Chad, something to keep in mind is that USJOC requires USA cards, so a lot of those Okies do buy one, but only use it at USJOC, so that may not be as much of a deterrent as you might think. So as far as the KS series we are talking about, I still agree with you that I don't think it improves KS wrestling as a whole. No doubt the kids like the bling, but we are really after making kids better wrestlers. Someone earlier asked about "asking the kids". What do you think a kid is gonna say when you say "would you like to get a great big trophy for winning the Kansas Series?"?? He is gonna say yes of course. But is it going to imprve the sport in Kansas? I know BLT is really trying to do this to make it better, but too many others just want another award to hand their kid.

Here is something else to think about when you are talking about bringing kids in: once the first few tourneys are wrestled, kids are going to realize they are OUT of the points race, and not show up, and the numbers will thin out as you get deeper in the series.

If I were to back anything like this, it would have to only be tourneys like Salina, Western Kansas Classic, and Wichita Classic, after those two are split up. No offense to Maize, or other tourneys, but OVERALL I think the three tourneys above are the toughest. I know certain brackets at certain tourneys might be tougher, but overall, that is my opinon.

Chad, you and I might not agree on splitting the team up some weekends. If there is a kid or kids in our club that are not getting beat, he needs to go somewhere to test himself against different competition. We split up quite a bit during the season, but more times than not we are together, building some team spirit. There is plenty of time for that, so I think it is counterproductive to INSIST that the team all goes to the same tourneys.