A group of us have been kicking around the idea of starting a scholarship fund to support Kansas wrestlers who wrestle after High School and all Kansas Colleges or Universities that sponsor wrestling.

We could reserve 10% of the funds as a grant for the first Kansas University to wrestle as a Division I school and use 90% to support our wrestlers now. That way the pot would grow like the lottery and our current wrestlers (club, JUCO, DII and olympic styles)would benefit immediately.

What do you think??

Merry Christmas!!

I mean what are your ideas about how it should be done?? Who should decide which wrestlers get money? What are the things to consider?? Anything else about this topic?

How would it be kept fair to benefit everyone?? Should there be a pannel from each district to decide??

Just a topic to generate discussion.

Why not get the KS lottery to sponsor it like they did a KS Wildlife and Parks scratch ticket? Just an idea...

Just some thoughts on the selection process. ACT score, GPA, and academic records should all be considered. I also think the applicants should be interviewed by the scholarship panel. It would also interesting to get references from the coaches in the applicant's league, not just his head coach. We know these kids are good enough to wrestle in college, so wrestling achievements should not be a deciding factor, I would want to see how well these students will do in college classrooms, so the money is well spent.

To keep it fair, send a letter to every senior who qualifies for the state tournament. If THEY take the initiative to respond, they are eligible.

It's a great idea to put together. The percentage split is interesting. I think a lot of the selection procedures could be adopted from other scholarship selection committees. The big question is who is the "ideal" recipient of these scholarships? Are we talking about disadvantaged wrestlers, great wrestlers, above average wrestlers who don't have scholarship offers, active college wrestlers, great wrestlers with poor parents, etc....All of the above issues can be easily resolved. The scholarship organization committee will just have to make decisions on each criterion. This forum would be a great place for feedback on selection criteria. I suspect that many of the kids (who want to) don't wrestle in college because they can't afford it. A quick questionnaire at the State tourney would provide some data on why Kansas wrestlers aren’t going on to wrestle in college.

Questionnairre Example:
Are you planning on wrestling in college?
Why or why not?
What would keep you from wrestling in college?

If a lot of the questionnaires are answered “too far from home”…this would be beneficial data to the effort of adding more four year wrestling programs in Kansas.

Also…just talking about wrestling in college may plant a seed in a kids head. The power of suggestion is a powerful thing.

I don’t know who all has been throwing around this idea, but please keep me in the loop. I am very interested in helping at any stage and any level.

Ike Wennihan
ikew@southwindconservation.com