How many coaches/parents knew that all wrestlers at elementary regionals/state  has to have a USA card to wrestle at those events? 

i did

When are the elementary district/regional tournaments?

How many coaches/parents knew that all wrestlers at elementary regionals/state  has to have a USA card to wrestle at those events?

Our coaches and booster club have been tell us all since the beginning of the season.  One of the best parts of USA is the kids don't have to deal with the 5 match rule and they can wrestle to determine the winner and not a coin flip. :wink:

Our coaches and booster club have been tell us all since the beginning of the season.  One of the best parts of USA is the kids don't have to deal with the 5 match rule and they can wrestle to determine the winner and not a coin flip. :wink:

But the Ky Youth Bylaws may not allow that.  I haven't checked, but I wouldn't assume anything, either way, until you check the bylaws.

But the Ky Youth Bylaws may not allow that.  I haven't checked, but I wouldn't assume anything, either way, until you check the bylaws.

Actually, now that I think about it, this is a moot point.  The bylaws specify brackets of 8 or less, so no bracket would ever be at risk to have kids wrestle 5 times.

Is it $10.00 like middle school?

Is it $10.00 like middle school?

I heard it is the full $30-----that the $10 card won't work (for whatever reason).

Too much money for one tournament.  Goodbye state.

I'm not sure but I think you pay as a team based on # of kids and coaches because coaches have to covered also.

We paid $10 a kid for a league card after setting up a charter club[$55}.  That is all that required according to Keith Smith who is KY USA Director and only one coach has to have a card{another $50]. I read that all coaches need a card, but I was told only one.  We are part of cyw so its a big expense for just 2 tournaments that we are required to have it for.

Just a sidenote, if you do get the full card, that covers you for all the summer USA tourneys as well. If you have the $10 league card for the regular season, you can pay the additional $15 to upgrade the card to cover the wrestler through the rest of the summer. I have done this the last 2 years with my son. He's been able to get in an almost additional seasons worth of wrestling experience by wrestling in the Bluegrass State Games and the other summer tourneys. Just something to keep in mind if the cost is an issue. 

I don't mind the USA card for the wrestlers--we need the insurance anyway for the club.  My concern is the early date for region and state this year.  Why are we in such a rush to hold it this year?  We don't have many knowledgeable people in our area to coach the kids so it falls to the high school coaches to work with the young ones as well.  This is just too much at the same time and will destroy our youth effort.

Our youth team has been practicing for a couple of months now and has also competed a few times. The kids practice twice a week right after the middle/high school teams finish up. Last year Madison, Montgomery, Bourbon, Woodford,Franklin, and Lexington started their own conference to give the kids more wrestling opportunities and it's worked out great. Some of the middle school kids stick around after practice to help work with the younger ones. The mats are already down and the coaches are already at the gym, so it makes it conveniet for everyone. Just some food for thought. I think it's things like this that will eventually help Kentucky wrestling close the gap between it and it's neighbors.

Dogwood

Louisville and Northern Kentucky teams voted this early date in at the 09 spring meeting to move the date 2 weeks earlier.  The 2-21-10 date was voted in with the knowledge of the affect it would have on rural teams.  Thy have tried to move the date up a few weeks for the past 4 years.  As you reported Dogwood many of the rural area have to use high school and middle school coaches and we lack the resources such as mates and gyms to use.  These concerns listed above have been discussed at most of the elementary meeting over the past 4 to 5 years.  However, it seems these concerns fell on deaf ears.  My understanding of the primary reason given to for moving up the date is the date better fits for the Louisville and Northern KY teams

We will see.  I've been part of these discussions over the years and there is no right answer.  If we don't start the season early (as in shortly after the HS and MS start) we lose tons of kids to basketball.  They won't sit around and wait.  And with the early start date kids start to fade out well before March for us.  It is a tough dilemna.  No right answer that works for everyone.  We have seen great participation the past couple year at the youth state.  If the numbers are down significantly, then maybe you will see it change back.

I will also add that this idea of piggybacking on the HS state tournament has been discussed for a while as well.  So it is not completely an issue of Nky/Lou against the rest of the state.  There is some thought that getting more of those youth to the HS tournament (especially finals on Saturday) will help to hook them and motivate them.

couple things:

$10 usa kentucky league card is all that is needed to participate-must be purchased through keith smith at [email protected] (not through usa wrestling website)

only 1 coach per team is required to have a usa wrestling coach's card

these are the same requirements as middle school

no further paperwork needed, all you have to do is submit your roster to your regional host the week before your regional, weigh your kids in at the regional, and wrestle in the regional. if you do that you are eligible for the state tournament

anyone who did not turn 13 before january 1, 2010 is eligible

, no grade restrictions, only age

as far as the moving of the date goes, it was done at the spring meeting last year. there were representatives(coaches) from not only the louisville and northern ky region but also the central ky and east regions as well. by the way, it was a UNANIMOUS vote to move the state, there were no opposing votes from any coach from any region

couple things:

