Does this seem right?

[silverpie]

When did they put in a rule that you have to wrestle all your region opponents? The interpretation I've always seen is that only your district opponents are mandatory (and that said, your regions ought to have four districts apiece).

[delaWarr]

Silverpie, Some coaches feel they need to see everybody in their region during the season to help prepare their teams and individuals for the February region showdown. This seems to be a greater concern for the top end teams. Also, the more teams that have met during the season, the easier the seeding. Although in a region as large as V there are many teams that are not in the running for the championship, or not even a place plaque, most of those teams have one or more wrestlers who have a shot at placing and going to the state. Often those coaches want their wrestlers to see their competition at least once. My guess is that the smaller regions wrestle everybody during the season. And that is a reasonable and solid strategy.

[coachmasters]

You do not HAVE to wrestle all of the teams in your region during the regular season. Just the teams in your district.

[sly]

CoachGonyea, Thanks for volunteering coach. Now all we need is 2 or 3 more teams from your region to join region 4 and 2 or 3 teams from region 2 to join region 3 and your problem about the number of teams in the different regions is solved. Glad we solved that issue!

[XWRISTSD]

Gentlemen,

Scheduling ur matches should be a process of Wrestling everyone in your District. Now, what Tournaments are going to improve our Team and Individuals the best. If I must see people from our Region that is not in our District, surely we might see them at a Tournament or schedule a Quad or Triangular Match to solve the situation and save a date. Coach Gonyea is interested in the sport and is doing a lot of thinking about this and that which directly involves him and his team. Good Job! The answers are out there and if you continue to seek for them and try to find more ways for you and your team to be successful, then you are doing "YOUR" Job Sir. I commend you for your energy and persistance with no fear of what others think. You are a Winner and You will do much good for our Sport.

Steve Henry

[delaWarr]

The issue raised about the inequity of the numerical distribution of teams in given regions is not a new issue.

 

In the beginning of TSSAA wrestling wasn't it mostly Chattanooga area teams? Soon a few Mid-State teams joined in. Then in '65 Metro Nashville Schools opened up. And this was followed in fairly short order by several other Mid-State schools, making a two-region State necessary.

 

The popularity of the sport in Chattanooga was almost immediate and it maxed out on the fast track. Middle Tennessee was slower but eventually caught up with and passed the Chattanooga numbers. Then when the Knoxville and Upper East and Memphis areas came in and outgrew inclusion in the two region format, the four region format was put in place. At some point in time Region Three, the Mid-State, made up about a third of the wrestling membership. After some discussion on this numerical inequity, the TSSAA chose to resolve the problem by expanding Region Three's qualifiers from four to six, which moved the State bracket from a 16 man to a 32 man with 8 byes. This was eventually replaced in 1990 with the far better 8 region format that we currently have.

 

The numerical inequities are not the result of some sort of favoritism by anyone. They are the very positive result of expansion into new territory. Middle Tennessee is not the only area to enjoy this good fortune. Look at the numbers of the Knoxville region. It may be ironic that the very geographic circumstance that creates the expansion opportunities also binds us into our current situation. There are 54 teams in the four regions from the Plateau eastward and 70 teams in the four regions from the Highland Rim westward. Geography makes the balanced distribution of 15 team regions, if not impossible, certainly undesireable.

 

As Coach Henry suggests in his post, issues should be addressed. Options should be explored. And hopefully down the road a satisfactory resolution can be found.

 

Keep in mind that this is a problem resulting from growth. And that is a good problem.

[noonesfool]

Excellent thread deserving of a good mark Del. There is an equity issue and it is complicated. Over the years the answer has been growth and the involvement of more wrestlers. Many of us can remember wrestling in a 8 man bracket at the state tourney and wrestling out of 2 regions (Nashville/Memphis and Chattanooga/Upper East Tn.).Consistently Chattanooga has produced a high percentage of the top teams year in and year out yet not experiencing growth in the number of new wrestling programs. As opposed to this, the rest of the state is experiencing growth in the number of new teams and these programs must become stronger. There are many good teams across the state and you don't have to be a state championship team to be a strong program. So the answer to change is growth and stronger wrestling. I believe we will have redistricting within 2 years.

[Edited by noonesfool on 2-8-03 9:22P]

[CoachGonyeaSHS]

Steve,

 

I thank you for your comments. Especially coming from such a high caliber coach as you. I respect your opinion and any insight you can provide.

 

I hope everyone understands that I am not trying to make things heavy in the opposite direction either. Just curious to see what the reasoning was behind the decision of TSSAA.

 

I am relatively young and plan on being around for quite a while. Just looking to see what can change to make it better for Tennessee in wrestling.

 

Mark Gonyea

Smyrna High