State Tournament

[cbg]

29 minutes ago, Nextlevelwreetling said:

Your not wrong and that’s a valid point! Popping back up from the rabbit hole I made. My objective wasn’t to really compare State to state , but too say that we need to share recourses and build better functioning summer clubs like compound, storm, grind house, and more. I believe our clubs are trending up in the right direction and they need to travel and wrestle more active in the summers.  I just want our coaches focus there cause that’s where we will see our wrestling state wide take leaps. It costs money and time but most parents would do it I think if they knew it would benefit their child. If we came together about that rather then arguing about a single state championships I think we be better for it…

I have long been an advocate of not wrestling folkstyle after the middle school/high school season is completed!  The 2 major issues are that very few coaches know anything about freestyle or Greco Roman and  many don't want to take the time to learn.  The second issue is that due to the first issue there is much more money to be made hosting folkstyle tournaments than freestyle/greco tournaments.  By dividing Tennessee into 5 regions (Upper East Tennessee, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Middle Tennessee and Memphis) you could work a schedule where each region hosted 2 freestyle/greco tournaments during the months of March, April and May.  The State of Tennessee must truly work together to make freestyle/greco a second wrestling season.  Tennessee also needs to push our better wrestlers into traveling to the various Freestyle/Greco regional tournaments and also competing on the Cadet & Junior Dual Teams along with going to Fargo, ND to compete in the Cadet/Junior Nationals.  Even for the very best kids it typically requires one or two trips to a big national tournament before they have the confidence to compete for a medal.  

[Nextlevelwreetling]

16 minutes ago, cbg said:

I have long been an advocate of not wrestling folkstyle after the middle school/high school season is completed!  The 2 major issues are that very few coaches know anything about freestyle or Greco Roman and  many don't want to take the time to learn.  The second issue is that due to the first issue there is much more money to be made hosting folkstyle tournaments than freestyle/greco tournaments.  By dividing Tennessee into 5 regions (Upper East Tennessee, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Middle Tennessee and Memphis) you could work a schedule where each region hosted 2 freestyle/greco tournaments during the months of March, April and May.  The State of Tennessee must truly work together to make freestyle/greco a second wrestling season.  Tennessee also needs to push our better wrestlers into traveling to the various Freestyle/Greco regional tournaments and also competing on the Cadet & Junior Dual Teams along with going to Fargo, ND to compete in the Cadet/Junior Nationals.  Even for the very best kids it typically requires one or two trips to a big national tournament before they have the confidence to compete for a medal.  

On this I believe we completely agree, numbers do not lie and states that are proactive in freestyle and Greco have more wrestlers placing super 32 and Virginia Beach and of course Fargo! We need coaches to buy into a full season of hosting f/g tournaments. If they need training I’m sure we can find volunteers/paid coaches  to do some instructional videos on the basics of both styles. Better yet we could have affordable clinics for athletes and coaches alike. This isn’t going to be a quick turn around, but the success of our athletes on national levels  would go up tremendously. As we have seen in our neighboring states. 

[Ummmno]

18 minutes ago, Nextlevelwreetling said:

On this I believe we completely agree, numbers do not lie and states that are proactive in freestyle and Greco have more wrestlers placing super 32 and Virginia Beach and of course Fargo! We need coaches to buy into a full season of hosting f/g tournaments. If they need training I’m sure we can find volunteers/paid coaches  to do some instructional videos on the basics of both styles. Better yet we could have affordable clinics for athletes and coaches alike. This isn’t going to be a quick turn around, but the success of our athletes on national levels  would go up tremendously. As we have seen in our neighboring states. 

We dont need a "turnaround". The state as a whole has been getting better. The ones who are serious about the sport will want to come out for the travel teams but we need to be better at providing resources for them. But it isnt about going in an opposite direction. We're headed in the right one now. 

[Mason422]

2 hours ago, cowcatcher said:

CBG is always the man of reason supporting his stance with FACTS!

I know everyone has their own strong opinion and there are definitely valid stances to both sides of this, but personally, I have loved the 3 division split. Let's be real, if we had one division, Cleveland and Baylor would win the state almost every year with someone like a Father Ryan stealing one once every 10 years or so. 

The split gives you a reason to get excited for a matchup like Pigeon Forge v. Greeneville. Otherwise, that match means nothing to anyone outside of G'ville and PF if it's all just one big division. That said, I don't think anyone in Single A would argue that it's as hard to win a small school title as it is in AA or DII, but some of the studs like the G'ville big 4, Lance Williams, the Uhorchuk brothers, Caleb Wolfe, and a healthy Foreman would all have a chance to win the other divs. Single A just isn't as deep. Many of those guys won't even wrestle a 6 min. match in the state tournament. You can also argue many of the Single A multi-time champs may not even win a title in the other divs., but I am still a proponent of it being a good thing for TN wrestling. How cool would it be to see a All-Star tri meet though between the A, AA, and DII champs a week after the season?! 

Let’s do it.  I would love to see all of the single A champs have a tri with the AA and D2 champs.  I think it’s a ton of fun and would help end the argument of which division has the best wrestlers.  
 

of course I am a little biased since I coach in single A but I truly believe it would be a super competitive tri with champs on champs.  
 

Would be a great opportunity to do it this year since we have 3 days to wrestle a 16 man bracket ha ha.  Wrestle individuals on Thursday and Friday then do the tri on Saturday.  How cool would that be?  

