TO ALL USAWKS CLUB DIRECTORS & USAWKS BOARD MEMBERS:

We will be conducting an emergency state body meeting on Sunday, January 24th, 2021 at 2pm. You will be receiving a link to allow you to attend this most important meeting. Due to the ongoing constraints caused by the precautions being taken to lower the risk of exposure to the Covid 19 virus, we are likely NOT going to be permitted to conduct our state tournament series in the traditional fashion as prescribed in our bylaws. To allow our state tournament committee to have some flexibility in planning, we are going to take an emergency vote to suspend the state tournament series bylaws for the 2021 season. The board needs a quorum and 2/3 vote to allow this to happen so it is very important that you attend this electronic, emergency meeting. We will NOT have a firm plan due the ever evolving conditions and constraints occurring throughout our state. The goal is to suspend the bylaws to allow the board and state tournament committee to develop at least a “few” options to allow our competitors to wrestle for a USAWKS State title. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.


Will Cokeley
USAWKS - State Chairman

SPECIFICALLY... Our concerns are being able to control the number of competitors, coaches, and attendees. KSHSAA has developed a widely accepted plan that provides for just 112 wrestlers to attend an event at a single site. We typically have over 1500 wrestlers attending the USAWKS state tournament in the past. Some of our District tournaments reached 1000 competitors in the past. As you can see, this presents some unusual challenges and our goal is to make sure we don't go two years in a row without a Kids State Tournament! The state tournament committee will need to be able to explore options to reduce the size and possible spread out the locations. The girls division may require a qualifier in order for us to KNOW how many will be attending state. At this point in time, it appears to be very unlikely we will be able to meet all of the requirements in the bylaws below:

(6) The Girls’ division will not require a qualifying series. Brackets will be created by block bracketing after the deadline for entries. The deadline for entries will be established on the tournament flyer. Girls may only compete in the Girls’ division.
(7) Qualifying Folkstyle tournaments are tournaments that are used to qualify or are in a series of tournaments that could advance a wrestler to the State level of competition, including the state tournament itself. Qualifying tournaments are subject to all sanctioned tournament rules in the preceding Part A, except where those rules have been modified or expanded under this Part B.
(8) For the purpose of eligibility of entering a Sub-District or District tournament, the competitive member has to be a resident of Kansas or must be enrolled in a Kansas educational school system, be a member of a Kansas chartered club and not entered in another states’ qualifying series in that season. Exceptions to this rule are subject to notification and permission from the corporate board. Application must be received on or before January 1. The State Tournament Director will be notified of any person permitted to wrestle under this permission. All questions on the determination of eligibility shall be resolved by the corporate board.
(9) SEEDING MEETINGS - At the seeding meeting, weight or age corrections or scratches may be made in all age groups, including walk-on wrestlers, prior to the start of seeding the wrestlers without requiring a penalty fee. Additional entries may be made in writing one hour prior to the published start time of the seeding meeting, but any such entrant must pay a penalty fee. Once the seeding starts, no changes or additions will be allowed except in the case of clerical errors by the tournament director.
(10) Each qualifying tournament may have one weigh-in at or near the qualifying tournament location and up to four additional satellite weigh-ins, to be determined by the district director, within the qualifying tournament boundaries. The weigh-in at each location shall be held at
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the same time on scales that are verified. Each weigh-in location must be supervised by a State or District officer, and a USAWKS registered official.
(11) Entry forms will be furnished by USAWKS.
(12) Entry Fees for the qualifying tournaments and state tournament will be set each year by the State Body. The entry fee starting with the 2016-17 season will be $25.
(13) Each District Director and his/her two Assistant Directors will determine the number of qualifiers from Sub-District to District. Each District will have this responsibility. A District is not required to hold a Sub-District Tournament for any one or all of the age divisions.
(14) There will be four (4) qualifiers from each District to State. The State Folkstyle Tournament Committee, working in conjunction with the district directors, shall establish standard policies that each district will follow in determining these qualifiers. These policies will not conflict with any rule in these By-Laws.
(15) In any bracket with less than 16 district qualifiers, open spots on the bracket will be filled by district in an annually rotating fashion, using 5th/6th district placers. If a district does not have a wrestler to fill in, the next district will have the opportunity. Selections will follow a serpentine approach for example: District 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1.
(16) The weight classes that a kid wrestler enters at the lowest level qualifying or advancement tournament will be the same for the following tournaments throughout state competition.
(17) All Junior High Wrestlers that were participating in a school affiliated (KSHSAA) wrestling program on the same day as a qualifier, will be permitted to wrestle in the next level tournament.
(18) There will be at least one official per wrestling area, plus one official for each three wrestling areas.
(19) The pairings of the State Tournament bracket will be District first place winner vs. District fourth place winner, and District second place winner vs. District third place winner. Bracket pairings are made by the State Tournament Committee on a random basis following the final district tournament each year.
(20) State Tournament dates shall be set by the corporate board subject to approval by the state body. Current policy, starting with the 2018-19 season, is for the tournament to be held two weeks prior to the last full weekend in March.

With less than one week to go until we have this most important meeting I would like to hear some feedback from the grassroots. From my perspective the NUMBER ONE GOAL is to WRESTLE! We have to find a way to conduct a qualifying series and a state tournament to recognize our best wrestlers. Due to the challenges this means there might have to be some sacrifices:
1. wrestlers and coaches only in the competition area.
2. live streaming if internet access is available.
3. paper run tournament if there isn't any internet service.
4. no spectators or very limited spectators.
5. temperature checking for all competitors
6. 8 man brackets at state.
7. multiple state sites

These are just a few of the suggestions or thoughts I have been hearing. We would like to hear from you on this forum or via email.

