AAU State Tournament--Disaster!

[2blLeg]

I agree with this. Memphis is very long drive for 95 percent of the teams in TN. It would hurt participation in the state tournament. A lot of people would not go unless they had a good chance of taking 1st. It has to somewhere centrally located to make it fair to the whole state.

 

While I would love to not have to drive, I do not think Memphis would be fair to everyone. That would make Knoxville have an 7 hour drive, and Chatt have a 5-6. We really need to think of this as a group, and try and find middle ground for all. And also take in consideration that the kids do have school, so weigh ins, etc need to be worked so that it works for ALL.

[bradley08]

Thank you THICKS, that comment was totally unproductive and useless. What have you done to make it better? Refer to my previous post on offering detailed solutions along with your complaints.

Ignore thicks. If its the thicks Ithink it is I know him very well and we all ignore him. He is one of those perpetual whiners. If his boys were in different age groups he would be screaming about having to travel on two different weekends. I do not think the tournament was a trainwreck at all. In fact I was shocked at how well it ran being that big. It basically ran straight through with no down time. It started an hour late and ran over but there is nothing you can do about that when you let people sign up until a day before. Its easy to nit pick things after the fact but given all the circumstances what more could you do? Last year people were griping about traveling two weekends, spending money on hotels, gas and food. Now you guys try and accomodate them and they still gripe but yet I dont see them knocking down the door offfering to help you guys. The two options were having it on two different weekends and forcing evryone to travel or getting a little overcrowded. I think the overcrowded part was better than doing it on two weekends. I left right before it was over but it couldnt have gone much past 8:00 pm. Thats pretty dang good if you ask me to run all age groups in one day and be done by 8:00.

Edited March 13, 2012 by bradley08

[ocdanal]

Well, after reading all the good and bad from this past weekend, we know that we have positive feedback that will help us at our Spring Meeting in May. We will take all the positive feedback and some of the negative and come up with a solution that will allow for a much smoother season next year.

Most of the negative feedback is areas we already know need work, so complaining about it and pointing fingers gets us no where. We will look at all the feedback and try to make the best possible solution for the coming seasons. We will never be able to please everyone but if we have good solid positive feedback and lots of recommendations then we will be able to iron out all the short comings. I've been involved in this organization for 12 years now and we have made so much progress, built the numbers, created much better wrestling and worked to make the organization the best we can. It's not an easy task, and it's much harder when the amount of people that actually work on these projects is just a handful of dedicated people.

 

We ask that if you have ideas and suggestions, please relay those to your region directors so we can add them to our list. We really do want to make Team Tennessee AAU wrestling the very best that it can be and we encourage and invite others to work along with us. The more positive people we have putting forth an effort to better the program will allow us to excel and move forward to meet and surpass the competition in the other states of youth wrestling.

 

Lets make some changes and work together to fix all our short comings and give the kids what they deserve. Our ships must all sail in the same direction.

 

Thanks

[thicks]

Ignore thicks. If its the thicks Ithink it is I know him very well and we all ignore him. He is one of those perpetual whiners. If his boys were in different age groups he would be screaming about having to travel on two different weekends. I do not think the tournament was a trainwreck at all. In fact I was shocked at how well it ran being that big. It basically ran straight through with no down time. It started an hour late and ran over but there is nothing you can do about that when you let people sign up until a day before. Its easy to nit pick things after the fact but given all the circumstances what more could you do? Last year people were griping about traveling two weekends, spending money on hotels, gas and food. Now you guys try and accomodate them and they still gripe but yet I dont see them knocking down the door offfering to help you guys. The two options were having it on two different weekends and forcing evryone to travel or getting a little overcrowded. I think the overcrowded part was better than doing it on two weekends. I left right before it was over but it couldnt have gone much past 8:00 pm. Thats pretty dang good if you ask me to run all age groups in one day and be done by 8:00.

[/quot

 

You can ignore all the problems you want and it will never get any better. It was about 10 when we left and they were still wrestling.

[2blLeg]

You can spin it however you want but the bottom line is it was a total train wreck from start to finish. It have been great the last couple of years but having it all on the same day is just a bad idea.

 

I disagree. The coaches are taking time away from their families, and by splitting it you are asking them to take even more time. PLUS, consider the cost of gas, hotels, etc. You are just adding to the cost of everything, and the only thing you are getting is a shorter day. I would think that most of the coaches would rather spend a long day in the gym, then have to split it like that.

[jcddmoon]

I think one of Humours gripes is that they got smoked by chattanooga and especailly by Mikes Red Raiders. Region 3 won every age group. Way to represent CHATTANOOGA!

