Well, I am going to go ahead and applaud the referee's at the Kansas Coliseum this week-end. I know, I know, I am sure there were some bad calls, but when there are that many matches in two days, nothing will be perfect. We all know there is no perfect ref, coach, wrestler, parent, etc.

I believe the Kansas officials that were there were very deserving candidates and did a wonderful job.

I did have a beef with one offical who had what we call on the outside as "Rabbit Ears". I believe he hit four coaches for team points in the 1st two rounds and many coaches were taking his name down for his negative/uncalled for mannerisms on the mat. I was personally hit for a team point for simply stating a rule from the side of the mat and I was talking to my other coach and not even the ref. I did not raise my voice or use foul language and was simply asking a question to my coach. "He called stalling on our feet when we were on top with only a three count that he showed. I asked if it was a five count and he ran to the table and hit me for a team point". The differnce between 7th and 8th in the tourney. If it would have been for a trophy, I would have addressed him after the tourney, but it wasnt.

I also saw him take a team point from the Lawrence coach who was simply stating that our wrestler foot was not on the line (and it was not). He said his judgment was being question and took a team point from him. I kinda felt sorry for the lawrence coach.

Somebody might want to address this guy on the side if they know him and let him know it's o.k. for coaches to ask questions and get clarification and we are not always questioning judgement. It's our job. I know his name, but I don't know if it's appropriate to put his name on this site.

Who was that Anderson he's trigger happy. lol

Was not Anderson. I believe the ref in question was from Junction City.

I thought the officiating at Hays was much improved. Two referees per match is a good thing. There was a lot of conferring, but that's good. The officials just want to get it right. As always, there's some calls but by and large I thought it was very good.

Two referees per match was a great thing. From a spectators point of view, the whole tournament ran quite well. Is there any way to bring down the prices at the concession stand

I know refs from both Junction City and Emporia, but don't think the ones I know that were there would hand down an infraction unless it was deserved.

One way to bring down the prices of concession is to don't buy,another would be to move the tournament.

I have always enjoyed reading the posts on this sight. As an Offical I have always thought it best to stay neutral and only read the posts. My Name is Bill Kausler, this is my first post and will also be my last. I felt I needed to address Mr. Church's post.
Mr. Church I am the Offical you are talking about, but you already know this since you know my name. I respect Mr. Church's view. I also respect Mr. Church as a coach and also as a wrestler. My issue is this is only Mr.Church's view of the situations. Here is mine.
Mr. Church I did of course call your wrestler for stalling. I counted to 5 and then gave the appropriate hand signal and warned your wrestler for stalling. In my view you while standing very close to the mat and looking at me yelled that was only 3 seconds and turned around walking away. I then went towards the table and gave an unsportsmanlike call and took 1 team point. If you had an issue with my call why did you or the other coach never even come to the table? We could have disscused the call at the appropriate time and in a professional manner.
Issue 2, in my view, of course you would know about the Lawrence coach they were wrestling one of your wrestlers.I won't go into that situation. The Lawrence coach may not like the call I made againest them. But he was very professional, and handled the issue face to face not on the internet.
Issue 3 only 2 unsportsmanlike calls this whole year you and the Lawrence coach.
Mr. Church I have worked numerous Wichita South matches over the 8 years I have worked the state tournment and I cant remember 1 time your head coach ever coming to the table to question a call. I even remember working a few of your matches with no problems. Mr. Church please call me at work today at 785-761-2244 or tomorrow at home at 785-762-3636. We can then discuss these issues you have.
I wish you and your TITANS the best of luck. Waiting for your call. Thanks Bill Kausler
PS. Thanks for your support Aaron and I will continue to PRAY for you.

Actually the Lawerence coach was beside himself and went straight to the head official to get your name Bill and he had said he never saw that coming. His comments were he was as calm as he had ever been, I know that to be true I was standing right there. You are an excellent ref no doubt about it but a couple of your out of the circle calls were in the opinion of a few a little over the top. Absolutlely nothing unsportsman like from either of theese coaches. Even though the penalty moved South below Goddard its still no big deal. Im glad it wasn't the difference between 1st and 2nd.


Mike Church SR.
Just a spectator :-)
Ohh and a dad.

Why thank you Mike. Although you didn't have to do it for me, it is nice however to see people appaulding the refs for once instead of blaming them. From what I've heard from people not on this site, who were there, it sounds like almost everything went pretty smoothly, which is the way it should. I look forward to the next 4 weeks of the kids season when some of the kids from high school join the kids division. Which reminds me, I was at Ellsworth this weekend and they had 4 14&U kids about 6 ft tall, who seriously looked like they could have been 18 years old and 189 pounders in high school. I was astonished that they were 14!. I kept thinking "Boy these kids are gonna be football players!"

