No gripe towards Ottawa at least they let them wrestle. But we need a real State tournament.They need qualifiers just like every other age. 64 man brackets in one day is simply crazy.And I know if you don't like it then don't go,but they worked hard and they deserve it.

They split a sixteen man bracket into two days in a typical state tourney.

Most of the lower weights in 8u are six anyway. So let the heavier 6u kids compete. Shorten the season have them wrestle a couple Sundays earlier in the year for state. I am sure there are a lot of clubs that would host a 6u regional. Just like high school. Matter of fact have the tourney the same weekends as high school just have one qualifier per district on Sunday.

There are a lot of clubs this year that griped that there are too many tournaments per weekend that they cant have a good tournament. So have a regional.Only let the clubs that didn't have a regular season tournament have a regional. Then have the state at Ottawa. It would be cheap and very effective.

Bottom line is that they work hard and please treat them as such.

Jerry I was just at this tournament. In the times we are in as a county it just can't happen. They ran through 130 matches on mat 3 between 9:15 and 2:30pm (could have done more without delays). It doesn't make sense to have a 6u series unless you tie it to the current series championship. To many pins to expect folks to travel for little mat time. Keep it as is!! No other tourney like it in Kansas. Only time those little ones will see 64 man brackets will be at the Kickoff or Tulsa! I was in favor of a 6u series before but am no longer. Wrestling is expensive enough!

Jack where are from. If you are from Ottawa I can understand why you dont want it to change. That tournament is a money maker.

I wonder if anyone has figured out how many 6u kids wrestle at both 6u state and 8u series. People will travel to whatever and whenever to let there child get recognition

There are a lot of people who travel to three destinations for 8u and still travel to Ottawa for the 6u state. The 6u families spend a lot of money everywhere they go.Almost everybody buys a shirt and whatever they can when there child is six.

It isn't a money issue or lack of mat time issue. There will be a lot more 6u kids who would participate if it was earlier. We started with almost thirty 6u and only took three to 6u state.Most said they would go if there were qualifiers earlier in the year. The season is too long for them to stay for Ottawa.

Plus I would love to go a couple tournaments that ended before noon to get my son a state medal than have him battle for nine matches by 2:30 to get one.

only thing i would add is that my son didnt wrestle for the last 2 weeks as i didnt enter him in subs or districts. he practiced for 2 weeks without wrestling and it showed. he really didnt show much interest of even being there as i saw on a ton of other kids at that tournament. could be the week before subs then the ones that can compete at the 8 under can continue on. just my thoughts.

I say keep it the way it is, but have it a couple of weeks earlier. We would have gone again this year, but my son was ready to be done the beginning of the month as it is a long season for the young ones.

I love the 32 and 64 man brackets, it really shows who the studs are, and something to proud of winning. All age divisions should be done this way. If KS has a place to host (topeka, salina, park city, or wichita?), I say cut out subs and districts and lets do a good, ole fashioned, full on, state tournament the last week of February. Cut the HS division since they already have one and add the 6U.

If too big, cut districts and take top 4 from each subdistrict (8 per district) for all 32 man brackets and place top 8. Now this sounds like fun!

How does a 64 man bracket show who the studs are if it is not seeded appropriately?

I am completely in favor of a State sanctioned 6 and under tournament. The majority of clubs agreed last year at the state meeting (just not enough stuck around to vote).

This needs to be revistited and a sound proposal put together to make it happen. There are scheduling, logistic and I am sure a host of other challenges that would need to be worked out but it is not impossible.

Jack is from Garden City. 330 miles west of Ottawa.

Jerry I am from Garden City on the other side of the state. I don't see a need to hold a series for these little guys unless that series is tied to the existing series. I am one of those parents who took his wrestler to 8u district in Pratt and then 6u state. We did well at both tournaments.