 

 

 

Team scores:

Tots

1. red raiders 109

2.halls 61.5

3.mt juliet 58

4 Rockford 45

5. fighting wolverines

 

bantam

1.red raiders 165

2Murfreesboro Elite 103.5

3.east Ridge 90

4.Mcminn 84

5.Dickson 80.5

 

midget

1 Red raiders 139.5

2 elite 132.5

3 wave 132.5

4 Knox Youth 113.5

5 heritage 101

 

novice

1 Red raiders 223.5

2 Murfreesboro elite 177

3 eagle talon 165.5

4 wave 121

5 mt Juliet 93

 

middle school

1.soddy 212

2. mt juliet 208.5

3. nashville catholic 154.5

4. murfreesboro elite 148.5

5. higher calling 141

 

 

Medal Counts: (keep in mind Region 4 and 5 were combined last year)

 

State Champions:

Region 1= 9

Region 2= 6

Region 3= 20

Region 4= 14

Region 5= 14

 

State Placers:

Region 1= 57

Region 2= 32

Region 3= 92

Region 4= 74

Region 5= 44

[salterjd]

I think one of Humours gripes is that they got smoked by chattanooga and especailly by Mikes Red Raiders. Region 3 won every age group. Way to represent CHATTANOOGA!

 

Bradley,

 

I am not chiming in here on how the state tournament what run, but I would like to hit on your statement “they got smoked by Chattanoogaâ€. I would have to disagree. Yes the Red Raiders smoked them, but the entire Chattanooga area didn’t smoke anybody. The numbers show that there is now parity in the state. Again, hats of to the red raiders, but they carried Chattanooga this year. You guys better watch out as the pendulum is swinging West!

 

Team scores:

Tots

1. red raiders 109 Region 3

2.halls 61.5 Region 1

3.mt juliet 58 Region 4

4 Rockford 45 Region 2

5. fighting wolverines Region 3

 

bantam

1.red raiders 165 Region 3

2Murfreesboro Elite 103.5 Region 4

3.east Ridge 90 Region 3

4.Mcminn 84 Region 3

5.Dickson 80.5 Region 5

 

midget

1 Red raiders 139.5 Region 3

2 elite 132.5 Region 5

3 wave 132.5 Region 5

4 Knox Youth 113.5 Region 1

5 heritage 101 Region 2

 

novice

1 Red raiders 223.5 Region 3

2 Murfreesboro elite 177 Region 4

3 eagle talon 165.5 Region 1

4 wave 121 Region 5

5 mt Juliet 93 Region 4

 

middle school

1.soddy 212 Region 3

2. mt juliet 208.5 Region 4

3. nashville catholic 154.5 Region 4

4. murfreesboro elite 148.5 Region 4

5. higher calling 141 Region 3

 

 

Region 1 3

Region 2 2

Region 3 9

Region 4 7

Region 5 4

[bradley08]

Bradley,

 

I am not chiming in here on how the state tournament what run, but I would like to hit on your statement “they got smoked by Chattanoogaâ€. I would have to disagree. Yes the Red Raiders smoked them, but the entire Chattanooga area didn’t smoke anybody. The numbers show that there is now parity in the state. Again, hats of to the red raiders, but they carried Chattanooga this year. You guys better watch out as the pendulum is swinging West!

 

Team scores:

Tots

1. red raiders 109 Region 3

2.halls 61.5 Region 1

3.mt juliet 58 Region 4

4 Rockford 45 Region 2

5. fighting wolverines Region 3

 

bantam

1.red raiders 165 Region 3

2Murfreesboro Elite 103.5 Region 4

3.east Ridge 90 Region 3

4.Mcminn 84 Region 3

5.Dickson 80.5 Region 5

 

midget

1 Red raiders 139.5 Region 3

2 elite 132.5 Region 5

3 wave 132.5 Region 5

4 Knox Youth 113.5 Region 1

5 heritage 101 Region 2

 

novice

1 Red raiders 223.5 Region 3

2 Murfreesboro elite 177 Region 4

3 eagle talon 165.5 Region 1

4 wave 121 Region 5

5 mt Juliet 93 Region 4

 

middle school

1.soddy 212 Region 3

2. mt juliet 208.5 Region 4

3. nashville catholic 154.5 Region 4

4. murfreesboro elite 148.5 Region 4

5. higher calling 141 Region 3

 

 

Region 1 3

Region 2 2

Region 3 9

Region 4 7

Region 5 4

 

Mr Salter, you are correct. I only looked at the first place. I do see an abscence of other Chattanooga teams though. I guess we better get to work. Ive actually been telling everyone the rest of the state is catching up . Maybe now these guys down here will put the pedal to the medal and keep us in first! Do you coach the Murfreesboro group? You guys are impressive . Is that the old Sharpshooters club? You better not be questioning running the satate. I think I saw you up there at the head table rolling your sleeves up and getting to work too. Good job from my perspective.

