is there any body out there that has the new 6a rankings. My son is still ranked in the 171 and he is in the 189 pound brackett. so if there is any one that can help me please do so and good luck to all at newton great tourna ment.

You would think by mid January we would have the updated rankings posted on the website. Could someone please update the rankings.

"We" need to fire that darn volunteer!

I believe that all rankings except 6A are updated. I still do not understand how hard it can be. Send all the coaches the proper documentation requesting the imput on their wrestlers, and maybe it could be updated weekly or at least bi-weekly. I know that the rankings that are listed still show alot of wrestlers in the wrong weights and even those who are not wrestling or have graduated. There is even wrong grade entries. Maybe since it is only a volunteer postion he or she just does not care about the sport enough to enlighten our wrestlers. PLEASE GET THE JOB DONE!!!! or ask for help so it can get done.

if you think it is so easy. why dont you do it yourself. throw in the fact that the people who do in fact put in the time to do the rankings are probably married, a head/assistant coach, a teacher, and maybe a father. the people who do do the rankings should not be hasseled to have to get them done because hey if they didnt do them, we wouldnt have the luxury of having them. plus i think it is better to not have rankings, mainly because they mean nothing. if rankings actually meant something, then we wouldnt even compete. but then again it is nice to know who you have in your weight.

Although rankings really mean nothing in the end, I think they are important. They get people talking about wrestling and highlight specific wrestlers and give coaches and fans an idea of what wrestlers are having success and maybe ones to watch. They can also draw attention to tournaments and interesting individual upcoming match ups.

This post is not meant to bash the coaches who do the rankings. I know who the 6A ranker is and respect him and the job he does, but I do think there needs to be a change in the sytem. I think the ranking should be posted probably every two week, and be more available to the general public. It is my opinion until these types of things happen wrestling will always be seen as a second class sport fighting for respect among the other sports. I disagree with the people who say the rankings are not important. Ranking if nothing else are for the fans and do generate talk about wrestling. The sport of wrestling relies on fans to keep the sport alive. We don't have the luxury of t.v. generating support for the sport or to generate future wrestlers who are turned on to the sport by watching it. The fans who support the sport have sons, brother, and friends, and the more fans we have the more people will be turned on to the sport.

I grew up in Iowa where I wrestled and coached, where wrestling I assure you is not a second class sport. In Iowa they post the ranking on a regular basis, it is decided before the season when the rankings will come out, and then each class posts them on that day. They rely on the help of the coaches to fill out form to ensure the ranking are done fairly and accurately.

So it can be done.

Coach Hitchcock (BVN)

There are some things that are far more important than updated rankings. I don't need to tell anyone the importance and priority of family, and right now the coach that does the rankings has a lot on his table and you all should cut him some slack.
Like many people have said, the ultimate rankings will be very clear Feb 25th, and any need to see your name on a list prior to that is ultimately ego-driven anyway. This isn't the BCS.

Coach Moles

I agree. Considering how difficult it can be to get tournament results to begin with and then to take those results (and including whatever results are sent in by the few coaches that send them in - guessing % wise it's not very many) and try to come up with rankings for 4 classes, along with trying to have a life, I think everyone should be very appreciative that we have the rankings we do. We all know the newspapers aren't going to do rankings for wrestling - they barely cover tournament results. Let's not get on the boards and bash the volunteer who does this for OUR benefit. I think he does a tremendous job, and if it's not updated as often as some would like, maybe they can offer to pitch in and lend abit of help.

i can also tell you that letters have been sent out to coaches in the past and about 5 out of 32 are actually returned. Make your own rankings and post it on the message board if you care that much. yes, it's nice to have rankings, but to sit and whine about not having them updated means you have too much time on your hands. I'm sure that coach would be more than willing to give this up.

wrestling is done on the mat, not on a chart with numbers.....

Come on people quit whining. I wrestled in Oklahoma and they would post the rankings on a weekly basis because wrestling is an important sport in that state. As Coach Hitchcock stated Iowa is the same way. A ballet should be sent to each coach and they should send back to someone who can take the top 6 and post the rankings. If it is to much for this person to update the ranking than we need to find someone who is willing to update the rankings and send out ballets once a month if we want wrestling to grow in Kansas.

So what is the plan on getting coaches to send in their stats weekly? I don't think that the problem is that it is too much for one person to do - it is ALL the time involved in getting the info based almost exclusively on tournament and duel results. It is easy to sit here and point fingers, to compare to other states. If you all really want change then I would suggest your start implementing a plan to instigate that change. Be part of the solution.

I do not know what the plan is but I know that our coach did not receive anything this year from anyone and he was looking forward to it. I also know that it has been the case for other coaches that I have spoke to at tournaments. I believe that maybe if they have recieved the bio sheets they could have submitted them back. I would put on the bio sheet letter if not returned weekly for updates I would post what I have and include the schools that did not return them so everyone would know what schools apparently dont care about the rankings of their wrestlers. Then maybe if it is a problem of the coaches not returning them it would fall back on the coaches and the wrestlers themselves could ask the coach why are you not making updates.
Just my imput and for the record I am not bashing anyone just stating what I believe, and I would be more than happy and willing to help. Just ask or steer me to the person that might need the help. I have been around the sport for over 30 years and I do not want to see it go away. In fact I would Love to see it grow more and more in Kansas.

