Before Folkstyle starts up and tourney directors get the schedules together can everyone do all wrestling parents a favor and have a weigh in the morning of each event? You can still have a weigh in the night before to reduce the load if it is a large # tourney but for some out of towners you will kill them in gas to drive an hour or two just to weigh in the night before. Gas Price today is $3.72. Thanks in advance for the help. I would imagine some folks may opt out of some tourneys if they need to arrive a day early just to weigh in. Thoughts???

TFuller,

My recommendation is that we go to Friday night weigh ins at your own location. This would keep people from having to drive for Friday night weigh ins and it would keep families from having to get up really early to get to Saturday morning weigh ins.

Here's how it could work.....

Example: Team A is attending a tournament in Topeka. Team A is from Leavenworth. Do the pre-registration and everything the same. On Friday night, Team A weighs in their team at their training location in Leavenworth. The head coach or leader of the team calls in the exact weights of each kid on his team to the tournament director in Topeka not later than 7:00 or 8:00 pm.

This would keep us from having to drive to Friday night weigh ins and from having to leave early on Sat for Sat morning weigh ins.

It would also help with scratches and getting brackets set up. I also think this would help tournaments get started on time.

The challenge with this idea is that we (the adults) have to trust each other. We now put the onus on the adults to maintain their integrity and trust each other with the weigh ins. We all say that we are in this for the kids.....well if we are in it for the kids then why can't we make it easier on them and their families when it comes to weigh ins. Doing weigh ins on Fri night or Sat morning doesn't help the kids. In fact it makes the season even longer with the waiting for wrestling to start, having to travel on Fri night, get up early on Sat mornings, etc.

I don't propose doing this for big tournaments like Salina, Liberty Nationals, etc., however, I think it would work for the majority of the open tournaments.

When you boil it all down, the whole weigh in issue comes down to trust and integrity at the kids club level. I think if we implement this idea it will help save $$$$ for families and make it less of a burden on the kids.

Just my thoughts. Please fire away.

Shawn Budke

I say keep the weigh-ins exactly as they are. If a tournament decides not to offer Saturday weigh-ins on site then as is your choice attend another tournament. Myself I can't imagine having a tournament without weigh-ins just prior to each morning or afternoon session, but that's just me.
Offsight weigh-ins while sometimes necessary only encourage cheating or at least the perception of possible cheating. Friday night offsight weigh-ins only encourages parents and coaches to pull more weight on a kid. If you need Friday weigh-ins in order not to have to pull another day to make weight, then move the kid up a weight class!
All of this said, I believe the over-whelming majority of tournaments will still offer Saturday weigh-ins.

sportsfan02,

I am not sure I totally agree with the assumption that Friday night weigh ins encourage pulling more weight on a kid. I know that this happens but I think that these cases are in the minority vice the majority when you look at the number of kids wrestling in an open KIDS tournament. I don't have any hard facts, but my observation is that the majority of the kids (especially the younger kids), don't cut weight in kids club wrestling.

The reason I made the recommendation for Friday night weigh ins at your home site was to ease the burden on the families and kids. I know this is a little counter intuitive to those of us that have grown up wrestling. Making weight and the whole weigh in process at the site of the wrestling tournament is a natural part of the sport for us. However, with gas being at an all time high, the season being so long, and tournaments lasting so long, I think we need to come up with methods to make the sport more enjoyable and less burdensome on the kids and families. My focus for this idea is on the casual wrestling families and appealing to them, not the one's that are already very committed to the sport.

As far as the cheating....yes this idea does allow for that perception. That is why we (adults) have to trust our conterparts and depend on their integrity. Is it a risk....yes. I am willing to take that risk and trust other adults, even if it means someone may cheat. The reason is because I think that incidences of cheating would be few and far between. Also, in the grand scheme of things what is the worst thing that can happen if someone cheats? Answer: One of your wrestlers gets beat by a kid that outweighs him by a pound or so and thus he doesn't receive a medal at an open kids tournament.

I think the benefits outweigh the risks given the current enviroment we are living in.

Just my thoughts.

Shawn Budke

My main concern was for keeping a Saturday weigh in. Some tourneys only have a Friday night weight in. This is difficult for some folks to come in a day early to weigh. As far as cheating, the ones that want to cheat will find a way around anything so enough about cheating all ready. I am trying to make it more affordable for families to benefit the kids to be able to go to more tourneys.

TFuller,

I agree with you 100% on keeping things more affordable. I think you might have misunderstood the Friday night weigh in proposal I mentioned above.

With this concept you wouldn't have to drive to the tournament sites for weigh ins at all, neither Fri or Sat. Weigh ins would be done by each team's home site that is participating in the tournament. The weights would be called in by the head coach or club leader to the tournament director.

