well put highcrotch.

I did notice that on the East Ks tournament that not all the brackets are complete on Track Wrestling.
Will this be resolved or left as is?

been doing this for 25 years now and have certainly seen worse, have seen better too, for sure, but don't be careful not to beat up a team or tournament director, just because the venue is too small.

i didn't see much overcrowding in the halls. i know it's not the best spot to view from, i'm just sayin', things could be worse. how many wrestlers really need 2 parents, 1 sibling, 2 buddies, and 4 coaches in their corner? they can't hear you all anyway. [/quote]

Yes they could have been worse, I was not at districts 3 years ago, this is my son's 2nd year, I grew up in a good youth program, my parents ran the program for 10 years. I can deal with the overcrowding, I was responding to the comment that there were plenty of seats once wrestling started, we all know that is a bunch of BS. and if you would have been out in the halls, you would have noticed overcrowding. I just think that we are giving way too much credit for a "job well done" when it wasn't. We had 3 matches, spent a total of 4 minutes on the mat, and didn't get out of there until 4:30 or so. Everytime our # would come up, it would be 3-4 matches later, then the last match of the day for us, they left out the entire weight class!! so it was 15 minutes and 5 bouts past by the time we were suppose to have wrestled. These just aren't my issues, I talked to people and over heard many conversations that expressed this same opinion. We didn't have anyone in our corner like you are saying, but who can blame them when you have 40 feet between the bleachers and mats and NO WHERE TO SIT! I guess they could get a better view from the hallway. I don't care if it is a 5 person venue or a 50,000 person venue, no excuse for leaving kids off the brackets and all the screw ups with bout cards and bout #'s. They even started a match with the wrong 2 kids wrestling! sounds like a venue problem to me. Or how about the people working the tables texting not paying attention to the time or the score(if the referee actually got it). oh, a better venue could have prevented that too.

I think it's important to focus on the positive and not all the negative all the time. This is our 5th year of wrestling and I've been to several tournaments that I could complain about. Things don't always go our way or run smoothly. My family has helped out with the Mill Valley tournament for 4 years and now the East Kansas tournament. Before you complain --help out at a tournament!!! To have a greater appreciation for the clubs that put it on be there from start to finish from the planning stages clear to the end when you are cleaning up. There are more aspects to having a tournament besides signing up and wrestling. I appreciate all the clubs that put forth the hard work to make these tournaments happen for our KIDS!!

"Nobody said life would be easy.They just promised it would be worth it."

Melissa Gowin

I have helped out at a tournaments(more tournaments than you have probably ever been to), and I also know what it takes to run a tournament. My parents and I ran a club in Missouri for a long time. I do appreciate the fact that people put forth the effort to make these tournaments happen, but really! And, why in the world would I want to help out? Don't we pay for people from the host club to be there to run the tournament from entry fees, gate, concession ect.? I help at my own clubs tournament. Bottom line is, it was organized or somewhat organized chaos! Maybe I just expect more. I'm not going to pat someone on the back and tell them job well done when it wasn't. Here is a solution, next year we can text the table workers the bouts, we know they will pay attention to that! Scores and time will still be messed up, but at least they will know the bout #'s.

Over crowded for sure. Good competition for sure. Bad reffing, for sure. That sums up most tournaments. Started on time & got out in decent time & the cheesy spaghetti in the hospitality room was really good. And for those that put on the tournament, if there were table workers texting, I would cut there pay in half! . Way earlier in this thread, the people that helped put on this tournament admitted fault & have said they will fix it. Kind of beating a dead horse at this point ain't we?

All,

I read this thread to see what comments might be made that would be constructive, as opposed to the ones merely criticizing and complaining.

Our club attended this tournament with hopes of competing and getting better so they would be a little more prepared when Subs roll around.

I do remember the first tournament we ran at Mill Valley(8 or 9 years ago) and if it was not for the help of several who sat there after weighins on Friday night helping with renumbering we would not have had the knowledge of what we needed to do to make it better the following year. Every year you try to improve on what you learned were mistakes the previous year.

For those who will choose not to go back, you have that option. Leave it at that.

For those who continue to belittle efforts of any tournament director, host club, parent volunteers, high school wrestlers, and even the kids of the club who help as well, I do hope you have an option of where to compete next year.

Take a look around and you will notice there are fewer and fewer clubs who want to take on the responsibility of running a tournament.

I do see a day coming where there are not options, but the one tournament that is scheduled for that day.


To Will and all the people of St.James, East Kansas, and KCWC.

Thank you for hosting a tournament and giving us the option of where to compete.

Jeff Broadbent - Mill Valley

ps - BTW, they are not great fundraisers - we made nearly as much money with our club raffle as we did with our tournament.

Nicely put! Remember most delays occur because parents, coaches don't give the host club the proper information and the club is put in the position to fix it which can cause delays and possible confusion all tourney long.
Because we do this for the kids and don't have hard core deadlines this can be the result.
Please be positive, the tourney director has said certain things will change.

Great post Jeff. I'll leave it that - not in the comment or suggestion mood. To much work to be done.

I almost got on here and complained about the tourney but I have faith that in the future it will get better. I left saying I wouldn't be back. The competition was great and we go to where the best kids wrestle. Those are the kids we want to wrestle. I hope everyone gives this tourney another chance next year and I hope that East Kansas makes the adjustments necessary to make this venue successful.

Everyone is going to have a different perspective of how a tournament went for them. My personal experience, it was great. My son got five matches against some solid competition and we were back in Lawrence before 3pm. As far as overcrowding, good luck finding a tournament that does not seem to be overcrowded. If you wanted to go to a tournament that wasn't overcrowded, you should have gone to Rossville the day after Christmas following a blizzard. It was still a great tournament and I am sure that they would have liked the weather to cooperate so that people could have complained about it being way too packed.

Well I think it was a good time. Well run, good competition, refs were there and in striped shirts, crowded like every tournament. Table workers did a good job most of them were paying attention nothing dramatic. Close to home for us? We would definally recommend coming next year. Our mat done by what 4:30 5:00. Love the round robins for seperation of experience levels. That always gives you a really good idea on you talents and what we need to work on. Awsome Job guys!!!!