[Ummmno]

3 minutes ago, Mason422 said:

Let’s do it.  I would love to see all of the single A champs have a tri with the AA and D2 champs.  I think it’s a ton of fun and would help end the argument of which division has the best wrestlers.  
 

of course I am a little biased since I coach in single A but I truly believe it would be a super competitive tri with champs on champs.  
 

Would be a great opportunity to do it this year since we have 3 days to wrestle a 16 man bracket ha ha.  Wrestle individuals on Thursday and Friday then do the tri on Saturday.  How cool would that be?  

Ya'll....

 

Can we just wait a couple weeks til after the state tournament so we can have this conversation on how this will never happen? 

[Nextlevelwreetling]

42 minutes ago, Ummmno said:

We dont need a "turnaround". The state as a whole has been getting better. The ones who are serious about the sport will want to come out for the travel teams but we need to be better at providing resources for them. But it isnt about going in an opposite direction. We're headed in the right one now. 

I think you miss interpreted something there… I clearly State it was trending up. Turnaround- in my post means  (short term success) my post was long term goals.  There are only in select areas where the coaching staff actually understands how to build summer wrestling up. My post was about turning pockets of good summer programs into a more state wide growth with new/more opportunities for wrestlers across the state . That’s all….  we still can have more opportunities in state to wrestle f/g, and folk,  also provide more kids opportunities to wrestle out of state. Only a few summer programs actually do this consistently and correctly,  and it’s clear on who they are because they are the only ones producing kids from our state that place at the tournaments I listed Fargo, super 32, flo, Virginia Beach… 

[Mason422]

37 minutes ago, Ummmno said:

Ya'll....

 

Can we just wait a couple weeks til after the state tournament so we can have this conversation on how this will never happen? 

Ha ha would be fun though.  I am still aggravated about a 3 day tourney with a 16 man bracket.  We need to do something that’s worth the time and money for a the kids and fans. 
 

that would be the most exciting tri that TN has seen in my opinion. 

[cobrakid8]

2 hours ago, Ummmno said:

We dont need a "turnaround". The state as a whole has been getting better. The ones who are serious about the sport will want to come out for the travel teams but we need to be better at providing resources for them. But it isnt about going in an opposite direction. We're headed in the right one now. 

not sure its really getting better if what was said earlier is the main goal of them going to college AND becoming AA's since we havent had any of those lately. Now I will say with those like a few of the studs this year and those like Cody who I hope turn out to be studs in college. But up till this point as a state we aren't doing well and haven't since this change of split into 3 divisions happened. 

[RMC]

1 hour ago, Mason422 said:

Ha ha would be fun though.  I am still aggravated about a 3 day tourney with a 16 man bracket.  We need to do something that’s worth the time and money for a the kids and fans. 
 

that would be the most exciting tri that TN has seen in my opinion. 

I can't remember the year it happened, but one of the best duals I can remember was when Bradley was rolling had won state and Parkview was the top dog in Georgia.  They had a dual prior to a UTC match and it was awesome.  Be cool to do that today with the top teams from Tennessee and tops from Georgia....maybe a Baylor, Cleveland, Camden County, Buford deal.

And back when Coach Ramos was still around at Collins Hill they'd roll right into Freestyle after the state tournament. Practices were open to all schools too.  One year had a couple of AA's from Iowa run the practices.

[Bump11]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:20 PM, Ummmno said:

0

 

The answer is zero. 

hopefully that will change soon. we have some hammers that are/will be more than capable

[Nextlevelwreetling]

7 hours ago, Bump11 said:

hopefully that will change soon. we have some hammers that are/will be more than capable

We absolutely do we have plenty of talent. Just about making sure the right kids sign to the right level of competition. We have a lot of kids think their D1 just cause they win a title or two that aren’t, and that’s not being mean it’s just a fact. Those that are D1 like chitum, mason, and older dupil who are nationally ranked and compete well. mason-VT chitum-Minnesota  will surly do well or have a good shot to cause they choose the right program too. Can’t go to a D1 program that’s not producing AA’s and expect to do it just not reality if you want to be successful once in college got to sign to a team and a coaching staff that knows how to get you to the podium…

[oceansize42]

11 minutes ago, Nextlevelwreetling said:

We absolutely do we have plenty of talent. Just about making sure the right kids sign to the right level of competition. We have a lot of kids think their D1 just cause they win a title or two that aren’t, and that’s not being mean it’s just a fact. Those that are D1 like chitum, mason, and older dupil who are nationally ranked and compete well. mason-VT chitum-Minnesota  will surly do well or have a good shot to cause they choose the right program too. Can’t go to a D1 program that’s not producing AA’s and expect to do it just not reality if you want to be successful once in college got to sign to a team and a coaching staff that knows how to get you to the podium…

There is a huge amount of truth to selecting the right level.  I can name quite a few young men right now who are very good wrestlers but do not belong in D1.  Their college records, or lack thereof, paint the picture.  If wrestling was truly a secondary consideration to the education they felt they could receive at their D1 choice then so be it but it seems like a tough road to walk.

Side note, I can't believe how tough college wrestling really is.  It is mind blowing, just mind blowing, to watch kids who were so good within the state and yet can't put together two wins in a college season.