Richard,

My point is this. The error in judgement or rule breaking did happen, that's simple enough to understand. The perception of that decision can be viewed as differently by various people. To those on the outside, it could be viewed as a attempt to put the best on the mat for district/state. It could also mean that for a brief moment the individual lapsed in judgement and the district tried to rectify the situation as best they could. To say that the kids that got beat out have had the trauma of their lives is somewhat of an overstatement. There are bigger things that happen in our lifetimes that a screw up like this.

And what a great teaching opportunity for the kids involved. The lesson is quite simple. You may have prepared yourself the correct way, but sometimes things don't go the right way. It's the same lesson I teach my seniors. You may have been the best prepared, but sometimes things don't go your way and someone who is undeserving gets to move on. However, life doesn't end here, but is a bump in the road hat you have to get through. The sun will rise tomorrow.

A lot can be learned from this and there should be some reactive steps to make sure this doesn't happen again. I do have some suggestions, but I'll admit, these are not my ideas, but are ideas that someone else has given me and I've been thinking about it and it seems to make sense. I don't know exactly if these would be district adoptions or state adoptions.

Adoption one - allow tournament directors the opportunity to use good judgement when there are individuals that are late. This will cover those that are caught in snow storms or bad weather or have transportation problems. Does this mean some will abuse the rule? Probably. Then again, it also covers legitimate issues of safety for the participants on the way to the tourney. The key here is to do what's in the best interest for the kids and to keep them safe.

Adoption Two - weigh-ins are conducted with the athlete stepping on once, then if they want to contest one scale, they can get on another. If the weight is the same, that's the weigh in. It would eliminate last minute weight cutting (something I personally don't like to see). This would also clear up the grey area of weighing in late because I was cutting vs. car trouble, weather, etc.

The reason I back the tournament director has nothing to do with rules, but has to do with what I would have done in that situation. More than likely, I would have done the same thing. I could see myself doing it because I'm the kind of guy that says "screw the rules" when I believe that it's in the best interest for kids. The kid was late, so we penalize the kid for an error made by his parents. Critics would say, "well you penalized the others for allowing him to wrestle." And that bothers me. Like it or not, sometimes there is an underlying current of getting a kid to state at all costs. I'm the type of guy that is willing to let a guy better than my kid into the tournament and hope that my kid has a great day and beats him. I'm a little weird like that though.

I received an e-mail from a parent or athlete this morning that was adamantly opposed to the position I have taken. I probably lost more than one "internet fan" in the process of admitting that in the individual's situation I probably would have done the same thing, not realizing the ramifications when I did it. With that being said, I hope there are others out there that would help guide me in how and where to get these adoptions passed. If it's a state body issue, I just hope next year we have enough clubs present to make a quorum.

Richard, my words yesterday were rough, and I do apologize if I came across in a rude manner. That does not mean that if I were put in the same situation, I would have done differently.