What would be wrong with a stamp instead of the wristband? The stamp would never be in the way and the only issue that I see that could become of it would be to restamp the 2nd day or perhaps have to refresh due to hand washing etc. A stamp on the bare shoulder would fix that. Also I mentioned to State oraganizers to go to four books instead of two to speed up the process of checking teams including busdrivers, cheerleaders, wrestlers, coaches managers etc. Two books for 5a and two books for 6a alphabetical order and split into two books each to get the kids out of the cold quicker but mainly so to shorten up the lines. They liked the idea. As for everyone else who isnt a wrestler the bands are a good idea for those who are permitted to enter the floor area. Another improvement that needs to be worked on is perhaps a buffer between table workers coaches and cheerleaders as well as cheering supporters. This is a nightmare!! If your working a table and you have 25 or 30 people screaming, (and dont get me wrong i scream as much as anyone) its hard to keep focused for an entire day and is equally hard for coaches to do their job on the matt. I feel this is why some coaches get drawn out of their chairs coaching a wrestler and only adds to the anxiety when they feel like the wrestler totally cannot hear their them. I saw one coach ejected and I felt like unrightfully so as I have never seen the history of this man of ever being out of line. The noise behind him may have been a contributer and it was pretty sad he was not able to be in the arena as one of his young athletes won the state title. I would personally like to hear constructive suggestions or critic on theese issues. I also thought Jerry Taylor did a very good job this year and should be commended. Years in the past have been horrible in some areas.

I agree on the four mats at each end, and had hoped that would be the format before arriving.But no, so if you had a seat at Mat 1 or 8, you were pretty well assured you weren't going to see much at the other end, with refs, wrestlers, equipment and such between you and the action. Oh well!

I will say it was nice having more room, (4A don't take it personally, the enthusiasm you bring was missed, but the sheer mass of people and the near fistfights with Granny over saving 8 rows of seats was NOT missed).

AS to the wristband thing for non-wrestlers and the control of who is on the floor. I gave this quite a bit of thought from my front row seat in the stands as I watched mothers and fathers, JV wrestlers, girlfriends, and many other "hangers-on" move from the stands to the floor as if they had and reason to be there. Some were not above shinnying down the bleachers underneath some well-placed banners!

I could have made a bundle if there was a bounty for pointing out "unauthorized" individuals to Security. Security has no real way of knowing, so they have to rely on the bands. But who is responsible for distribution of bands? Well, this being a sport that relies heavily on volunteer participation, those very volunteers being family and fans of wrestlers, geeeee, hmmmm? How do you think all the counterfeit/extra/extremely loosely cinched bands made their way onto the wrists of people who didn't need them? And we ALL know that with cell phones, all you need is to have your kid call you after he sees what color band it is, you go off to Party City and buy your own! Geez!

While there was just as much abuse as in the past, it wasn't such an issue for the fact that the sheer size of the crowd, on the floor and in the stands, was not as large. I liked the view from the front row better, and figured that those who HAVE to be down on the floor are just wanting to bask in some of the ambience, because it is really tougher to see from down there anyway, so it can't always be about the view, but more about seeing if you can do something that others are restricted from.

I will say that it does make it hard for the statisticians to do their job, when they are actually working their responsiblity and often elbowed out by someone who "has to be part of the action" at the dasher board. If there are chairs for the middle schoolers to sit in the center strip for blood work, why can't a stat person have a seat there? they wouldn't be matside (as if that was a some problem anyway, it is how they usually work) and they could get a better line of sight to the ref.

Having parents down there, over the shoulder of a coach is just as much a concern, and I saw that from MANY schools, so nobody should single out one parent. If I was a coach, I would be concerned. And I feel bad for the kid who is put in the position of having to listen to both parent and coach.

Don't even get me started on whether this sport needs cheerleaders pounding on the floor matside, much less even in the arena.

sorry, another thing...with digital cameras...why not have photos printed on cards that hang from a lanyard type thing? I could be asked at any time to produce that if Security wanted to check,...then I couldn't "borrow" someone else's, could I? It isn't a big expense to print a small picture on a business card size card stock, school, authorized job (coach, wrestler, AD, bloodworker, table worker, manager) and some "seal" graphic that varies from year to year.

Best thing they could do is clear the FLOOR in the break before Finals and re-admit only the team members, the competitors, etc. THAT would have gone a long way towards controlling things.