All elementary wrestlers K-6 are invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Kentucky Elementary State Tournament to be held at Johnson Central High School in Paintsville on Saturday March 24 2007.

For more information contact Jim Matney KY Elementary Association President at 606-788-0037 or Tournament Director James Jude at 859-402-0724.

Flyer attached by Mathound. Login to download.

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Are there any tournament flyers available?

I thought Ryle Elementary was hosting the state tourney at Conner on March 3..  Just curious what was going on...

Flyers can be obtained from the Johnson County Middle Staff at the Middle School State Duals this weekend or by sending an email to  [email protected].

Flyer also attached to the first post.

Conner High School is also planning on hosting an elementary state tournament on March 3rd.  Ryle high school was supposed to host the state tournament on this date, but their gym reservation was bumped.  We are finalizing the flyer in the next day or 2.  Expect a flyer to be sent out soon.

Conner High School is also planning on hosting an elementary state tournament on March 3rd.  Ryle high school was supposed to host the state tournament on this date, but their gym reservation was bumped.  We are finalizing the flyer in the next day or 2.  Expect a flyer to be sent out soon.

Why would conner have a tournment. Last year we voted a president at the elementary state tournment and he has set the tournment at Johnson Co. and plans to rotate it each year to give everyone an opportunity to host it.

I believe we should support the tournment at Johnson co. this year and if conner wants to host it in the future then fine.  Eastern Ky teams have traveled it's someone elses turn. we traveled to Larue 2 years ago and to mccreary last year we deserve a chance to host it... we need everyones support....

Why would conner have a tournment. Last year we voted a president at the elementary state tournment and he has set the tournment at Johnson Co. and plans to rotate it each year to give everyone an opportunity to host it.

I believe we should support the tournment at Johnson co. this year and if conner wants to host it in the future then fine.   Eastern Ky teams have traveled it's someone elses turn. we traveled to Larue 2 years ago and to mccreary last year we deserve a chance to host it... we need everyones support....

We are having the tournament because Ryle (in our region) attended the state meeting at McCreary County....asked to host the state tourney and was voted and approved to be the host site at that meeting.  From what I understand, the president of that league was invited to attend the meeting but did not...I'm not sure why.  Ryle's gym was yanked from them a few weeks ago, and we volunteered to host it to keep it in our region since it rotates from region to region each year (Ryle & Conner are in the same region).  The date and site (3/3/07 at Ryle) was decided months ago at the state coaches meeting at McCreary.  If anyone had known Johnson Central was planning on hosting this tournament, we would have definitely not considered hosting our own.  I would love to say I'll cancel ours and let someone else host it, but I've already made too many arrangements to back out now.  It's a shame, but it looks like there will be 2 elementary state tournaments.

Plee, i totally agree with you, your region should get to hold the state this year for the simple fact that the coach from ryle drove all the way down to attend the meeting.  the only coaches that represented were a coach from Ryle, Wayne co, and McCreary co.  the meeting was posted on this site numerous times and the president of the elementary made no effort to attend or even stay in contact.

When was this election?  I know numerous coaches that have attended the past two Elementary State Tourneys and none recall an election.  Who are the members of KWEA?  If such organization exists I am concerned that there has been little, if any, effort made to solicit thoughts, ideas, opinions, from the youth wrestling community within the state.  I think that the idea of such an organization is a good one, but so far I am not convinced that there is any such legitimate forum.  I know many coaches would love to participate in the organization, some as members, some possibly as officers.  I think an organization of this type is needed to grow the sport in KY.  Who do coaches need to contact to become members?

Good luck with your tournament at Conner I hope it is a success.. I just think that if there was a meeting held to discuss things such as the elementary state tournament The president that was nominated and elected at the elementary school state tournament last year should have been the one to have set the meeting... I just hope that the time and effort the people at johnson co. to plan this tournament won't be a waste of time.. I also hope  the same for the tournament at conner..

This is the most ridiculous things I have ever seen on here. We are going to have two state tournaments. If we are going to build anything that is worth doing we all need to be on the same page. So far we have 1) A State meeting not centrally located so only a few people attended. (Lexington would be a good central location.) 2) The President didn't attend the meeting. 3) Someone has decided to put on another state tournament because they aren't happy with what was agreed at a meeting they didn't attend. 4) The President has decided not to support what was agreed upon during the meeting. 5) Now we have a posting about a State tournament in an attempt to hijack what everyone thought and agreed was the plan. (I read the original post and informed my parents that State had changed locations and dates. Assuming it was the same State tournament. Kind of sneaky if you ask me.)

People we need to get on the same page. Not everyone agrees with the MS association but it works because everyone is on the same page. Even if they don't always agree about it. Because working as group on an negotiated path is what is best for the kids.

