Just wanted to get it out that the new date for the 25TH ANNUAL LINN COUNTY OPEN is FEB. 11TH. Please come support a tournament that has been running for along time and actually supports a kids club not a high school team!!! Thanks for everyone's support.

THANK YOU

Aaron Rice
Linn County Twisters

Wow - it would be nice to support the High School Team as well. A lot of the kids in the lower high school grades came up through the kids club.

actually supports a kids club not a [u]high school team



So you don't want to support your high school team????

I'm not even sure what that statement means!

I have no interest in supporting a club with that mind set. I know that a lot of small clubs work closely with their high school teams in regards to using their facilities, mats, etc., so I wonder what this high school's coach would think about your comment of not supporting them? I prefer to take my money to a tournament that supports kids clubs AND the high school teams that help support them!

Totally agree that having a great relationship between a club and their HS program is paramount and really wouldn't understand why a club would not pursue that.

I was confused like the rest of you when I read this but unless something has really changed there with the Twisters...I think they support Coach V and their high school, I believe they still practice at the school but I guess that could have changed...doubtful.

Looking at the calendar I'm thinking it may be a confusingly worded jab at one of the conflicting tournaments on the same date and who benefits (club vs. HS) from the proceeds of said tournament.

I think that it might be a slam because SJA is hosting the Thunder Open that same day. Not sure but my guess. We have annually held a open and novice event the weekend before regionals the past few years. There are plenty of wrestlers in District One that a tournament can fill if it is managed well and the facilities are good. I have taken my kids to Lynn County and I support as many tournaments as possible but we do have to raise funds to maintain our room which is a year round training facility for over 100 wrestlers from all over the state. We will cap our tournament at 450 entries and we are considering a split format.

OK so let's squash this right now. The Linn County Twisters do a great job of supporting Prairie View. Many of the coaches have now, have had, or will have sons wrestling for me. We share a room and work together. Several pieces of equipment have been bought by the kids club that we currently use. They make a donation to the high school program every year that I use to by food for the weekends. When I set up for the high school tournament at 11pm at night, my kids clubs parents are there to help without even being asked. Trust me, I consider myself extremely lucky to have the community and parent support that I have. I would imagine this topic stems from the fact that our tournament was held on a certain date for several years. That date was then occupied by 1 or 2 more new tournaments that created conflicts and reduced the tournaments numbers. Our people then moved the tournament date and was once again successful. Then that date was occupied by another tournament. Now they are having to move the date again. I am sure this is very frustrating. We live in a low socio(sp.) economic area. All of our community supported activity costs are kept extremely low so that children have the opportunity to participate. Because of this we operate very close to the red. The tournament is the biggest way that we raise funds to support our program, without it we would probably fold. I can tell you that it is not uncommon to have kids that want to participate and can't afford the minimal entry fee for the tournaments. Numerous times parents and community members have stepped up and paid for entry fees, taken kids with them, made sure they had food a place to sleep and whatever else they needed so they could participate. Once again I can tell you without question that WE (the Prairie View Wrestling Family) support each other completely. Proud to be a Buffalo and Linn County resident!

Sincerely,

Coach Walter Vandeventer

If SJA is going to hold another tournament they need to have a split format. East Kansas Open is ridiculously overcrowded. Seeing how many people you can squeeze into a small gym with one side of bleachers is worth finding another place to wrestle that weekend.

I stated above that we were considering a split format this year. Flyer will be out by the end of this month.

We enjoyed the East Kansas Tournament a couple of years ago. It was a little crowded, but luckily we were in the small gym and it wasn't too bad. Some wrestlers got a lot of matches (6-man RR) which always makes for a great day. We have also been to Linn County a few times and met very stiff competition and a good atmosphere. With most wrestling events, you can't go wrong very often if you are there to watch kids wrestle.