$10 usa kentucky league card is all that is needed to participate-must be purchased through keith smith at [email protected] (not through usa wrestling website)

only 1 coach per team is required to have a usa wrestling coach's card

these are the same requirements as middle school

no further paperwork needed, all you have to do is submit your roster to your regional host the week before your regional, weigh your kids in at the regional, and wrestle in the regional. if you do that you are eligible for the state tournament

anyone who did not turn 13 before january 1, 2010 is eligible

, no grade restrictions, only age

as far as the moving of the date goes, it was done at the spring meeting last year. there were representatives(coaches) from not only the louisville and northern ky region but also the central ky and east regions as well. by the way, it was a UNANIMOUS vote to move the state, there were no opposing votes from any coach from any region

Unanimous idiots.......just what we need.  Apparently nobody noticed the fact that participation has increased every year the last few years, whether the state was being held at Conner, Johnson Central, or Fern Creek.  If your numbers are going up, up, up you don't mess with a successful recipe.

Unanimous idiots.......just what we need.  Apparently nobody noticed the fact that participation has increased every year the last few years, whether the state was being held at Conner, Johnson Central, or Fern Creek.  If your numbers are going up, up, up you don't mess with a successful recipe.

idiots?  I guess we are to assume you have all of the correct answers.  If we see that participation is dramatically down then, yes, we can say this was possibly the wrong choice.  But what do you say if numbers are similar or even greater?  Then what?  Still unanimous idiots? 

Since the first elementary state tournament at Laure County, which in I believe was in March of 05, the Northern KY and Louisville Teams have been trying to move the date of the elementary state up.  The original reason given by Northern KY and Louisville teams was the late date interfered with baseball.    Since then the reason has become that the Northern and Louisville Teams start wrestling in November.  Due to the extra 2 weeks was causing many of their kids to burn out.  The truth is that earlier date fits nicely into their wrestling schedule.  This issue has been discussed many times at many meetings and the rural teams have expressed their concerns about the impact of moving the date up.    In my opinion the post by Kylogldy shows how the powers that be in the elementary organization continue to push their personal agenda instead of what is best for all.    We will see if my opinion is correct on the 21st of February based on the number of elementary wrestlers.      As posted before I hope the numbers continue to group but feel they will not due to the early date. 

I am from Nky and was very disappointed that they scheduled youth regional on the same day as highschool and as they found all highschool coaches were busy and could not get a gym and now our regional was moved to Sunday. I have a child in all three divisions...youth,middle and highschool and to plan an event for this sport on the same day would be like doing highschool and middle on the same day. It only creates exclusion,whether with wrestlers or coaches you really can't do one without the other.  I am not opposed to moving the date  but I do not agree on doing it the same time as the other two divisions.

jcb I completely understand both sides of the argument.  Unfortunately, there is no real solution that works for both sides.  The results have been good under the later schedule.  This year the decision was made to try an earlier schedule.  I may work, it may not.  Either way this is all still a work in process at the youth level.  I would hope if this event is not successful the right decision will be made to correct it for the future.  I appreciate your rational approach to this.  What I don't like is when others resort to name calling rather than focusing on the issues.

Paris--Scheduling the NKY Youth Regional had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE HIGH SCHOOL COACHES SCHEDULE.  The last time I looked there was not one single High School Coach, coaching Youth wrestling, in NKY. 

Dogwood- I have been to every single meeting since the start of elementary wrestling in KY.  I have NEVER heard opposition voiced to holding the State Tournament a whole two weeks earlier.  I have spoken, on the phone asking him to attend our upcoming meeting,  to one WKY High School Coach who thought Elementary wrestling season should start after the High School season was over.  His reason..."nobody can coach wrestling in my county but me." 

This thought process of NKY and Louisville against you is not helpful.  At the Spring meeting there were coaches from every area except WKY.  Voicing your outrage one month before the tournament is consistent with previous years.  Look what this organization has accomplished in a few short years.  The competition is so dramatically better than Larue, Conner, McCreary,  or JC it is unbelievable.  I hope the "unanimous idiots" made the right call.  You may not see it this year or next but I guarantee you that once the KY kids, see the High School Finals, there will be no turning back.

Stan your right not that "yelling" or calling out teams is the way to handle it....I do not know any highschool coaches who also coach youth in Nky....I did not say they coached I said they were busy...

