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| Coach Chad
January 8, 2011
1:55:01 PM
Entry #: 3637787
| Hey everyone,
I've been busy riding ferry's all over Southeast Alaska and flying up to Anchorage, Palmer and Wasilla for high school tournaments for the last few months. Now our high school season is over and we are ramping up for the club season to start in a few weeks. Weve been working on planning our season this year.
We are wrestling all freestyle this year (which I'm thrilled about) and this should be the begining of something huge in Juneau. But you know, I'm not posting to bore you with the details of wrestling in Juneau, but if you bear with me I'll get to the point.....
Can anybody guess where our tournaments are this year? I'll help you out. We have our practices... and then there are tournaments in Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla, Fairbanks, Kodiak, Bethell, Eagle River and a few more...ALL OF THESE TOURNAMENTS are a $550 plane ride away for the weekend so we will have to choose one or two to go to before our state tourney. That's all we'll get. We will also be bringing a group down to the Chehalis ThreeStyle Tourney again. Another expensive trip... $650 plane ticket, car rentals, etc... This is what we will need to do to get better....
HERE'S the point..Don't miss it!
WHY ON EARTH AM I READING ON TRACK WRESTLING THAT IN THE LAST MONTH THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN TWO RHINOS AT A TOURNAMENT THAT YOU CAN DRIVE TO IN AN HOUR OR LESS AND SPEND $100 FOR THE FAMILY TO GO FOR AN ENTIRE DAY!
Guys I said it last year when I posted about the lack of tournament attendance. The number of kids that you guys have going to weekend tournaments is a direct indicator of the health of your club. I didn't say the amount of placers (although that can be telling as well) but if you don't even have the attendence then something has to change somewhere.
How many kids are practicing? I know there are some high school kids that have their high school season going on, but I also know that all but a handful of high school kids have been practicing at the latest and greatest and leaving their hometown club to flounder while building other areas like Everett and Lake Stevens. So while I'm not expecting them to be at the weekend tourneys for USA Wrestling because they are at their high school events, I'm also concerned that we won't see them come freestyle season either.
If you were to ask me (which you didn't) I think that you all need to get together and figure out what to change NOW before you waste this years season because I don't see a positive trend here.
Paul, please don't take this as a bashing or a negative message. I know I could just call you on this and talk, but it's not just your problem. I think your club memebers need to know this is an issue that you have to address and so I'm hoping I can help you spark some positive conversations about how to get the kids competing. That's the bottom line.
I started this message about what we have to do to get matches here in SE Alaska because I wanted to point out how easy it is for everyone down there to get up on Saturday and go to a tournament, and yet the kids are not getting out. Build this team by getting them mat time. Remember, wrestling is too much work to do it half way and to seek mediocre results. Do more work. Get some matches. Learn. Get better..... Don't wait....
GET ON THE MATS AND COMPETE NOW!!!!1
GOOD LUCK RHINOS! I MISS YOU ALL AND WISH ONLY THE BEST FOR YOU, BUT YOU GOTTA EARN IT. NOBODY WILL JUST ROLL OVER FOR YOU!
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