The reason for doing it on Friday night is so the tournament host can then make the brackets, get rid of scratches, etc.

I don't have a problem with Sat weigh ins except it requires folks to get up really early, travel, and then provide breakfast or $$$ for breakfast. Typically, a family is getting up and leaving the house between 5:00-6:00 am in order to get to weigh ins. The kids weigh in, eat, and then sit around until between 9:00-10:30 am until wrestling starts. A lot of times they are still at the gym until 5:00-6:00 pm at night finishing the tournament. This makes the day very long for the younger wrestlers.

I do agree with you on the idea that if you are not going to do home site weigh ins then there needs to be at least a Sat am weigh in so folks don't have to travel twice.

Shawn Budke

How many tournaments only offered Friday weigh-ins last season? I don't believe our club attended one tournament with that protocol. Like I said, if you don't like the Friday weigh-ins attend another tournament. If enough people do this then the offending tournaments will change their ways and the problem will be solved.

I'm sorry but this will never work. I know that all coaches, board members and parents are supposed to be adults and in this for the kids but not all people can be trusted. I know for a fact that a highly visible club in D2 tried to run their tourny this year without weighing any of there own kids in for the tourny. "Win at all cost?" but what does that teach the kids.
Jerry Dale
620-327-4809

Mat-side weigh-ins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This would save us all alot of gas. And like sportsfan02 said, if you are worried aobut not makeing the weight then move your kid up a weight class!!!!

Why not follow the national rules that state 1 hour before Duels & 2 hours before tournaments?
SORRY - thought I was in the High School section..

I understand some people are skeptical about clubs weighting their own kids in the night before a tournament. While some clubs would abuse this, most would not. If someone cheated on weight, odds are they are close to that weight class anyway. Come qualifying time, the truth would come out.

What if a rule were in place that would DQ a kid for a certain ammount of time if his weight was questioned at a tournament, and he was 5% over. Just a thought. I know I would rather trade 2 extra hours of sleep every saturday over the possibility of one of our boys having to wrestle a kid a couple pounds heavier.

Just my opinion.

We have enough rules that we don't/won't enforce now. We don't need some more! There are some wheels that don't need reinvented.

I understand with todays economy it will have an impact on people traveling to and from wrestling tournaments, but I believe that some(not all) parents would use the excuse of kids weighing in at their own location for the reason that their kid happen to lose. It would probably promote a divide between teams and kids that doesn't need to be there.

I do recognize Shawn for trying to think outside the box to figure out a way to keep kids and parents in the sport, BUT hopefully there is a better way.

Since there are several considerations for a Friday night weigh-in and a home site weigh-in on Saturday, how about go to a home site weigh-in on Friday night and fax, email changes to the tournament host that evening and eliminate the Saturday weigh-in entirely. That "weigh" everyone makes weight at the same time with the same benefits and saves time and money for everyone Saturday morning and the endless scratches in the first couple of rounds will be a thing of the past.

If I am to understand the question now, it's not that there are several clubs hosting tournaments with Friday weigh-ins only. Rather it's some people are wanting to sleep in on Saturdays?

Pelland, I know that a "couple of pounds" isn't that much for the older kids. But what about that 6U or 8U kid that the tourny tries to enter 2 weights under because they don't have to weigh their own kids in. Say it's a 43lb. wrestler that's getting moved down to 37lbs. that's 12% of the body weight. There is not enough integrity in the sport to trust people to do what's right. Home site weigh-ins will not work.
Jerry Dale
620-327-4809

This thread has reminded me of how slow this forum is this time of year! You are all spending a lot of time discussing something that may happen 1 -2x per season. Pick a differrent tournament if the only weigh in is Friday night (state excluded of course). It's not like you don't have tons of choices (probably too many) on any given Saturday.

How bout you don't even do weigh-ins for kids tournaments and if you think the kid is over by more then 5 lbs you challenge and if your wrong you pay $20 to the tournament..IF your right then the kid is DQ'd..

what about having a school official,say the a.d. or principal,etc,witness and sign your local teams weigh in sheets,if all the teams attending follow this it usually works.

Weigh ins are always a touchy subject. However, I think anytime we are having a discussion on improving the sport in any way, it is of benefit. I like the idea of having a weigh in that makes it easier on the parents and think Lateral Drop is on the right path by having someone there to monitor. How about this - The tournament director contacts specific clubs to host regional weigh ins on Friday before their tourney. If you let everyone have one, it would be too hard to track. The regional weigh in sites are required to have, at a minimum, two certified coaches from two different clubs there for all weigh ins. All the remote sites host the weigh ins for a specific duration, which would be the same as the host tournament site. I think this type of remote weigh in could work and would be very popular for parents, particularly if they can save some gas money and/or hotel money from Friday night.