If Ottawa moved their tournament to early January they would make even more money and have double the entries. I coach at Greater Gold and we had 45 6u wrestlers in Nov. I took 3 to this tournament. If we want to promote wrestling at this level move up the state tournament (in whatever venue/series).

couldn't agree more about the appropriate seeding! My son wrestled kid that got second in ottowa, the week before in hays, we beat him 12-1. ottowa kid received a first round bye and we didn't, even though only lost 3 matches all year coming in?????? wrestled pretty well on sunday and didn't even place through the bottom side of bracket. obviously didn't split the studs up throughout the bracket, instead they just beat up each other all day and several of them did not get rewarded!

It is good that you and your son got this experience early on. The brackets don't always get aligned as they should, some Sub-District and District brackets will be much more unforgiving than others. Some kids will make it to State when others that are much better are sitting at home, and there will be times in high school that it also happens.

I spoke to a dad at Sub-Districts of a very good wrestler that didn't want to wrestle this year (probably U10 or U12). That was always my biggest fear and I am glad that day has never come. Enjoy it while you can, because it could be over tomorrow.

i couldn't agree more, just a little frusterating to watch him work so hard all year and something like that happened. Hard to explain to a youngster how a kid he beat both times he faced him got to get up on the medal stand and he didn't..... any suggestions would be much appreciated... he is taking it really hard, hope it doesn't discourage him come following years.

Tell him that he had a great year, wrestled his little tail off all year long, and that sometimes things just don't work out how they should or how you would like them to. Let him know it won't be the first time, and it probably won't be the last that he draws the the tougher path. If he really loves the sport, he will continue to wrestle and there will be many proud moments for him along the way. Most importantly, tell him you love him, and that is what really matters.

Thanks really appreciate the advice Lee. you are so very right about everything you just said!!!

Garrett and I have been through so many years together, through the thick and thin, the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows. We will have memories that we have shared over ten years of wrestling that will last forever. I hope that he has the opportunity to share the same experiences with his son(s) when he is a parent. If he does, he will be better off for it. If he doesn't, he will be better off that he was able to experience it with me.

Good luck to you and your son. I hope that your path is similar to ours, because you will both benefit from the experience and have many great memories shared.

I agree . I just want to keep it in everyones head so we just don't let it go away.Do it when ever just do it. Earlier the better.

We would have taken many more 6u kids if it were held earlier as well. No doubt there was plenty of tough competition there, but a lot of the good kids didn't go also. It turns into more of a regional thing. Sure there were kids from all over the state, but it seemed to be more NE KS kids than anything. So if we want to have a true 6u state championship, it has to be tied to the other state series, or be early enough that the little guys haven't hung up their shoes for the year.

I can think of 3 kids that kicked my son's a$$ this year, that were NOT at the Ottawa tourney. My guess is that they called it good after the Wichita Classic, or some even earlier than that.

Bottom line is, 6u isn't the biggest thing in the world. But if people are going to complain about how we treat them, they need to do something about it. We'll probably continue to take the 6u kids that are still fired up about wrestling, to the Ottawa tourney. But if there weren't any 6u tourneys after January it wouldn't hurt my feelings either!!

I could tell it was getting close to being enough for my kid, because the week before Ottawa, he only asked me 113 times "when is my tournament?", instead of the standard 300-400 times...He is still more than just a little PO'd that Ottawa didn't give him a medal or a trophy!!

It cannot be tied in with the State Series until USA Wrestling has a 6u age division. My son has wrestled for 7 years and there was the same talk then as there is now. Kids (and parents) are only involved in the 6u debate for a short while then the kids get older and the parents move on...

Yep. KS had the opportunity to tie it into the state series this year, but enough people left the meeting, and didn't vote, that it didn't get the necessary majority needed to pass. Again, I don't care one way or another, but at least now the people screaming to have it can't complain. It was turned down by the people that were patient enough to stick around and vote.

Noone remembers who won 6u state, just who won HS state........

I will say this, and this is a compliment to our coaching around the state: I saw fewer headlocks than I've ever seen at Ottawa. There was a lot more actual wrestling going on than there usually is at Ottawa. Most coaches are realizing that it is easier to teach leg attacks now, versus teaching the headlock and cement mixer, winning the 6u Olympic Gold medal, then 2 years later when their kids start getting their tails kicked, try to go back and teach the leg attacks..............