Suggestions for the TSSAA

[rlwest40]

For those out there lobbying for improvements to the TSSAA, here are some suggestions.

 

1. Tennessee does not need multiple divisions for the traditional individual state championship. Reformat the regions and state qualifiers so that they are combined and balanced. SEED the state championships.

 

2. The girls should not be wrestling folkstyle, they should wrestle the style that is available to them in college.

 

3. Three days is not needed to wrestle a 32 man bracket. We can do without the two 4-5 hour breaks. Wrestle all rounds, girls finals first in the afternoon then the true state finals last that evening on one mat with proper bio introductions. There should only be one mat during the state finals. Award ceremonies for all medalists following the finals.

 

4. Use a proper venue for the state championship. Bring back the programs and televise/stream the finals. Dim the lights, spotlight the wrestlers, and introduce the 28 finalists and their bios on one mat before each match not all at once. Reserve seating for the parents of the finalists. Take pictures of the champions for the programs and allow parents to take podium pictures. In Georgia the coaches of the finalist were given 2 passes to hand out to the parents for reserved seating. Same could be done for podium pictures, 1 floor pass per medalist.

 

5. Keep the state duals at three divisions. Modify the qualification process to allow for some type of wildcard teams. The top teams in the state should be competing at the state duals in order to determine the true top four teams. Balance the regions in D2. Televise/stream this event and bring back the programs. The defending state champion in each division should be able to host this championship just like home field advantage in the playoffs of other sports, it was earned. The atmosphere of the finals would be incomparable to what we are doing now. Similar to the Baylor/McCallie and Cleveland/Bradley dual meets.

 

6. Improve the awards for our student athletes. Region and State medals should stand out and honor a prestigious accomplishment. True these wrestlers do not compete for the hardware they are given but the awards do represent our recognition of them and what they have accomplished. The team (school) awards and coaches awards are fantastic, why short change those who truly earned it with inferior medals?

 

7. Improve the referee training so that all officials are consistent with each other throughout the state. Implement some type of grading/auditing process where officials are regularly being evaluated throughout the season. Use a grading scale that determines who is most qualified to officiate at post season events. The grading scale can also be used to temporary suspend those who fail to meet certain standards. Anonymous evaluations by the coaches at each tournament. There must be accountability.

 

8. Eliminate the current restrictions on teams traveling during the season. This does nothing but hinder the sport. Teams and individual wrestlers cannot gain the necessary exposure while being sidelined by this restriction. The state will lose elite wrestlers to neighboring states because of this senseless rule.

Edited February 17, 2014 by rlwest40

[tnlonghorn]

Perfect ideas !

[buckeyeintn]

I agree with you west. To eliminate the two 4-5 hours of down time would be a great idea. If you got rid of the delay Friday, you could wrestle the 5th and 6th place match Friday as well as the 3rd and 4th place matches. This would leave Saturday for the finals. Weigh in 8 A.M. start wrestling at 10 A.M.       Then you could draw to see who goes first (D-2, AAA, A-AA) It takes 2 to 2.5 hours to wrestle a duel. Which is essentially what it equals to per division.  Leave 5 to 10 minutes between matches, for medals or one hour after  each division is over.   Wrestle 106 wait one match for loser to cool down. Give out medals between matches. So at the end of the 113, match you give out medals for 106. And so on.  2.5 hours to wrestle, 1 hour for medals (either between or after, NOT DURING) This is only 3.5 to 4 hours.  One mat.   D-2=10 A.M.-2  P.M.      A-AA 2 P.M.-6 P.M.   AAA  6 P.M. - 10 P.M.   Done by 10 P.M. if you waited till 10 A.M. to start. Weigh in at 7 Start at 8 or 9 and your done earlier. Let the finals be the highlight it deserves. 1 mat, 2 athletes, spotlighted in the center for all there to watch.

[cbg]

Traditional State Championships:

1. Move to municipal auditorium in Nashville

2. One division with a 32 man bracket and place the top 6

3. Bring in Sandy Stevens to announce the tournament. No disrespect but we don't have anyone in Tennessee as good as Sandy. She is a professional and that is why she is used at various state tournaments, the NCAA tournament & international competitions.

4. Start the tournament at 10:00am on FRIDAY and wrestle through the semi-finals which will start at 7:30pm on Friday evening. Have a 2 hour break and clear the arena before the semi-finals.

5. On Saturday start wrestling at 10:00am and wrestle until all consolation matches are completed.

6. 6:00pm Parade of Champions & introductions of the championship finalist.

7. Championship finals on one mat that is elevated with a spotlight finals.

 

This would be in a much better venue & be much more professional. It would also eliminate the discussion as to which division is the best. The public schools ask for a split between Public Schools & Financial Aid Giving Schools and they must be the ones to demand that everyone is placed back together. All individual TSSAA sports should only have one champion.

[Coffetalk]

Thompson Bowling Arena

[reftn]

For those out there lobbying for improvements to the TSSAA, here are some suggestions.

 

1. Tennessee does not need multiple divisions for the traditional individual state championship. Reformat the regions and state qualifiers so that they are combined and balanced. SEED the state championships.

