Will,

Make Kansas one high school class and you still don't have any more college opportunities available to Kansas kids. You still have the same limited number of colleges offering D-I programs out there. You still have the limited amount of scholarships that each school can give out. I believe it is somewhere around 9 or 10 scholarships. There is very limited money and opportunity in college wrestling right now. That is evidently a reflection of the interest in wrestling. You are not addressing that aspect of what I posted. We are not going to grow college wrestling opportunities until we develop more general interest with the sporting public. If anything by limiting the amount of wrestlers participating in state wrestling tournaments you are going to do nothing but impede not grow general wrestling interest. We need people and new people in the seats in big numbers. We should not be doing things to lower the numbers at high school state tournaments. I would say a pretty high percentage of the spectators at these state tournaments this weekend were family and friends. If their kids are not there wrestling, they are not coming to the state tournaments. Do you really want wrestling to be a sport for just the elite wrestlers and their families?

This is public school education mainly that the KSHSAA is governing. They are serving the public not a profit goal. The public school system is supported by the tax dollars of all the citizens not just families of elite wrestlers.

I think if someone wants their child to pursue an elite wrestling career that there are plenty of opportunities outside our regular high school season like our freestyle and greco programs. Now there are also more national post high school season folkstyle tournaments than there have been in the past. Actually I think due to the lack of budgets for most college wrestling programs that they are more likely to scout potential college wrestlers at these post high school season national folkstyle and freestyle tournaments. I would see someone approaching wrestling excellence this way as more following the traditional capitalistic approach that you talked about. This is the way that I believe that excellence in about every sport in America is being pursued today. It is not thru the regular season high school competition but from year around premier competition. American youth and their families are investing in their athletic development in these premier teams and in expensive year around training programs. Isn't personal investments such as this the capitalistic way?

I disagree with you too that not making state is going to make a wrestler work harder. It might but I also think that being at State also gives a wrestler extra incentive to want to improve to be better. I know my own son saw some wrestlers there that inspired him and he is pumped up to work harder now to improve how he does next year. He saw those state champions in action and he wants to work hard now to become one someday. He would not have felt that way if he was not there. I know that because he was not at State as a freshman and he was not as enthused last year as he is today after being at State last weekend. Another value I see to it from improving a wrestler is that I think there is some value to experience it and learn what it is about by getting on the mat in a state competition. I think that can benefit you in your next state competition.