fiveldinger
Joined: Jan 1, 2005
Posts: 156
|
Let me start by saying that I have the utmost respect for the Canandaigua program. Maybe that is why I expected better from their peewee round robin tourney Saturday.
First, we headed for the high school like many, many others. A sign on the door led us and a train of others to the middle school. This change of venue resulted in many late arrivals.
Next, instead of numbering groups they were lettered A,AA,AAA, etc. It created a great deal of confusion. Wall charts were not posted until the 2nd or 3rd round and many were never updated.
Two full mats were divided into 6 mats. The first mat was split into halves while the second mat was quartered. Assignments to the mats were made without consideration to age or weight and were random. This resulted in a situation where you had 190 pound 14 yr olds on a QUARTER mat with 50 pounders on one adjacent quarter while 60 pounders were on the other adjacent side. Fortunately, no one got crushed in the crossfire. It was a chaotic mess.
I would like to be part of the solution rather than a whiner so I offer these suggestions for improvement.
1 - list the site of the competition, with address on the flyer so no assumptions are made and wrestlers can check in on time.
2 - NUMBER the groups instead of using letters and/or multiple combinations of letters. Run those groups in numerical sequence.
3 - designate a mat for a bunch of groups and stick with it. For ex. , groups 1-12 mat 1 (ALL DAY). groups 13-24, mat 2, groups 25 -36, mat 3 ,etc.
That eliminates the need to constantly call groups. The numbers will run in sequence and wrestlers/coaches can follow that sequence on the matside tree at any given moment. (As it was, a glimpe at a tree might have looked something like E, MMM, BB. Very difficult to follow while checking 6 mats.)
4 - Ages 11-14 get the big mats. How many 11-14s can stay in a quarter mat? This also slowed down the pace. Keep the little tiny guys on the little, tiny mats.
5 - bring in an extra official to rotate and give these poor guys a break. All 6 refs were on the same mat without a break all day. Did they wear Depends or what? (Speaking of refs, I thought they did a pretty good job, all things considered.)
6 - Keep a couple of CA coaches free to do nothing but coach. I know that is a big request but numerous bouts were held up while waiting for a CA coach to come to a corner.
Like I said to begin, Canadaigua is a PREMIER program,I hope they make some changes next year to make their tournament reflect the quality of that program. Even though I found the day frustrating, our wrestlers faced good competition and I thank the very friendly CA crew for running the event. I'll be back next time because I think we should all support our programs around the region but I'm hoping things can go a little smoother.
.
_________________
Fiveldinger |