Sorry if I upset anyone but this sounds so childish and could discourage parents and coaches from going to either. You people can't pick up a phone or try email and work this out. You have to hash it out in public. Slick and Classy.

My kids will be going to Conner. If JC decides to host a general youth tournament we will go to that also but for State we will be sticking with what was originally planned.

SheHateMe-I agree with most of your statements.  It is unfortunate that the only meeting that was held was not centrally located, however atleast those folks did take the time to plan, announce and tried to collaborate.......something that the "nominated and elected" President did NOT do.  While I wish there would have been more attendance, I commend their effort because it is the ONLY thing that has been done to work together.  I also agree that we need to get on the same page.  As a group I could see things may happen that I don't necessarily agree with, but if there is a respected process used to determine who hosts the tournament, where it would be, what the weight brackets are, etc. I would have no complaints.  I hope that this can get resolved to everyones satisfaction and in a manner that supports the sport and THE KIDS......let's not forget about them.

Hello,

Most of you already know I am Pam Clark from McCreary County Elementary Athletics.  I certainly regret that confusion has resulted in the world of elementary wrestling--that is exactly what we were trying to avoid.  The reason we went ahead with a planning meeting in October is because several coaches had e-mailed me or called me to see what was going on--we were all under the assumption that the elementary coaches (like the middle school coaches) would be meeting over the summer and planning the upcoming season.  That was the whole purpose we tried to organize an association at the State Tournament when we hosted. 

As to the elections--I cannot offer any insight there, because they evidentially took place while all of the McCreary people were out of the room--while I found that to be disappointing--I was excited that someone had stepped forward with the experience needed to get us going.  Many of us have spent numerous hours trying to promote elementary wrestling and we are aware that it takes many hours of communication and planning to get things going--we have all been working with the middle school association for years and realize that organization doesn't just happen (all the grunt work had been completed before I became active with the middle school association and we still meet and plan multiple times per year). 

With that in mind I made several attempts to contact our elected President via both e-mail and phone before setting a meeting time and location (by the way--the out of way location was simply because no one else volunteered--we would have been glad to drive anywhere to get this organization going--I drive to the middle school meetings in Louisville everytime and would do the same for elementary if anyone would step forward and host a meeting--I do however realize the lack of agreeable hosts also is related to lack of organization--it will get better).  I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Coach Matney also coaches high school football and I do know they were having an incredible season and he was very busy--I did relay to him that we did not want to insult him by making decisions, but many organizations--ours included needed to know what was going on so we could prepare and we were going to go ahead with the meeting even if he could not attend.  I hoped he could/would attend the meeting but since many of you were contacting me I felt like we needed to do something to get the ball rolling--we were hoping an entire elemetary season would be scheduled this year with multiple schools hosting weekly tournaments so our elementary kids can get some mat time--I still hope that will take place in the near future.  As you know the meeting date and time was posted here and each person I had a personal contact for received an e-mail--we hoped for a large turnout with many voices.  We did go ahead and plan for the upcoming tournament at this meeting because I knew that we had spent several months planning the previous year (we secured the elementary state tournament in July at the middle school coaches meeting) and the next host school would also need extended time to prepare. 

At the October meeting Stan Martin attended from the Ryle program to express in person that they would like to host the 2007 tournament.  Since the only other school that I was aware of that wanted to host was Christian County (I think) and Ryle had expressed interest first we agreed that Ryle would host this year and hopefully Christian county could host next.  At no point and time did any of us know that any other district was planning to host the 2007 elementary tournament--even though we knew we may have a president we did not assume that would not automatically ensure you host.  You can ask anyone that attends the middle school meetings--we bugged them for quite some time before we were given the tournament--we did not just appoint ourselves as host even though we made the tournament decisions due to the fact that we do not have an organization to make those decisions.  If we had known someone else was planning to host we would have made definite contact before posting any information concerning March 3 in order to avoid this particular growing pain of the elementary orgainzation.

All of this just supports the fact that we must get organized as an elementary program ASAP.  We need to have a meeting somewhere that includes everyone interested to plan and prepare for the future of elementary wrestling in Kentucky.  There are many issues that need to get settled premanently (some of these include weight/age brackets, elgibility, host locations....).  We will be attending the coaches meeting that Ryle will hold on March 2nd--I hope we have tremendous tournout at this meeting so we can get officially organized and avoid confusion in the future.  I know this is all part of the growing process and I hope it can be worked out this year--as for McCreary County we will attend the March 3 tournament that Ryle is hosting as the official State Tournament.  If our coaches decide to do so we will also attend the Johnson tournament, but we will consider the Ryle tournament (held at Connor) to be our official 2007 tournament.  I apologize for any confusion, but I hope we will all work together to continue the growth of elementary westling--we are on the verge of creating a great building program in our state.

