Schools choosing not to wrestle in tournaments?

BigArlie8

Active member
I have heard a few schools are not going to be allowed to wrestle in tournaments, and they can only wrestle in duals and quads. How will this affect their kids when it comes to league, sectionals? Will the schools make an exception or hold to their guns?
 
 
I would assume that this rule applies to in-season but maybe I'm wrong.

It may very well be just for in-season, but how do you have a post season?

Our central OH sectional had 11 teams with around 135 wrestlers... District has 14 weight classes x 16 for 224 wrestlers spread across 40+ schools and numerous counties - Franklin, Fairfield, Licking, Delaware, etc... All may be on different alert levels.... And that is just D1 central OH.

So we have school districts limiting teams to quads at best and we are going to have administrators open the schools to host these events? Sectional, District, and State across three divisions? I have heard of possibly splitting days, weight classes into different sessions, etc but what a logistical nightmare.....And I absolutely see no way all three divisions are at the Schott together... zero percent there...

I hope there are a lot of smart people working on this.... what a freaking nightmare! I know there is still time til the end of FEB but it seems like a hell of a lot of work.... Again I hope there is a group of very intelligent people sitting around a table at some think-tank at OHSAA hammering out a plan....
 
It may very well be just for in-season, but how do you have a post season?

Our central OH sectional had 11 teams with around 135 wrestlers... District has 14 weight classes x 16 for 224 wrestlers spread across 40+ schools and numerous counties - Franklin, Fairfield, Licking, Delaware, etc... All may be on different alert levels.... And that is just D1 central OH.

So we have school districts limiting teams to quads at best and we are going to have administrators open the schools to host these events? Sectional, District, and State across three divisions? I have heard of possibly splitting days, weight classes into different sessions, etc but what a logistical nightmare.....And I absolutely see no way all three divisions are at the Schott together... zero percent there...

I hope there are a lot of smart people working on this.... what a freaking nightmare! I know there is still time til the end of FEB but it seems like a hell of a lot of work.... Again I hope there is a group of very intelligent people sitting around a table at some think-tank at OHSAA hammering out a plan....

It's not as hard as you think. Nevertheless, it takes some preparation, and it would be a big help if the news media stopped all the fear mongering.

Still, I'm not seeing a whole lot of preparation and coordination.
 
The tournaments are a nightmare right now. If you one person gets it how do go back contact trace? You are gonna end up having to quarantine the whole tournament. This is why they only want Tri matches and duals. I don't think it's that unreasonable. It really sucks for wrestling. Winter sports may need to look at changing the calendar out of the heart of flu season. I know some states are trying to push it back more into the spring season.
 
The tournaments are a nightmare right now. If you one person gets it how do go back contact trace? You are gonna end up having to quarantine the whole tournament. This is why they only want Tri matches and duals. I don't think it's that unreasonable. It really sucks for wrestling. Winter sports may need to look at changing the calendar out of the heart of flu season. I know some states are trying to push it back more into the spring season.

It doesn't have to suck completely. If ADs and coaches work to have a season of quads. That's why I was pushing for preparation a while back.
 
Our school district just limited us to tournaments of 8 teams or less and no travel more than 1 hour away. Not sure how you can have it that way for in season and change it for the post season. Are they going to force the vaccine if it is available in order to wrestle? I’m glad I’m not making those decisions.
 
8 teams x 12 wrestlers per team avg = 96 wrestlers.
3 coaches per team = 24 coaches.
9 table workers.
4 refs.
2 tournament directors.
1 trainer.
1 doctor.
============
137 people in gym.
 
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I have heard a few schools are not going to be allowed to wrestle in tournaments, and they can only wrestle in duals and quads. How will this affect their kids when it comes to league, sectionals? Will the schools make an exception or hold to their guns?

My district (in SC) back in October told us we could only host events with less than 6 teams. Pretty much every district around the state mandated some sort of similar situation. The only big tournament we are going to is our county invitational which will have as of now up to 14 teams participating. The only way we're able to get around the district's 6 team mandate is is the host school has 2 main gyms to put mats in and a smaller aux gym to do so as well. It will be an all day affair however because each mat has to be sanitized between each bout regardless of how long the bout lasts. It will also be non-spectator.

Our schedule right now includes 3 duals, 6 tris, 2 quads, and one multi team individual tournament.

Our version of a sectional tournament down here will only 5 teams this year with the top 2 moving on to what is called "Upper State" which is like districts. In years past we had sectionals of up to 8 schools with the top 4 qualifying for upper state. There is also talk of only qualifying two kids per weight class for state. So 2 from the upstate and 2 from the lower state. Basically 4 man brackets in each weight class.
 
These things need to be planned for when that time comes so it needs to be dealt with now as well as in season due to how many kids there are for post season .

Time to revisit this topic since the calendar has turned to 2021..... Has anyone heard any thoughts/plans on how OHSAA plans to move into the postseason next month? Are we still in a wait and see pattern. Time is ticking.......
 
Time to revisit this topic since the calendar has turned to 2021..... Has anyone heard any thoughts/plans on how OHSAA plans to move into the postseason next month? Are we still in a wait and see pattern. Time is ticking.......

I could be wrong but I don't think they've lowered the "Mass Gathering" numbers. I'm also not sure if Ohio State would be allowed to host.
 