In defense of the ranking officials and the entire system, there have not been tournaments (prior to the past few weeks) where anyone could come close to a 10 minute (or longer) coaches argument at a seeding meeting for where these kids should be lined up. Most of it would have been based on last year (most of which athletes are not the same weight-class), freestyle/Greco accomplishments, reputation, and popularity prior to the Bobcat Classic, Derby, Norton, Blue Valley North West, and some other recent tough events. Just now are we able to come close to have a basis for such a subjective ranking system. One which can barely provide commen opponents let alone head to head matches. We still have a lot of season left.

I think everyone needs to understand there is a HUGE difference between the ranking "hype" and what the actual amount of preperation these athletes are putting into becomming a quality wrestler and solid human beings. Rankings are nothing more than subjective premature recognition. They are pointless to anyone in the wrestling community beyond creating "hype". As I have always believed and expressed to every wrestler I have ever been involved with, "Hype wont win you matches".

And just because there is this "hype" it doesn't mean anything beyond words when you stand across the mat with someone your same age, same weight, and who has put in the same amount of time to become a champion just like you. That is when you get a dogfight. But it is always a match that decides it; one winner, one loser. That is what makes wrestling real, intense, and amazing. The engagement between two prepared and superb athletes is what should be the main attraction to the sport, and what draws the true fan. And those fans, as I see in stands long after their sons are graduated, love the sport for what it did for their children or for themselves. Not because of the name of some kid they see on a ranking list who wins matches over on the other side of the state.

It is very difficult to monitor and assess that kind of action by any of the 32 6A and 5A coaches, and it is even more difficult for the 64 4A and large amount of 3,2,1A coaches to select the BEST in their division. The final ranking, or the one that counts, will be decided when they get there in late February. Even though everyone does their best to predict the future it is still futile. All that it really does is create an immature rivalry which is unhealthy for the USAW-Kansas community. A community which needs to actually promote statebased goals and move away from traditional territoral rivalries. Rivalries should be formed on quality of programs more so than geographic location. We need to accomplish what is best for our state wrestlers like more college programs to keep our outstanding wrestlers in-state and more advanced in-state camps to get more athletic kids excited before they get to high school.

The "hype" is for those who pound their chests at other peoples accomplishments and promote territorial claims, while at the same time they are putting a target on a young man or woman striving to be the best student-athlete and person he/she can be at 18 years old or younger. Thats tough to handle as a kid, even for the best.

Ask yourself, "Is all this really that important?" You already know each average-to-great wrestlers names because you see their names on the forum constantly or see that they have a high seed in a "big" tournament. If you didn't worry about the name-game, you wouldn't be reading this thread. You've created the "hype" already. Why complain about this sport lacking something like an official ranking when you could embrace what the sport already offers and promote what it is currently accomplishing to your local news affiliate?

In stead of saying, "Wow that kid is ranked #2 and the other is ranked #5", how about saying, "These two kids are awesome, this should be a great match". And if you don't know either wrestler coming into the match, you might find out about someone whom is much better than you had ever given them credit for because some ranking system left them out. It just seems like a silly thing to complain about rankings being the cause of wrestling being a "second rate sports" when the answer to the real problem lay in oeach of our own hands (yet very few push the issue to the sources who provide the public information).

Excellent advice and exactly what I wanted to post Sunday! You complained about the rankings in December, and complained about "rude" parents at the Derby Tournament!

Click on the link below and click on the link for 2A Wrestling Rankings:

Oklahoma Rankings Page

Has 2A been updated all year?

If you go to the following link you will find only team rankings, and NO rankings for any team in 2A. At the time of this post, the date of the ranking was January 13, 2006.

Coaches Aid - Wrestling Rankings

You have referred to "we" in two posts. We is plural, indicating there is some form of involvement on your part. What is your involvement?

In Oklahoma how did they "send out ballets"?

In Kansas a "ballet" or "ballets" is a form of dance.

When the rankings are updated or made available then you have the people picking them apart (see the 5A thread).

People are asking about the 6A rankings, not all classes. I believe people are asking because the 4A and 5A rankings have been updated, but not the 6A. The only 6A updated rankings that I have seen this year are the ones that Richard posted and then removed. I still am not sure where he found those rankings as I haven't been able to find them again since. Richard said they were posted on 12-22-05, but the database was not updated with that information, and I cannot find the thread that supposedly has those rankings. No one is trying to say that doing the rankings is easy, people are just wanting to see updated 6A rankings since the database still lists many wrestlers that have graduated or are at different weights this year.

The reason Richard removed the post was directly related to pennywise#2 derogatory comment!

This is an open forum! Your free to do the research do your own rankings and post them! I think youll find it not any easy task. After you have done so, since I have taken note of your screen name I will make sure and do some research of my own and rip you as much as possible! Enough gripping about rankings, the people doing them are doing thier very best Im sure.

Richard,

Please explain what my derogatory comment was. I have never been edited, moderated, or warned by any of the moderators for any comment that I have made on this fourum. I do remember asking why the database was not updated with the information you posted. How is that derogatory?