 

2. The girls should not be wrestling folkstyle, they should wrestle the style that is available to them in college.

 

3. Three days is not needed to wrestle a 32 man bracket. We can do without the two 4-5 hour breaks. Wrestle all rounds, girls finals first in the afternoon then the true state finals last that evening on one mat with proper bio introductions. There should only be one mat during the state finals. Award ceremonies for all medalists following the finals.

 

4. Use a proper venue for the state championship. Bring back the programs and televise/stream the finals. Dim the lights, spotlight the wrestlers, and introduce the 28 finalists and their bios on one mat before each match not all at once. Reserve seating for the parents of the finalists. Take pictures of the champions for the programs and allow parents to take podium pictures. In Georgia the coaches of the finalist were given 2 passes to hand out to the parents for reserved seating. Same could be done for podium pictures, 1 floor pass per medalist.

 

5. Keep the state duals at three divisions. Modify the qualification process to allow for some type of wildcard teams. The top teams in the state should be competing at the state duals in order to determine the true top four teams. Balance the regions in D2. Televise/stream this event and bring back the programs. The defending state champion in each division should be able to host this championship just like home field advantage in the playoffs of other sports, it was earned. The atmosphere of the finals would be incomparable to what we are doing now. Similar to the Baylor/McCallie and Cleveland/Bradley dual meets.

 

6. Improve the awards for our student athletes. Region and State medals should stand out and honor a prestigious accomplishment. True these wrestlers do not compete for the hardware they are given but the awards do represent our recognition of them and what they have accomplished. The team (school) awards and coaches awards are fantastic, why short change those who truly earned it with inferior medals?

 

7. Improve the referee training so that all officials are consistent with each other throughout the state. Implement some type of grading/auditing process where officials are regularly being evaluated throughout the season. Use a grading scale that determines who is most qualified to officiate at post season events. The grading scale can also be used to temporary suspend those who fail to meet certain standards. Anonymous evaluations by the coaches at each tournament. There must be accountability.

 

8. Eliminate the current restrictions on teams traveling during the season. This does nothing but hinder the sport. Teams and individual wrestlers cannot gain the necessary exposure while being sidelined by this restriction. The state will lose elite wrestlers to neighboring states because of this senseless rule.

Are you talking one division period?  Are the schools out of Reg 4 ready to bury the hatchet and lobby to reunite D1 and D2?

 

I tell you what.  Get agreement to reunite all divisions and I will help raise money to underwrite changing the venue.

 

(you need to capitulate to multiple Dual Division championships.  I understand it for the small schools.  What is the harm in five divisions of 20 schools each (100 schools) with smaller schools given the option to wrestle up?)

[csemary]

reften, it doesn't matter if region 4 or 5 or any other region want to reunite with D2. The D2 schools are the ones that split. There are still a few private schools(around a dozen or so like Boyd, Lispscomb, Chatt Christian, Notre Dame to name a few) in D1.  Tell all the other D2 schools to come back to D1.  Then you can raise money for the new venue.  Problem solved.

Edited February 18, 2014 by csemary

[reftn]

reften, it doesn't matter if region 4 or 5 or any other region want to reunite with D2. The D2 schools are the ones that split. There are still a few private schools(Boyd, Lispscomb, Chatt Christian, to name a few) in D1.  Tell all the other D2 schools to come back to D1.  Then you can raise money for the new venue.  Problem solved.

Oh I think that could be done.  Of course you understand D2 feels "run out" by D1, but lets not make hash over it (I am a public school kid, btw).

 

Lets put this meeting together first and have your people talk to my people.........so to speak....

[Charger64]

A-AA will never agree to go back to just one single individual championship. The split will allow wrestling to grow statewide. Anyone who thinks that Hixson,Pigeon Forge, Alcoa and Greenville want to go back is short sighted. You will continue to see a rise in participation at the smaller schools. That grows the sport on the high school level.

 

Can the state improve the state tournament ? The TSSAA can not operate without some kind of support from its members. Want some changes? The member schools must do more than complain on a social network. Principals and administrators statewide continue to give approval to work done by the TSSAA.

[csemary]

Not all D2 schools feel run out because there are still a dozen or so private schools in D1. 

 

Putting my people with your people wont work either. I assume your people like mine are wrestling people. So that wouldnt work either.  It is my understanding the TSSAA would never allow one sport or even a few sports to reunite D1 and D2. It would have to be all sports and good luck getting football, basketball and baseball agree to reunite. So if you really want D1 and D2 back together then you should be asking for the current D2 schools to petition to join the D1 schools. Then they can be like the private schools that are still in D1. Good luck .

[csemary]

A-AA will never agree to go back to just one single individual championship. The split will allow wrestling to grow statewide. Anyone who thinks that Hixson,Pigeon Forge, Alcoa and Greenville want to go back is short sighted. You will continue to see a rise in participation at the smaller schools. That grows the sport on the high school level.

 

Can the state improve the state tournament ? The TSSAA can not operate without some kind of support from its members. Want some changes? The member schools must do more than complain on a social network. Principals and administrators statewide continue to give approval to work done by the TSSAA.

Agreed 100%

[hoosierdad]

The split was done by the DI schools.

 

Sorry.

 

The DII schools would love to be all one tournament.  This occured because of football, not wrestling.

 

This has been posted hundreds of times.  It will not change until those on the TSSAS Board change.

Edited February 18, 2014 by hoosierdad