According to my pediatrician, Selsom Blue slightly left on the skin is a good deterent for a fungal skin condition.

We live on a farm and raise horses, cattle, and hogs. My kids have shown in all the area's of Park City, Kansas Expo Center, and American Royal/Kemper Arena. They have gotten more infections from a human contact(handshake), then livestock. I believe you are unaware of the health regulations that are required to show livestock in some of these venues, these animals go thru blood tests and vet checks just to leave the farm. My oldest is 16 and I honestly can't remember him getting any type of skin infection from the animals. If you think a cow or horse hasn't crapped in the coliseum part you would definately be mistaken, back in the day(80's) it housed several national horse shows. FYI - some of these animals cost more then my kids and are pampered in ways I only wish I was.

Bottom Line-if you don't feel it is safe, don't go.

With all due respect, showing horses in all parts of Park City etc. or even raising livestock is not the same as jamming 3000+ people of which 1200 kids ages 4-16 with possible cuts and scrapes into a horse barn only to wrestle on a potentially unsafe surface! Take your son, have him roll around on the mat barely clothed with a few scrapes at the end of the tournament 3600 times at 3 minutes a pop or roughly 180 hours and then let’s see what he catches. My point is taking one individual and his/her experiences is not a fair way to summarize the risk for everyone in there! Here is a concept address the perception that there is a risk, communicate what is being done to protect everyone and make the tournament better. Not simply take the attitude don't like it don't go!

One other comment, given the concern around the Classic’s venue, this last weekend while attending Liberty Nationals I took extra effort to look for things common or uncommon to the Classic. In a nut shell here is what I noticed. Excellent wrestling mats and no indication that there was a horse show right before (may have been don’t know for sure). The other thing I noticed or didn’t notice was the presence of skin foam everywhere. Here you have a National tournament with kids from all across the country attending, more than twice the size of the Classic and I didn’t see one application or hear of any applications of skin foam. Can the same be said about the Classic? Why is that? Does it need to be like that? The only difference between the events (for the purpose of this discussion) is venue, in fact given the number of wrestlers attending and all the places they came from I would think people would perceive a higher risk.

Something to ponder.

If your kids are stepping in horse manure then they are obviously running around outside in thier wrestling shoes where they should not be anyway. I have never seen a pile of horse manure in the facility during classics. As for crash99 maybe you should leave the city limits once in a while and quit sheltering your kids from every possible danger that may come thier way. We didn't get into this sport because it was the safest or easiest, get tough or go home (or should I say stay home), by the way, make your kid take a shower after every tournament and you won't have to worry about skin diseases.

4boys that is a misconception. Your kids can take a shower after every tournament and still contract ringworm. If they are exposed to it in the morning and don't shower until 7 or 8 pm they already have it.

is there confirmed skin case's from this tourney or what. stuff happens deal with it an move on..

Pittdogg, interesting post. "stuff happens deal with it an move on.." with subs the following week, if your wrestler comes down with something he will not be moving on!

Considering their hard work all year and the fact the risk could have been lowered, that would be a shame!

lowering the risk they should....... not moving on if you contract something.... see your doctor get proper treatment a note an by rule they cant keep you from competing..

I know for positive that there was skin foam used at Liberty over the weekend. We did not attend but kids from our club did and they did use it as they do at EVERY tournament....Tulsa, Brute, Park City, and as they and we will at subs and hopefully district and state. It is a good preventitive to be used every time...the cleanest facility can still have a wrestler that has ring worm that somebody didn't catch at weigh in..wrestling on your kids mat. Nobody cleans the mats between each match...so better take care of your own kids as best you can.

I myself would like to see Park City at a higher quality facility like Liberty ...(Brute changed venues this year and I am glad)...with seats w/backs, additional bathrooms, more concessions at a lesser cost....better mats, quality refs as they make a huge difference in whether or not your kid gets hurt while wrestling a match. But until it moves I am sure that we will continue to attend.

Why not just post that you would like to see the venue change to a better location and ask for assistance or suggestions as to how that can be achieved. Instead of dogging a facility and the people who run a good tournament? I think that you would go alot further in the long run.

