AAU State Tournament--Disaster!

[bradley08]

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 tournament? So do you really care about Tennessee wrestling or would you just prefer the epicenter stays in Chattanooga?

 

Im not privy to if they posted the meting date but Im not sure why they wouldn't? It seems they are always begging for volunteers. Would you have known Stone Memorial didn't have the capacity to host 750 kids and all the fans? I guess not knowing how many fans will show up might be an issue. really they weren't that far off. There might have been 100 people standing around the mats. Now Im sure you are going to correct me being the pompous person you are so Im sure it was 157 because you counted them by gosh. How do you know if track screwed up? Were you in there helping them? How do you know what plans they had in place? Again, were you helping or offering your expert wisdom? On that subject, what tournaments have you ran of this size? I wasn't aware Memphis has ever had one even half as big? We would all love to hear that. While Im no expert on Track I have helped a few times and I know you cant import the kids until you start to make the brackets. Evidently there was some problem with this. I dont know the details and you dont either but you seem to have no problem blasting people about things you know nothing about. I may not be the smartest man in the world but i know your geography lessons suck. yes it matters where the biggest wrestling population comes from if they are the ones coming to the tournament. Do you really think putting tournaments in Memphis i going to make it grow? I dont care where the epicenter is for wrestling. I wish it was more competitive than it is but the fact of the matter is wrestling is a tough sport and based on your little whiny attitude I can see why you arent as successful as Chattanooga. Dont hate Chattanooga because they have busted their butts for 30 years and are ahead of you .Do something about it but if walking around crying all the time is your answer then its going to rub off on your kids. Chattanooga didn't start winning because they whined, they didn't start winning because they live next to georgia or any of the other idiotic statements you have made. They started winning because they worked their butts off, built enthusiasm, created traditions. As far as making comments about your kids I wasn't doing that. Im just trying to figure out where your animosity comes from. The only things I can think of is you feel inferior or you feel like other people think you are inferior or you didnt do as well this weekend as you had hoped this weekend and wanted to make exscuses for your failure to better prepare your kids. Again, Im only guessing because you are full of anger and hostility. Usually when someone starts attacking people and putting down others efforts there is an underlying reason. Im really not trying to be mean but thats just my casual observation about your apparent anger and dislike of people who are trying to make a difference. People who have done more for wrestling than you will ever dream about. As they have said in their posts, call them, email them, work with them. Maybe you will hit it off and can work together but one thing is for sure you wont get anything accomplished if you work against each other.

[ocdanal]

the troll has been revealed..... Technology is so cool.....hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock.......follow the little black droppings.....lol .....Gottcha!

[jcddmoon]

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.

I am not sure who you are Bradley08 and quite frankly I could care less. I am not critical of the establishment. I think HUMOR is airing his problems in the wrong manner. Anytime I have been critical I have offered a solution, and my issues are not with TNAAU. I only want to see the State improve and I have seen things in other states that we could adopt here. I am not HUMOR nor would I want to be associated with his criticizms with no offer of a solution. I am not anonymous as you also are. I think that TNAAU does a great job and has done alot for the state and its wrestling programs. As I said in previous posts thanks to Don and Darrell and there tireless efforts to improve. The state tournament has gotten better each year, to include this year. Yes we can improve and I am sure we will. For those of you who do not know who I am, I am not anonymous. Bradley08 I told you that you could speak to me face to face at state and you did not. Who are you? So I can talk to you since you wont find me. My name is Josh Moon and I can be reached at 931-217-8483.

[bradley08]

I am not sure who you are Bradley08 and quite frankly I could care less. I am not critical of the establishment. I think HUMOR is airing his problems in the wrong manner. Anytime I have been critical I have offered a solution, and my issues are not with TNAAU. I only want to see the State improve and I have seen things in other states that we could adopt here. I am not HUMOR nor would I want to be associated with his criticizms with no offer of a solution. I am not anonymous as you also are. I think that TNAAU does a great job and has done alot for the state and its wrestling programs. As I said in previous posts thanks to Don and Darrell and there tireless efforts to improve. The state tournament has gotten better each year, to include this year. Yes we can improve and I am sure we will. For those of you who do not know who I am, I am not anonymous. Bradley08 I told you that you could speak to me face to face at state and you did not. Who are you? So I can talk to you since you wont find me. My name is Josh Moon and I can be reached at 931-217-8483.

 

Good post. I stand corrected and maybe judged too harshly. If you arent Humour then you have my sincere apologies

[csemary]

I'd like to point out there is a board dedicated for AAU clubs discussions. Just saying.

[rcpatriot]

Every tournament has it's problems, big or small. I've hosted several wrestling tournaments throughout the years, and every tournament we encounter a problem. Several years ago I had the priviledge of hosting 3 state AAU individual tournaments. Each had it's problems.

 

These tournaments take a ton of work, volunteers, planning, coordinating, money, and sweat. No matter your planning/coordinating, there seems to always be something that comes up at the last minute or during the tournament that throws a clitch in it. Who's at fault?! It is what it is!!

 

Although I'm no longer a part of AAU wrestling, I'm hearing some of the same complaints year end and year out. The majority of them stemming from last minute entries from coaches/teams, as well as the tournament being an "open" tournament. While requiring all divisions to qualify will drop your state tournament entries, it should raise your entries for the tournaments designated as "qualifiers". This would also eliminate last minute entries. In the past, those tournaments designated as "qualifiers" weren't real qualifying tournaments and coaches/parents got use to that and went to other tournaments. Make it mandatory to qualify for the state tournament and you "kill 2 birds with one stone".

 

Wrestling, as a whole is growing within our state and it's due to a lot of hard work from a lot of people. Let's keep growing!

[jcddmoon]

I am about ready for this post to go away just because of the title and the anger it is stirring up. I think TNAAU dis the best job they possibly could due to the shear volume of wrestlers they had. I was there on Saturday from beginning to end because my last wrestler was a Junior 112 and his Championship match was late probably around 10 I guess. Thats not bad for a one day tournament of that size. If you have ever been to the Ohio TOC you would know that those guys run that tournament at a very effecient level and have a very good system in place, however due to there shear volume in a one day tournament, even with 30+ mats they still dont end their day until well after midnight each year. As I have said before the State tourney was not perfect, however it was an improvement from last year and I am sure each year it will continue to improve. Great initiatives take time to perfect.