The tournament calendar says it is March 21st in Topeka. This is a Friday. (Actually Good Friday). I know there was talk at the end of last year of moving it. Is the new date and location official? I am not concerned with the pro and con, right and wrong, but just need to know for calendar purposes.

Hi. Most of you are having your District kick-off meetings this weekend. I would like to distribute some information about a 6&Under end of year tournament that will be hosted at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, KS on March 21st, 2008. I would appreciate it if you would pass this information on to the member clubs participating in this weekend’s meetings.

We plan to wrestle the following weight brackets:
34, 37, 40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 58, 61, 64, 67, 70, 73, 76, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110, 120.

As of now the tournament will be ran in an open format. However if I can get a commitment from each of the Sub-District locations or from alternate site in each district to run a 6U qualifier the week prior to March 21st, I will advance the top 8 wrestlers from each District into this end of year finale. Our goal is to provide those wrestlers competing in the 6U divisions at the end of the year an option to compete for a State title on the same stage as those in the older divisions. They will not have to wrestle kids with the advantage of two additional years of maturity to do it!

This will be an extremely fun weekend. A lot of matches will be wrestled in a one day format, but there will be no older kids getting in the way and there will be plenty of room for the wrestlers, their families, and wrestling supporters. A flyer will soon be posted under the calendar of events with all of the details. Anyone interested in hosting a Qualifying tournament please contact me; preference will be given to the exiting Sub-District locations. The tournament email address is under_six_kstoc@yahoo.com. Let me know if you have any questions and thank-you for your support.

Mark Stanley
Director
Jr. Viking Wrestling Club
785/286-0899

It's amazing that nobody wanted this tournament until Ottawa made it so big! I am an assistant coach in Ottawa and we have worked so hard to make this a fun and positive tournament for these kids, I cant believe someone thinks they can just take this away from Rick & the ottawa club! Rick loves this tournament and deserves to keep it!!!!

WOW. How does Ottawa get undercut like this? Shame on those who are trying to take over. So do we have two 6U state tourneys now? Rick if you are still having a 6U tourney you can count on Ark City's support.

That is not exactly accurate. The year of the first 6U tournament in Ottawa we had had one of many controversial votes at the state body meeting about adding a 6 year old division to THE state tournament. Knowing this vote was going to happen prior to the meeting, District 2 had I believe, voted at our meeting to hold a 6U state tournament ourselves, if the vote at the state meeting failed. When the vote did indeed fail, largely due to the clubs in District 1 voting against it, Ottawa, to their credit, went home from the meeting and simply beat us to the announcement that they would host such a tournament. None of us knows how Ottawa or anyone else voted that year, but I find it just a little bit hypocritical that any club in District 1 hosts this tournament since as a district they have consistently voted against the 6U division being added to THE state tournament. Believe me, many clubs would step forward to take this tournament as it is a cash cow.

I doubt very much that Rick voted against the 6&u tournament because he loves it so much! And it's not the "CASH COW" that he loves about it, he loves watching these young kids have fun and work hard on the MAT. All of us in the Ottawa club love having this tourn. for the kids not the MONEY, we do good enough with our HUGE open tourn.! I hope everyone that has come to our 6&u tourn. before comes back this year. I personally think the expo center is a bit intimadating for 6&u kids! Good luck to all kid wrestlers this year!!!

Intimidating??? What’s more intimidating a) a stuffy High School gym where you can’t find a seat, the decibel level is so high you can’t hear yourself think, and mat space/coaching areas are so congested that you are stepping over or on each other with any move; or b) chair-back seats, ten full size mats on an arena floor with plenty of room to move around, and a place for kids/spectators/coaches to get away from the noise. I would say that option a) is more intimidating...but maybe that’s just me. And it will be a huge bonus not to have to worry about whether fire marshals are doing their job or not…because it will not be an issue when you host these events in a facility that does not exceed its intended capacity.

Good job Jr. Vikings and crew. This is a good move for our District and the State’s 6U competitors. I am not sure how anyone could even make a good faith argument that improving on the venue is a bad thing. …other than those with a financial stake in the original deal.

Confucius say, hmmmm.

