First off, this post isn't intened to be negative. I think track wrestling is going to be great !!!

Did all the tournaments start on time? D4S started late because the software had kids in Round Robins wrestling bout #55,57,59...etc. There has been plenty of complaints about this software, but I don't think any of the previous complaints mentioned this.

D1N started at 9:05. The tournament was well run and we were out of there around 3:00... and my kid is always in the bracket that takes the longest to wrestle!!

i would not call d4 south late there has to be another word for one hour and forty minutes late. but we was out of there early. my question about track wrestling would every place using track wrestling, have the same problems not just one. seems like all the other disticts stared on time?

D2 south started close to on time maybe a few minutes late, but not bad at all. Only one round robin bracket that had numbering messed up (that I noticed) but was quickly and easily fixed.

d3w started 2 hours late! due to the program!

That was unfortunate. I worked the scales that morning and was blown away at how many kids didn't make weight. That completely screwed up the brackets and there were a bunch of #1 and #2 seeds matched up in the first round because of it.

other than that dodge went well

D2S had something like 45 scratches. I think Biddle and McComb and the rest of their team did a great job! Started only a few min late.
Thank You D2S!

Experience using the software is critical. Computer hardware, printers, paper, toner cartridges a must, dedicated table runners. We had a group that used the software at their tournaments earlier in the year - that helped tremendously. Even with their experience - the 40 to 50 scratches, 14 not making weight, etc. creates many many changes that have to be done before the tournament starts. There will be some bracket changes at districts also - but most likely not as many. Running the 120 plus brackets amd 5 age groups can be very complex and time consuming. So if you have never done it - start volunteering setting up a tournament and get involved.

There is no doubt that this program will be a great asset in the future. It is just like anything else software wise and has its problems.

I fault NO ONE at Smokey Valley for the delay. I saw several people working very hard to get it going. They did the best they could with what they had to work with.

I don't think blaming the scratches and kids not making weight is very valid. Every tournement I have ever been involoved with for 15+ years has had to deal with it.

If the program is not designed to roll with scratches then I question the states mandate to use it. IT completely changed the seeding just by scratching a wrestler. I also blame the state for not 1) providing the traing effectively 2) not providing on call support for the program.

In a qualifying event it was sad to see the two hour delay and then in the later rounds kids getting ready to wrestle only to learn that the program duplicated several bout numbers. My boy was match #60 there were 5 mathces at 59 then we waitied another 5-10 minutes for his matches bout sheets. How many time can a coach get a younger kid prepared and ready to go only to learn "well it not you yet" I could see the frustration and the tension in my boy's face.

Everybody knows that preparation of the match is key. It was sad to see not only my boy but several others ride a emotional roller coaster due to "the program"

Again great job SV for the effort your workers put out. It is just to bad that you were handcuffed by a program that isn't ready to be fully implemented yet.

The program does work. Our district started about 5 minutes late.
There is about a 3 page check list that Track Wrestling offers to follow those procedures. The difficulty comes just understanding those procedures and steps to follow. We (our subdistrict) were lucky that some clubs used the Track Wrestling program earlier in the year and got aquainted with the program. We did have a help phone line to call and they were using it in the War Room (bracketing room) from 7:30 am until about 8:30. Not sure what that phone number is, but you are correct - that number needs to be available immediately after the 7:30 am weigh-in Saturday morning. Weigh-ins the night before ONLY would help a lot in getting started on time. Just a suggestion. What does everybody think if weigh-ins were from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm Friday.

D2 North in Valley Center ran very smoothly! Good Job Steve Foster and your Valley Volunteers! And I heard that there were around 100 kids that didn't make weight, although that was not directly from a Tourney Director.

Team Roper,

We had none of the problems you are describing at in D1N. We managed 59 scratches, wrestled 487 competitors, and completed the tourney/paperwork by 3:30pm. Any tournament I run in the future will utilize trackwrestling...with or without a future "state mandate". Running a tournament is complex and a qualifier even more so. I am sure the group of "volunteers" at your site did the very best job possible, however each District director was made aware of this mandate before the sites were chosen this year and they all had an opportunity to vote on whether to have a mandate or not. Every host site had ample time to learn the system and how to run it. The state did pass contact information on for the trackwrestling support staff to the District Directors and the host site Tournament Directors. Every time I called trackwrestling with a problem my phone calls were answered. Trackwrestling might have made my job as a tournament director a little more hectic at the front end of the learning curve while I was learning the ropes. But it performed as advertised. By utilizing it and all its tools I needed less support staff to draw brackets and write out bout sheets prior to the tournament. I could focus my vollunteers attention on other areas of our event which overall made for a more enjoyable experience for our wrestlers and their families on Saturday. The “morning of” scratches were a piece of cake. I did not have the "100-plus" changes that Smokey has talked about in previous posts...trackwrestling did all that work for me. My staff and I spent time learning the bells and whistles and took the system for a test drive by running tourney earlier in the year with the software. Maybe that had a lot to do with our success…

One reason for the mandate was to draw everyone in…I am involved in managing both the D1N Sub, the District One tourney this weekend, and the State tournament the following weekend. Having both sub-districts and all four districts on board makes blending the multiple lists of qualifiers together a much easier task.