Will you allow out of state wrestlers at the Conner tournament?  Is a flyer available?

As to the elections--I cannot offer any insight there, because they evidentially took place while all of the McCreary people were out of the room--while I found that to be disappointing--I was excited that someone had stepped forward with the experience needed to get us going.

Pam, thanks for the insight.  This explains why some people claimed there was not an actual election.  Like i've said in other posts here...I'm already past the point of no return on running a tourney on 3/3/07.  I really didn't want to, since we are already hosting a tourney on 3/24 (Cougar Kids Open).  BUT...i didn't want our region to get skipped over for this. 

I'd like to suggest that perhaps if Johnson Central has not purchased medals or made irreversible arrangements, maybe they can cancel theirs?  If they decide not to, I wish them the best of luck.  I hope both our tournaments are a success. 

No one can fault anyone from McCreary for this.  You have certainly made every effort imagineable to try and get the ball rolling in elementary wrestling!

I say we just chalk this up as a learning experience and make the best of it.  It sounds like growing pains to me and everyone realizes that we need to have better communication going forward (always an issue, even within the best of organizations and companies).

Is the meeting on March 2 open to all interested parties or is it only to prepare for the tournament on March 3?  Is the tournament open or will there be a qualifier?

Thanks to all who are putting in the efforts to organize elementary wrestling around the state.  I have seen a tremendous amount of really young talent here and believe this is where we can eventually grow to be a wrestling state and be compared to the powerhouses.

    Initially, the plan was to have three regions, with each region hosting a tournament on Febuary 24.  That plan has since been modified.  It is my understanding the state tournament is now an open tournament, with no need to qualify in regionals.  It is also my understanding that this tournament will be limited to Kentucky residents only.

    I agree we need to all get on the same page.  A state title doesn't mean much when there are multiple state tournaments.

Will you allow out of state wrestlers at the Conner tournament?  Is a flyer available?

No out of state wrestlers allowed.  A flyer will be sent out tomorrow.

I say we just chalk this up as a learning experience and make the best of it.  It sounds like growing pains to me and everyone realizes that we need to have better communication going forward (always an issue, even within the best of organizations and companies).

Is the meeting on March 2 open to all interested parties or is it only to prepare for the tournament on March 3?  Is the tournament open or will there be a qualifier?

Thanks to all who are putting in the efforts to organize elementary wrestling around the state.  I have seen a tremendous amount of really young talent here and believe this is where we can eventually grow to be a wrestling state and be compared to the powerhouses.

The meeting on March 2nd (I think will be at Conner...if I'm wrong, would someone from Ryle please correct me) will be open to anyone interested in elementary wrestling in Kentucky.

:? just an update I believe the elem. stae tourney is march3 at conner. some one correctme if I am wrong

:? just an update I believe the elem. stae tourney is march3 at conner. some one correctme if I am wrong

yes, we are planning on hosting the elementary state tourney at conner on march 3rd.  johnson central is also hosting the elementary state tourney on march 24.  there was some miscommunications going on...so this year we'll have 2 tourneys.  next year it will be straightened out though, i'm sure.

Well it sounds like almost everyone is on the same page now.  I wish we were only having one State though.

Pat, thanks for stepping up as usual.

Pam, thanks for pushing things along like you have over the past two years.

Just to correct a couple of things about the elementary state tournament.

The only official state tournament will be held at Johnson Central in Paintsville

on March 24 2007.A quick check of a couple of facts will reveal that the Ryle

tournament is not official.

1 Yes there was an election! It is not that hard to find the people who

nominated or voted.

2 How could Ryle host the tournament when until very recently

no one at the high school had been contacted about the use of the

gym and when they were finally contacted ,the gym was unavailable. I believe if you check with Conner H.S. you will find why they have just recently been contacted.Could you actually set the state before having a site ? I do not think this is possible.

3 As far as the meeting Ms Pam Clark is referring to .I was told only one out of

area person was in attendance.( I cannot confirm if there was only 3 present or not . This may only be rumor.)

4 Last years election was an attempt to get the State Tournament

straightened out.For reasons unknown the tournament last year was

run by a young man still in school who had never ran a tournament in his

life.(He did the best he could do.)The previous year many local wrestlers did not even weigh in.

5 In contacting the Mccreary wrestling group,you will quickly find out that for whatever reason ,coach Bozeman , the founder and present high school head coach is left out of the loop when it comes to elementary wrestling.This is  possibly why last years tournament was ran by a group of college kids. I believe Pam  Clark has done an admirable job but this may be why communication is a little scrambled.

6 Johnson Central has been preparing since last year and has even purchased a

new $9,600  mat.May everything work out great for all schools and next year we will do better!

Just to correct a couple of things about the elementary state tournament.

The only official state tournament will be held at Johnson Central in Paintsville

on March 24 2007.A quick check of a couple of facts will reveal that the Ryle

tournament is not official.