.

Edited March 13, 2012 by bradley08

[salterjd]

Mr Salter, you are correct. I only looked at the first place. I do see an abscence of other Chattanooga teams though. I guess we better get to work. Ive actually been telling everyone the rest of the state is catching up . Maybe now these guys down here will put the pedal to the medal and keep us in first! Do you coach the Murfreesboro group? You guys are impressive . Is that the old Sharpshooters club? You better not be questioning running the satate. I think I saw you up there at the head table rolling your sleeves up and getting to work too. Good job from my perspective.

.

 

Bradley,

 

The short answer is Yes, yes, and yes. I was actually talking with a few coaches about the parity we now have in the state this past weekend. There are problems every year, but the quality of wrestling has gotten better across the state. I can't wait until 5 or 6 years from now to see how it impacts the High School landscape

[humorwrestling]

Its very interesting that no one wants to talk about areas for improvement. I don't think that method works. If we sweep it under the rug, how will we ever improve? So should we just sit back and say oh yes it was wonderful, nothing wrong with starting late, overcrowding, dangerous situations with kids and parents on the mat...yeah lets just see how that works out.

 

And yes, I've been to almost all of the AAU meetings to which the "public" was invited. Nothing ever gets accomplished at those meeting except scheduling. Board of Directors and all the good stuff is decided amongst the good ole boy network and the yes men assigned to be on BOD. The Top 100, state tournament locations, redrawing of the regions--ie. all the important stuff is decided behind closed doors.

 

If its a true open door policy, every coach or team rep should be invited to ALL the Team TN meetings and everything should be decided by vote. Let the guys in Memphis and Kingsport have a voice in what happens. Both groups are treated as the step children of the state. I know clubs in both areas have requested opportunities to host and the answer always remains the same--NO. I'm all for a cetral location, but if Chattanooga is considered central then so is Jackson! Chattanooga is strong, but ever since they came into AAU a few years ago, we have all tiptoed around their wishes. And as I remember, Dickson was just as big a turnout as McCallie last year. Its amazing that someone thinks Chattanooga is a central location in TN--I think they skipped Geography class to get in some extra wrestling practice! Thats 5+ hours from Memphis. And as I see it, they may have great wrestlers but their tournament running skills are not at the same level.

 

Poke the bear, I'll keep talking.

Edited March 13, 2012 by humorwrestling

[bradley08]

Its very interesting that no one wants to talk about areas for improvement. I don't think that method works. If we sweep it under the rug, how will we ever improve? So should we just sit back and say oh yes it was wonderful, nothing wrong with starting late, overcrowding, dangerous situations with kids and parents on the mat...yeah lets just see how that works out.

 

And yes, I've been to almost all of the AAU meetings to which the "public" was invited. Nothing ever gets accomplished at those meeting except scheduling. Board of Directors and all the good stuff is decided amongst the good ole boy network and the yes men assigned to be on BOD. The Top 100, state tournament locations, redrawing of the regions--ie. all the important stuff is decided behind closed doors.

 

If its a true open door policy, every coach or team rep should be invited to ALL the Team TN meetings and everything should be decided by vote. Let the guys in Memphis and Kingsport have a voice in what happens. Both groups are treated as the step children of the state. I know clubs in both areas have requested opportunities to host and the answer always remains the same--NO. I'm all for a cetral location, but if Chattanooga is considered central then so is Jackson! Chattanooga is strong, but ever since they came into AAU a few years ago, we have all tiptoed around their wishes. And as I remember, Dickson was just as big a turnout as McCallie last year. Its amazing that someone thinks Chattanooga is a central location in TN--I think they skipped Geography class to get in some extra wrestling practice! Thats 5+ hours from Memphis. And as I see it, they may have great wrestlers but their tournament running skills are not at the same level.

 

Poke the bear, I'll keep talking.

