OK, I am headed up to UNO, but I thought I would throw out a potential new way to classify teams. Obviously Ross and a few others want to toss the school size scenerio in file 13...and we need something that works for everyone. How about a bubble question sheet that will put together information which will put teams in the appropriate class....LIKE THIS:

How many weight classes will your team likely fill next season?

A. 12 to 14
B. 10 to 11
C. 8 to 9
D. 7 or below

How many of the wrestlers on your team are from your district area or geographical area?

A. 90% or more
B. 80% to 89%
C. 70% to 79%
D. Below 70%

How many of the wrestlers on your team are 2 to 3 sport athletes?

A. 90% or more
B. 80% to 89%
C. 70% to 79%
D. Below 70%

What is the level off off-season wrestling in your program?

A. Our wrestlers wrestle all spring and summer and attend various national level events.

B. Our wrestlers wrestle some spring and summer but typically wrestle mostly local wrestling events and leagues.

C. Our wrestlers don't wrestle a lot of spring and summer, but will attend a summer league or wrestling camp.

D. Our wrestlers don't get involved in spring and summer wrestling.

OK....I think you can see how the question sheet would look. Coaches bubble it in and then send it to the NSAA. The sheets can be run through the scantron. Once the numbers are put together, it would be VERY easy to put together the four classes, wouldn't you agree? In this scenerio, you will take care of the needs of all the wrestling people and schools in the state, and we wouldn't let poor coaching stand in the way.....or programs that can't recruit......or programs where the kids can wrestle much in the off season....

This would be the optimal way to do it if we are going to scrap the system that Nebraska was built around!

I see a few potential problems ... marking of incorrect percentages (wouldn't want to say a coach would fudge).

The question about districting. In OPS, for example, there are magnet high schools so kids from other areas in Omaha can go there. Would this fit in the "distrcit" guidelines? Omaha Burke has a cap on students and, therefore, they are truly the only OPS school who cannot bring in anyone from outside of their "district."

Although a off-season program may be offered, not all of the kids participate. This might be left open to interpretation which typically causes problems.

Just an opinion.

All good things start with an initial proposal that is fine tuned. Although I don't see the NSAA even considering this proposal let me start by giving my .02 worth. I think the biggest problem question is the one dealing with 2 and 3 sport athletes. That could be one that school size would also have to be considered.

Question 1- This is difficult for some of the smaller schools to answer. Especially when you weigh in the factor that the majority of the wrestlers are boys that are still in their growing stages heading into their freshman and sophmore years of high school.

Question 2. - Who in their right mind is going to answer anything other than A. Also what is the definition of geographical location. I'm sure you would agree the radius of location is far differant for Cherry county than it would be for Omaha metro.

Question 3 - A lot of the smaller schools would answer this question with a very high percent. However does that necessarily mean they are better athletes? Now it depends on how you see this question. If you lean towards- by being involved in 2 or 3 sports you must be a better athlete that may or may not be the situation with the smaller schools. If you lean towards by being a 2 or 3 sports athlete you must be in better shape then that leads to a differant thought process. I don't like this question simply because unless you consider the size of the school in correlation with the percent you could end up with a skewed result.

As for the off-season wrestling this too could be open for discrepancy. I think with this question it should be considered on a greater than 50% of participants in the program. Also giving a month allowance so the questions could read something like this to make it easier to decide which answer to give.

What is the level of off-season wrestling? Off season wrestling is defined as wrestling prior to the date listed by the NSAA for starting winter team practices and after the state wrestling competition or any wrestling that occurs outside of NSAA high school sanctioned events.

A. Greater than 50% of our wrestlers wrestle more than 1 month of the year, attend camps, and/or wrestle at events at a state or national level.

B. Our wrestlers wrestle during spring and summer more than 1 month but typically wrestle events hosted by local clubs not state events or events qualifying for national competition.

C. Our wrestlers wrestle 1 or fewer months during the spring and summer however greater than 50% anticipate attending a summer wrestling camp or participating in a summer league.

D. Our wrestlers wrestle 1 or fewer months during the spring and summer.

E. Our wrestlers participate in a summer weight lifting program or off-season conditioning program.

quote:

Originally posted by grapplinman:
OK, I am headed up to UNO, but I thought I would throw out a potential new way to classify teams. Obviously Ross and a few others want to toss the school size scenerio in file 13...and we need something that works for everyone.

Interesting concept, but there is a loophole that I don't like. There may be a tendency for some schools to think, "We have 3-4 great wrestlers, but practically no talent to go with them or depth behind them. Let's cut or run off those kids with low potential so we can be in a lower class and place higher at state.

If we are going to depart from classifications based on enrollment let's look at a different concept. Let's allow each school to elect which class they want to enter for the following year. Wouldn't it have been interesting if some of the great teams in the smaller classes had had the chance to test the waters with the big boys? Conversely, would it be all bad if a school that is struggling to build interest because of a long spell of very little or no success be allowed to enter a tournament where the chance of some success existed?

I would place a few restrictions on the elections. If a team finished in the top 3 in the state tournament 2 out of 3 years that team could be required to move up a class for the following year. If a team finished in the bottom 3 for 2 out of 3 years they could be required to move down for the following year.

While we are daydreaming let's think about this. Next year, the Saturday after the state tournament let's have an individual tournament. The top 4 placewinners from A,B,C,and D would be eligible to enter. The 5th and 6th placewinners could elect to be put on a standby list. If a 1-4 placewinner elected not to compete we could fill his slot from the standby list.

That would give us a maximum of 16 wrestlers in a weight class so we could complete it in 1 day. Many schools do not have enough wrestlers or talent to consistently fill a schedule against teams in higher classes or teams with great programs. This would give their outstanding wrestlers the opportunity to test themselves against the best of the best.

These are crackpot ideas but most good ideas started as crackpot ideas that a few people thought about enough, modified them, and polished the rough edges enough that they became workable.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Frank Ryan,