I hate to be a Debby Downer, but there just are not very many venues in KS that can handle 800 kid tournaments in a one day format…and that number shrinks to almost none that can do it and stay within the sanction rules. You have to accommodate the right size wrestling surfaces for the age groups, have adequate safety areas, and give the wrestlers enough rest time between their matches. You also need to watch the facility occupancy numbers so that we don’t put people in uncomfortable conditions or worst case have people trampling each other in an emergency.

In earlier posts, some have said that a split tournament is the answer to some of the issues I raised. Have you ever tried to make the math work for a 16-man bracket wrestled in 1/2 day format? It’s tough; a 32-man bracket in a 1/2 day tournament would be impossible. The only answer that might work in some locations would be a 2-day tournament. But there are problems with that too. I am all for looking for better ideas, but before we change let’s make sure what we move towards is indeed better than what we have. The three weekend qualifying series has its own flaws which have been pointed out. But the sub-district, district, state format, is a system that has worked well for us for some time.