divisions there are. I guess that is my warning.

 

Depends.

 

Did you go to the table?

[cchulk]

Well said ETN. RussianBear doesn't really care if the sport grows, he just wants the precious " i'm the greatest in the state" champion. As a coach, I want my sport to grow. Anyone could host a Grand Champion event to satisfy those like russianbear that have to know who the ultimate d2, a-aa, and aaa champion is.

[gallopingghost77]

My understanding is that the powers that be want to have "proof" of how establishing a division for small schools will lead to the growth of the sport. Well, why not speak with coaches in GA, NC, and VA and get their input. Its been done there so they would have insight to just how the change made an impact.

 

those who support the idea and who are heading up the cause need to contact some of these coaches and find out from them. Then at the next meeting when this is brought up again some insight to the proposed change can be shared.

[rcpatriot]

I think we will see a few changes that will be implemented for next season. First I believe we will finally get our double elimination format that most have wanted. 2nd, I believe we will see a change in letting non state qualifiers in to the state tournament free. Finally, a few minor changes may be made for the 2011 season. Getting TSSAA to make a change as drastic as adding a small school individual state tournament will take a few years. Unless TSSAA has made a 360 degree turnaround, they may bend but they aint going to break!

 

Making the change to a small school individual tournament is long overdue. If in fact TSSAA is "all about the money", they will see that this is another way for them to generate additional revenue for them, without adding additional expenses other than a few more medals and trophies.

 

Make the changes! It's not just what the majority want's it what the majority believe is needed to grow the sport in our state.

[geterdone]

You got to be kidding me... why dont we have a state champ for every neighborhood...heck I think my kid is the best wrestler on our dirt road LOL

 

Olympics going on right now do the small countries compete vs the big countries, yes they do ...do some of the smallest countries in the world have wrestrling powerhouses compared to the larger ones.(Georgia one that comes to mind) why dont the Olympics start dividing wrestlers into size of countries and have numerous olympic champs

 

Someone here said that Notre Dame and Red Bank were not for it.I think Notre Dame just about 4 years ago was D2. Region four small schools would dominate in that division.Notre Dame,Red Bank,Signal Mt, Hixson,Central...thats just what we need another way for those dang Chattanooga teams to dominate more medals in wrestling.

 

Why dont you just go buy your son a trophy after the tourney because you think they should never lose and that life always is devided correctly or fair. All this about another division is hogwash to me.

[Franknbeans]

What amazes me is that no one discredited Raymond Dunning for being named Div.II ALL American at Adams . I didn't hear one person say "lets see how he does against the DI All American". So why is TSSAA wrestling ( which only bowling and wrestling have one State champ) different than any other sport?

[TDArtist]

Not much proof but here it goes.

 

Let's start with the argument that we all seem to agree on....the sport of wrestling needs to grow.

Number of schools with wrestling:

AAA - 82

AA - 47

A- 18

% of schools participating in each division:

AAA - 73.8%

AA - 42.3%

A - 11.7%

 

I think we see where the growth needs to come from.

 

Let's argue for fairness for a while.

Avg. number of wrestlers per team making it to the state tournament:

AAA - 4.12 per team

AA - 1.82 per team

A - 1.38 per team

 

Ok, maybe that's not what you were looking for - How about in terms of the make-up of the brackets?

 

% of participants at the state tournament(14x32=448):

AAA - 338 or 75.4%

AA - 86 or 19.1%

A- 18 or 4.0%

 

Ok, but what about those kids who just have the drive and work hard, how did they fair?

 

% of medalists per division:

AAA - 73 medalists or 86.9%

A/AA - 11 medalists or 13.1% - no state champions

 

So.....the schools with 75% of the kids at the tournament are coming home with 87% of the medals....hmmmm.

 

Ok, so the good small schools are right there with the big boys.....right?

Final Team Scores

1. Bradley

2. Cleveland

3. Science Hill

4. Soddy Daisy

5. Franklin

6. Cookeville

7. Independence

8. Brentwood

9. Mt. Juliet

10. Ravenwood

11. Greenback

14. Hixson

19. Pigeon Forge

23. Red Bank

28. Mongomery Central

 

The fact is....no matter how bad you want to believe that things in wrestling are fair. It's just not supported by the facts. The very best small schools are not on a level playing field. Of the 104 small schools in attendance, 23 of 37 (62.2%) failed to score any points. Of the AAA schools, only 34 0f 71 (47.8%) failed to score any points.

 

There it is...my take on the A/AA argument. Flame away.