Is anyone else on this forum who is dismayed that right now- what should be the most exciting week of the season, this forum is dominated by negativity? I pose 2 challenges-

1. Lets keep this thread only about POSITIVE WRESTLING RELATED ITEMS. If you have something negative to say, please say it on any other thread.

2. Lets try to keep this tread at the top of the forum.

In this way, maybe we can start focusing on the many great things that are going on right now in our sport- as opposed to being mired in the same old silly fighting.

If you are bothered by this- please simply choose not to read or post on this particular thread. If the wrestling community doesn’t agree this is worthwhile, it will become buried soon enough anyway.

As a wise road sign in Canada once said- “Choose your rut wisely, you will be in it for awhile.” I choose positivity!

I’ll start out with my list of positives:

1. Mill Valley High School (where I coach) earned 2nd place at regionals. This was our school’s 1st time placing at a regional as a team.

2. Mill Valley qualified 12 individual wrestlers for state- a school record.

3. My alma mater- Norton High School- finished a very strong 4th at the Lakin regional. Coach Johnson and his staff did a marvelous job working with a young group of kids and getting them to compete hard and peak at the right time. Good luck next week!

4. I had the good fortune of working with the one of the nicest group of young men this season (including middle school and high school) that I have had the pleasure of coaching in the past 14 years.

5. After not being able to coach last year for family reasons- I was able to coach again this season, and believe me I savored most minutes of it!

6. The NCAA’s are right around the corner and are close. Although I doubt I will be able to attend (young families stretch both time and financial resources) many Kansas wrestlers will be attending.

7. The state of Kansas continues to add collegiate wrestling opportunities for our wrestlers.

8. My wife is a trooper and shouldered a great deal more than her “fair share” during this wrestling season with 2 youngsters at home.

9. My 3 year old son- who last year could not go into a gym without being completely overwhelmed and melting down- was able to attend regionals yesterday and had a fantastic time watching the “Jaguar Wrestler Players” and playing with older kids and parents.

Keep it in perspective.

Congratulations to all the high school wrestlers who competed this season. If it was easy- everyone would have done it.

Congratulations also to those of you who are fortunate enough to still be competing this weekend. It is an honor and a privilege- go compete well.

Good luck to all competitors (unless you are on the mat facing a Mill Valley Jaguar or Norton Blue Jay)!

I'd like to thank Kim Lohman and the Lakin community for the great support and a very well ran regional tournament.

1. I was able to keep the Anderson County wrestling team alive by taking over the Head Coaching job

2. Despite having 11 out and no one qualify for state we learned a ton

3. I have nine underclassman that will be coming back for next year (if they all come out)

4. I heard a rumor yesterday that we will have nine freshman coming out next year

5. It was also rumored that we have two more that will be out next year that did not wrestle this year (giving me a total of 20!)

6. I got a new outlook on the coaching side after officiating for the last ten years so now I have walked in all three sides of the sport at the high school level

7. Anderson County's new kids club (Kansas Thunderstruck) has 50+ kids out

Just remembered a couple others to add to my list:

10. We will lose only 3 seniors off this season's team. They will be sorely missed- but have a good group coming back too!

11. Will be able to see a lot of friends in the profession this weekend that I do not see as often as I would like.

Yeah but you are still from Norton. You will never be able to get out from under that. I tell Ulmer that all the time.

I'm just kidding. Hope you and your family are well and you are having a great time.

Randy Westfahl

Randy,

I can't believe Ulmer still hangs out with you after all these years!


All is well here- hope the same is there.

I forgot to add you guys to my list as well so here you go:

12. The dedicated group of VOLUNTEERS who put on the great show- the Metro Classic. Great wrestling and great promotion for our sport!

This is my kind of post.

This weekend at the Lawrence regional I saw the following:

I saw a wrestler's season come to an end, and a good coach comforted him in the bathroom and helped the young man regain his composure. Everyone was respectful as they saw this going on, because they knew that this is part of the game. Training for life that will help this young man down the road.

I saw sophmore in his first high school season win two matches he shouldn't have won and his now going to his first ever state tournament. The team and families screamed as loud as they could during his victory. I believe it all started because a football coach told him if he wanted to see the field, he probably needed to wrestle to learn some skills that will help him in the fall. I saw the coach in the stands.

Good sport this wrestling!

haha well Kyle, Ulmer also questions why he hangs out with me too, in fact he does that to my face. Oh well, sometimes we all have to make exceptions. Come up to the meet his year, it ought to be a pretty well balanced and competitive show with a ton of good wrestlers like always.

