I have heard dozens of reasons why kids didn't sign up. I believe the number one reason was Joe Knecht's explanation that everyone sat around and waited to see if anyone was going to sign up. If this is going to work there is going to have to be support from the HS coaches, all of them.

There were 896 wrestlers competing for two days just one week ago in Hays, Salina, and Wichita. Those were STATE QUALIFIERS!! That means there were 896 non state qualifiers (approximately) and at least that many JV wrestlers sitting in the stands or at home.

We needed 100 of the SQ's, 125 of the non SQ's and 75 female wrestlers to make this tournament work. we are talking 12% of the wrestlers in the state. That is NOT an aggressive goal.

We cooperated with the NAIA tournament this year for these reasons: mats and clocks, officials, hotel space, affordable arena, and to get HS wrestlers to come to the NAIA finals. We were going to have several NAIA coaches interested in watching some of our Jrs and Srs. Those all seemed like very logical reasons to have it in Topeka.

So what can we fix:
Not have it on a Sunday?
More centrally located? (Topeka is the 50/50 population line for KS)
Better awards?
One week later?
Didn't like the gold and silver divisions?
Rule changes proposed?

I am looking for feedback and I would appreciate any and all. I will be setting up a survey which many of you will receive and I would appreciate it if everyone responds.

SOME DATA...
Park City 84 HS wrestlers (How many in 14U)
Western KS 52 HS wrestlers (How many in 14U)