I'm not a fan of Friday night only weigh in. First, it will double the cost that folks are spending on gas. Second, let's say dad get's off work at 6:00. Picks up the wrestler at 6:30. Makes it to weigh in at 7:30. Stops to feed the wrestler, done with dinner at 8:30. Makes it home by 9:30. Wrestler is in bed at 10:00. Has to be up at 6:30 to drive to the tournament. This time line is only one hour away. What if they are farther. Then parents are better off getting a hotel, which is another $100.00. D2 south ran smooth, but if someone should have to adjust...it should be Track Wrestling, not the wrestlers.

Beeson, I couldnt agree more!!!!!!!

Beeson,

I'm a little confused. Was someone suggesting eliminating Saturday morning weigh-ins at the subdistrict & district tournaments? Or were you referring to the lack of a Saturday morning weigh-in at state? If it is the latter, I can tell you that the state tournament weigh-in was only eliminated after a multi-year study determined that only an extremely small number of families were using the Saturday weigh-in.

One of the advantages of TrackWrestling is its ability to easily handle the changes due to scratches, etc. As with any change, there is going to be a learning curve, but TrackWrestling will certainly never be used as a justification for eliminating Saturday weigh-ins!

******
I now see where smokeycabin mentioned eliminating morning weigh-ins as an option (although I don't think he was advocating it). I would concur that we need to stick with morning weigh-ins (except for the state tournament, which is a unique event where experience has shown us morning weigh-ins are seldom used).

Marc,

Thanks for the insight. I am not sure what happen with the system at SV, or wether they got any outside support. It does seem weird that the other districts had little or no problems. I know SV was working hard to fix it but maybe the old saying is still true "work smarter not harder"

Friday night only weigh in's create another problem. Travel, hotels etc. Sub's might not be as bad but Districts would be a little rough. This week is the NJCAA tourney (stupid basketball) There isn't a room for 60-70 miles around Hutch. With D3 being is Macpherson where are those Manhattan or further kids going to stay at? Drive up friday and then back on Sat. That is not real realistic.

That is just the extreme case, but we do have to remember with fuel costs that tarveling twice or getting a room might drive some participants from your tournement.

Dist one north had friday & saturday weigh ins. There was no problems with the trackwrestling software that I noticed when I ran the system at rossville this year. The problems of tournys starting late & weigh in on friday only are not trackwrestling. If you want tournaments to start earlier & sat weigh ins you need to talk to your tournament directors. Changes are very easy to make with trackwrestling system. I would guess approximately 10 seconds per wrestler. Help your club run your tournament this is how everyone will get tournaments started earlier. Talk to the tourny directors about the weigh in changes. I mean no disrespect but you guys are barking up the wrong tree.

As I am becoming aware there doesn't seem to be an overall problem with track wrestling.

I am the tounrement Director for our club and have helped with them for 15+ years with our club and several others. I know how to re-bracket by hand and we had 30 some scrathces this year and started 3 minutes late, so I know how it works.

I would like to say thanks to Mark Stanley and the D1N folks that ran the tournament. It ran very smooth and got over pretty early (that includes being one of the last clubs out of the gym). I think their knowledge and use of Trackwrestling helped that quite a bit.

Truth in Lending: Up until sub-districts I was not convinced on the advantages of using Trackwrestling for open tournaments. The reason is that in Open tournaments you always get a lot of scratches and kids moving weight classes. This seemed to delay the start of a lot of open tournies this year. As a coach my biggest frustration (at open tournaments) was that the brackets could not be posted until all the scratches were complete, the tournament would then post the brackets. The challenge we had as a coaching staff was trying to get our kids match numbers and having to fight the crowd meanwhile the wrestling was getting started. This made for some very hectic scrambles when we had 25 coaches trying to cover 60-70 wrestlers at open tournaments.

I learned a very valuable advantage to Trackwrestling because of the D1N staff.....After the brackets are complete they can print a team report that gives you the first matches for all of your kids. They did that for us and we were able to get the coaches assigned, let the kids know their match numbers, etc. without fighting the "bracket crowd" and scrambling in order to not miss any of the kids.

I strongly recommend that in the future, if a tournament uses Trackwrestling, they print out that report and give a copy to each team during the Coaches meeting. This would allow the clubs to establish a system of being able to assign coaches,inform the wrestlers and their parents and get wrestling started without scrambling all the time.

Tournament directors will have to account for increased cost of paper but I think it is well worth it. At the open tournaments we were at a lot of them were delayed due to the # of scratches and then having to call kids to a mat because they didn't know their match #s or they didn't have a coach. These reports would help us coaches and clubs help solve the problem.

Just my thoughts. Again, great tournament in Holton! Thanks for all the hard work.

Shawn Budke