And to the rest of your comments..WOW

Having been a part of these meetings in the past (not the Fall meeting, however) I appreciate the fact that these issues typically have many more than one approach and somehow we have to narrow it down to one date and a single location.  If you really think that the discussions do not involve debate about the pros and cons, you are wrong.  There is no possible way to choose one date and one venue that pleases everyone. 

Hopefully those that can make it will make it.  I have driven to all of the other youth State tournaments and only one was convenient.  I may have had to juggle other priorities.  But it was important to my child, so we went.  Hopefully for those who are throwing around the excuses about the USA card, the date, the location etc will reassess and be able to make the tournament if it is important to their child. 

We live in a diverse state, fairly large in geography, and I bet it is fair to say that some families have experienced job losses and other hardships this year.  My family has.  So not every family will be able to attend.  Some will have real issues, other will allow their egos to be the overriding factor. 

For those that go-Good Luck to your kids!  For those that can't make the trip due to hardships-I hope your losses and hardships are overcome in 2010, and good luck to you too. 

  I may be missing something about the complaint of nky region being on sunday, but I think it made it easier for you to make the tourn.  Since middle school is over Feb 6th and the high school is on sat. you wouldn't have to miss either of your son's matches. And as for the decision on the dates if your region doesn't come to the meeting then you have to accept the decisions of the ones that go.

So that makes you even more of an "idiot" for not going.

Sunday tournaments negatively impact families and kids that perfer to not play sports on the sabbath.  We need to do a better job of not scheduling events on Sunday. 

stanmms

I hope some of these people that always  complain all the time about year in and year out would just take second and realize the officers in charge are volunteering thier time. And they are not making the decisions on thier own. Suggestions (motions) are brought up and voted on,the majority votes win. That being said if a region is not there to cast there vote they are bound  to accept however the vote goes. So before you condemn the tourn. go and give it a chance. To be honest I think the tournaments should go in order--youth middle then high school. I really think all areas can find youth coaches if they really try, they really only need to know the basic fundamentals. And average high school wrestler can teach them.

I coach at all 3 levels in our program.  Tonight I coached at our varsity event in Ohio, will catch some of the district tomorrow (my oldest son), and have coached at a couple of youth events over the last month (my youngest son).  Is it a hardship finding the time?  Absolutely.  But I do it.  Our program is blessed with a number of coaches to carry the load, but if that wasn't the case I would step up and carry as much as necessary for the benefit of the program and my kids.  It may not be easy to find coaches this time of year, but it can be done. 

How many matches will be going at once.....last year there was bunches of mats and still there all day.  Just hoping there is enough room for all our little guys to wrestle in a timely manner. 

Unanimous idiots.......just what we need.  Apparently nobody noticed the fact that participation has increased every year the last few years, whether the state was being held at Conner, Johnson Central, or Fern Creek.  If your numbers are going up, up, up you don't mess with a successful recipe.

Unanimous idiots.......just what we need.  Apparently nobody noticed the fact that participation has increased every year the last few years, whether the state was being held at Conner, Johnson Central, or Fern Creek.  If your numbers are going up, up, up you don't mess with a successful recipe.

im an idiot alright. an idiot for volunteering my time (which i have very little of because of coaching 2teams, working 2 jobs and raising 2 kids) to take a position that nobody else wanted. i dont recall seeing your name on the ballot. as a matter of fact i dont recall seeing anyone else's name on it because nobody else would do it. i gave up my time and effort just so we could have youth wrestling in kentucky this year. so unless you have some better suggestions that we could sensibly discuss that would be beneficial for the state as a whole,  a simple 'thank you' would be just fine. heres an even better idea: try coming to a meeting where these issues are discussed and voted on BY the coaches, not the board.

maybe if i wouldnt have volunteered all of my time to help the kids and the sport in this state, i would have enough time to sit around on my computer complaining and being disrespectful to someone trying to do something positive and help my kid. but, i have too much class for that. obviously, some of you do not.

Excellent post Kylegoldy I for one THANK YOU!!! The  ones(not I) that are saying you're only doing whats best for your area and not the whole state must not do very well in simple math, Lex,Lou Nky=90% of youth wrestling in state rest 10% So you and the rest of the board are right on target. Thanks to you and the rest of the officers my boy is looking forward to a great tournament

Heavy83

The  mission of the organization  I though was to continue to develop and grow youth werstlling in the state of KY, not the Lex, Lou and NKY areas.  You say 90 % I would guess more like 75 %.  If you leave out the Southeast KY (Mcc, Wayne), West(Union, UH,) and Easter KY (Martin County, Johnson County, Perry County, Ashland).    Whatever the % is how does the organization continue to grow without these areas? 

