TNAAU STATE TOURNAMENT in COOKEVILLE

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Attended the afternoon session of the State Tournament at the HYDER BURKS pavilion. First my hats are off to all the volunteers who under took such a huge tournament. When I drove up to the venue I was amazed at all the cars and when I stepped inside Hyder Burks I was in awe at the huge crowd of people. The first thing i noticed besides the crowd was the announcer screaming at the top of his voice into huge loudspeakers turned up to maximum capacity. It was deafning and my family was asking for ear plugs. The next thing I noticed was the tiny monitors on the scoring tables, they were so small you could not see the scores from the stands. The next thing was the screen at one end of the stadium, which the bouts and mat numbers for the wrestlers was not legible. If you didn't have an IPhone to pull up the venue and bouts for the wrestlers, there was no way to know when it was time for them to wrestle. Then, the most disappointing thing of all was traveling a long distance and were totally unable to see our grandsons matches because all of his bouts were on the mats against the wall opposite the stands. The mats were 3 deep and there was no way to view them due to the distance and the people who had no business walking around between mats and conversing. I have attended wrestling tournaments for several years all over the state of Tn. and THIS IS THE WORST VENUE FOR A WRESTLING TOURNAMENT THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! The mats I feel were totally inadequate for wrestling, they were so very thin, that one of the mats kept pulling apart and they were having the remove the top cover and adjust the squares. I feel this is probably a great venue for livestock exibition and rodeos, but not for a wrestling tournament!!!! VERY DISAPPOINTING!!!

[JBoskenUSAW]

This has been the BEST youth event Tennessee had ever held hands down. Hats off to the Cookeville staff and AAU Volunteer's for making youth wrestling in TN feel important. I had the opportunity to see the event from both the floor and the stands (not by choice) and it was awesome. Hope to see the event here again.

 

 

[humorwrestling]

Bosken--you can't make a comment like that and not explain...you were "watching from the stands (not by choice)?" Whats up with that?

[wrestlingelite]

I was able to watch the finals of the first session and thought the annoucements/commentary was good and showed the kids a great deal of their much deserved respect. However, the afternoon finals was awful. Everyone was in a rush. The annoucements/commentary during the finals did not exist. Everyone acted like "Hey, its 9:30, its late, who cares that this kid or your kid is in the finals, lets get it over with...and lets put away some of the mats while some of the finals matches are still going on".

[wrestlingelite]

I also thought the tournament leaders (the bald headed big guy particularly) were rude and disrespectful to some of the questions and concerns that they were faced with.

[jcddmoon]

First of all, I would like to say thank you to all the volunteers that made Saturday happen. Also to Don and Darrell and the rest of the board, I think you are doing a great job! We are definitely heading in the right direction.

 

The talent level in that arena Saturday was phenomenal. I saw the best, most competitive youth wrestling that I have seen since we became involved with TNAAU 5 years ago.

 

Yes the tournament was not perfect (what tournament ever is), but it was a huge step in the right direction. I had a conversation with a parent Saturday that has only been involved with TNAAU for about 2 years and my comment to him was, "it is hard to believe how far TNAAU has come in the last 5 years".

 

I remember when all the local tournaments in our Region, (with the exception of 2 of them) were round robin, folder tournaments that we stayed at until midnight. We have evolved by now using trackwrestling which puts our kids in the National spotlight and helps them at National level events. I also remember having to split Big Kids and Little Kids State because the venue was not big enough to hold both groups. I can remember the kids only receiving medals and no plaque.

 

Instead of complaining guys bring solutions to the table and continue to drive the train in the right direction, because the future is truly bright!

 

Thanks again to all the TNAAU volunteers, Coaches, Parents, and Wrestlers that are turning TN into a wrestling powerhouse!