1 Yes there was an election! It is not that hard to find the people who

nominated or voted.

2 How could Ryle host the tournament when until very recently

no one at the high school had been contacted about the use of the

gym and when they were finally contacted ,the gym was unavailable. I believe if you check with Conner H.S. you will find why they have just recently been contacted.Could you actually set the state before having a site ? I do not think this is possible.

3 As far as the meeting Ms Pam Clark is referring to .I was told only one out of

area person was in attendance.( I cannot confirm if there was only 3 present or not . This may only be rumor.)

4 Last years election was an attempt to get the State Tournament

straightened out.For reasons unknown the tournament last year was

run by a young man still in school who had never ran a tournament in his

life.(He did the best he could do.)The previous year many local wrestlers did not even weigh in.

5 In contacting the Mccreary wrestling group,you will quickly find out that for whatever reason ,coach Bozeman , the founder and present high school head coach is left out of the loop when it comes to elementary wrestling.This is  possibly why last years tournament was ran by a group of college kids. I believe Pam  Clark has done an admirable job but this may be why communication is a little scrambled.

6 Johnson Central has been preparing since last year and has even purchased a

new $9,600  mat.May everything work out great for all schools and next year we will do better!

Wrestling Mom - you call yours official, and we will call ours official.  You're entitled to your opinion, and so are we.  Next year hopefully this is straightened out, but someone had to take charge and move forward with plans for the elementary state tournament...and Pam Clark & Stan Martin did that.  Pam, Stan, and I made NUMEROUS attempts to contact Jim Matney through email and phone calls.  No one could get a hold of him.  No one wanted to have 2 state tourneys this year, but planning had to move forward.

I don't know how you got all this "insider information" about Ryle...but i believe they had the gym reserved and got bumped.  That's what I was told, and as far as I'm concerned, that's the truth.  If you hang around wrestling long enough, this will happen to you too.  As far as criticizing McCreary for using college kids....i'm just thankful we had an elementary state tournament in this state last year.  I didn't go, but i am sure it wasn't perfect....neither will ours, and neither will yours.  It's easy to criticize people who are trying, how about just helping out and be grateful?  10 years ago there was nothing like youth & m.s. state tourneys.  Cut the people who make the effort some slack!!  It is not easy, and getting criticized on the web that things didn't go well does not help encourage people to run tournaments.

Hey people, you are getting a little harsh on both sides.  I think that it is in the best interest of all to look ahead and start planning for next year so that embarrassing mishaps like two tournaments doesn't happen again.  I have just recently located this website and feel like I walked onto a battlefield.

I just wish that the elementary and middle school information was a little more available out there.  My eighth grade son has missed out on a lot because we got information too late, but I hope we can do better for our younger wrestlers in the future now that I've located the source of information.

Can we get information on the Connor tournament?  I have the JC info already.

Hey people, you are getting a little harsh on both sides.  I think that it is in the best interest of all to look ahead and start planning for next year so that embarrassing mishaps like two tournaments doesn't happen again.  I have just recently located this website and feel like I walked onto a battlefield.

I just wish that the elementary and middle school information was a little more available out there.  My eighth grade son has missed out on a lot because we got information too late, but I hope we can do better for our younger wrestlers in the future now that I've located the source of information.

Can we get information on the Connor tournament?  I have the JC info already.

I agree, i wish the JC people the best of luck.

Here's some info on our tournament.  If anyone wants a printable flyer, please contact me through email.

Where:  Conner High School

Age divisions going off of their age on the day of the tournament. Is this going to stay consistant from year to year? Last years age requirements were in line with highschool rules, meaning that a kid with a birthday after Aug 1st or 5th, not sure which wrestled his age last year......example. A kid that is 11 now with a Sept, Oct birthday wrestled 10 and under last year. I just hope the requirements stay consistant from year to year.

Also, it is unfortunate that this "miscommunication " happened. Hopefully this will not happen again and we will build on this tournament, and in years to come if can you say  you are an " Elementry School State Champion"  this statement has alot of meaning. Good luck to both tournaments and all kid who participate.

I hope all of this chatter means that there is much growth in elementary wrestling.  It is exciting that everyone's hard work may begin to pay off--growing pains are part of any program--just as criticism is.  This is all part of the growth process.  I certainly know that McCreary County did not do a perfect job last year, but each year gets better and better--this year should be twice as nice.  I will say that I thought the Cumberland College wrestlers did a great job with the tournament and I would use them again in a heartbeat.  I think the best experience out there is the many years of wrestling those kids had--I thought things went pretty well--things can always be better.  One thing that I did like was the fact that we did not use our local high school kids to officiate--we did have certified officials available, and experienced officials on all mats.  That is one of those things that we had the luxury of seeing the need for just as there are things that this years tournament will improve upon.  I am thankful that LaRue County got the ball rolling with the tournament in 2005--they got us off to a GREAT start and we should build each year.