I have followed this thread over the last 1 ½ weeks and finally thought that I would offer my opinion and comments, for whatever they may be worth! I believe that Jeff’s initial comments, concerns and motivations were truly genuine and ONLY motivated towards providing for the safety of our kids. Not unreasonable at all and I would commend him for being willing to raise the issue, instead of standing on the “side-line” with these concerns.

Jeff’s concerns are raised to the direct aspect of the safety and wellness protection for our children. I understand that sometimes, and even through Jeff’s comments, it will cause many to become very defensive and upset when questions such as these are raised. However, what has concerned me even more is the tone of the responses which have appeared and been echoed by the organizers of this event. This unfortunately has not provided the sport or even our communities with the view that this is currently a “first class” event.

Our club decided to share our concerns with our parents and have opted not to participate in the Wichita Classic this year. Simply, we felt that there was too much potential risk to our kids. With this being said, I would also like to commend Mr. Foster for his comments and initiative to work together in order to make improvements, so that this can truly be a “First Class” tournament in the future.

We wish everyone a safe time at the Classic and look forward to seeing you at the other upcoming tournaments.

Greg Rodman
Rose Hill Wrestling Club
Email: RHWrestling@cox.net

My son will not participate this year. It is not worth it. Besides the skin question, there are the poles too close to the wrestling surface. I'm sick of hearing, "How'd the kid do at the Classic," in seeding meetings at subs. People think it'.s the only tournament with tough competition. They're wrong.

Final comments before this weekend’s tournament – Over the last several weeks a lot has been shared on this forum, private messages, emails, and one on one conversations regarding the venue in question. I knew going into this there would be several different perspectives to consider and strong feelings on both sides. Although there are several areas still to be improved upon I wanted to share a thank you for everyone who has weighed in on this topic. I think it is great that we have this forum tool to share our thoughts, concerns and ideas (hopefully in a constructive manner). If nothing else, a dialog has begun on how this tourney can improve and possibly be something Kansas could be proud of.


For those attending this weekend, good luck.

Well, does anyone know? My sons have been participating in the classic for the better part of the last decade. Not once have they contracted any skin condition as a result. Nor to my knowledge has anyone else that we know. Personally, I feel that the "venue" has become part of the rich lore of USA wrestling in Kansas. A change of venue would take away from the hype surrounding the event and in my opinion would make it something less.

This is one of the best tournaments in regards to competition. If you are worried about the risks, DON'T GO. If you are not afraid of the competition then I don't see the problem. Too many people worry about things beyond their control. I have taken my boys there for 7+ years and they have never contacted any illnesses or had any injuries. If all you can do is find a negative out of this format than you, obviously, have little faith in our Kansas Wrestling Program. I implore you to find a better tournament for high competition than this. If the competitive level concerns you, why bother entering, anyway.

We had 5 confirmed cases last year come back into our practice room. 2 caught it in time to get treated and 3 others didn't have it show up until Thursday before Subs and given the time frame of 72 hours as required on the skin release form, these 3 were unable to participate at Subs, District, State. What a shame to end such a long season of hard work for these kids and not be able to be afforded the opportunity to attempt to qualify for State due to a fungal infection.

I just wish that the event was a first class event as it should be and not have the reputation that it currently does. Maybe with all of the views and the discussion, instead of bashing other people's opinions and feelings, some positive change can come out of all of this for the betterment of the entire Kansas Wrestling Community.

Once again, if you don't feel safe or safety for your wrestler, DON'T ATTEND. How hard is this for you anti Classic people to understand. If you don't want to go - DON'T GO!! This tournament will continue to exist with or without you. Instead of finding fault with it, STAY HOME. They don't need you there anyway. It ruins the whole event for those of us that really want to wrestle the best kids out there.

No name on that post?

Does not having a name make it any less true?

No it just makes your tough talk seem less true.

what are some of the tough match ups to watch at this tournament. im not familiar with alot of the older kids but would like to watch some of the older kids matches. I will be paying most of my attention to the younger ones but would like to watch some of the ideal match ups in the older crowds.