I know they are trying to get the big tournaments to go to split formats due to it being faster for the parents. I was wondering what everyones thoughts were on this after the Hutch tournament this weekend. No offense toward the Hutch club, but this tournament took forever. And it split format was used.

I wasn't at Hutch so I can't say what if anything went on there but split tournaments cannot solve all issues. You first need a tournament director that knows how many entries his facilities/equipment/help can effectively handle. Then that tournament director has to have the integrity not to get greedy and exceed the number of entries that works!

The lower number of officials in the state is going to affect the number of matts being ran at all the big tournaments.

I will take the hit for this one.

Yes we tried a split format and made a couple of not so good choices in doing so.

Although we had the mat surfaces at 8 to allow all kids to wrestle on full mats it raised our match numbers. Looking back 6U, although may be kind of cool for them a full mat is not needed to keep things moving.

We also had 6,10,14 in the morning which had alot ore entries than the 8 and 12.

Fixing them 2 items I do think it would have been alot better.

I will take full responsibiilty for the long day and overrun of the morning session. We also combined more brackets which isn't typical in the past just to try to help with the match numbers, but it wasn't good enough.

The split format caused us about 1.5-2 hours longer than the straight through tournament in the past.

I think now we know a little bit more what to expect with the split format it will be better if we choose that route again. I apologize that is was at the wrestlers and their families expense.

I do hope the OW awards and the full mat were a positive, eventhough I know it wasn't a overall sucessful tournament in my eyes.

I was there, not a badly ran tournament in my opinion. There were a few issues that Teamroper mentioned. Fix those two things and you have a tournament that is quicker, more organized, and best of all has more room in the stands. It splits not only the total number of wrestlers in the venue at any given time but also the number of spectators.

The only thing that stinks is for parents who have kids in both sessions

Not commenting on the Hutch tourney, but, PLEASE use split formats. The advantages for the parents are huge - stands are not as crowded, you can find a place to park and you do not have to spend the whole day at a tournament. I know some who will claim that there is no better way to spend your day, but some of us have things to do at home. Also, the younger kids stay more focused. I really believe split formats will help retain more kids/parents. The non-crazy, parents on the edge who are just getting into kids wrestling normally are not thrilled with being in a gym all day. In the future, if we have a choice, the tourney with the spit format will be where we are going.

When my oldest was still doing kids wrestling, we would go to Nebraska tournaments specifically because they where split format. The ones in Fairbury was run so smoothly that as a spectator, I looked forward to it.

They had students in grades K-4 or 5 in the morning and then grades 5-8 in the afternoon. Every bracket was a round robin and they used four full mats. But not only was the split format used, they also had a great system with the wrestlers. They didn't really use bout numbers but instead ran it more like HS tournaments. So all kids in the same age group and same weight were divided into groups and then into their bracket by the director in charge. They then were assigned a place to sit in the bleachers and sat in their group starting with the youngest at the bottom and working on up. When it was time to start, the director would have the 8 youngest and smallest kids stand up and they followed another tournament person down to the mat. Everyone else in the stands scooted down and over with the next 8 at the bottom. The Bout sheets where given to the tables by the wrestlers and they all wrestled. When all four matches where done, those eight followed a leader back up to the stands where they sat together at the top and the next group went down and wrestled. It was like watching a swimming event and was so organized.

As parents, you didn't have to worry about missing a bout or wondering when your son/daughter wrestled. You just sat in the stands and watched the wrestling. The kids sitting next to each other made friends during the tournament and it was neat seeing kids that just got done wrestling each other talking and laughing together in the stands.

With the older kids in the afternoon, they didn't do the whole sitting together thing, it was run just like HS tournaments where they start with the light weights, first open matt, kids get their bout sheet, hand in at the table and wrestle.

If you where a parent with a young 6 year old, you knew you would be done by 11:00 and could go home.....not bad. If you had a wrestler in both sessions, yeah, you where there all day but usually no longer than a regular tournament.

The benefit of a split tournament is that younger kids don't have to wait so long between matches.

Split format is fine if you have one child or are lucky enough to have them in both in the same session. It doesn't help and makes the day a lot longer if you have kids in both sessions. You have an hour or more dead time in the middle to sit through while the second session warms up. The same deal for the coaches. They are there a lot longer also. Also, make sure the 6 and 8 year olds are in the morning. If they have to sit through their older siblings session first, they have totally lost focus and energy by the afternoon.

There is good and bad in split format. Less people in the stands is good.More parking is good. Most people I know like to watch all day. So the 1.5 hours in between suck. In our club most people stay to cheer on all of the kids.Kids worming up on the mats before morning session is done sucks.

I think normal format is better. I never hear any one crying about spending two days at the ball field for a tournament .

I think the big thing is knowing how many kids you should have in your tournament. The clubs that put on the good tournaments have been doing it a long time. Most know what they can do and cant do.

I my self look for round robins.

I have been to both and I like both. I like straight through MORE as a spectator and as a coach. I am not big on 45 to 1 hour down time. The split format creates some head aches for people running a tournament. Maintaining a strong volunteer group - I think it is much tougher running split format. "Some" parents tend to think when their kids are done wrestling it is time to go home. It also depends on the club size and availability of KNOWLEDGABLE volunteers. Also the people normally complaining about anything to do with a tournament - have never organized and directed a tournament and probably limited volunteer time at anything. I understand split format completely - shorter day. It never made any difference to me - I wanted to spend the day in the gym with the kids, family and friends when it 0-10 degrees outside.