As you all know a successful program takes good communication and lots of work.  I hope we are to the point where we can work together and build an awesome program for Kentucky elementary wrestling.  I hope we can look beyond some of the misinformation in the occasional post and continue to work toward continued success.  Wrestlers and their mom's are very passionate about the sport--and I think that is a good thing.  The more interest we have the faster we will grow. 

Technically, until we have an organized body to make decisions we will not have any "official" tournament--but it is GREAT to have the opportunity.  That is why we must meet (often and statewide) to organize.  Creating an organization involves much more than we have put into it to date--we must have our officials in place (all officials), our by laws determined, and any other official things we need to organize.  It is time to do that now so we can avoid future confusion.  We really have some GREAT folks across the state interested now so we should be able to build effectively.

I am looking forward to the future of wrestling across the state of Kentucky at all levels!

FYI--the minutes from our October meeting were posted on this site including the coaches in attendance if anyone is interested. 

Well I only thought we were on the right track.  Why do we have a president that doesn't communicate with everyone else involved in youth wrestling.  I've known about the tournament on the 3rd since the meeting because they bothered to disseminate their information.  Now the "president" has stepped in and rejected everything everyone else has worked on and planned for.  Sounds more like a dictator than a president or maybe a tater  .  Good President:  Doesn't communicate with anyone involved.  doesn't let others know everything they are working on is going to be squashed.  Taking everything everyone else has worked hard on and stepped on it.  While not being involved but happy to criticize and step in and save the so called day.  I like the S on your chest.  Your the man.  Congratulations you have successfully set youth wrestling back 2yrs.  JC why didn't you let everybody know about your tournament till now.  JC why didn't you tell the people who had been putting their info out there long ago that you had different ideas.  You really screwed them over.  Stand-up guy if you ask me makes for a good president.

Lets remember where this started.  LaRue 2yrs ago.  Good tournament - why because no one else would do it.  And yet people criticized it while not jumping on board.  Then to McCreary and the same thing criticize but don't jump on board.  Now to this year and we have Conner stepping up and instead of jumping on board we have a hijacking.

Let me say this again if we don't get on board this will be painful.  Programs and parents on the fence will say screw it.  After that rotate it so that individual regions get localized benefits.

I don't know how there was a president elected.  If it was a MS State then that mistake will be fixed this year.

I know what everyone wants is the State in there area.  We are 5yrs out before that will not be counter productive.  It needs to be centrally located to optimize attendance.  The more kids in attendance the more benefit to the state as a whole.

I will be participating at the meeting for coaches March 2. 

One thing is for sure and I know this did not work out this year, but we have to have regional competitions prior to the state going forward in 2008.  Youth wrestling has grown into more than just a handful of clubs and there are just too many kids to ignore that fact.  Hosting one event eliminates to many of the potential wrestlers that would have competed.  (No one wants to drive border to border, do overnights in some cases, or have the chance that their wrestler gets knocked out early.  Or do all that to find an unorganized event being planned by the seat of the pants.  The first state tournament was a good example.  The hosting school simply did not have the resources needed to handle the level of participating wrestlers that attended.  Due to that experience I did not take my team to last years state tournament fearing the same problem would occur.  Youth programs are harmed by poorly administered events and it is not worth the risk.  Guidelines need to be established for schools wanting to host the event for having the required resources.

Additionally, the elected president has truly let everyone down on this.  I have yet to see an official reply to any of the post made on the tournament issue from him directly.  Jim Matney, are you out there?  Do you have visibility to our problem?  What do you think on 2 tournaments for state title in KY youth?  Will you be attending the coaches meeting at Conner March 2?  Are you planning on pulling the coaches together to iron out the challenges ahead for 2008?  When and where,how do we get intouch?  Thanks, Coach Frank

My name is Stan Martin, I currently run the youth program at Ryle. 

In October I attended the meeting in McCreary Co.  Just to dispel some rumors the following occurred.  I called Pam Clark shortly after school started to find out what was happening with the Youth State Tourney.  She told me how she had emailed and phoned Jim Matney on several occasions with not one returned communication.  She also told me he was very busy with Football.  Because he never returned any communication the desire to hold a meeting was posted.

    1. Pam Clark agreed to host the meeting since nobody else would.

    2. Yes, there were only 4 schools that attended, none of which was Johnson Central.

    3. Ryle did agree to host the elementary tournament not because nobody else wanted to but because we did.  We expressed our interest at last years tournament and were always under the impression we would host.

    4. Just recently I found out that Ryle's gym was not going to be available on March 3rd.  I called Pat Lee and he was able to arrange the tournament at Conner High School.

