At the 2015 State Body Meeting it was announced that an Ad Hoc Committee would be formed to look at the current state series. Any individual that showed an interest was included in the committee. The Committee met five times over the next year and a half. During that time period two surveys were sent to the membership requesting input. The first survey had a low response rate and an effort to get more accurate email addresses from the membership was undertaken. A second survey was then sent out to the membership and a response rate of about 20% was returned.

On February 26 the Committee held a meeting in conjunction with the 6U/Elementary State Tournament in Salina. The purpose of the meeting was to make recommendations for the USAW-Kansas Executive Board to consider. Any recommendation adopted by the Executive Board must then be approved by the State Body at the annual meeting.

Those present at the Ad Hoc Committee Meeting were: Chad Beeson, Daniel Reiling, Doug Eck, Jeremy Sckavac, Jonathan Whisnant, Mark Stanley, Richard Salyer, Tracy Peterson, Will Cokeley, Matt Treaster, Zach Campbell, and James Bilby. Individual members came and went from the meeting as needed, and not all members were able to vote on each recommendation.

The committee determined the primary goal was to add growth to the sport and to increase participation in our state series. The committee then came up with a series of recommendations to be considered by the Board that would facilitate that growth. Below are those recommendations and the vote of the committee.

Recommendations:
1. Split the USAW-KS Kids State Tournament (10-2)
2. Age divisions of the first state tournament would be 6U/8U/10U (8-3)
3. Hold the first state tournament the week before high school regionals and the district qualifier for that tournament the week before that. (8-2)
4. Hold the second state tournament with 12U/14U/HS Division the second weekend of March with the district qualifier the first weekend in March (9-0-1)
5. Allow the top 6 placers at each district qualifier to advance to the corresponding state tournament. (9-0-1)
6. Keep District boundaries as currently in place. (9-0)

Matt Treaster
Folkstyle Director

Sounds good start the tournaments earlier for Folkstyle allowing more time for Freestyle and Greco at the same time. Get us in-line with the states around us. I don't like the Split State but as long as it allows for more Freestyle/Greco I'm good.

Sounds good start the tournaments earlier for Folkstyle allowing more time for Freestyle and Greco at the same time. Get us in-line with the states around us. I don't like the Split State but as long as it allows for more Freestyle/Greco I'm good.

These are just recommendations? I have said it before. You can't force kids into Greco/Freestyle. I have worked on my own son for year's he still has no interest in either. Also by stopping folkstyle so early...our family will never be able to compete in Folkstyle nationals in April again. That would be a month and a half after the recommended state tournament. I know you will not make everyone happy. just stating my case.

i was there and my son does just folkstyle. You can still go to folkstyle nationals. It would be no different than going to season opening tournaments like tulsa kickoff or monster mash. You may not see any increase in greco/freestyle or you may. What this is doing is shutting down the younger kids earlier and not wearing them out. Plus with the split we can fit into different venues and not stuck in topeka. If you look the vote was 10-2. i firmly believe this would be a step in the right direction.

The goal is always to create and allow more opportunity for the kids to get better. This will allow the Kids to start summer wrestling earlier to get ready that State event. This will cause Folkstyle events to begin earlier in the year and that’s ok. The goal should always be to improve opportunity for as many kids as possible. I like what I see and it appears to be good for the majority.
Great job!

I admit, I have become confused of late about the subject of shortening the folkstyle season. When the subject was first brought up many years ago, the reason given for shortening the season was simply, "because it is too long". Some years later the reason changed to, "to get more kids to participate in FS/GR". Then just this season we are told "so USAW can change their nationals to the month of March".
None of those reasons fly with me!

"The committee determined the primary goal was to add growth to the sport and to increase participation in our state series." The committee then came up with a series of recommendations to be considered by the Board that would facilitate that growth. Below are those recommendations and the vote of the committee.

I would like to see real numbers over the last ten years.

6U
8U
10U
12U
14U
16U
Totals

If we are down a total of 1,000 kids over the last 5 - 10 years do not inflate "state series numbers" I have no clue why we are increasing expenditures at a time when revenues are down?? Is there something in this pattern that the entire state body thinks is healthy for the organization? Not one of the 6 items voted on addresses how to grow the sport (increase overall numbers)

The opportunities being created are mainly for the top 6 kids in state in various age divisions. If I am wrong then I am wrong.
In general that is about approximately 4% (Top 6 in each weight) of the kids in Kansas with USA cards.

On the high school thread some are calling for 1 state location for the various classifications and fewer classifications. Now at the Kids level we want more state tournaments at more locations and divided up age groups - REALLY????
Pretty soon it will be either every age and/or every grade should have it's own state tournament. It is unfortunate.

Just a few of my concerns/questions. I will state up front that I am not a fan of the split tournament but that does not imply I couldn’t change my mind. Hopefully this discussion can be civil…….

If you are holding district and state the weeks leading up to HS state what will the other age groups do for competition for those 4 weeks (kids and HS qualifiers)? Wrestle on Sunday?
Will clubs host a “big” tournament the day after coaching qualifiers? Are we going to put more stress on coaches and their families?

Will there be clubs willing to host tournaments the day after HS regionals and state to get mat time in for the older kids? Historically there are not many large tournaments on those days.