I mean no disrespect to anyone who is working with the elementary program.  I know the committment that is involved working as a volunteer.  I have volunteered with my children's programs for over twenty-five years and appreciate the time and effort involved by the organizers.  Hats off to you all.  That said, I have tried to make it to the spring meetings since becoming a wrestling coach, but I have had prior committments on those days and could not be there.  I am from Eastern Ky and winter practices are not consistant in our area.  Snow days interfere with practice--parents are not going to risk their kids on bad mountain roads.  Our school system currently has not been in school since Dec 18.  The county was hit hard with extreme cold and snow and a broken water main shut down water to the whole county (parts of the county still are without water).  School resumes tomorrow with water tanked in.  That means that we have not practiced with the elementary for over a month and only have three weeks to get them ready for region now.  I am the assistant high school coach and though we have tried, we have not been able to recruit anyone to work with the kids in our area.  No one is willing to give the time or learn the sport.  So if we want a program, I have to run it or wait until they are in high school.  Those extra weeks were vital to us and we will miss them.

The real question is how do you get the coaches who disagree actually take the time to have their opinions heard at one of the youth meetings?  I was at the spring meeting when some of these decisions were brought to the table and almost all the votes were 100%.  So I am curious who actually disagrees, and why weren't they at the meeting.  Its simple, if you care, take the time to get involved with the process.  There will be another meeting in the spring and in the fall.  It is a STATE coaches meeting and all Kentucky coaches are invited.  Its like not voting in an election and then compaining about the President.  If you are a parent, talk to your coach and express your concerns and make sure they go to represent your team.  If you don't take the time to have your opinion heard at the meeting, don't get on the internet and criticize everyone who did take the time to go.  Especially just weeks before the tournament.  The spring and fall meetings are the time and the place to voice your concerns or complaints, not the internet.  Hope all the coaches make it to the spring meeting and help Kentucky wrestling continue to go in the right direction.

JCB- My % may be off a little but my point was to show thatdo we make vast majority not go with the normal season and go with the smaller numbers? I really don't know for sure. I do know when tourn. was in March our guys were getting bored or burned out. Thats why I actually think its should be before the middle school eventually not now but when the numbers shows the state gotten stronger throughout all areas. Just my opoinion tho

Heavy 83

I agree with you that a some point we need to have the elementary state before the middle school state.  However, at this time many of rural teams are not able to do that to to the lack of resources.  I guess as most organization the elementary organization needs to develop a 1,2 and 5 year plans.  By having a short, and long range goals it would keep the organization focus. 

Heavy 83

I agree with you that a some point we need to have the elementary state before the middle school state.  However, at this time many of rural teams are not able to do that to to the lack of resources.  I guess as most organization the elementary organization needs to develop a 1,2 and 5 year plans.  By having a short, and long range goals it would keep the organization focus.

Good point.  I haven't been that involved over the last year, so I can't say what has been planned out for 3-5 years.  I would guess much has been discussed, but maybe not been decided or made public.  Since this organization is still in its' infancy many items are stilled taken and decided as they come.  It would be great to have a long term plan.  And I'm sure over the next few years something like that will be in the works.  But for now, we are all just figuring this thing out and making the best of it.

I dont know all the specifics but from what Ive picked up on this thread the problems the outlying areas have regarding programs and attending the state meet arent going to be fixed by moving the date of the tournament.

The majority of the state, whether it's 55% - 95% voted and prefer the current date.

The outlying areas can still wrestle later in the year, there are plenty of USAW or AAU events to compete or they could start their own leauge amongst themselves to get more competition later in the year.

The problems stated by most of the remote areas are that they cant find exclusive coaches for youth teams and to far to travel. These problems have been the same for years and years. I feel for you, but this site and the state's wrestling organizations wont be able to fix those problems.

Thanks to all the parents and coaches putting in the hard work to make this possible on all levels.

Can anyone tell me where to find the region alignments???

In regards to have events on Sundays, I think it is a good idea.  Most of the middle and elementary wrestlers have older brothers who wrestle in high school on Saturdays.  If more of the youth wrestling were on Sundays then families wouldn't have to choose which kid they are going to watch.  Even if they are on Sunday, there are plenty of youth football, baseball, and basketball games played on Sunday's and hardly anyone has a problem with that.

Middletown Eagle Wrestling Will be training kids for the Youth Regional (Feb 13th) and State Tournament (Feb 21st) beginning Feb 8th in Eastern High Schools wrestling room 5:45-7:30 Middletown Wrestling is formerly Crosby Club Team we are accepting all kids who want to be part of a growing competitive program into the next middle school season

any questions please feel free to call 835 3015 or email Coach Rob @ [email protected] thank you and good luck in your present season

Can anyone tell me where the  elementary region flyers are posted?