I went back to last year’s posts and read the entire thread. Coach Bill, didn’t Mark invite Rick and the Ottawa Mat Masters to co-host this event in an improved facility. If it is about the kids, then why did your club not take him up on his offer? I don’t get it.?.? It doesn't appear to me that this group is trying to take anything away from anyone. They just want to improve on a great event.

BTW...I like the idea of the qualifiers if it can be worked out. This will cut down the 64plus man brackets to a maximum of 32. Great idea! SportO, lets get together and come up with some sites so more people can share in the "cash cow".

I think confucious is confused, did I not say we do this for the KIDS not the MONEY? There are plenty of places to get away from the noise, and if you cant handle the noise you shouldn't be at a wrestling tourn. I guess we should hold every tourn. at a big venue so we can "GET AWAY FROM THE NOISE"!! Have you ever been down on the floor at the expo center? It's pretty cluttered down there to! Rick started this tourn. & deserves to keep it! If I had the money I would build a big venue in Ottawa just to keep it here for Rick. Once again its not about the money its about Rick keeping what he started and loves!!!

This subject has a lot of positives with also a few valid concerns. The concern of many, including myself, focused on the effects of starting the "chase for the title" mentality for a 5 yr. old as well as having them roam a large venue unsupervised. It involves a broad range of valid points that can be debated on another thread. I believe that Mark Stanley's intentions are sincere and I applaud his effort in organizing a premier event for the kids. I also believe that there has been no slight intended against Ottawa. Rick Croucher has poured his heart into kids wrestling. The way that he has built this 6U tournament has been admired statewide. As Jess Keith presented at the State body meeting last year, this is not a personal issue with Ottawa. It is just a desire to enhance the experience for the young wrestlers. While I am cautious because of the effects it may have on our kindergarden age kids, I can't fault the intentions of those that are promoting it.

If you have qualifiers for this tournament the end result is a smaller cow and thus less cash. I don't know what kind of deal has been made with the Expo Center but I have a hard time believing that one age group of 16 man brackets can support it. Besides, if that is all the entries you have then any number of high school gyms would work fine for such an event. All you would need is three to four full size mats!

They would take the top 8 from each district, making 32 man brackets. I believe they said the Expo center is free for that event.

So I guess that means an admission fee will be charged to parents and spectators?

I am promoting the Croucher vs. Stanley cage match to be conducted this Sunday at Wellsville High. Admission is free and I will bring plenty of microwave popcorn! All donations will go towards awards for the 6U Kids State Tournament Awards.

Hopefully this will be the last year that this is not a USAWKS Sponsored event. Hopefully we can follow the examples in OK and MO which both have novice division state events. It would be nice to have this event completed before HS state so that we don't burn the little wrestlers out with such a long season. We really don't need two clubs involved in a tug-a-war over this event.

Rick would win hands down!!!!

Isn't there a college in Ottawa that the tournament could be held at or is that taking away your profit? I know Emporia isn't that far away from Ottawa either. Great job, Mr. Stanley! A 32 man bracket would be a whole lot better than in the past. I had a wrestler in the tournament in 2003 that had a 64 man bracket and would have had to wrestler 6 times to win 1st, and lets not try to figure out how you would get 3rd if you lost the first match!!!! Thanks again for thinking out this tournament to make it become a great event for the clubs, families, and wrestlers!

So who is the 6U state champ, the winner of Ottawa, Topeka, or worst...both? Now to get a 6U state championship just choose a tourney, and if you lose one, hey try the next. If a kid wins both is he a 2x state champ in one year? Look at all the problems. Come on guys find a solution to this.

Why doesn't the state body saction this, Have the tournament the weekend befor high school state. rotate the site on a yearly basis between all of the districts. Instead of arguing about taking this away from ottawa, why not work together to make this a positive experience for the little ones. I personaly don't think 6u need a state championship but thats just my opinion

Easy guys, I'm not speaking for Ottawa mat masters these are my personal feelings! As far as I know there is not a fued between clubs, and I hope everything goes fine. Maybe we ought to ask the kids, they usually know what they want!!

I am not trying to start a fued either. I know last year a parent said that for his child had to wrestle 3 times and didn't finish until late afternoon. Our club has always went to Ottawa when we have wrestlers that want to go. They have always put on a good tournament but it is overly conjested. My biggest suggestion is use the other gym also. It would help keep the conjestion down and open some more mat space the wrestlers.