Granted there won’t be a need for 6U state anymore but when will Elementary duals be and how will that fit into everything else happening?

Will clubs just start their season earlier in the year?

Do people think that the younger kids will stick around for practice partners/other styles or just start with soccer and baseball earlier?

Will Middle school AD’s really give in and change their season dates? What if they don’t? Is that good for growth of the sport?

The second weekend in March many facilities are already booked by that round bouncy thing. WSU, Expo, Bi-Center, Emporia, Hutch CC, KSU, FHSU, Dodge Wireless. Hartman and the Casino would be options but are there more? Or are we going to limit ourselves to Wichita?

Will we struggle for quality officials running basically 6 weeks straight of qualifiers between kids and HS?

I don’t like 6U in the state series, I sat there watching it this weekend thinking the majority of it was terrible wrestling. That’s what it’s supposed to be, kids learning the sport for the 1st time.

Do we think moving the 8 and 10’s earlier will change the participation numbers? Personally I don’t think one single 8/10 will stay in the sport because they can be wrestle state in Feb versus early Mar.

I have some other questions and concerns but this a good start to see how the body feels and get me an idea if my concerns are valid/shared or not.

Daniel Reling

Daniel,
You look now at the tournaments that happen the weekends of High school Regionals and high school state. There are very few and they are no where near big tournaments. Kids, especially 14 and under, are shut down during those two weeks. I feel we will actually have a better chance of getting quality refs. Lord knows after watching high school state on all levels there has to be good refs that are being left out. As far as locations, they are places i can think of right off the bat. You named two of them in Hartman and Mulvane. Hutch is having the high event center redone so that is an option. Garden City Community College has nice facilities now but will be even nicer next year. They are redoing the main gym. Those are two i can think of off the top of my head. I am sure there are more.
A lot of clubs are starting practice now in mid October now to get ready for national tournaments. Yes not every kid will do national tournaments. But why can we not get our season to align with a high school season? Start the first of November, start the first week in December with tournaments. Wrestle hard through December and January and ease off by February.
Elementary duals and middle school championships can be held on the same weekend. What are the big venues being used for the day after regionals or even the day after high school state? They could go then. There are many options for this. We could do elementary basically anytime from January to February. People will ask about the kids holding weight. If the kids are cutting that much weight to get to a class, why are they wrestling that class? If we have that big of problem with massive weight cutting, then we need to go to shoulder to shoulder weigh in the day of the tournament just like college does. That will eliminate the massive weight cutting.
Like you said its a start and it needs to start somewhere

I am good with the changes except for one. The date on Change number 4 will make kids choose Jr. High wrestling or club. We have the terrible late season at our school. If districts were this weekend Nolan would have to choose going to state or wrestling with his classmates one last time. I pretty sure Nolan will choose districts but why make the kids choose. My son has wrestled Jr. High the last two seasons. I let Nolan choose club or Jr. High. He went with Jr. High. He has had a great time with Jr. High. Nolan hasn't had any good competition in his two years of Jr. High. He wrestling as a team with his classmate's he has found a new love for the sport. Unless KSHSAA makes every JR. High wrestle the same season. I don't think the dates for change number 4 will work.

Josh Parker

Daniel and others, do not get caught up in the split state tournament discussion. It is a ruse! It is designed to take your eye off the fact that the main goal is to shorten the season. Now, we can argue what the true reason for shortening the season might be, if I understand smokey's post correctly, the new reason is to "increase participation numbers". So, that is four reasons including the ones I mentioned earlier, that exist for shortening the season. My question is this, if the reason for shortening the season is now "to increase participation", shouldn't we first determine that the cause of decreasing numbers is due to the length of the season???

Daniel great points I didn't think about. What will 12 and 14 year olds do for tournaments while high school is going through qualifier and state and the 6, 8 , and 10, year olds are going throug high school and qualifiers.

Honestly this age group is the biggest mess in Kansas wrestling right now. You have all different middle school seasons. If you have a son in 14 and under out of their middle school season it is difficult to find matches. This proposal would hurt those 12 and 14 year old groups.

I think we need to develop 2-3 proposals for the body to vote on while keeping the below things in mind. We can’t lock into 1 scenario without actual detailed research of the plan and risk the house on it. We have to have a detailed plan with facts not all assumptions.

Remain objective, not allowing personality or one person’s sensing of “what the mass wants” to influence them. We must avoid defending a proposal just because we personally developed it.

Accurately point out advantages and disadvantages to the proposal as they become evident.

Assess feasibility, acceptability, and suitability of the proposal. If it fails any of these test during “practice planning” it must be rejected.

Avoid drawing premature conclusions.

This could be a major change to our sport, we have to do it right.

I will also throw into the mix...speaking of trouble getting matches...the 14&U age group, with Kansas' age cutoff date being different from USA wrestling's, half of the age group is in high school the entire season, then comes out of the woodwork, as it were, for the kids state series. This is supposedly the most at risk age group for quitting the sport, and with the system as it is there is the least available mat time. I think one of the things to explore is changing the cutoff so 14&U is 7th and 8th grade as opposed to 8th and 9th

Could change to grades instead of ages. Kindergarten and under, 2nd and u, 4th, 6th, 8th. Above that is high school division. Only thing that would really change would be keeping high school kids in the high school division instead of some being in 14&u.