[seahawk8]

I agree with most that has already been posted the good, bad, and ugly. Agg centers continue to have mixed reviews as to whether or not they are a good place to hold these type tournaments. I lean towards NOT. I like that the kids were on the same mat most if not all the tournament but when that mat is 3 rows back dead center there is no good seat in the house to get any kind of even an adequate view. The medal award ceremony ( if that's what you would call it) needs improvement. It seems more parents were frustrated waiting than they were excited. For those that have to travel after the tournament it stinks to have to sit and wait and wait to get their son's medal. Maybe have the ceremony directly after each finals.

 

With that said I liked the medals and First place got a nice frame to put the bracket in. Nice touch. My son came in second and his medal looked nicer than his older brother that just came in second a few weeks ago at TSSAA high school state tournament. For the regional duals they came in first and each wrestler as well as the second place team wrestlers got a little plaque for their accomplishment. Again more than they gave individuals wrestlers on the winning or runner up state dual teams in high school..... and they did all this charging 4.00 less than the TSSAA tournament. Good for you.

 

[bwm]

No doubt TNAAU is heading in the right direction with this tournament. This is also the 5^th year that we’ve been involved and without a doubt the talent level is higher than ever before.

The medal wait was frustrating and I would assume for the wrestlers who had to wait nearly 2 hours to wrestle for the finals it was probably pretty difficult as well. Maybe not but I would think so.

I would suggest having a Championship mat front and center that would be used for the Finals only. As a bracket finished up the 1^st and 2^nd place wrestlers could move to this mat and wrestle. This would allow the spotlight to be on these wrestlers, everyone to receive their medals in a more timely fashion and make sure all 6 were there for the photo ops. As more and more brackets finished you may have to use two mats for the championships matches to make sure you don’t end up with another long wait. Maybe not a perfect solution but something to at least give some thought to.

The announcer was a little loud but that probably had more to do with the venue than anything else. Pretty sure when it’s full of livestock they need all the volume they can get.

Speaking of venue, I’m not sure what’s out there that would accommodate this size of event, so I won’t complain. However getting out of an Ag center would be preferable as long as it was affordable and didn’t force the quality of medals to diminish or hurt the ability to send Team Tennessee to national events.

Even though my guy finished 6^th we thought the medals were still good for that level of finish.

Outside of the length of the tournament we thought it was a job well-done.

Congratulations and thanks to those that made it happen.

[TeamTN]

There are so many people who deserve the Thank You, Atta Boy, Atta Girl, and pats on the back.

FIrst, John Satterfield and the Cookeville wrestling club. Outstanding efforts in preparing, running, and closing (cleaning up after) this event. (14 mats, set up, concessions, hospitality room, parking, awards room, 825 Wrestlers, packed house, 100 bags of trash after Saurday night it seemed) GREAT JOB!

 

The people who ran the Satellite weigh-ins! Very good job of putting their weights in and for contacting us about any special probems or situations.

 

To Kevin Wright who is the Track Wrestling Guru of Tennessee (no offense to anyone else who is as skilled as Kevin is with Track). He has a great personality for running events and never seems to get frustrated or uptight.

 

The Table workers: Very good job and tremendous effort. Not an easy job, with state placer medals on the line and pressure on the line, but very good job.

 

The Officials: Did a fine job and worked their tails off.

 

Danielle and Felisha: for the hurried efforts when a mat score clock/monitor issue came up. We had 5 computers stopped working properly and they were on top of it!

 

The TeamTN Board: for listening to the suggestions by people to move this event to a larger arena and make it a 1 day event. Several Coaches mentioned that to me on Saturday.

 

Special Thank You's to to all the Wrestlers and Coaches for a job well done!

 

To Don Barnett and th Board of TeamTN: works tirelessly on improving what TeamTN does and the larger venue d awards are just a tip of the positives.

 

Now to address a couple of negatives mentioned on this board:

Going to 2 rows of 6 mats instead of 3 rows of mats has been discussed.

With that in mind, an adjustment to the divisions wrestling will probably need to be made (example, trade Bantam (am) with JR's (pm). This is just a suggestion.

