AAU State Tournament--Disaster!

[YOUTHCOACH16]

It is easy to armchair quarterback how the tournament was run, so I will first thank all of those that put in the time and effort involved. I think it is important to get feedback from the stands to continue to improve the tournament and grow the sport. I would have to say that overall the tournament was a success. The biggest problem from my perspective was the view from the stands. It was hard if not impossible to see most matches from the stands. I didn't feel there was an excessive amount of dead time on the mats, but the tournament did start almost an hour late. The champion's plaques were awesome. There was a lot of great wrestling and some tough brackets. I would love to see the finals with a little more fanfare. It would take a little more time, but if the finals could be run at the end of the session for each division it would add to the excitement, and the fans would get to see some great match ups. A bigger venue would solve most of the issues.

 

Thanks for the feedback. We had actually planned on showcasing hte finals but do to time constraints we were forced to scrap that idea. The tournament simply grew to large for us to make last minute adjustments. Thats a risk you take with open tournaments with the deadline to sign up just a day away from the start of the tournament. I personally like the open tournament. My opionion is the bigger the better but we will have to weigh some serious options for next year.1) We will have to go back to a two day tournament. 2) Make the younger wrestlers qualify for the tournament or 3) find a larger venue which they arent many of that are centrally located for the state. Please share your thoughts with your region directors so they can provide feedback at our annual meeting.

[YOUTHCOACH16]

I wasn't at the tournament, so I'm not qualified to comment on how effeciently/effectively it was run. However, from past experience, I've found complaints usually aren't offered from the parents of kids that did well.

 

Mike, I want to personally thank you for the countless hours that you spend giving back to the sport. I know most of what you do is never recognized nor compensated for. It's people like you that are going to put Tennessee on the map as far as being competitive. It's people like you that actually help to grow the sport. Thank you.

 

On another note, I've always found it odd that almost all kids tournaments hold up the smaller weight classes until the bigger ones dwindle down. I say wrestle them at the same time as the big ones. Why make the parents sit there all day when they could have been done in 2 hours max? OUT OF ALL THINGS THIS IS WHAT FRUSTRATES PARENTS THE MOST sitting there for hours on end until their sons first match. It also frees up valuable space in the gym by clearing out and finalizing weight classes. It also makes the awards ceremony less congested. I know in high school we deal with the 45 minute rule (word is it's going to be reduced to 30) but is this a rule in kids tournaments? Who cares about 45 minutes? They're wrestlers - let them wrestle. The baddest will usually win regardless of how much rest time they have between matches.

 

 

Ben, thank you for all you do as well.

Good points on on the smaller weight classes wrestling first. We did have the smaller weight classes wrestling without having to wait. There were only a few round robin brackets and they were done hours before the larger ones. It could have been done even better but we had originally planned on showcasing the finals like many parents have requested. Once we determined it wasnt feasible due to time constraints it was too late to go back and renumber the bouts. We simply didnt have enough manpower to go through all the matches and do it manually. As far as the 45 minute rule we dont use that in youth wrestling. When I say some of the kids were wrestling back to back I mean that almost literally. At the end of the day i had kids wrestling 2-3 matches in 20 minute time frames. We simply cant make them go any faster.

Edited March 12, 2012 by YOUTHCOACH16

[jcddmoon]

Congratulations to Dustin! Even though he beat one of mine in the semi's and another in the finals I have to give credit where credit is due. He wrestled a great tournament in an absolutley loaded weight class.

Thanks for the cudos Mike. I could have probably complained about Dustin's bracket since he had our Region 5 third place guy in the first round, and that Dustin was seeded in the middle even though he was undefeated in the State in Bantam 50s this year, HOWEVER and understand this clearly. We wanted to beat the best, because to be the best you must beat the best. You can complain about pairing all day long but the bottom line is that you have to win them all no matter what. I think the pairings were done as fair as they possibly could be due to the fact that the little ones do not qualify and we dont really keep up with records for seperation criteria. Like I said before I think we can improve, and I know we will because tourney gets better every year. Thanks for a great day of wrestling.

