Will,

I also find the 2-night requirement unreasonable, but Topeka is definitely in a seller's market during the tournament weekend. The hotel that my club stays with won't even accept credit cards - we have to pay cash up front for both nights. This isn't something specific to my club; rather, it is their standard policy for this weekend. From what I’ve heard from other clubs, I don’t think our hotel is particularly unique in its requirements for this weekend.

This isn't just a matter of unreasonable hoteliers, though. In large part, the hotels are responding to past problems when some clubs would reserve far more rooms than they would actually need, then cancel the excess at the last minute, leaving the hotels with large vacancies while several clubs were forced to book rooms in Lawrence, etc. because they couldn't get a reservation in Topeka.

The state tournament location is bid every three years, and is voted upon by the Kids Executive Council and the state body. Salina lost the tournament primarily because of the hotel situation there. I am concerned that Topeka may be headed down the same road. If cost were the principal consideration, though, we would have never left Salina. When the state body votes on a site, I think the principal concern is finding the best facility to give the kids a great finale. At the time of the last bidding (and I know for a fact that there were numerous bids solicited from across the state, including Wichita, Hays and Salina), the vote for Topeka was overwhelming.

I’m not saying that everything is perfect, far from it. And we are always looking for ways to improve on the state tournament, as well as the entire smorgasbord of wrestling opportunities in Kansas. Anyone who has been involved in Kids wrestling for more than a few years knows that there have been significant changes over time. But I do believe that it is important to understand why things are organized the way they are. Only by understanding what has come before, and the reasoning for current policies, can we make intelligent choices for the future.

There are good ideas which are generated from this forum, but don’t just vent now and next week, then forget about it until next year at this time. I was sitting in both the Executive Council meeting and the state body meeting where Greg Grater brought up the concerns raised last year. He specifically asked if the state tournament schedule should be changed at both meetings. There was no major sentiment for such a change at those meetings. If you want to see changes, go ahead and use this forum to compare and discuss ideas, but be sure to take the most important step of attending the state body meeting to make your presentation where it will really make a difference.