State needs to strengthen to become power!!

[PUMMELKING]

What is the deal with this state not uniteing in order to become a sound and proficient group.

I believe that if this whole state came together on the same page and wrestled we would produce alot more wrestlers for the college and inter-national levels of competition.

We are seperated by F.C.I., A.A.U., U.S.A. Wrerstling organizations. Not to mention that TSSAA holds a strong hold on all summer and pre-season tournaments.

Take the state of Ga. for example the focus mostly on U.S.A. as the states association to belong to. It is a lil more costly but look what it does for their state as a whole. They make alot of money with several open tournaments in the high school season up until New Years not to mention all the Freestyle events after the regular season. Any kid can wrestle in as many open tournaments as he wants during the season as long as he purchases a U.S.A. Wrestling card and does not wear his schools uniform. Another great feature is that no coaches are allowed in the corners because it is a open event. The kids are representing themselves or clubs not teams!!!

We must unite under one foundation in order to excel and get recognized as a proven contender in the sport of wrestling. When ever I travel with wrestling to the Northern States all northern Coaches and Wrestlers give southerners respect until after the match if they dont make excuses about being beaten. I have heard Officials say that the south has no Wrestling. It has gone as far as having a tennessee kid hold a national champion on his back and pinned but never got the call because of the other kids reputation and the Tn. wearing the TN uniform.

Let's all become one so we can show that we do excel in wrestling and we can dish out butt whoopins as well as we have taken them!!!!

[JustWrestle]

Hey - glad to hear that rousing speech! I'm all for that! We have good wrestling here in the State of Tennessee and nothing would thrill me more than to go kick some Northern butt!

[shone]

I believe there are 2 problems here as I have personally encountered both. First is the unwillingness of coaches to learn freestyle and Greco-Roman in various parts of the state. Second, there seems to be too many chiefs and not enough indians. I literally have had coaches tell me that they were Bronze certified and that I could not teach their wrestlers anything. Something usually drastic needs to happen in order to break the ice.

[BayouBear]

PK-You are a little late to the party. Many who read this board have been asking the same questions and truthfully there is some movement. Note the thread below entitled TENNESSEE STUD. The fact that USA and AAU are working together is BIG NEWS.

 

I will caution you NOT to throw rocks at FCI, AAU or USA. Each organization has provided a valuable service to Tennessee Wrestling. Now do I believe improvement is needed? Of course I do. But the current state of division is NOT the fault of the three current organizations.

 

Ultimately, a statewide organization modeled after TEAM GEORGIA should be formed. The Organization will need to provide centralized scheduling, tournament organization guidance, sponsor State Championships, etc. It will need to work along side USAW and AAU. Feel free to step up and carry the torch. There is a lot more to this than saying it HAS TO HAPPEN.

 

A couple of comments regarding your post˜.

 

Team Georgia helps organize tournaments for all ages up UNTIL the high school season. Once the high school season starts, wrestlers can no longer compete in non GSSAA events (just like the TSSAA). The TG tournaments are then for youth only. The Folkstyle youth tournaments run through February. State Qualifiers are held around March 1 and State Championships a week or so after. Following the State Championships, most youth wrestlers are done for the season. The ones that aren˜t, wrestle in National Folkstyle events, wrestle in FCI events, wrestle USA freestyle or a combination of the three. There ARE coaches in the corners. Some HS kids have their fathers, some have their HS coach, some have their personal coaches and yes, some have no one. In the youth age groups, most of the Georgia kids are members of various clubs, although, there are some Georgia kids coached by fathers or personal coaches. Most of the out-of-state wrestlers are independents or are not wrestling as members of their hometown clubs.

 

I have a son who has wrestled in more states than I can remember and in some of the biggest tournaments in the country. He has suffered a few bad calls but never because he was from Tennessee. I have heard very few derogatory comments about Southern wrestling.

 

 

I could write a book on this subject but it wouldn˜t change anything. Until someone steps up and provides leadership for a statewide organization it will not happen. I can only hope someone does it in the next four years because when my son graduates from high school I will have run out of excuses for not doing it myself.

 

 

 

SHONE ˜ The issue here is not Freestyle or Greco, it is Folkstyle / Modified Freestyle / Scholastic / Collegiate or how ever you want to name it. Don˜t get me wrong, I like FS and GR but without Folkstyle, wrestling would be dead.

[PUMMELKING]

Alot of info was true. But being from Ga. I personally know how wrestling is done there. The open tournamnets do run up until after Christmas. You must wrestle unattached it is not a state or school sanctioned event, therefore you are limited to how many events you can comnpete in. It does not go onto your regular season record. For instance the Parkview Tourny after Thanksgiving each year. Open to all h.s. wrestlers who have a valid usa wrestling card.

Contrair to any form of wrestling more coaches must come to realize that Greco will never hender your kids but only make them better. Alot of coaches not all but Alot are timid of greco because they feel their kids will get hurt or have no experience with that style. Against most beliefs Greco wrestlers are the most uninjured wrestlers due to the fact no grasping and twisting of feet and knees. More coaches need to get familiar with that style or encourage their kids to try it and learn from it.

Lets all remember whcih style came first where real men wrestled---GRECO!!!!!.

Not to mention that we are the only continent that has colliegate--folkstyle. All other countries teach freestyle and greco for their kids which allows for natural reactions for kids to--LOCK HANDS. Here we teach not to lock then later let them adapt to locking in those two styles. Guess it goes to show why the U.S. has not been as dominant in international events as those other countries.

Lastly I have can not understan why kids who go to Fargo and are there a whlo week do not wrestle Greco and learn from the experience but to choose and only do Freestyle. We are not fortunate to be able to send kids to the Nationals for each seperate style. Some kids have really enjoyed it and have learned to wrestle Greco very well and could have done much better with more training and preperations. Case in point Craig Johnson who wrestled for Seymour and Nick Breeden also from Seymour both came one match away from Greco--All American honors at the nationals. Both said they did it while they were their why not give it a try and both also said it was fun wich they would have done it sooner.

[BayouBear]

The Parkview Tournament is BEFORE the season starts.

 

 

So what is your point. From your post I gather your position is to;

 

1) Unite all wrestlers in Tennessee under one organization,

 

2) They should all wrestle Greco so they will know how to lock their hands when they are wrestling in Iran,

 

3) If #1 happens and all the wrestlers do #2, they they will be able to go up north and stand up for the good name of Tennessee Wrestling by '''whooping sum trash talkin' Yankee butt.'''

 

hummm...interesting concept.