[YOUTHCOACH16]

Thanks for the cudos Mike. I could have probably complained about Dustin's bracket since he had our Region 5 third place guy in the first round, and that Dustin was seeded in the middle even though he was undefeated in the State in Bantam 50s this year, HOWEVER and understand this clearly. We wanted to beat the best, because to be the best you must beat the best. You can complain about pairing all day long but the bottom line is that you have to win them all no matter what. I think the pairings were done as fair as they possibly could be due to the fact that the little ones do not qualify and we dont really keep up with records for seperation criteria. Like I said before I think we can improve, and I know we will because tourney gets better every year. Thanks for a great day of wrestling.

 

Im sorry he had one fo your own guys first round. That should not have happened. Track tried to work with us and allowed the regions that did not post their results online to send a spread sheet of their regions results. They were going to download this information into their system and it was supposed to seperate everyone but unfortunatley it did not work. In Fact it messed everyones up. We were not even able to run the brackets until 700 that morning. Once we saw them we scrambled to seperate the number ones and seperate teamates. I tried to seperate regions next but time caught up with us and we couldnt get it all done. As far as him being seeded in the middle that was not any kind of reflection on him. Because there were 5 region champs it seprated region champs, runner ups, then teamates. There was no way to go in and actually research everyone and see who the true number one guy was. So in essence there were 5 1 seeds, 5 two seeds, ectt... You can look at Tarons placing in the bracket and see he was in about the same spot just on the opposite side of the bracket. So in essence it did seperate the best kids pretty much correctly they just werent placed in the tradional places in the bracket that we are accustomed to the number 1,2,3,4 seeds going. It was more like a basketball bracket where you have multiple #1 seeds from regionals

[pantheon]

On the drive up to Crossville early Saturday morning I was somewhat elated that we (TWC/McCallie) didn't win the bid to host a one-day state championship tourney. All I had to do this day was coach and motivate, motivate and coach. Yes, it was hot and all that. Frustrating, sure. Did I crack? Maybe, maybe not. However, my hat is off to the combined efforts of those involved. At the end of the day, progressing amateur wrestling in TN is the goal. And, this event, with all it's growing pains, was a worthy endeavor. TN AAU isn't just writing this story as they go along. These are smart people who consider every dynamic involved. - Tom Herring

[cchulk]

Humorwrestling, thank you captain obvious, did you know the venue would not be big enough at the meeting 12 months ago? We all know now that that cause the majority of the issues we had. What are these other options for bout calling you speak of? Ok some of the workers did not write the numbers as big as they could have: easy fix, thanks. 2000 people in the gym all day raises the temp toward 98 degrees, tough to accomadate that, but we tried.

What did you do to make this tournament better?

[galloppingghost77]

I too should let this go but cannot seem to. All the issues addressed in this thread is being heard and will be addressed. I will address a few here now.

 

The reason there was a split to begin with was to make the events more manageable and more wrestler and parent friendly. The last couple of years, more and more people wanted to move the event to one weekend because a several families, coaches, and clubs could not afford to travel on 2 consecutive weekends (gas prices, hotel, food, etc). Valid point, and one that played a part in the decision to merge the states into one weekend. This was just one reason and Mike identified some of the others.

 

To address the other issues mentioned by the well established CoachT poster humor wrestler:

 

Pee Wee will probably not be an open next year, must qualify

 

A venue change or schedule change will be a must. A larger venue would work, as long as there is plenty of seating off the main arena floor and enough mats (10-12) can easily be placed. Or similar venue as this year only adjust the schedule to allow some divisions to compete on Friday night. Now I said similar not the same venue.

 

I listen to all suggestions and complaints. Let me clarify, I listen to all suggestions and complaints that are submitted to me in a professional and sportsmanlike manner. Humor wrestler I am very interested in hearing your suggestions. Funny, i have never received any suggestions from you before but maybe its because you did not know how to contact me. My name is Darrel Lauderdale You can contact me at seaauwrestling@gmail.com or you may phone me at anytime 865-755-7872.

