He was there Saturday too. Which is why I said "weekend". Not "Sunday".

I bet when he chased the woman out of the gym that was his giving back!

Notice both issues are with females?

The thing about the sport of wrestling is that kids at this age may not ever compete beyond the youth program. Our oldest son wrestled three years and was done by the age of ten. Our second son has wrestled for eleven years and competes with the best in the state. Our third son has wrestled three years and took this year off so his mom and I could decide if it is for him. Our last son will be turning five in March, so we will have to see if it is for him.

My point is, the goal is for them to wrestle in high school or further. I used to get wrapped up in these things when my two oldest sons were young, but just having one compete at the highest level in the state in high school is more important than what I experienced when they were six and eight.

That is so true. It does put it all into perspective. I like how we can all give our opinions, suggestions and thoughts on here. It is helpful because to our kids (especially 6U) we want to have any sport remain a positive one (therefore not talking about things we might write to adults).

i can't wait for Jfer and gofigure to join the brotherhood. Come on fellas it's $5, a simple test over the rules, and initiation. Don't be scared of the brotherhood initiation though, it would probably be hazing if we were a club, or fraternity, but since we are a brotherhood it's all good.

two pieces of advice, make sure you have clean underwear, and a good pair of sneakers. Oh and better find out if your allergic to goat hair.

seriously though, the hardest group to officiate are the novice wrestles, and the worst coaches/ parents are the novice group. the hardest thing for all, the referee, gofigure, beeson, bronco wr., jfer, is that they were all novice once too. the next thing to accept that perhaps a mistake was made, maybe not, the life lesson for that young wrestler has to be taught, by her parents/ coach. things don't always go your way, you can't dwell on it, you have to learn from it, get better and move on. from the looks of the above posts the lesson will have to be learned by parents/ coaches, before it can be taught.

Just an FYI I an not a parent of a wrestler. My daughter is 21 years old (and is a dancer) and my son is 8 years old (and does football/basketball/baseball). I had went to the meet to think about putting him in it. It was my first one and I by no means ever would have suggested that I know enough to be a ref (nor would I want to be one). I only heard a ref on another mat say it was a pin as well as the person that ran the 6U event. I just stated above how I like that we can all write our opinons and it putting things into perspective so not sure why you would include me in the above post.

I applogize, but this is why i mentioned you in my above point.

in the post this morning we were posting at about the same time, and you make a good statement about looking out for the kids best interest.

you do make good points about setting examples in all of your posts, that is very important.

however when you have 5 referees ( 4 on the forum, plus the one officiating the match) see NO FALL, and two (on video the day of the tournament) see FALL, it doesn't seem so OBVIOUS anymore. deos it?

i would say that i hope this event didn't sway you in your decision to let your son wrestle. The 6u state tournament at Ottawa is not a good tournament for novice wrestlers.

There are too many wrestlers, the venue isn't large enough,the noise and crowd add pressure to young athletes. How much control do you think an umpire would have if there were 20 parents on the base paths screaming during a t-ball game??? The 6u kids should be apart of the Kansas Kids state series just like every other age group. Subs-District- and State are all tough tournaments, but the pressure of combing those into a one day event is too much for the hosts, the coaches, the parents, the officials, and most importantly the kids.

Oh I agree it was way too many people down by the mats. I have only been to one so I wasn't sure if that was "normal". It was way to crowded making it hard on the ref's i'm sure. I'll probably go to a few more matches before deciding if i'll put my son in it. Truthfully I'm not sure if it would be his sport. He does well on team sports where they work together to accomplish a goal but as an individual he's a bit of a wimp ! I am glad so many wrote it does help in understanding the ref's decision.

On a plus note! Ive noticed a huge increase of talent/tough 6 year olds over the last 6 or 7 years!

So a few weighed in contrary...on here. Others have agreed with coaches and people at the meet. Obviously we have to accept the decision made by the official. If he had been on the met sooner- would have been better.

Meanwhile- youtube views are nearing 100- what do all those folks think? I know I shared with folks in the sport- college coach, hs coaches, and state champ wrestlers- they ALL thought that was the end of the match.

If I had just said watch this- how many would have thought the same? Instead I wanted a critique of positioning.