    5. I personally called EVERY high school coach in Ky. to find out who was responsible for their Youth program.  Only THREE COACHES returned my calls, again Jim Matney was not one of them.

    6. Ryle hosted a tournament on 12/02/2006 which was posted as an open invitational to every team in the State of Ky.  Simon Kenton, Campbell Co., Conner, Summitview, and Fern Creek were the only Ky. teams to attend.  Thanks to these teams plus some Ohio and Indiana teams we had 250 kids and a great tournament.

Since the above events occurred I have spent countless hours on the phone and email trying to get teams to step up and host regional tournaments.  Thankfully we had teams in Western Ky, Louisville, and Northern Ky. volunteer.  Unfortunately time became an issue and we had to scrap the idea for this year. 

My first communication with Jim Matney occurred just one week ago after he posted his listing on this website.  I emailed him asking him to call me to discuss all of the above.  HE NEVER CALLED ME BACK.

I proceeded to call him last week and he answered the phone and we had a very cordial conversation that resulted in nothing.  Mr. Matney will hold a tournament on March 23 as we will hold The KY State Youth Wrestling Championship on March 3rd at Conner High School.

On March 2nd we will have a coach's meeting, at Conner High School, to formally setup a governing board to establish guidelines for Youth Wrestling in Ky.  This has never been done before.  Every coach in the State of Ky will have the opportunity to express their opinion.  If there is a person somebody wants to nominate for the board, please do so. 

Please feel free to email myself at [email protected]

I just read through this entire thread and it reminds me of what middle school wrestling went through just a few years ago, it may sound strange, but I think you all are on the right track. Middle school was so messed up we had different weight classes at every tournament, some didn't require weigh-ins at all.

The fact that theres coaches communicating is a good sign. It sounds like some people have been working extremely hard to get this off the ground and I compliment them for their efforts, a start up organization like this needs leaders willing to do the legwork, make the phone calls, send the emails and get people talking.

Look at the bright side, you have two elementary tournaments planned, it they are both considered state tournaments so be it. Thats exactly what happened with middle school in 2002, Campbell County had a tournament called the State Tournament and just a week or two later Gray hosted one too! I remember the same kind of argument, each host claiming to be having the official State Tournament, but in the long run it didn't matter who's was the official state tournament, the kids had a great time and thats all the really matters. The next year everyone agreed to work together and things have progressed well, not perfect but numbers have grown each year.

I say quit the finger pointing, pick up a telephone and work together for the kids. Remember the reason you care about this anyway, because you all like wrestling and want the kids to have safe well structured competitions, Good luck!

Stan

Sounds like you did a lot of leg work to promote and wrap up loss ends.

As far as electing officers for the Elementary programs.  It would be good if our head people be ones that can focus their time and efforts on Elementary wrestling.  They also need to be able detach themselves from manipulating things to benefit there own agendas. 

Let's not end up in this situation again where we have a person in control that is going to do what they want because they have the power. 

I know Stan Martin very well and encourage all parents of Ky youth wrestlers  to trust this person with the Youth Wrestling Program. Stan is an honest man with integrity and sportsmanship. He is devoted to youth wrestling and currently runs one the must organized youth programs in the state.  Parents must unite and agree to have a single state championship. I encourage everyone to trust Stan and agree to enroll their wrestlers in the real state championship tournament held at Conner High School.

I know Stan Martin very well and encourage all parents of Ky youth wrestlers  to trust this person with the Youth Wrestling Program. Stan is an honest man with integrity and sportsmanship. He is devoted to youth wrestling and currently runs one the must organized youth programs in the state.  Parents must unite and agree to have a single state championship. I encourage everyone to trust Stan and agree to enroll their wrestlers in the real state championship tournament held at Conner High School.

And I think we should listen to I-pinned-em-all.  After all, he pinned me once.  I don't remember it, but he must have because he pinned em all.  He's pinned us all at least once.  He is also a humble and very great leader.  :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol:

I also concur about Stan, he's a good guy. 

UNLESS  you used to wrestle for him. ....Just kidding

If my recall is correct, I pinned pioneer_pride simply with a thought!   

This elementary tourney is really out of control. Calmer minds should prevail and the tournament should be held at Conner. Clearly, this tournament will be very organized and well run.

I'm not worried about it being organized.  Kids don't care.  They don't know if a tournament is organized or not.  All they know is they get to wrestle.  So that makes it really easy.  The only people that get upset about the organization of a tournament are the parents.  Lets be real happy this is rolling, the kids are.

I'm not worried about it being organized.  Kids don't care.  They don't know if a tournament is organized or not.  All they know is they get to wrestle.  So that makes it really easy.  The only people that get upset about the organization of a tournament are the parents.  Lets be real happy this is rolling, the kids are.