 

I just hope that your suggestions have some merit and substance. Contact me anytime ( just not after 10 pm)

[2blLeg]

While I was only there for the first 1/2 of the day, my opinion is all in all this was not a bad job. You do have to take in consideration that there were 740+ kids registered to wrestle. Pretty hard to organize that many and make it all work. While the younger kids did not have to qualify to wrestle, I would think that there needs to be something put in place to lower the number of kids that wrestle. Maybe something like, each region can put in the top 4 from regionals, they would have to a certain date to register, and then after that it would be open for the others but up to a certain number of kids.

 

The two things that I did think needed work were...

 

1) Starting on time, if I'm not wrong, I think we were about an hour behind to start.

2) Medal presentaion - this was a mess, and needs to be changed. That was the really only bad thing to me.

 

Beyond that, to me the day flowed well. You knew when the kids were up, because of the numbering system, so that wasn't a problem to me. And there wasn't a lot of down time to me, seemed like constant action

[jcddmoon]

Im sorry he had one fo your own guys first round. That should not have happened. Track tried to work with us and allowed the regions that did not post their results online to send a spread sheet of their regions results. They were going to download this information into their system and it was supposed to seperate everyone but unfortunatley it did not work. In Fact it messed everyones up. We were not even able to run the brackets until 700 that morning. Once we saw them we scrambled to seperate the number ones and seperate teamates. I tried to seperate regions next but time caught up with us and we couldnt get it all done. As far as him being seeded in the middle that was not any kind of reflection on him. Because there were 5 region champs it seprated region champs, runner ups, then teamates. There was no way to go in and actually research everyone and see who the true number one guy was. So in essence there were 5 1 seeds, 5 two seeds, ectt... You can look at Tarons placing in the bracket and see he was in about the same spot just on the opposite side of the bracket. So in essence it did seperate the best kids pretty much correctly they just werent placed in the tradional places in the bracket that we are accustomed to the number 1,2,3,4 seeds going. It was more like a basketball bracket where you have multiple #1 seeds from regionals

I am not complaining at all. The competition was great. I dont think I would have wanted it any other way. We have wanted to wrestle Tucker all year anyway so it worked out. I thought you guys did the best you could with the situation you had.

[ocdanal]

Hello,

I would like to take a few seconds to give a few shout outs and addaboys to some folks.

 

To the group of guys and gals who stayed up late Friday night working on the brackets.....you guys are awesome!

To the officials who called the matches on Saturday, you guys are awesome! Best officiating I've seen at a youth tournament in years. Also to the head official for lining these awesome guys up.

To the hosting club and parents, you guys did a great job and I commend you.

To the Coaches and Wrestlers who participate and endure the long season, great job!

To the Parents and Grandparents who travel with these young athletes and support them, my hat is off to you. You are the backbone of the entire sport.

To the volunteer table workers....great job....very few mistakes and lots of hard work. To the boppers who stop the ref when the time is out....you guys never get the credit you deserve....hats off to the boppers!

Last but never least, to the volunteers who make up Team Tennessee's leadership, I can say, I've worked with a lot of different people all over the world and you guys and gals who make up Team Tennessee leadership are the best of the best. You always have the kids interest first and you always do the very best you can to make the most of any situation. I can honestly say you folks are hero's in my book.

 

And for all the haters out there who have left negative remarks or sharp-shoot everything, I have one quote for you from a movie, "A Few Good Men" ". I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post." Meaning; take a stand by joining in and helping or keep your negative comments to yourself. Ideas and pointers are great and more help is better, but don't put these fine folks down for doing the best job they can do and not being paid to do it. Be helpful and be supportive, add suggestions, volunteer to help, donate your time, be a positive person in order to help meet the objective. Which is to better youth wrestling in our state and give these fine young athletes a platform for success as they move into their teenage years in the sport.

 

Smile, it's a kind and rewarding gesture.

Regards,

Coach John Satterfield

[DAKEKO]

Where are the results for this tournament posted?

[galloppingghost77]

Where are the results for this tournament posted?

 

unapproved website