I was just wondering how many people here go to Trackwrestling tournaments opposed to non.After this season just realized how important results are and WILL NOT be going to any tournaments that do not use it.What are your thoughts?

WOW. I wonder what we did before Track Wrestling!

We have only been at two tournaments that did use track this year. Keep track of your kids record and give it to the coaches. That is the way it has been done for years

I will never pic where I go by track.I will drive a long ways for round robben.I wish more places would just go round.I know I will drive most any where for them.

If all tourneys were track wrestling... the subs could be decided by committee. Coaches would not be necessary. Strait record, it would cut out all this controversy.

We do not pick the tournaments we attend based on whether or not it uses Track Wrestling. We attend tournaments that we have for years that provide what we feel is the level of competiton that our wrestler(s) need for them to develop.

For instance, we send most of our Novice wrestler(s) to smaller tournaments (seldom any of which use Track Wrestling) because they are loaded with the level(s) of competition those wrestler(s) need, not because we are worried about what their record(s) will be at the end of the year at seeding meetings, but rather that they gain a positive environment that contributes to them having fun and gaining experiences and enhancing their skill level in the hope of retaining these kids for years to come in our wrestling community.

On the other side of it, my own son is in his top year of the 12U and has set some lofty goals for himself (for this year and his future). His record is good, but not as good as it could be if he would not wrestle up in weight or in age or sometimes both. He will not run from a fight and we think in the long run he will be better off for it, but if we were overly worried about his seeding at the end of the folkstyle year, he would miss out on alot of mat experience.

Please remember that we are developing young men and women; it is our responsibility to do so in a manner that contributes to them becoming people of integrity and character. They will mimmic what they witness so if they see us working the system to get a seed they don't deserve or arguing a call unjustly, etc. these don't lend themselves to what should be our main goals.

Oh and by the way, if you let your tournament schedule be dictated by their use of Track Wrestling, you will miss out on MANY good tournaments with ALOT of good competition. One really sits fresh in my mind: Western Kansas Classic in Hays.

Just some thoughts and opinions,
Pete Eck

I think trackwrestling is great and hope more tournaments do use it. However, I agree this should not be the guiding principle in building your wrestlers schedule. It is a tool like many other things and is most effective when used skillfully.

Reasons I like trackwrestling tournaments:
1. Allows me to track results on other wrestlers so we can be properly prepared for quality wrestlers when they appear in our brackets.
2. Love the participant lists available prior to tournys so we know who will be there and can spend time working on specific weaknesses of ours during the week to be as competitive as possible on Saturday.
3. Allows me to pull results of our own club members to keep season record sheets up to date for end of year seeding and to provide to the kids at our awards banquet as an end of year summary for them. (It's not always easy to get opponents names, clubs and match scores written down on every kid at the tournament).

There are many good tournaments out there that do not use it but they are worth doing the old school paperwork to get the competition and atmosphere they provide.

Very well put Mr. Eck!!

PETE

you are corect.Not sure if there is a better way to say it than you did.