Those can disagree- doesn't make me any less right.

Apparently, some people thought I was serious when I called it the 6u world intergalactic cosmospherical olympic championships

You're experts can agree, doesn't make them any less wrong.

Unless they are the official on the mat their opinion doesn't matter, nor does mine. Only his matters and he has already made his ruling.

here's my biggest issue.

what are you doing to fix it?
the official on the mat has the final call, move on.
this official said FALL, others say NO FALL, move on.

posting a video on youtube, might be helpful, if it's used in the right way. what do you plan to do with the video besides stir up controversy, and belittle a KS certified official? you have found your "jumping off point", but you're gonna have to put some time and effort into this, other wise it's all a bunch of BS.

Will Cokeley has put in extensive time and effort into developing a grading system for KS officials. Something that can be used by officials in a positive manner to get better. I would expect that you will be in contact with Mr. Cokeley, and assist him in making this proposal a reality. I for one am graded everyday at my job, I have made great improvements in my departments, and have been compensated well for my efforts. When you and Mr. Cokeley make the grading proposal, remember that the better officials are going to prove their worth and expect compensation.

please make sure to post some video of yourself, handling your daily duties, i think a training video may be needed so we can ensure that the level of expectations is set as high as possible moving forward.

right or wrong, i hope you have a mistake free day.

Alex-

you're is a contraction for "you are".

My issue is with being so slow to get to the mat. YOUR responsibilities as a ref include getting on the mat. Your compatriot failed to do that for nearly 5 seconds.

Maybe he was tired. I don't truly know. But within 30 minutes he called a pin from standing up.

MOVEON.ORG

I didn't belittle or berate. Just pointing out the time involved getting down to the mat.

You are right- I hope refs see this and try to get to the mat faster.

Ironically, I have coached multiple sports for decades and we use video to instruct and perfect practice.

Rather than just think you do a good job as a ref- how many study themselves? I asked for a critique of positioning...how many refs take 5 seconds to get to the mat?

Most people are reviewed constantly- refs are probably an anomaly. They have final say- and those that disagree are chased from the gym? (What he did later.)

I suppose this video could be emailed to all the officials on the website and urge them to get to the mat faster...

Let's be the change we wish to see in the world.

You seem to have an answer for everything. You throw out some good suggestions, but don't really show a game plan. talk is cheap, and YOU'VE already pointed out that it took 5 seconds to get to the mat. So show us what you plan to do in the future, to better KS wrestling. I you don't all you have done is belittle this official. Whether you can admit it or not, YOU'VE never had a mistake free practice, I don't care how many times you film it. Prove that you can grow this sport, prove that you can implement a grading system. Please don't just re-write my challenges.

Put up or shut up, become an official, prove that you are better. Make the grade, help KS officials be better. We need it for this sport to continue to grow.

I've read the posts and went back and watched video a couple more times with close attention to the wrestler.

All of you who say the official should have gotten down on the mat quicker...you are correct. If he had done so, there would be no controversy. Being in position not only makes the situation easier to see, it makes it easier to sell the call (or no call). Here, for those that think he missed a fall, taking 5 seconds to get into position makes it easy to criticize the official. Had he been down there, he'd have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

But it would not have made any difference. For the first five seconds it is clear as a bell that the kid's left shoulder (right side on the video) is not in constant contact with the mat for two seconds. The official could probably easily see that from his feet and he'd seen these two spin around without much skill for a minute. After those five seconds, the left shoulder is down, but the official is looking at the other side, away from the camera, so you can't see what he is seeing. No doubt it was close. But it is not clearly a fall. But, again, had the official been on his belly quicker he would have not been questioned.

you guys get crazier every year, but to weigh in on the subject it was clearly a tie. sry had to get one or two posts before the season is over.

for those of you who think this post is still important, I suggest reading the TLWC Wrestler thread on the kids board. Puts things in a little more perspective.

Oldguy you are absolutly correct. That article kind of makes you realize what is important in life. And it is six and under state is it really going to be something that is remembered in 10 years? Not to take away from the kids there because if I could do it again my kids would go, but the young man from TLWC is the one that we should all be thinking about. But that is just my opinion.