AMEN!!  I very much agree with your last statement.  I say good luck to Johnson Central and I hope they have 500 kids...i hope we do to...what we are seeing are the similar growing pains that Dr. Eville Dad stated that the middle school league went through.  2 state tournaments, non-standard weight classes, etc.  We'll get there. 

Just a thought.  Why can't we pull the Elementary program under the KSWA.  The structure is already in place and would prevent us from having to rework everything again.  Things would be done a little different but should be easy to have two programs under one organization.

ON March 2nd at Conner High School we will be discussing exactly what she-hate-me is talking about.

Having the youth organization fall under the same management as Middle School.  It makes tons of sense.  Same rules, one governing body.

This is one suggestion, others want our own President and Board. 

Others want one organization to fall under the Middle School with a person to act as liaison from youth to middle school to make sure our best interests are being considered.

All coaches please be in attendance on March 2nd at 7:00 pm at Conner High School. Let's get this done.

WE NEED ALL VOICES TO BE HEARD.

ON March 2nd at Conner High School we will be discussing exactly what she-hate-me is talking about.

Having the youth organization fall under the same management as Middle School.  It makes tons of sense.  Same rules, one governing body.

This is one suggestion, others want our own President and Board. 

Others want one organization to fall under the Middle School with a person to act as liaison from youth to middle school to make sure our best interests are being considered.

All coaches please be in attendance on March 2nd at 7:00 pm at Conner High School. Let's get this done.

WE NEED ALL VOICES TO BE HEARD.

Up until last year, the elementary state was handled by the middle school association.  I believe the reason a separate organization was formed was to give youth wrestling a more focused attention, which I agree was needed.  However, I believe there is so much common ground between the 2 organizations and we could really leverage each other....it would be nice if the elementary was not a separate organization, but more of a branch/division/whatever you want to call it of the same organization.  When I took over as president of the m.s. league, one of the first things I did was rename us from the Kentucky Middle School Wrestling Association to the Kentucky State Wrestling Association.  I did this in anticipation that we would branch out into youth and any other levels of wrestling that we could help out with.  I think youth wrestling should have it's own officers and stuff like that....but the 2 groups should leverage each other as much as possible.  Plus I think a lot of m.s. coaches also coach youth wrestling. 

Having said all that....a lot of m.s. coaches are very happy we no longer have the elementary stuff on our plate.  We are very busy.  But think of what we have already went through that the youth is now going to have to figure out.

How about having a President of KWSA with a director of Middle School and a director of Elementary School.  This would keep the two separate so they don't bog down one another.

How about having a President of KWSA with a director of Middle School and a director of Elementary School.  This would keep the two separate so they don't bog down one another.

I think that would be a good idea...not sure what the kswa would think.

Will you allow out of state wrestlers at the Conner tournament?  Is a flyer available?

If this was done, I don't think you could call it a STATE tournament. 

Alot of interest so far!!!

Cannot wait.

Great points.  Here is my suggestion.  Instead of butting heads and having two state tournaments and a ton of confusion, no answers. 

S&^% can the entire event until an emergency meeting is held to resolve this. 

Then start laying the ground work for an assoc. like the MS did.

or we could leave things the way they are but change the names to 07 "Almost" state tournament.

Going to be a great State Elementary Tournament.

All thoughts and ideas will be forwarded.

Going to be a great State Elementary Tournament.

All thoughts and ideas will be forwarded.

Who's going?????

March 24 is not long away.

The reason behind the March 24 date is that many elementary schools

do not get started with wrestling until late because of limited mats and space.Good help is hard to come by and Mathound could testify how

tough it is to get help at this level.

We are moving to Kentucky March 4th, my son is 8 years old and has qualified for the Ohio Grade School States.  He will not be able to wrestle in the state tournament due to the move, will he be eligible to wrestle in the Kentucky youth Tournament?  My company will be moving us to a temporary facility until we close on our house.  Please respond because my son loves to compete in this sport and has done so for 4 years.

Thanks :-D

shea horton ryle vs Trevor frietsch 45 lb finals

shea horton ryle vs Trevor frietsch 45 lb finals

How about this, I agree with that.  2 really tough kids.

We are moving to Kentucky March 4th, my son is 8 years old and has qualified for the Ohio Grade School States.  He will not be able to wrestle in the state tournament due to the move, will he be eligible to wrestle in the Kentucky youth Tournament?  My company will be moving us to a temporary facility until we close on our house.  Please respond because my son loves to compete in this sport and has done so for 4 years.

Thanks :-D

I don't see why he wouldn't be able to.  As long as you have a Kentucky mailing address.  Your new place of residence would be your temporary living arrangements.  Where will you be moving to in Kentucky.

Bring your tired, hungry and poor.  We'll feed em'all.