I'll stop by practice next week and say hi- I assume you will be at MV's room again.

yep

I appreciate all of our coaches who work with our kids at ALL levels.

Wrestling is a difficult sport to teach and requires physical strength and stamina to do it right. It is a sport in which the coach has to prove his knowledge daily.

At a time when, as a society, our boys need positive male role models more than ever our wrestling coaches have NEVER been more important.

I salute each and every one of you.

Great story out of GE

Heavy Weight Eric Phay had never wrestled before this year. Weighed in at 354 the first day of practice.

Big E as his teamates called him certified at 285 the first meet in January. He came through BIG winning his first match of the year and the crowd went crazy! He won the final match to give GE the win over Emporia and the crowd went crazy!

He came up short in the consolation semis, but the crowd still cheered for Big E.

Wrestling has changed his life.

Saw a wrestler at the Lawrence Regional pin another young man in the consolation semi finals. He picked the kid up and hugged him in the center of the mat knowing that he just ended the kids season.

My son had a long time opponent in the Kids' Federation. These two young men seemed to find each other every year, often on multiple occasions.

In the beginning, my son was the better wrestler. Then, his opponent got very good very fast and next thing you know he is winning big over my son. The last two years before starting their high school careers, my son started to close the gap again. Their last match against each other was at the Salina TOC three seasons ago and had to be determined in OT (my son lost).

Here is the so what. The so what is that these two sophomores are both Regional Champions this year. Congratulations to Jake Elbrader for this accomplishment. He probably would have won it last year too but I think that he was injured and couldn't compete. Jake is a fine wrestler and an all around nice young man. All the years of battling with my son seems to have paid off for both.

Another fantastic high school wrestler and terrific young man who placed three times in his high school career can now be seen giving back to wrestling as an assistant high school coach this year. It is great to see a wrestler like Ross Whitmore now working in a high school team's corner during wrestling events. I am sure that he is a great teacher of the sport and a fine mentor for the wrestlers in that room.

First and foremost I'd like to say that the idea behind this link really brings warmth to my heart. I think as coaches and parents and officials we all get too caught up in the idea of medals and prizes and championships and don't stop to realize why we still do this sport. That we love it. This is truly the most tried and tested sport throughout history, and the reason it remains is because it is the true test of everything of you Versus everything of them. Which leads to inferiority complexes, and compensating arguments that may, or may not, be the most positive

I'd like to explain my situation before I say all the positive things in my life; I'm a senior this year, the day before regionals I was suspended from school. Therefore, I couldn't wrestle for my team at regionals. I've wrestled all four years, always with the focus of winning state this year. And the stage was set for me to do so, not without some major struggle and incredible opponents along the way, but still it was possible for me to do so. Now the positive in my life

1) I wake up every morning, healthy, sober, and breathing, because the Good Lord allows me to.

2) I have the most supportive set of parents I could ever ask for. And my team,and coaches, and any others affiliated supported me through this, truly teaching me that TEAM goes beyond two hours everyday after school, and past the 12- hour Saturdays.

3) This weekend my team qualified all 13 guys we brought to regionals, a school record, a team goal, and overall the most proud accomplishment so far that I've seen in our high school career.

4) The guy that went in my place was a JV kid with minor varsity experience, drew the 6 seed, pinned the 3 seed just to make it to state. When I heard he got in and that he cried. I cried. Getting to share joy within my team is a positive aspect of my life I may never get again.

5) Next weekend I get to travel to state to watch and cheer on a group of 13 guys, 2 coaches, and 4 managers that I can say I truly love. And if that's not a blessing then I don't know what is.

6) Next year I'm going to wrestle in college, hopefully in Kansas, so I can watch this sport that we all love passionatley, come back into this state.

7) This stepping stone in my life is merely a lesson I needed to learn, for this lesson I am blessed, and regardless I will support my team, and I will praise the Lord every step of the way.

That is what is positive in my life right now. And honestly, I couldn't ask for more.


Ben Randolph
bd_ran2012@yahoo.com

In Olathe, three middle schools started or continued club wrestling teams. We held the first ever middle school double dual in Olathe last fall with every kid getting a match. The administrators were amazed how passionate the fans were and are pushing other middle schools in Olathe to start a club program. Our principal even remarked that the attendance was much larger than a basketball game! Keep it up Santa Fe Trail, Pioneer Trail and Prairie Trail.

Wow. An incredible post from Ben Randolph.

The Lord has mighty plans for you Ben! It's been an honor to coach and cheer you on.

- Chief

BDRan -
WOW, one of the most impressive posts I've read! I don't know all the details, however, your response inspiring! Good luck in college; it appears your faith will guide your walk in life!