I have heard that it passed to have the girls wrestling tournament moved to state in topeka. How does this work with current girls that wrestle and make it to state and place with the boys. Will this not be allowed anymore? Could they wrestle both? Just wanting some clarification on this.
Thanks

Here's what I gathered from the vote:

1) The Girls' Division will be added to the current USAWKS State Tournament -- not 100% sure if this takes effect in the 2018-2019 season or the 2019-2020 season
2) They will use the same format that has previously been used at the Girls' State Tournament
3) No qualifier - show up, make weight, and they'll block them together -- will most likely be round-robin format
4) Girls are no longer allowed to compete in the boys' division during the post season (subs/districts/state)
5) Didn't discuss how far out they would place
6) They will combine the 6u and 8u divisions as they do with the boys

I would say this is a step in the wrong direction if you ask me. I have witnessed girls place 1st in boys state, 2nd several times, and multiple 3rd- 6th place finshes over my 5 years with my kids wrestling. Some girls a good enough to hang with the boys, but will have to stay on the girls side now. I for see several 10-15 second matches with some of the better girls. I am glad they have a girls only, don’t get me wrong about that. I think that will help the girls attendance that are wanting to get into it, but to make the girls wrestle only the girls will not help the better girls get any better. I think my daughter would give up wrestling girls state, to wrestle on the boys side.

I agree 100%. The vote was pushed through way too fast. The ship set sail before it's construction was complete.

Derek did a good job of describing the new rule regarding girls' state. The board of directors had voted against this proposal because it was felt that the girls' program would benefit from another year or two of growth, but the state body overwhelmingly felt that the time was right to do this. This change will be effective this season.

Can this be Petitioned and changed for this year?

No, not after the state body meeting. Since this is now in our bylaws it can only be changed by another vote by the state body.

I voted yes on this as I have been a women's wrestling advocate for a long time and I feel this is moving in the right direction, and hopefully showing KSHSAA that we are on board promoting woemens wrestling as well. I do think this got pushed through quickly by the state body, and probably should of had more discussion on the details. There was a bunch of side conversations going on during the amendments and I feel when the vote got called many did not know exactly what they were voting on. After the vote passed I heard many coaches upset because now their "stud" girls who have placed at boys state will not be able to compete in the boys division. I see both sides if the coin here as you want the best competition for your wrestlers, but also if KSHSAA gets on board then there will be no choosing either.

I agree Coach Geyer. Definitely moving things in the right direction, but lots of confusion last Sunday during that 45 minutes of debate. Could have easily spent a couple of hours hammering out the fine details. There's a thread conversation taking place on FB about this right now and KSHSAA was brought up. My opinion is that girls should still be allowed to compete in either (or both) until KSHSAA sets rules for the potential high school division. Once KSHSAA "gets on board" then USAWKS would need to follow. Regardless, I hope they take note that we are pushing for this at the youth level and need to see support from them at the high school level.

My problem is that my daughter is in one of the weight classes that has only had 2-3 girls at state. I don’t think she has had a match against anyone her one age/weight that has lasted 30 seconds at girls state. She likes to wrestle the boys because it makes her better because wrestling girls didn’t help her. She lives to wrestle and is devastated by this decision. I would be all for this if there was enough girls already, but the growth is just not there yet. The first year she wrestled I think there was only 90 total girls 6U- HS at girls state. I think last year there was around 160 ish. That is still not enough to make brackets. I at least think they should be allowed to choose. If you want to take the girls state away from her that’s fine, I am sure she is more proud of her 2nd place finish at kids state last year, than 4 straight years of 1st place with 2-4 girls year year. Again, sounds like something was voted before before anyone knew what they were getting.
Please don’t get me wrong, I think this is a big step in the right direction, but needs more girls first

The reason that our bylaws require a 2/3 vote in favor of any motion that is not supported by the board is to try to avoid hasty decisions.

If you were at the meeting, you will recall that I violated our own rules and ignored a positive vote to close discussion because there appeared to be confusion. This allowed additional debate and clarification to occur. The question was then called again, which resulted in the second vote to end discussion. This passed by a large majority (it may have even been unanimous),

I then asked the members if there was anyone who was not certain about what they were voting on. I had Joe Knecht repeat his motion. While debate had concluded by virtue of the prior vote to end discussion, I continued to allow any questions on the specifics of what we were voting on. It was my goal to make sure that everyone knew what they were voting on, while complying with the results of the vote to end discussion.

After all of that, the vote in favor of the motion wasn't even close.

How did your club representatives vote on this issue?

I am really not for sure. I didn’t know when the meeting was. I had to ask who went from our club. Knowing who went now he would not have voted in favor of it if he knew it would mean she wouldn’t get to wrestle at kid state. But I will have to talk to him and see for sure

Like I said before, please don’t take this as me being a disgruntled person about it. Sometime people have to sacrifice for the greater good of every one else. I just wish more thought was brought forth by the state body and whoever started the push for this particular format

My understanding is the girls can wrestle in the State Series but not in the Girls only state if they decide on the series.

It was stated they don’t get 2 kicks at the can...they just have to pick one route or the other.

Mike can you confirm?

No the way the vote was is all females can only wrestle in the girls division at State. They will not be at Subs or Districts since they walk straight to State at this time. In the future as the numbers increase and a Districts is needed then they will be allowed to wrestle at the qualifiers.

Some of them will be walking straight into a state title for lack of participation in their particular bracket. Then will they be able to wrestle in the boy's? Because I know my daughter wants to earn her place at state that's what she works for all year.

Everyone forgets or has not been around long enough to know. There are several of us that have been fighting for this for 20 plus years back when there was on a hand full of girls. The sport of girls wrestling has been around for a long time even before I got heavily involved. If you want girls wrestling to grow you have to give a little to get a lot. Back when I was proposing to KSHAA 10 + years ago with Rick Bowden. His exact words to me, "they don't even have a girl division in kids wrestling so why should there be in high school". That is why we have been fighting and trying to get girls division in kids. If you want to blame someone for this, blame me and all of us that have been fighting for it for years. We new what had to be done and kept fighting to raise awareness and participation to get it thru. I seen an opportunity to bring the fight back to the fore front and a possible win finally. So I went for it and it passed. Instead of complaining about progress why not be happy for the advancement in the sport. The only way to get it to grow more is to get girls away from boys so these dads that have a problem with their daughters wrestling boys. Now they can get behind the sport and actually realize that girls can be fierce competitors also.

I am personally excited about the direction!
I love the fact we are becoming more inclusive and think directionally this is a big win!
I think there are opportunities for improvements for how we execute the plan.
The improvements will come with time.

I do have a concern with attendance to the state body meeting.

The state body meeting provides EVERY team with a voice yet each year we collect a $50 fee from a lot of teams for not attending.

Every team has an avenue to be heard but yet they choose not to be heard and then voice frustration about The decisions.

Just my thoughts

Go Wrestling

When is the state meeting?? Our club would like to start attending these meetings