I arrived in Ottawa at 6:10 a.m. and left at 8:11 p.m. Last week at Holton also was a long day, but for tournaments of this size you have to expect that. Yes, both touraments could have been run better. All tournaments could be ran better. When it comes down to it you do the best
you can with the cards that you are delt. You can
complain about the mat size for some 14 and unders
and in the ideal world everyone would have a full mat. If they had gone with 3 mats instead of four that would have probably added about 2 hours of wrestling in that gym.
Ottawa is a central location and I did vote for the tournament to be held there. I did not think that there was a beter alternative. In the past
Pittsburgh has bid for this and they probably have
the best facility to hold this tournament, but who from NE Kansas want to drive 4 hours to get to a District Tournament. The same can be said for the people in the south driving to Holton.
Yes there are facilitys that could hold this tournament but they would not be economical for
this tournament. Places like the Expo Centre, Washburn University, ect. come with big price tags
to rent. Half of the proceeds for this tournament go to the district so Ottawa did't make a great deal on the tournament.
I think that next year we will not have the 6 year olds so that will help a graet deal.
As far as the 16 year olds, many of us have spent
thousands of hours developing kids, why should we eliminate them for the sake of shortening our tounament. Our younger kids enjoy watching our older kids. They learn from them. They want to wrestle like them when they get older.
As far as officals are concerned I did see some bad calls. I have yet to go to a wrestling tournament where I did't see some bad calls. I think what bothered me more was the lack of decorum that coachs showed. If they did't agree with a call they were screaming at the referee. I saw this go on about 10 times during the day. I never saw an upset coach go to the table and calmly ask the referee why he called it that way.
It's easy to complain. If you want to do something about it then get involved. I think
you'll find it rewarding, I also think you'll find out the answers aren't always as easy as they seem.
Both Jackson County and Ottawa put on tournaments that are hard to host and my hat is off to them for putting on good tournaments.