Best

Will,

The only issues I can see be #4&7.

This issue for 7 would be, if we have multiple state sites on the same day. Some clubs might have problems due to lack of coaches.

The issue with #4 is that we already found out people don't listen. When you say no spectators or limited, they always find a way to sneak someone in. We have been to tournaments this year, where they have had people at the door checking the one athlete/one parent rule, but an hour or two later there was no one there so anyone could enter and did. I think by looking at the ruckus that was started when KSHSAA said no fans, that you will have to allow at least one parent. Someone will have to be stationed at all doors to make sure no one sneaks anyone else in. That's pretty sad, but that is where we are today in this pandemic time.

All solid considerations to get the kids on the mat. If going to 8 man brackets at state, should districts be required to have a true 2nd match since we would only take 2 per district to state?

I think that is fair to do, but make sure if a person has already won vs that opponent, we do not wrestle them again. I have seen true 2nds and 4ths messed up like that.

IF only doing 8 man brackets at state. I would suggest have normal district tournaments. Then add another qualifying tournament after districts. Like a sub-state that high school is doing. For instance the sub-state would be district 4 (top 4 wrestlers from district) and district 3(top 4 wrestlers from district) would combine. Then top four from sub state would move on to state.

2 day district tournaments
3 day state tournament like Tulsa was ran this weekend.
Same qualifying and state brackets as years past.

There would certainly have to be a true 2nd match. To be clear we are exhausting all the options to keep the traditional 16 man brackets and a single site. The target is not to disrupt but at this time we have only ONE district tournament nailed down and a list of state options that limits us to 2000 total people and that 2may be really optimistic. KSHSAA has a 112 wrestler maximum mandate in place with two spectators so they are setting the bar in the 300's. This is very challenging and the board members are doing all they can and exploring all of the possibilities. We may ultimately have to make concessions that are really not fan/parent friendly and break the traditional format but our goal is to have a Kids State tournament wrestled and I think we are all willing to give quite a bit to make that happen.

Break it out into 3 or 4 days. Although it is not ideal, I'm willing to not be there in person to watch my son wrestle. It is more important that he gets to compete than I get to watch in person. I know it has already been said, but definitely a true 2nd match is needed if only taking top 2 from each district

16 man brackets
3 days
Day 1 -certain ages/weights to blood round
Day 2 - certain ages / weights to blood round
Day 3 combine, at this point it’s all 8 man brackets left.

3 sep colors of wristbands for each day.
Coaches are given the number allowed for their team (for example, 2 per athlete) coach distributes to correct parents. Then the doorman just needs to confirm the color for that day.

I would like to clarify that I do not oppose the State 8 man route, but what is the goal of USAWKS? If this is the final decision, I am all for it, but who will this benefit? Last season ended in devastation for a lot of young wrestlers, and I was the first to tell our team "Life doesn't always go as planned. Don't get down. Keep your heads up and remember your goals." What goals do a lot of our kids have? Having fun and becoming competitive in the sport of wrestling. There are a lot of kids who's goal is to win state. That is admirable, and I hope each kid with that goal achieves it. We also talk to our kids about rational and irrational goals. Never placing at a tournament, but writing down a goal of "winning state" that same season is probably a bit irrational. Saying you want to win a tournament is a little more rational. After that, say you want to qualify, then place, and then win it all. I'm trying not to ramble, but my point is, what do 8 man brackets do for the growth of the sport of wrestling in Kansas. I know it's a challenging year, and again, if it's the only way, I am for it. My concern is that a lot of young wrestlers with goals had them stopped last season, and if we go through another cycle, even if extremely limited, how many kids will this leave in the dust. I would love to see those 8 kids that make it to state, that would no doubt be some great wrestling. No doubt some top 8 kids would be left at home because their district was that tough, but a large percentage of the kids wrestling at this level will show resilience and move on. Its the hundreds and more of the other wrestlers that I worry about. The ones that haven't had it "click" yet, but we all know will have potential to be something if they stay on the mat through kids, JH and into HS. I know the discussion you are about to have will not be easy, and our state is not as forgiving as some of our neighbors. I hope all viewpoints are heard, and everyone is receptive to new ideas and maybe some crazy ones to get us through this season. Whatever happens, I appreciate everyone's work in making something happen this year. I will be anxiously waiting to see what comes from your emergency meeting.

My 2 cents:
Full Qualifying Tournaments (extend the number of days or multiple locations)
Full State (extend the number of days or multiple locations)

If it were up to me I'd run the state tournament in 5 sessions. 1 per age group, boys and girls. Keep the 16 man bracket. At the end of each session clear the arena and sanitize. Over the 3 day weekend:
Friday at 3pm: start to finish 8u state
Saturday at 8am start to finish 10u state
Saturday at 3pm start to finish 12u state
Sunday at 8am start to finish 14u state
Sunday at 3pm start to finish HS state
Looking at divisions from last year there was 450 kids at most. Even at 4 spectators per athlete I would think the expocenter wouldn't even be at 25 %
No ceremonies, just wrastlin.

As far as districts go I'd try and do the same, either only one or two age groups at a time.

Dying to know how it went