If you have everyone register early like we already do the organization and bracketing is even easier not more confusing. You type everyone’s name in age groups on a simple spreadsheet (excel) or something similar. When they weigh-in you have someone record weights on a printed out sheet when weigh-ins end those weights can be type in by one person in less then 10 minutes. Better yet you have a computer for each age group and it can be finished in less then 5. You type the weights in on the computer next to their name and the spread sheet will sort them by weight in less then one second. Decide how many matches you want per wrestling surface and print out the names and ages according to the surface number. With 500 kids at a tournament all in 5 man round robins that is only 100 brackets give or take a few because of age groups. Even if only 5 people write those by hand that is 20 brackets each. In most cases you can get twice that many helping and the bracketing even by hand could be done in less then 1 hour. Or if you are a trackwrestling fan like I am this is all done by the parameters you set on the computer and it makes the bracket and numbers them for you, then you print the 100 give or take a few brackets in less then 10 minutes. If you end weigh-ins at 7:30 you could have brackets posted by 8:45 and start wrestling by 9:00. Or better yet you have satellite weigh-ins and this is all done the night before and you post sample bracket and have all scratches reported by 8:00 AM the final brackets posted by 8:30 and start wrestling by 9:00. Yes their will always be mistakes or people not happy, but the kids are going to get 3 to 4 matches just about every time, and scratches will be very minimum. Go to a Blue Chip freestyle or Greco tournament they do it all the morning of. Weigh-in by 8:00 and start wrestling by 10:00. True it is usually 300 wrestlers but they can do it with a lot less help then the normal kids club provides. I'm still open to other ideas as long as they get kids matches and eliminate scratches.