Just for your information those going to Conner on March 3rd for the Ky Youth State Tournament a full breakfast will be setup for weary travelers.  We will have biscuits and gravy, sausage biscuits, bacon and egg biscuits, coffee, juice, milk, donuts, cereal, danishes, and muffins beginning at 8:00 in the cafeteria.

Conner boosters will be offering a full lunch also.

Looks like this is shaping up to be a great tournament. Wrestlers from all over the state are coming to Paintsville on March 24 for the State Elementary Tournament.

Please keep in mind that this tournament like all other youth tournaments in the state is an open tournament. Any wrestler 12 and under who is a resident of the state of Kentucky is welcome to come and wrestle.

We are going to have food too. 

Looks like this is shaping up to be a great tournament. Wrestlers from all over the state are coming to Paintsville on March 24 for the State Elementary Tournament.

Please keep in mind that this tournament like all other youth tournaments in the state is an open tournament. Any wrestler 13 and under who is a resident of the state of Kentucky is welcome to come and wrestle.

We are going to have food too. 

My son is a 13 year old 8th grader can he come :evil:

Thank you SheHateMe for so kindly pointing out my mistake. The post should read 12 and under.

You're son is more than welcome to come and watch.

Does 7th grade 12 year olds get to go.  I'm trying to point out previous year problems where some kids that were above 6th grade competed in the Elem State tournament.  It was only required that they be below a certain age not grade.  Don't get me wrong I'm in favor of the USA format of 2yr blocks of age groups but pick one or the other.  It would need to be called a youth state tournament.  If it is going to be a Elem State tournament it needs to be restricted to K-6 graders.

We are moving to Kentucky March 4th, my son is 8 years old and has qualified for the Ohio Grade School States.  He will not be able to wrestle in the state tournament due to the move, will he be eligible to wrestle in the Kentucky youth Tournament?  My company will be moving us to a temporary facility until we close on our house.  Please respond because my son loves to compete in this sport and has done so for 4 years.

Thanks :-D

Eligibility requirements are clearly outlined on the Conner flyer.  It is under the posting for the Youth State Tournament on 3/3/07.

I don't see why he wouldn't be able to.  As long as you have a Kentucky mailing address.  Your new place of residence would be your temporary living arrangements.  Where will you be moving to in Kentucky.

We will be moving to the Mt. Sterling area in Montgomery county

Both tournaments have their respective entry requirements outlined on their fliers. You con choose which you would rather attend. I am sure you would be welcome at both.

Thank you to everyone that responded to my concern, both of my boys look forward to competing for years to come.

Best Regards,

Jerry :-D

From the acting elementary state president.

In the spirit of the sport, Coach Matney does not believe it is morally or ethically right to argue about and/or split the elementary school state tournament.  Johnson Central will not host the 2007 state tournament, but will instead host the 2008 tournament.  Coach Matney is endorsing the March 3rd Connor state tournament.  All teams that had committed to the  JC tournament are encouraged to participate at Connor.

From the acting elementary state president.

In the spirit of the sport, Coach Matney does not believe it is morally or ethically right to argue about and/or split the elementary school state tournament.  Johnson Central will not host the 2007 state tournament, but will instead host the 2008 tournament.  Coach Matney is endorsing the March 3rd Connor state tournament.  All teams that had committed to the  JC tournament are encouraged to participate at Connor.

Wow - Kudos to Coach Matney & JC for putting this issue to rest.  Thank you for the endorsement.  Best of luck to your program in the future.

even though I have no dog in this fight, I find that my respect for those making that decision has gone

way up.  It takes a true man to look out for the best interests of the kids.

even though I have no dog in this fight, I find that my respect for those making that decision has gone

way up.  It takes a true man to look out for the best interests of the kids.

I agree.  Very hard thing to do.  Thanks JC.

OK a couple of things

1st: Now I know that no one from Christian County came to the meeting, but we did request to host and lost out to Ryle, so with Johnson Central now hosting in 2008 does that mean we get it in 2009?

2nd: Earlier this year some of the coaches in region 1 mentioned regional tournaments. Are we going to have regionals or is the tournament going to be open like previous seasons.

3rd: if we are going to have yearly meeting could we make them centrally located, and no Lexington is not central, E-town would be more like it.

The plan for 2008 is to have each region, (northern ky, eastern, Louisville, western), each host regional tournaments.  These ARE NOT QUALIFIERS for the state tournament.  We are using these to build awareness around the state for youth wrestling.  Our goal before turning the regional tourneys into qualifiers is to have a minimum of 500 kids in the regionals. 

In order to receive consideration for a state tournament you must attend the regional and state meetings as well as have kids participate in those events.  We are exploring the possibility of a fixed site.

We will actually be having two meetings per year, location has yet to be determined.

Please forward your email address to [email protected] to receive updates.