My stepson is 14 and he is 6'1'' although he only weighs about 110. lol

Bill, I will call you soon. I respect what you wrote. I am not questioning your ability as a referee to see the call and make the right call. I watched you real close after that and thought you did a very good job making judgement calls. I only questioned the quick unsportsman like call when I was not yelling at you or addressing you in an unprofessional manner. Many coaches seemed to think you were quick to jump the gun for that point in particular.

I may be incorrect on the number of unsportsman likes, but I was told you hit four of them. That is probably what I get for taking others at their word.
As I said, it was only the difference between 7th and 8th, not 3rd and 4th. I am not mad about the situation at all. I just want to get a little cushion for making comments from the side. Why stop a match to talk to a ref when you can say your peace from 5 feet away and we both get our points across. You got your point across with the point, I just wanted to get the point across that I did not see a visual 5 count. There is nothing I can do in that situation after th point for a few reasons : 1)I know you can't and wont change the call 2) don't want to change the momentum of the match 3)we were supposed to win the match anyway.
If we are not being billigerent and personal, then I don't think that a point should be taken. I see coaches say a lot worse and just get a nod from the official.
I will contact you soon in you wish. Have a wonderful off season and look forward to the next 30 years of this.

Mike,

I am glad you are being very adult about this whole thing. I would mention though, that referees are not required to give a visual count for either stalling or backpoints. Most officials do give a visual for backpoints because it is suggested they do so, for the fans, coaches, and even the wrestlers themselfs. As for stalling, some officials will give a visual count. Technically there is no set amount of time to be given for stalling, but 5 seconds of non activity is a reasonable amount. I will often give a visual count when there is a wrestler in the advantage position, but I do so for the coaches sake. My hope is they will recognize this and encourage their wrestler to stop stalling and move to an agressive move.

I had a coach this weekend get upset at me because I gave his wrestler a warning for stalling because he was sitting on the other kids ankle between his calf and hamstring (we call it k-stating the leg where i'm from). But the kid wasn't even attempting any sort of manuever to score points, hence he was riding. After 20 seconds, I gave a 5 second visual count in view of his coach, then stopped the match and gave him the warning. What was really funny was the coach was mad at me, but I had given the other wrestler the exact same call for the exact same situation in the previous period when he was on top. The score of the match? 2-0, its was pretty obivous both wrestlers were stalling.

Thanks Nigel, again, I am not angered at all. The tourney went smooth and I saw things out of referee's this week-end that we don't see all the time. I saw hustle and hard work. I don't think referee's cheat. I think they are for the most part honest people who want to be fair. I think just as athletes do, referee's have bad days.
Bill did a good job and I would recommend him for State again anytime based on his performance. I don't want anyone to think I was trying to take away from his ability or work this week-end. I just didnt agree with the team point when he could have just shot me a look or verbally told me to watch it. It's fine though. Ref's and coaches will not agree on anything. Just as I said, I have at least 28 more years of this. This probably won't be the last time I lose a team point. Bill, it's all good and you do a good job. I'll try and I hope you will try to just get a little thicker skin.
P.S. Bill, you are brave to put your phone number on here. Do you know how crazy these high school wrestlers are on here. hahahaha!

oh, and the reason I did not come to the table was I did not want to lose another point and be watching the state tourney from the brackets on the internet!!!

Mike, I'm at work it's ok to call me here. I would still like to talk to you about this. Nothing personal. Please call tonight if at all possible. Even this late. Thanks again Bill

haha! went to bed at 9:10 pm Long week-end

Well done gentlemen! I do agree with not posting your phone number directly on this site. I would not encourage any kid to do that and as we all know, children learn by example.

Ha ha Nurse,

I think we have a close enough family here where we don't have to worry about giving out our phone numbers. Besides every officials number is listed in on this site under officials or under the KSHSAA officials directory so its not like they are hard to find. And if that isn't enough the wonderful world of internet has given everyone the opportunity to look someones phone number and address up anywhere in the world.

Okay..but sheeshhh..stop laughing at me. This is an open forum and family or not..it is not a good practice to just post phone numbers, addresses etc on the net. Why give some psycho all they need to know right off the bat..why not make them type for it just a bit. I think I am being grounded.

Any fine young females want mine? I'll gladly hand it over after i have received your application to date myself along with a current color photo and a self addressed stamped envelope

Thanks
Alex