Bylaw 13.  State Duals, Regionals, and State Tournament

The KSYWA will determine dates & locations of all KSYWA events.  These include (but are not limited to) elementary school state duals, elementary school regionals, and elementary school state.  Teams that wish to be considered for hosting an event must request this at the statewide KSYWA meeting on the 3rd Sunday in May.  Before consideration, host team must show written proof that they have permission to use a school gym that is adequate to host the specific event.  The facility must have seating capacity of no less than 2000.  Elementary state duals, regionals, and the state tournament must be awarded no less than (2) years prior to the date of the tournament and will only be awarded to teams with a minimum of two consecutive years of membership in the KYSWA AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO RUN A TOURNAMENT.

1) Regions - Regional host sites shall be rotated amongst regional schools.  Each region is responsible for establishing a schedule of host sites in a fair manner.  Regional sites must be approved no less than 2 years ahead of time.

2) Elementary school state duals - State duals host site shall rotate from region to region each year.  Each region is responsible for determining who shall host the state duals when it is their region

I don't think we can work with the dates listed.  I know our team cannot start practice until January so we will not be ready for a state tournament in January.  I think we are going to have to stick with the March/April time line and let teams decide whether they want to grow with Kentucky wrestling or stay with Ohio wrestling (or both if they choose), but it is not possible for many teams to compete until the Middle School and High School seasons are over because we rely on the same coaches.  With these dates who would coach?

Why not do the tournaments in March? As Colesmom said many if not most of the coaches involved with the elementary programs are also coaching Middle School and/or High School. If the goal is growth of the sport why are we going to try and add conflict with MS & HS programs? I can tell you right now if these dates stay as is, Christian County would never be able to be part of Elementary regional and state meets.

These dates will cause a huge problem when it conflicts with the other seasons.

colesmom said many not MOST. 

colesmom said many not MOST. 

No kidding and I said many if not most  :-)

The point still being that the dates don't work for those of us who coach at another level. If the goal is to win Elementary State Championships then by all means keep the dates, because there would be very little in terms of competition, but if your goal is the growth of the sport and much better competition, then let's move the dates to a point compatible with a majority of the programs in the state.

colesmom said many not MOST. 

No kidding and I said many if not most  :-)

The point still being that the dates don't work for those of us who coach at another level. If the goal is to win Elementary State Championships then by all means keep the dates, because there would be very little in terms of competition, but if your goal is the growth of the sport and much better competition, then let's move the dates to a point compatible with a majority of the programs in the state.

That is why we have the organization in place.  To allow the delegates and teams the opportunity to vote and see where the majority falls.  But what is important is that we all support the process and results and make the most of whatever decisions are made by the majority.

That is why we have the organization in place.  To allow the delegates and teams the opportunity to vote and see where the majority falls.  But what is important is that we all support the process and results and make the most of whatever decisions are made by the majority.

Ranger, that's a good point.  But the dates of the season need to be geared towards getting the maximum # of kids out for the sport throughout the state.  If one team will have 50 kids in March at the state tourney, but could have 75 kids out in January...but holding the tournament in January would cause Christian County & McCreary to drop out entirely...that's a big failure.  When this is voted on this weekend, i hope it is well known by all the coaches which teams will ultimately drop out because they can't be there in January.  A lot of coaches will vote to push it back to January just to avoid conflict with other sports, this is bogus.  Those sports (soccer & baseball) don't give a rip about conflicting with our sport.  The other surounding states hold their state tournaments even later than March.  If you have the state tourney in January, teams will have to start practicing earlier...then you will start having conflicts with football post-seasons.

2 reasons in favor of having the season run later:

1) wrestlers that want to compete nationally (Border Wars, Ohio T of C, etc...) will not get so rusty.  These are the future stud wrestlers of Kentucky.  Not kids that won't wrestle in the spring because they are worried about missing baseball & soccer practice. 

2) Weather - you will hardly ever have to reschedule the regionals or state tournament because of snow if you run the tournament in March.  In January you will eventually have regionals or state cancelled because of weather.

What is the point of the $100 fee?  What will it be used for?  Will there still be additional entry fees for Elem. Region and State, or will the team fees cover all that?

How do you plan to police your Elem 5-match rule.  Technically, the Middle school association only recognizes these 3 middle school events (state duals, region and State).  All other tournaments wrestled before these are open/invitational tournaments that allow both Elem, and middle school kids to particpate and are governed only by the host team.  Since The Elem season will pretty much be over before these official middle school events start, technically the Elem kids will not have wrestled any official Middle School matches with the exception of maybe Middle School State duals.

I noticed part of the by-laws metion allowing 6th graders an exemption sice some school consider them Elementry.  North Oldham Middle has 5th graders as part of their Middle School.  Would they be exempt too them across the state?

Is the Youth Association ready to provide a full tournament schedule for Elem kids to wrestle every weekend?  If not, then they should be allowed to compete when and wherever they can, even if that means middle school matches.

I think that once the Youth Organization gets started and running well, it would be ok set limits for Elem kids particpating in Middle School matches.

Honestly, the Middle School Association has talked several times about not allowing Elem kids to particpate at all, but we recognize the fact that they have no where else to wrestle every weekend.

I really do believe that this is a great thing that you are starting and overall, it looks great.  My only suggestion for both the Elem, and Middle Association is to work together to compromise on the eligibility issue.