Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School Are you tougher than Hell?

Here are some updates on the upcoming Oklahoma Tournaments for the Kansas Wizzers and Practice Schedule for the week. This series of tournaments have come to be known as the tougher than Hell tournaments because of the number of matches and the grueling conditions of the tournaments. If you aren’t in shape, aren’t ready for tough competition, ready to prove how good Kansas is in this grueling series of 2-4 tournaments over a 24 hour time frame, stay at home and read no further. If on the other hand, you are tougher than hell, read on.

This week is buffer week for high school wrestling. As a result of keeping things “legal” and within the rules, we will be having practices this week at the Caylor Barn near Haysville and Clearwater. You can call or email me for further directions if needed. Practice will run from 5:30-7:30 on Monday and Wednesday. Remember, for those High School Wrestlers, it is a violation of state rules to practice in your HS wrestling rooms during buffer week. This practice facility will allow us to get in some old school practice as well as insure that all HS wrestlers are within the rules for practice during this week.

As of right now, any wrestler wrestling with the Wizzers during the Catoosa, and Broken Arrow Tournaments on November 10, (Friday Evening) and November 11 must have me their contact and registration information prior to Tuesday evening, November 7, at 9:00 PM. Each wrestler must sign a team conduct form before being allowed to wrestle with the Wizzers.

For those that don’t know, sign up for each tournament is $15. If turning 16 after September 1, 2006, you are eligible for the Division 5 and Division 6 tournaments; in essence you could get in 4 divisions in less than 24 hours. Last year we had wrestlers that wrestled more than 25 matches during this time frame. If only entering 2 divisions, it is likely that you will get in between 8-12 matches during this time frame. It is the wrestlers’ discretion if they enter more than one division. There is also a minimum Wizzer team fee of $10 per wrestler, unless already signed up with the Kansas Wizzers. There are additional benefits of being with the wizzers for this tournament to well justify the $10 team fee, among which is lodging and more. For those that went last year with the team, you know what I am speaking of.

At these tournaments will be HS teams from Oklahoma and other Southwestern States. The competition level is solid and each wrestler will receive competitive matches. We will be leaving Friday afternoon at 2:30 PM from the Wichita area to allow a mostly full day of school on Friday. We will arrive in Catoosa, weigh in, eat and then wrestle. Wrestlers are being given 5 pounds for Division 6 (HS) only at the Catoosa tournament. Members of the Wizzers making weight will receive an additional pound at the Broken Arrow Tournament on Saturday. We are still in need of transportation as my van will be full by the end of the day.

If interested in this last great opportunity before the start of the season next Monday, email or call. Email at mike@furches.org or call at 316-945-8485 or 316258-3952. We already have a great team going to these tournaments and look forward to filling it up with more great wrestlers.

Just a reminder these tournaments are this weekend. The Wizzers will be missing some wrestlers but looks like we will be taking at least 4 state champions with us from last year to the tournaments, along with another likely 10 state placers from this year. We are practicing on Wed. & Thurs. This week at the Caylor Barn. It is pretty easy to get to so anyone needing directions let me know. Sign ups for the tournament have to be in tonight, no exceptions. If not signed up tonight, you can forget about this incredible opportunity that will allow you to face off with the best of Oklahoma and surrounding states.

Here is the Wizzers line up for Catoosa and Broken Arrow this weekend. Check out the talent on the teams, I believe we will carry on our tradition at these tournaments. Also, last minute consideration may be given for Broken Arrow, waiting to hear back, and I do know that Catoosa will let us sign up wrestlers until tomorrow night, Wednesday November 8 until 9:00 PM. We are again having practice tomorrow night, Wednesday and Thursday night from 6:00 - 8:00 so jump on board if needing information.

Here is the current roster for the weekend tournament for the Kansas Wizzers.

Ryan Holden

Tyler Caldwell

Brent Fisher

Garrett Fausett

Coty Reinheart

Cody Shavlik

Nathan Furches

Bo Beard

Dalton Beard

Kyle Detmer, John Keller and Jordan Keller are going from Bishop Carroll. I will let them know about practice. Thanks for all the Wizzers do for Kansas wrestling.

One last practice before the Weekend tournaments and the start of HS tomorrow night, (Thursday). 3 State Champs in the room tonight, along with 5 nationally ranked wrestlers. A good hard practice tonight and and only one to go. Thanks to all of those from Wichita NW, Goddard and Derby in the room tonight. All of the wrestlers worked their butts off. There are going to be some happy HS coaches with the fact that their wrestlers are coming to the room in shape this year.