 

Showcasing the Finals was a priority and the fans seemed to love it. EXCITING! Great matches!

 

Bout Board: Went to a tourney in Alabama earlier this year and they used NO bout board. When asked why not they said, we run it on Track. With tht said, I believe there is a need for a bout board (or 2) on each end of the arena or if the deision is made t go to 2 rows of 6 mats there would be room behind the mats, toward the back wall/center so all could see.

 

TeamTN is currently loking into purchasing clocks that will work with the Track System (3 sided) that will show up a great deal better and can be seen from different angles. Expensive, but would be nice to for everyone.

 

If the event is held at the same venue or if a simialr venue is used, access t the floor from both sides or in the middle of the back wall. (may help with the flow, even though what was was done was done to help maintain control of who was on the floor).

 

Seeding. Never going to ever get it right so no one ever has a complaint. However it was a major issue for discussion before, during, and after the event. Several suggestions were given and tossed aound. Spring meeting will address them.

 

I really do not deserve the Thank You that someone on here stated. I was just there to work the event as one of the bracket guys. I learned a great about Track from this weekend and what a challenge using 14 mats places on tournament directors, wrestlers, coaches, and event staff. Usually the problem have been not enough mats and too little space. A diffeent challenge this year.

 

How much longer will I be doing this, i do not know. I am proud of how much we have grown, not just in numbers but in wrestling skill level displayed by our wrestlers/coaches. Not near as many pins as last years States and several overtime matches (I know of one 4 overtime and one 5 overtime matches)

 

What a rush it was to hear the crowd sing the National Anthem! Seeing a State Champ run off the mat, jump and hug his coach after a tough victory!

 

There were 1 or 2 things I know I could have done much better Live and learn.

 

Darrel Lauderdale

Edited March 11, 2013 by TeamTN

[TeamTN]

No doubt TNAAU is heading in the right direction with this tournament. This is also the 5^th year that we’ve been involved and without a doubt the talent level is higher than ever before.

The medal wait was frustrating and I would assume for the wrestlers who had to wait nearly 2 hours to wrestle for the finals it was probably pretty difficult as well. Maybe not but I would think so.

I would suggest having a Championship mat front and center that would be used for the Finals only. As a bracket finished up the 1^st and 2^nd place wrestlers could move to this mat and wrestle. This would allow the spotlight to be on these wrestlers, everyone to receive their medals in a more timely fashion and make sure all 6 were there for the photo ops. As more and more brackets finished you may have to use two mats for the championships matches to make sure you don’t end up with another long wait. Maybe not a perfect solution but something to at least give some thought to.

The announcer was a little loud but that probably had more to do with the venue than anything else. Pretty sure when it’s full of livestock they need all the volume they can get.

Speaking of venue, I’m not sure what’s out there that would accommodate this size of event, so I won’t complain. However getting out of an Ag center would be preferable as long as it was affordable and didn’t force the quality of medals to diminish or hurt the ability to send Team Tennessee to national events.

Even though my guy finished 6^th we thought the medals were still good for that level of finish.

 

Outside of the length of the tournament we thought it was a job well-done.

Congratulations and thanks to those that made it happen.

 

Really Good idea that has already been discussed!

[mat73557]

I thought the tournament overall was MUCH better than the event last year. The venue is the right size but still too dusty....(something can be done about that next year I am sure)

 

For the finals though, I think there should be three mats for the finals up front and center BUT wrestle the finals and consolation finals at the same times.

[wrestlingelite]

TeamTN-the PM finals were showcased in a similar fashion as those who were scrambling to put the mats up and be able to leave the arena by 2:00 AM. The morning finals were showcased very well. The venue was good. It would of been nice to have had both sides stair casings open. The refs did a decent job. From what I hear...the hospitality room could of provided dinner since the kids were still wrestling around 10:00 PM, but was otherwise great. The medals and plaques were really nice. It would of been nice to have all 6 kids up on the stand rather than 1-2 of the kids