Eric,

I respect your opinion and I agree that qualifying for the state tournament and the state tournament should be treated as a special achievement for the kids, however, I offer a couple different points of view....

1. What makes the state tournament special is the parade of athletes, the intro of the placers, and all of the other pagentary. I don't think Mark Stanley is planning on doing that for districts. I really don't think having the District 1 tournament in the same location as the State tourney really takes away from the state tournament for the kids.

2. As a coach, I am concerned about the "Deer in the headlights" look that the kids have the first time they go to state. In some cases the enormity of it all effects their wrestling. Heck, we intentionally take kids to Rocky Mountain Nationals, Bighorns, Dixie Nationals, Tulsa Nationals, Liberty Nationals, etc just so the State tourney doesn't seem that huge to them.

3. As a parent, I know I had a bunch of happy parents when they found out about Districts for next year. The appreciate the setting with seat backs and room to spread out.

4. From a coach's perspective it makes it easier trying to cover down on all the kids. It gets very challenging when you have those tournaments that use 2-3 different gyms. Having everything in one location will be nice.

BLUF: IMO, I applaud Mark and crew for doing this for us. I like the idea of having a bigger venue.

Just my thoughts, not meant to be argumentative.

Shawn Budke