Garret and I got back from Tulsa area last night. It was our 2nd annual weekend to hell and back.

Left friday noon, wrestled 7-11pm, slept 6 hours, wrestled 9am-1pm, and cheered for his team till 4pm.

Not one of Garret's best showings, a 3rd and a 4th out of the four entries, but very respectable and a great way to knock the rust off. He wrestled 17 tough matches in 8 hours on the mats. He got a good snapshot of what he needs to work on as he begins his wrestling season. He gave some and got some. He EXPERIENCED why he needs to 'condition for wrestling'.

But most importantly, (a) it gave him a look at his inert vulnerabilities when he gets tired, and (b) he got to really enjoy spending time with some reALLY GREAT KIDS who also happen to be great athletes. For me, I got to coach him thru some memorable moments.

Other Kansans made a GREAT showing! We did not have any weak links, "oh man, we got another one of those kansas kids." We had some impressive kids there! Nearly all first and second places - a VERY loud statement about Kansas athletes.

"Thank you!!!" to the Downs, Ken, our lodging hosts, and most of all to the "athletes".

Wow - had a great time...now exhausted!

Well I finally crawled out of bed after a long, but fun weekend of wrestling in the Tulsa area. We had a great group of Kansas kid again this year. Just hearing the commits of a couple Oklahoma coaches would tell you the impression our kids made this weekend. I think we had 6 or 7 wrestlers in the finals with all our kids placing. I was very proud of the way our kids helped each other & they all showed great sportsmanship on the mat. They represented Kansas very well.
I wanted to thank our host for again opening their wonderful home to a group of strangers. They truly are wrestling fans & great people. Your generosity was enormous and was greatly appreciated. Thank you from your friends in Kansas.
Our trip home was interesting as we ventured across country instead of running the super highways. I think I had my caravan convinced I was lost. You got to have faith guys. Haha. See you all later in the season. Good luck to all of you.
Mike, get well and I will talk to you later in the week.

Thanks Mr. Downs for going and the other parents that went down for coaching for us. We definitely owe you one. Good job to those who wrestled. From what I've heard we wrestled very well and turned some heads in the process. Mike and I are proud of you guys.

Hey Mike, let me know how you're doin. Thanks for setting the trip in motion and coordinating it all. Hope you get well and we see ya again soon.

I am really pleased with how everyone did. I am out for 4-6 weeks of any kind of lifting or strenuous activity, but plan on getting ready for officiating. The Wizzers are in their break period now so I hope to real soon be in the practice room with the Derby kids as well. We will be organizing, starting this week, for the Spring and Summer season. We will be having a big push to do our FS Greco tournament in conjunction with a National Tag Team tournament. We already have teams from PA and NC that have committed to that tournament. We also plan on doing a Beach tournament this year in Wichita. 90% of all profits from the tournaments will go to scholarship Kansas Wizzer Kids for National Tournaments including Fargo where they will be seen by most of the coaches. Those scholarships are going strictly to members of the team though. We also have some fundraisers we will be doing. Hopefully the t-shirts will be done within the next month and we can start getting those out to the Wizzer Wrestlers.

I have already heard back from several friends in Oklahoma who have told me how well the guys did, a couple of college coaches have also contacted me about some of the guys that wrestled. There is a reason we have such tough and intense practices, it gets the attention of coaches that are present. Hopefully the teams goals will pay off of producing wrestlers who have an opportunity to wrestle at the next level. It really sucked not being able to go.

I am trying to figure out the payment for the tournaments and will have my wife make those phone calls a little later on. I realized that it would be easier to just pay for everyone and have them pay me back for entry fees and the like. If you are one of the Wizzers that went and didn't pay, get with me, and/or I'll be getting with you. No rush but just want to make sure everything is squared away, it was easier to just pay than to have to figure everything out on such short notice. I know I didn't have time to get all of that to others. I do want to especially thank all of the guys who wrestled, they all know that up until today we were all one team, Kansas, and we are trying to emphasize that concept, thankfully it is making a difference for some of our wrestlers.

For now, High School starts today, honor your team with the same intensity and desire to win that you had for the Wizzers, take that extra conditioning, and extra practice to help propel you to a state championship. Enjoy the season, and remember, next up for the Wizzers will be the week after the HS season concludes. For those involved in Kids wrestling, maintain contact with your kids club, inspire and motivate those little guys and gals. We expect our wrestlers to be a role model and that starts in the kids room before and after HS season.