I have only been to 1 tournament this year that has gone past 3:30, I don't think typically its the format of a tournament thats the problem, its the management of said tournament. I know we are all here for the kids but it is my personal opinion that once tournament rules are set into place they should be followed. Here are a few examples.

1st. Many tourneys I've gone to have said "We won't allow entries the day of the tournament"
And sure enough teams so up and enter wrestlers, which means brackets have to be reworked.

2nd. Scratches affecting brackets. Obviously a tournament really can't predict who is going to show up for the tourny even though they've already paid their money. The real issues is like with clubs that go ahead and bracket 5 wrestlers onto an 8-man, then 1 or even 2 guys don't show up and they have to rebracket to a round robin.

3rd. Lack of mat space compared to number of wrestlers. If you have 300 kids, 6 mats should get it done, if you have 425 kids thats not going to cut it (I've seen it done in the past, it doesn't work well).

So here is just a few ways to which tournament directors can keep the traditional format tournament and still keep everyone happy.

1. After determining total number of mats, then set the maximium entrys for the tournament. Aim for less than 85 matches per mat.

2. If a kid does not make weight DO NOT REBRACKET HIM/HER. I know this sounds harsh and they paid money, but we have weight classes for a reason, if weight is a problem have the parents bump him/her to the next one up during registration.

3. And this is a really big helper. Cut weigh in off earlier, if a tourny is supposed to start at 9:30 weigh in should be over by 7:30 at the latest. If a kid isn't there by then, I'm sorry but he/she is a scratch. That gives you 1:00 to 1:30 hrs to do any bracket changes you need to do and that should be plenty of time.