Due to the lack of numbers the Kansas Throw Down has been cancelled.
Thanks

Thank you so much for trying to put this together. I think it was an awesome idea, would have been amazing to watch and would have highlighted Kansas High School Wrestling.

Let's just be honest there are parents and kids that will never show up because of the fear of lossing (no matter what lame excuse they post). Winning State Champion then the next weekend getting an * next to it. If it was important to them there would be no excuse - you would just make it happen. Be honest - kids have wrestled multiple days in a row before, there is a 5lb allowance which is a lot (state was only a week ago), we as parents have traveled all over the state and country when asked too (multiple weekends in a row). It makes me sad you tried to provide something great with little support.

Thank you so much again. Would have been fun. If you try again, we will sign up no matter what.

Maybe parents wanted it more than the kids?

Unfortunately I have to agree.

I agree. Would have loved to see it. But, I'm not wrestling. If I just won the state championship in (?)a, after a hard fought season, would I want to wrestle a high profile match(s) again immediately? Probably not. I just reached the pinnacle, what I have always dreamed of. What I worked years for. Now, the next match, it's to settle everyone else's arguments. I can't blame the wrestlers. But, I would have loved to see it. Maybe start the ball rolling at the beginning of the season, and get the excitement rolling early.

Maybe for some... But for a kid like mine that wants to wrestle the best and was excited to wrestle a couple guys he would never see in HS season it is disappointing. For the last week it was all he talked about . Excited to see other match ups. To me as a parent it was good to see him excited again.

PS - He signed up on his own and then told his parents .

We are sorry to hear about the cancellation of such an event. Our son would have loved to have wrestled this tournament but he has not been cleared from the concussion and stitches on his head. Redemption is what he was hoping for....

I have heard dozens of reasons why kids didn't sign up. I believe the number one reason was Joe Knecht's explanation that everyone sat around and waited to see if anyone was going to sign up. If this is going to work there is going to have to be support from the HS coaches, all of them.

There were 896 wrestlers competing for two days just one week ago in Hays, Salina, and Wichita. Those were STATE QUALIFIERS!! That means there were 896 non state qualifiers (approximately) and at least that many JV wrestlers sitting in the stands or at home.

We needed 100 of the SQ's, 125 of the non SQ's and 75 female wrestlers to make this tournament work. we are talking 12% of the wrestlers in the state. That is NOT an aggressive goal.

We cooperated with the NAIA tournament this year for these reasons: mats and clocks, officials, hotel space, affordable arena, and to get HS wrestlers to come to the NAIA finals. We were going to have several NAIA coaches interested in watching some of our Jrs and Srs. Those all seemed like very logical reasons to have it in Topeka.

So what can we fix:
Not have it on a Sunday?
More centrally located? (Topeka is the 50/50 population line for KS)
Better awards?
One week later?
Didn't like the gold and silver divisions?
Rule changes proposed?

I am looking for feedback and I would appreciate any and all. I will be setting up a survey which many of you will receive and I would appreciate it if everyone responds.

SOME DATA...
Park City 84 HS wrestlers (How many in 14U)
Western KS 52 HS wrestlers (How many in 14U)

I can tell you what would have made a difference for us; no weight changes and only State Placers in the Gold bracket.

Maybe they would show if it was the tournament to decide the dual teams in CO.

Top two placers go. I bet they would show up then.

Excellent idea.

Hmmm.... No, we declined that invite as well..... Its sounds like this tournament was more for the parents ...

The dual team, for the parents? Hmmm.... ok. Didn't think the parents were even invited.

Topeka 50/50? Maybe on numbers, due to NE KS. Not drive time, for the rest of the state.

Put sign-ups the week after regionals. Now you have your qualifiers. Pay the entry fee and then decide, no re-fund. Might change who shows up.

Trade "Throw Down" for "All class rankings" for Rocky Mountain. If they really want to be selected they will show up. If they don't, they stay home.

Just thought of this also. If you're promoting this venue, then why not let the HS coaches coach their kids? Make it a "true grand state"

Daddy's / club coaches didn't coach them through out the year.

Give it back to the men who did their job, all season long.

KASSHA, has to budge on this, topic.

If you want to change the coaching issue you need to go to your AD at your high school and have him write up the proposal and justification. He then needs to promote this within his "league" and get all of the AD's and the League KSHSAA representative to support it. If you get all 213 AD's to support it then it has a chance but you still might need to bribe Musselman.

Here is my frustration with this. Personally, I thought it was a great idea and I promoted it heavily with my wrestlers and their parents at the state tournament. I talked with all of them and encouraged them all to join. In the end I had two state qualifiers register and one female register.

I heard multiple coaches and athletes say that they were waiting to see who all signed up - thats frustrating. I also heard "well there was low numbers so we went elsewhere" - thats also frustrating because of course there will be low numbers if you decide not to sign up. Somebody has to step up and register for the numbers to grow. Those are my frustrations from a coaching standpoint that helps me understand the frustrations from those that are putting the tournament together.

However, I was also frustrated to learn at 10 am on Saturday morning that the tournament had been canceled. The two state qualifiers that had registered were already in Topeka and were arriving at the Expocenter when they got the news. So they drove two hours only to find out that the tournament had been canceled. Sure, that got them to the NAIA Nationals and they stuck around for all of the placement matches, but it was not fair to have them come two hours and then not get to wrestle. The female wrestler that I had signed up, had not yet left Fredonia, but she had not signed up for the Park City-Wichita Classic because of this tournament.

In the end I had three wrestlers that were planning on wrestling Sunday in Topeka. All three of those declined wrestling in Park City on Saturday. So they missed out on a weekend of competition altogether because the Throw Down was lacking 29 wrestlers - which it was my understanding that registration was going to be left open until Sunday morning, I would assume that there would have been some show up at the door... VERY frustrating from a coaching point of view when three wrestlers miss out on a weekend of competition. I feel like it should have been put on anyway, even if they only got one match.

For these reasons, it will be very difficult for me to promote to my wrestlers in the future.

There is also a story going around that EVEN if they would have wanted to host the tournament, it could not have been wrestled because there was an insurance issue. Not sure about this issue, but if there is any truth to it, you have to dot the i's and cross the t's.

HAHA bribe Musselman. That's funny. Musselmans funny. What's the last good thing for wrestling he's done? I can't remember.

"Story"... We focused all of our efforts to get 100 wrestlers to sign up. Phone calls, emails, etc. We needed 285 to break even. We didn't turn in all of the paperwork because it was becoming more and more apparent that it was not going to happen. I have seen 200 kids sign up in the last two days but it didn't happen. 100 was a compromise not to disappoint those who supported. When you sanction a USA event you have insurance. It is not our first rodeo. It is just the first one where the bull got the best of us. I would appreciate any and all support. Your remarks on this forum contribute nothing positive. If you have suggestions or you feel necessary to cast stones you have my email, address, and phone number.