Covid Season

[SUSU]

What do you think will happen this year?

Here are my thoughts

1. season won’t start until January considering football is petitioning to have a start date of oct 2.
2. No spectators allowed or maybe limited to just parents. (Let’s be real, in today’s society parents are not coming out to watch and support their wrestlers)
3.Multi meets may not be a thing this year. I believe we will just have dual meets this year as far as dual/multi meets go.
4. State will be held in 5 different places or at 5 completely different times. An event will be made for divisions 1-4 and girls.
5. A lot of parents will become coach’s and refs to watch their wrestlers.

What do you see happening?

 

[RamInTheDesert]

I definitely see a condensed season. The VHSL in Virginia adopted it.

 

[BKramer]

Personally, I struggle to see a wrestling season at all this year. Wrestling has the highest degree of person-to-person contact of any sport, and I think football and basketball are on the brink, so where does that leave us? If there is a season, I am not sure how competition would even look. Think about it - the likelihood of tournaments is next-to-nil and as SUSU indicated, multis are probably questionable, at the least. So that leaves us with duals. Do we have each team in a region dual each other for state qualification? But then how do we have state, since it is a tournament and puts a lot of competitors in the same space?

And we haven't even mentioned whether (or not) officials would feel comfortable officiating.

I wish circumstances were different but from where I sit, I am not hoping for much in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

 

[Tbone46]

Let's not forget that the metrics are moving in the right direction for our state. Hopefully that trend continues. If football is able to pull off some type of season then there should be no reason wrestling couldn't. Obviously, it is not going to look like years past. Single team duals with sectionals and state at the end of the season. I do not believe tournaments will be possible. One idea would be for AIA to hold each divisional state tournament in a separate location lowering the amount of people in one place for multiple days.

Seeding would be interesting to say the least.

 

[BKramer]

I sure hope you are right and I am wrong! If so, I will celebrate being wrong, that's for sure.

I would think there is discussion and conversations about this at the AIA but I am not privy to those. It sure seems awfully quiet because I haven't heard a peep from anyone. I suppose it is still too early to speculate.

 

[Coachdoerr]

Personally, I struggle to see a wrestling season at all this year. Wrestling has the highest degree of person-to-person contact of any sport, and I think football and basketball are on the brink, so where does that leave us? If there is a season, I am not sure how competition would even look. Think about it - the likelihood of tournaments is next-to-nil and as SUSU indicated, multis are probably questionable, at the least. So that leaves us with duals. Do we have each team in a region dual each other for state qualification? But then how do we have state, since it is a tournament and puts a lot of competitors in the same space?

And we haven't even mentioned whether (or not) officials would feel comfortable officiating.

I wish circumstances were different but from where I sit, I am not hoping for much in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

This virus is not as bad as they made us to think. There are only around 11k cases in my town while there were over 35k cases of the annual flu last year. It’s all political and about control. We need the kids back in school and playing sports

 

[BKramer]

Just to be clear, my comments had nothing to do with politics or whose perspective on the virus is right or wrong. The question was whether or not we see a season moving forward and if so, what it could look like.

It pains me to think of not having a season/competition for kids in all sports, trust me. Wrestling, and sports in general, are good for kids. Sports motivates them, keeps them involved, keeps parents involved in their kids' lives (sure, sometimes too much, maybe, but that is better than the opposite!), and a host of other ancillary benefits. I think we all agree on that.

I can tell you, as a co-director of a large tournament that takes coordination, this being in limbo is very difficult. Should we sign the contract for the facility without any assurance the season will be held or that hosting a tournament of our size will be allowed? Ric and I have done this free gratis for 16 years - so if we sign the contract and have to cancel, it is our personal pocket books on the line. It sucks - where is my crystal ball when I most need it???!!!

 

[Coach P]

This virus is not as bad as they made us to think. There are only around 11k cases in my town while there were over 35k cases of the annual flu last year. It’s all political and about control. We need the kids back in school and playing sports

Remember what Smoky said....only you can prevent forest fires...

 

[Coachdoerr]

Personally, I struggle to see a wrestling season at all this year. Wrestling has the highest degree of person-to-person contact of any sport, and I think football and basketball are on the brink, so where does that leave us? If there is a season, I am not sure how competition would even look. Think about it - the likelihood of tournaments is next-to-nil and as SUSU indicated, multis are probably questionable, at the least. So that leaves us with duals. Do we have each team in a region dual each other for state qualification? But then how do we have state, since it is a tournament and puts a lot of competitors in the same space?

And we haven't even mentioned whether (or not) officials would feel comfortable officiating.

I wish circumstances were different but from where I sit, I am not hoping for much in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

Just remember there have been tournaments going in Other states with zero problems even RMN has had tournaments

 

[Levi]

AIA meeting going on right now and what i'm hearing is they may start wrestling at the end of February. Still up in the air though. As soon as i hear anything i will post right away.

 

[BKramer]

Awesome - thanks for the intel! I sure hope they at least make plans for a season and appreciate any additional insight you might provide if you hear something. At least there is hope.

Coachdoerr - totally understand other tourneys have been going on but since the one we run is school-based, we are dependent on a regular school season of some kind. I believe the Yuma middle schools canceled their quarter 1 sports and that means wrestling, if I am not mistaken. Northern schools are generally done before Christmas; others follow a three-season schedule much like high schools that spans Christmas while the Tucson-area schools have wrestling in the 3rd quarter. I am pretty sure you know all of this already but that is why it is a bit more problematic for us than for RMN or for high schools. More wait-and-see for the time being....

 

[Coachdoerr]

Awesome - thanks for the intel! I sure hope they at least make plans for a season and appreciate any additional insight you might provide if you hear something. At least there is hope.

Coachdoerr - totally understand other tourneys have been going on but since the one we run is school-based, we are dependent on a regular school season of some kind. I believe the Yuma middle schools canceled their quarter 1 sports and that means wrestling, if I am not mistaken. Northern schools are generally done before Christmas; others follow a three-season schedule much like high schools that spans Christmas while the Tucson-area schools have wrestling in the 3rd quarter. I am pretty sure you know all of this already but that is why it is a bit more problematic for us than for RMN or for high schools. More wait-and-see for the time being....

Middle schools here in Yuma have not cancelled the season. The middle school season here is only a month long and they are just going to start it a bit later than normal but yes there is going to be a season for middle school here

 

[BKramer]

That is really good news! What I had read earlier was sports had been postponed "indefinitely" but now I see after checking more closely that Woodard has posted, "until further notice", which is better. I don't see anything on Sommerton's site and haven't reached out to Coach Moreno yet - I figure he is busy enough these days. If you can keep us posted, it will be appreciated. I have other feelers out around the state as well but am not sure anyone knows definitively at this point.

 

[Coachdoerr]

That is really good news! What I had read earlier was sports had been postponed "indefinitely" but now I see after checking more closely that Woodard has posted, "until further notice", which is better. I don't see anything on Sommerton's site and haven't reached out to Coach Moreno yet - I figure he is busy enough these days. If you can keep us posted, it will be appreciated. I have other feelers out around the state as well but am not sure anyone knows definitively at this point.

Pepe told me yes a season he just doesn’t know when that side of the league is going to start