I am with you sig. All of us here in KS look like a joke. We cant seem to work together for the kids.Sad,if we want to change some think that would help the kids let the HS coaches in the kids club rooms.Let the HS kids wrestle kids club any time.That would help the kids way more than bypassing subs.

And just for the record so my PM stops getting blown up, I don’t support the last minute change. If you want to change something do it the RIGHT way for the state not just 1 or 2 groups. Should be same rules for all, after all we are USA Wrestling-Kansas not USA Wrestling- D1, D2, D3, and D4.

Sig...there was decent on the board for just the reason you are laying out in your email and there is absolutely no reason that needs to be kept a secret. In full disclosure and with permission from these individuals I am going to tell you who Team Bandidos is...it does not need to be a surprise.

Club Director - Steven Cooksley, Mr. Cooksley is a former member of the Newman wrestling team. He is a resident of Wichita. Before moving to Wichita he was a member of the Seaman High School was the state runner up his senior year of High School. He was a USAWKS Tripple Crown Winner in the junior division.

Vice President - Mark Stanley, Mr. Stanley is the current tournament director for the USAWKS State Folkstyle Tournament and serves as the Executive Assistant State Director. Mr. Stanley is a member of the USAWKS Corporate Board. He served this past year on the LOC that planned the 2014 NAIA National Wresting Tournaments and served as Director of Tournament Operations. Mr. Stanley has been serving on the Kids Executive Council in one fashion or another since 2005. Mr. Stanley has been the club director of the Jr. Viking Wrestling Club for 13 years.

Secretary - Kyle Wright, Mr. Wright one of the District 4 representatives to the Kids Exec Council. He is the North Assistant Director.

Treasurer – Danny Grater, Coach Grater is a 3x high school state champion, a Cadet Greco national champion, a 2x college wrestling all-American, a 4x college academic all-American, he is the head coach at Riley county high school and junior high, Coach Grater is the current head coach for clay county wrestling club, Kansas freestyle/Greco junior staff member and serves on the Kids Executive Council.

Other – Pat Kelly, Coach Kelly has been coaching high school since 1998. He began his head coaching career at Newton High School from 1998 – 2001. After a brief stint in IA teaching and coaching at Holmes Junior High, Coach Kelly returned to Kansas to coach Seaman High School in 2007 where he remains today. Since coming to Seaman he has coached numerous state placers, had two top 10 teams, and coached 2X State Champion Bryant Guillen. Coach Kelly has been named 5A Regional Coach of the Year each of the last two seasons. In 2013 he was named the KWOA 5A Coach of the year. Coach Kelly competed for Britt High School in IA where he compiled a 132 – 6 record and was a 2X IA State Champion. He wrestled for Coach Dan Gable of Iowa from 1988-92 and as a part time starter and was a member of the Big Ten and NCAA D1 Championship Teams. He finished his wrestling career at UNO in 1992-93 compiling a record of 94 – 34; was a 2X NCAA D2 All-American, placing 3rd in his junior and senior seasons. UNO was the NCAA D2 National Runner-up during Coach Kelly’s senior season. Coach Kelly has served in various capacities in the USAW organization both in KS and in IA. He is a Silver Certified Coach and is currently the Vice President of the KWCA.

Other – Robert M. Gonzales, Coach Gonzales just completed his 37th year of coaching wrestling. From 1985-2005 he coached at Shawnee Heights High School and he is currently the head coach for Manhattan High School. Coach Gonzales assembled an impressive 261 – 116 record in his tenure at those two institutions winning two team titles. Coach Gonzales was a member of the KSHSAA Executive Board from 2005 – 2011. He has served on various boards for USAW dating back to 1982 and is a former corporate board member of USAWKS. He has been the NWCA Kansas Rep since 1982. He has served two terms as the President of the KWCA. Coach Gonzales served on the LOC for the 2014 NAIA National Tournament.

I gave you a brief bio of each of these men because there is bound to be questions of why? I do not want any of their characters to be impeached. Their resumes speak for themselves. They are all fine men who care about kids both on the mat and off. As a group, all of these men have done a tremendous job providing opportunities for wrestlers in Kansas. We feel empathy for the young men who are going to CO and their families. We wish that tough choices like this were not required in life...but they are. We wish that the district boundaries in District 4 were not such of a challenge...but they are. However, as a whole we did NOT believe that it was right or allowable by the bylaws, which many of us helped draft, to do what was done on this short notice. Many loop holes were created by a decision that we believe was at best short-sighted.

When bad decisions are made some lose and some win. The decisions made last week were structured so that a few would win but not enough thought was given to who would loose. The men who made the decisions were not bad men. And I will contend that they would have equally impressive resumes as those listed here. However, we feel strongly that the best way to prevent such short-sightedness by future boards (regardless of the good intentions) is to expose every loop hole for what it is...thus the formation of Team Bandidos.

Team Bandidos is for real. Email us bandidos.usawks@gmail.com for registration information.

We should have a few for you. Will let you know.

Hmm. Is there another "District" qualification tournament that is not the weekend of the 22nd? For instance, if a kid can make subs but not district?

We currently have someone working on that!

Most success requires hard work, but with just some bird food and a loud noise you can get a duck to crap on your neighbors porch every day.

Is this for real, even if you don't live within D2 boundaries??? Is it also true that this is and option in D3?

Oh I definitely think it is for real. Only problem I see is that it is going to cost an arm and a leg to get in. $20 for sub-district fee, $20 for District fee, and a $50 late entry fee, for a grand total of $90 to wrestle D2. I don't know how big team bandidos will be, but I doubt many girls in D2 will need to worry about getting kissed by them.

So if was a HS kid in D2. Sitting around the house for a week or so doing nothing. Then I decide, "I change my mind. I do want to wrestle some more to stay in shape for freestyle. Maybe I should checking with my old kids club coach. I'll go talk to him at practice on Monday the 17th."

That kid, to wrestle at districts would have to pay $20 for a tournament he didn't wrestle in (sub district)????

That is correct.

Why does a HS kid have to pay the $20 for Subs when signing up for Districts if he doesn't wrestle Subs? Greed?

Is there anything in the by-laws that would stop a HS kid in D4 from entering both the D4 and D2 tournament? What if a kid with 4 or less total kids in his bracket decided to run up to Goodland, make weight, then buzz over to the D2 district tournament and wrestle for the Bandidos? If he has 3 kids in his bracket in D4 he could place 3rd, then he could wrestle D2. Heck if he got 2nd at D2 he could wrestle himself at State.............

Hmmmmm.....

Well what's the verdict? Isn't the signup deadline for D2 HS division tonight?

An edict has been handed out stating that Team Bandidos is not allowed to sit with the cool kids in the lunch room.

You might not be able to sit with us in the lunch room, but you’re welcome to bring your team and sit in the bleachers and watch some great wrestling

FYI... Edict - an official order or proclamation issued by a person in authority.

Al, That is a very nice gesture. Will they be required to pay the $20 sub district fee to watch???

Not only will they NOT have to pay the $20 entry fee, we won’t even charge a gate fee like in other districts.

You D2 guys are alright. I don't care what everyone else says.