Problem With JV Tournaments

[CrotchRocket]

I am posting this to see if anyone else has had a problem with some of the Jr. Varsity tournaments that have taken place this year. On more then one occasion I have seen tournaments finishing up after 9 o'clock at night. Factor in that most teams arrive at the tournaments around 7:30ish for weigh ins and that means that teams are spending around 14 hours at these tournaments.

Now I know that wrestling tournaments are not the quickest events in the world but 14 hours seems a little much, especially when you have kids going 0-2 and sitting around for that long or having kids wait almost 7 hours before they wrestle their first match do to there only being 5 kids in a 32 man bracket. Then you have kids who reach their 5 match a day limit in the consilation quarter finals and have no chance of placing even if they go 4-1 on the day. In my opinion, no single day tournament should use a 32 man bracket due to these things.

Again, these are JV tournaments with a lot of kids who just need to get mat time. The way some of these tournaments are set up it is doing a disservice to a good number of kids. I feel that the majority of JV and Freshman tournaments should be set up as dual tournaments with 10 teams. At these tournaments kids would get 5 matches (unless some schools do not field full teams but we see this at invitationals too) and in most cases the tournaments will be finished at a decent hour thus solving two major problems with these huge one day tournaments we are dealing with.

That's my rant. I just wanted to know if anyone else had the same gripe or could add any solution to the problems that have seen at the 32 man bracketed one day tournaments I have been seeing.

 

[ptrsn]

They could use the bracket shown here which makes it impossible to wrestle more than 5 matches but still keeps it a double-elimination just not a true wrestleback.

http://204.9.146.27/Wrestling07/Electric Inv 2009/Brackets/pei2009brk002.htm

one big problem with JV, Freshman, and Junior high tournaments is that you have a huge amount of bracket changes on the morning of the tournament which you don't have with Varsity events. it is not uncommon to have over 50 bracket changes in an event that has 32 man brackets which usually means you are starting an hour late.

 

[kbiz]

I have noticed that parents with kids that have wrestled in grade school have a rough transition to middle school or high school for this very reason.

If its a one-day tournament with 16 full teams (or relatively full 16-man brackets) that is definitely par for the course, unfortunately. Best bet is to plan ahead, bring a cooler full of food and a crock pot, a pillow etc. Also, let the kids go with the team alone and parent should not plan on showing up until the scheduled wrestling time (if your kid is a lightweight) or even later (if your kid is heavy). Also, you can plan around any long breaks to go out to eat.

 

[Cincymatman]

I have noticed that parents with kids that have wrestled in grade school have a rough transition to middle school or high school for this very reason.

If its a one-day tournament with 16 full teams (or relatively full 16-man brackets) that is definitely par for the course, unfortunately. Best bet is to plan ahead, bring a cooler full of food and a crock pot, a pillow etc. Also, let the kids go with the team alone and parent should not plan on showing up until the scheduled wrestling time (if your kid is a lightweight) or even later (if your kid is heavy). Also, you can plan around any long breaks to go out to eat.

VERY TRUE!!!! Parents need to be educated by the coaches. Coaches need to tell parents "This will be a all day event". You will always have someone that complains but if parents know ahead of time I think most will be fine. I agree with bringing food and setting up a team table for kids and it gives parents something to do.

 

[tough_nuts]

I am posting this to see if anyone else has had a problem with some of the Jr. Varsity tournaments that have taken place this year. On more then one occasion I have seen tournaments finishing up after 9 o'clock at night. Factor in that most teams arrive at the tournaments around 7:30ish for weigh ins and that means that teams are spending around 14 hours at these tournaments.

Now I know that wrestling tournaments are not the quickest events in the world but 14 hours seems a little much, especially when you have kids going 0-2 and sitting around for that long or having kids wait almost 7 hours before they wrestle their first match do to there only being 5 kids in a 32 man bracket. Then you have kids who reach their 5 match a day limit in the consilation quarter finals and have no chance of placing even if they go 4-1 on the day. In my opinion, no single day tournament should use a 32 man bracket due to these things.