I could be wrong but I don't think they've lowered the "Mass Gathering" numbers. I'm also not sure if Ohio State would be allowed to host.

If ohio state doesn't host I wonder where the state tournament will go ? Or What possible multiple sites
 
I have heard a few schools are not going to be allowed to wrestle in tournaments, and they can only wrestle in duals and quads. How will this affect their kids when it comes to league, sectionals? Will the schools make an exception or hold to their guns?

Wrestling will have an “Opt Out” like they did for the Football Tournament? The Schools that are not participating in Tournaments during regular season but want to participate in State Tournament are really ruining their Wrestlers chances at a decent seed?
 
The bigger disadvantage for schools not participating in tournaments or even tris/quads prior to the postseason is lack of match-level fitness and intensity required to wrestle multiple times against quality opponents matches in a same day. Seeding plays a part of course, but you need to be prepared to win tough matches in order to make it to the state tournament with hopes of placing. I think you will see a huge difference this year between quality wrestlers with 30+ matches under their belt this year and others with < 10 matches based on very inconsistent schedules set by schools this year. Going to be interesting to watch that is for sure!
 
Sectionals can be held in large school gymnasiums.
Districts can do the same, or something like Marion Coliseum or Troy Hobart Arena,
States will be separated by divisions, and held in a coliseum or arena as well.
There you go. Not sure who’s paying for all this.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
 
The bigger disadvantage for schools not participating in tournaments or even tris/quads prior to the postseason is lack of match-level fitness and intensity required to wrestle multiple times against quality opponents matches in a same day. Seeding plays a part of course, but you need to be prepared to win tough matches in order to make it to the state tournament with hopes of placing. I think you will see a huge difference this year between quality wrestlers with 30+ matches under their belt this year and others with < 10 matches based on very inconsistent schedules set by schools this year. Going to be interesting to watch that is for sure!
I think you're right, without having the experience of 4-5 matches a day, against opponents of increasingly better skills, it's going to be tough for those wrestling a schedule without tournaments to adjust properly for the district & state stage. However with regards to overall "mat time", at least in the case of Upper Arlington, though regular season tournaments are not on the schedule, the frequency of duals/tris/quads has increased over previous years. By my count, UA has 33 dual meets scheduled for the season. The bigger issue I see is conditioning. With teams splitting practice into smaller pods, practices are shorter & kids aren't prepared for several 6 minute matches in a day. That said, no matter the drawbacks & limitations to the regular season, I'm just happy they're wrestling & hope, no matter what, these kids get a post-season this year! What happened to the class of 2020 was a travesty & unfortunate to all of those graduating seniors who had worked so hard to make the State tournament. The OHSAA has had a year to figure it out, let's hope there's a plan in place to ensure a post-season for this year's class!
 
Sectionals can be held in large school gymnasiums.
Districts can do the same, or something like Marion Coliseum or Troy Hobart Arena,
States will be separated by divisions, and held in a coliseum or arena as well.
There you go. Not sure who’s paying for all this.
Just my thoughts on the subject.

Couple problems as of now. 1) The state and local guidelines would limit the amount of people in a gym. The schools aren't going to go against them
2) Getting schools/arenas to host. It'd prob be best to approach HS with multiple gyms

But I still think we probably need DeWine to relax the restrictions. Maybe the new School Quarantine Guidelines are a good sign
 
Couple problems as of now. 1) The state and local guidelines would limit the amount of people in a gym. The schools aren't going to go against them
2) Getting schools/arenas to host. It'd prob be best to approach HS with multiple gyms

But I still think we probably need DeWine to relax the restrictions. Maybe the new School Quarantine Guidelines are a good sign

I know that at least one D1 school with a large capacity gym has been approached about hosting the D1 state tournament. And this was a while ago.
 
I know that at least one D1 school with a large capacity gym has been approached about hosting the D1 state tournament. And this was a while ago.

I think that's realistically the way we should prepare. I don't know the schools around the state nor all their gym sizes but I'd try to steer away from the big metropolis counties as those seem to have been the ones affected most by "guidelines" and already lead to the state football championships getting moved the day before. At an event like Districts 224 spots in the arena are taken up by wrestlers that's where the suggestion for 2 gyms comes. But again, it'd really help for DeWine to loosen numbers
 
I think that's realistically the way we should prepare. I don't know the schools around the state nor all their gym sizes but I'd try to steer away from the big metropolis counties as those seem to have been the ones affected most by "guidelines" and already lead to the state football championships getting moved the day before. At an event like Districts 224 spots in the arena are taken up by wrestlers that's where the suggestion for 2 gyms comes. But again, it'd really help for DeWine to loosen numbers

There is not a restriction on participants, coaches, workers, trainers, etc. The only restriction is on spectators.
 
There is not a restriction on participants, coaches, workers, trainers, etc. The only restriction is on spectators.

And the problem with our sport compared to others....those kids then have to become spectators at tournament events. To think there's going to be 224 participants, 2 coaches per team with one bookkeeper. And then each kids going to get two parents. Plus add refs, trainers and table staff...it's simply not going to happen. It's not my personal opinion on how things should be but it is what it is. But just like the regular season, it might take some creative ideas.
 
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