 

Humour, Im beginning to think you and Mr Moon Einstein are one and the same. What Chattanooga tournaments have you been to that you can discredit them? Im guessing 0? Their tournament running skills arent on the same level as who? You just complained the Nashville top 100 lasted until 2am. It was ran way worse than the state and had way less kids. You went to the Aau meeting last year ? Im pretty sure Mike or one of the other board members stated not one member of the public showed up last year. Are they imagining that? So in what medium did you offer you profound suggestions? You apparently dont like the way a democratic society works or you dont like your region rep. Why dont you run against them? My guess is you would get one vote from your area coaches and that would be your own vote. Ill let one of the board members answer but its my understanding that Memphis and Kingsport both have a region representative that does vote. Im pretty sure Chattanooga only has one vote. Are you seriously saying Jackson is as centrally located as Chattanooga? I think when people say centrally located they mean to the majority of the wrestling population which is Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville. If 75 % of the wrestlers come from there then why should they drive to memphis who has 10%?

 

I see where everyone has offered ideas for the state so why do you say they havent? Why do ignore the issues at hand? Do you understand that the majority of the complaints last year were that the tournament was a two weekend affair and people dont have the money to travel two weekends in a row? That appears to be why they changed it. Do you understand that the complaint that they started an hour late wasnt their fault. If they are running a tournament using Track and it goes down and they cant make brackets until 7:00 then you are going to have issues. The other complaints were that the brackets werent perfect. Well I bet the reason we started an hour late was because they were trying to fix the brackets as best they could. Overcrowding issue? yes it was crowded but what would you have done if 750 kids signed up at midnight on Thursday night? Ive been to 50 tournaments worse than that one and none of them were half as big. They started late and ran straight through with little to no dead time. the refs were pretty good from what I saw. The coaches all said the hospitality room was great. The trophys were awesome but Im betting you didnt see many of those and thats whats really got you mad. was it crowded? yes it was we all agree. Again that was out of their control due to everyone wanting a one day state tournament and not knowing how many people were going to come until a day before. I for one am glad it was one day instead of two. Every coach I talked to was glad it was a one day instead of two. I know many families on our team were glad it was a one day instead of two. In fact you are the only one Ive seen complaining. Now the dumbest thing you have said and its hard to decide because you have said many dumb things is that Chattanooga gets its way. Hey GENIUS... Pay attention closely... If Chattanooga would have gotten their way the tournament would have been at McCallie. You and Mr Moon if you arent one in the same person must be very close relatives.

[humorwrestling]

Bradley--Nope, not Mr. Moon. Try again. But it is amazing that anyone who tries to offer suggestions or criticism, you always put your nose in the sky and pretend like there were no problems. The fact is, there were many problems. Rather than trying to defend and offer blame to everyone else except the tournament committee for not being prepared. I have ran many tournaments over the years and I always have a backup plan and a backup plan for that. With this many kids, you must be prepared! How could the tournament committee not know how many would show up. Look at the Top 100 tournaments and the participation at other tournaments throughout the state. I was estimating 800 would show up and thats just from the observations I noted. I'm not sure who you talked to but I heard SEVERAL coaches and parents expressing displeasure with the tournament--especially the fact of everyone on one day. I don't have the answer as to the best option with respect to 1 day or 2 but I guarantee if I am hosting a tournament that does not have the capacity to hold the estimated number of participants, I would develop a solution--before the tournament starts. And the reason track was screwed up was not because of track. It was because Team TN has no consistency. All regions did not update their results on track and therefore they couldn't be imported correctly. This was not discovered until Friday afternoon!!!! This was NOT track's fault. I mean is this really a state level tournament or is it a backwoods match em up and go tournament? A state level tournament should be familiar with their tournament software long before the Friday prior!!!! Stop trying to place blame on everyone but the responsible party! And since you mentioned Mr. Moon, he suggested earlier on this same board that all of TN needs to adopt track and update the results and he was ignored. This would have helped. People are offering solutions.

 

God bless those that stepped in to try and salvage the tournament and for all those that stayed up late working. But we all do that, I've never asked for rewards or recognition. I do it for the kids. I'm sure they are too. But to deny that there is problems will only have them doing the same stuff again next year. Make it easier for them by being prepared. If you are unsure, ask people that run successful tournaments! Develop a standard, use it.

 

I was not at last year's spring AAU meeting because the date was not publicized. You said yourself that no one showed up...why do you think this is so? I assume for the purpose of excluding everyone except who they personally called and invited. When the date is made public there are always lots of coaches present! I have been at every other meeting that I knew was happening. And please tell me when the elections for members of Team TN are happening, I will be there.

 

As for your childish statements about my kids losing matches, I will not even address this. Really? What are you gona say next, yours is bigger than mine? Grow up.

 

And one last geography lesson--Knoxville and Chattanooga are NOT in the center of the state. Maybe this attitude of "being in center of the majority of wrestlers" is the problem. Will Memphis ever grow if we keep forcing them to drive across the state for a tourament? So do you really care about Tennessee wrestling or would you just prefer the epicenter stays in Chattanooga?