Again, these are JV tournaments with a lot of kids who just need to get mat time. The way some of these tournaments are set up it is doing a disservice to a good number of kids. I feel that the majority of JV and Freshman tournaments should be set up as dual tournaments with 10 teams. At these tournaments kids would get 5 matches (unless some schools do not field full teams but we see this at invitationals too) and in most cases the tournaments will be finished at a decent hour thus solving two major problems with these huge one day tournaments we are dealing with.

That's my rant. I just wanted to know if anyone else had the same gripe or could add any solution to the problems that have seen at the 32 man bracketed one day tournaments I have been seeing.

I think this is the main problem with all tournaments, not just JV or freshman tournaments. With many of these tournaments, there are not enough wrestlers to make a 16 man bracket. Many of these tournaments are poorly run, which extends the tournament by a few hours. There are late starts, extended time between matches, and long breaks between sessions. Dual tournaments are the best, 5 matches in 5 hours

 

[bicycleman]

I have been to a few tournaments over the last two years that are a combination of pools and brackets. There are usually 4 pools of three or four then the top 2 from each pool come out to form a championship bracket while the others form a consolation pool. Mount Vernon, Mason and Scioto come to mind. The ones I have attended have gone pretty smooth. Maybe more JV/Freshman tournaments should adopt this format.

 

[OleWildcat]

I see many points in this thread about tournaments, that are all true. The parent transition process, poorly run tournaments, late starts, long breaks etc. The dual tournaments are great and much faster but I think the wrestlers enjoy looking at the brackets and seeing their progression. It's a long day for the parents, fans, tournament staff and coaches but this is what the wrestlers work for. They spend their days eating (or not) breathing and sleeping wrestling. A long day of wrestling is what feeds them for their next competition. I have to believe that all schools that host a tournament wish to run it as efficiently as it can be run. However bad rosters, late arrives to weigh-ins, tons of changes, all can add to the length of the day, that may or may not be announced to the fans.

 

[Savage_B]

How about Winton Woods with a solid 3rd place finish at Preble Shawnee J.V

2010 Preble Shawnee J.V. Scores
*******************************
1. Moeller 278.0
2. Centerville 171.5
3. Winton Woods 139.0
4. Harrison 105.5
5. Eaton 97.5
6. Valley View 94.0
7. Ross 80.5
8. Butler 74.5
9. Middletown 73.0
10. Miamisburg 68.0
11. Preble Shawnee 50.0
12. Edgewood 48.5
13. Bellbrook 38.0
14. Kings 28.0
15. Covington 24.5
16. Carlisle 21.5
17. Twin Valley So. 9.0
18. Purcell Marian 7.0

 

[LHS WRESTLING]

VERY TRUE!!!! Parents need to be educated by the coaches. Coaches need to tell parents "This will be a all day event". You will always have someone that complains but if parents know ahead of time I think most will be fine. I agree with bringing food and setting up a team table for kids and it gives parents something to do.

Where does the kid come into play as far as accountability? Case in point: I can not tell you the amount of times I have given out information sheets to an athlete literally 3 and 4 times per week on a certain event or tourney. The sheets give time frames for everything from time wrestling, meal time, warm-up time, weigh in time, what to bring, when the bus leaves, etc, etc.

I can guarantee you that the night before the tournament my phone will ring at least 10 times from parents wanting to know the exact information on the tournament, when all little Johnny had to do was take the piece of paper home!!!

Most organized coaches are letting parents know this information through the athletes with information sheets, websites, or group emails but the athlete is too irresponsible to relay the information (or for that matter deliever a simple piece of paper). :wallbang: What does a coach have to do to relay information to the parents? Have parent meetings every week or make phone calls to the homes of each parent? At some point, the kid has to act as a responsible party in the circle of communication don't you think?