Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion Kids Folkstyle Split Sessions

I'm wondering what everyone is thinking about this split session that we're seeing more of? There have been some in the past and it seems that there may be more this year. The first two tournaments of the year that our club is going to are split sessions and not only split sessions but also have Friday night wrestling. This is no doubt great for parents of one child or multiple children that end up at the same session. However, for coaches this is/can be a nightmare for scheduling what coach will be at the matches, and parents that have more than one child that end up in seperate sessions. How about a parent or coach that must attend a Friday night session and then have to be there for a Saturday afternoon session. What about the clubs that are doing the split sessions. What kind of problems are being created from this? Are there fewer problems? Beeson, how did the split session work for you at ark city? In addition to the scheduling there are costs involved. Hotel rooms, additional meals (one could sack lunch it though), other activities for other members in your family that occur later that Saturday (does one parent miss the tourny to get other kids to their activities/events because the other spouse is coaching that day, do you take two vehicles so that the coach can stay at the tourny and the family doesn't have to stay the additional time if their child wrestled a morning session). Time at the tournament could be lengthy. We got home at 8pm on Saturday. What would have been maybe 3 or 4. I don't think I'm complaining about it although it kind of sounds like it, I guess I'm just getting the ball rolling on a discussion about it. thanks

Shawn,

I agree with your position and it has caused additional concern for many parents at our club as well. i heard a number of discussions at practice last night about 5 and 6 year olds who woke at 5:30 so older siblings could wrestle in the morning and then the little guys didn't wrestle until 2:00 in the afternoon. i understand the philosophy behind the split tourneys but it's awfully difficult for those little guys to sit/run around a hot gym all day and then not be exhausted by the time they step on the mat.

IMO, we (clubs in ks) have done a good job at tweaking our tournaments and believe it is a trial and error process. We all know that when we implement change sometimes it is for the better and sometimes it is not. While I certainly think that there are some downsides to the split format I believe the positives for the masses outweigh the negatives. It would be nice to have a tourney that lasted as long as a basketball game but we all know this isn’t that easy.

Worth noting. As Shawn mentioned Derby is holding a Friday night session for the 14 and under this year. The decision to do this was based on several factors and while we recognize this will make it tough on clubs not located in close proximity and aren’t planning on weighing in on Friday night we believed it could create a unique opportunity for those that will. We would love to attract great competition from OK and after visiting with several clubs last year that made the trip Friday it made sense. Again, it is a trial and error process. We would love to hear what you think, good or bad, and we will continue to tweak it to make it one of the best tournaments.

Take care.

As a parent, I loved the split sessions, as a coach, it really didn't matter, was at the tournament all day anyway. What I do like as a coach is the fact that there are less people there, less noise, less parental interruption.

I think the split session is wonderful. The problem is, and I'm sure I'm going to catch all kinds of grief for this, NOVICE. Once you add the Novice you have essentially made it a tournament and 1/2. Personally I have never liked the idea for 6U novice. At that age they are all novice. The poor kids that wrestle open get combined with heavier weights because there are just not enough open 6U wrestlers. I can see a need for 10U novice, and at times 8U. Split session is the way to go, if it was all open. The problem is Clubs don't want to give up the money that the Novice brings in. I would love for Ark City to go Open only next year, but I don't see it happening.

I will take a ton of grief for this post, I also really like the split sessions, and I also don't think there should be a 6u novice. Now the grief part is I don't think that there should be novice divisions at all tourneys, I think it hampers kids potential to grow and learn as wrestlers. Dedicated novice only tourneys once in a while is ok but novice wrestling novice all year does not make either wrestler any more prepared for the open division! Just an opinion

Mike Pirl

You won't hear any grief from me Mike. I totally agree with you. From the business point of view Novice Tournaments are a cash cow. But from what I have seen, few make the jump from novice to open successfully. The novice wrestler that makes the jump only delays the inevitable. Taking your lumps is part of the sport. My oldest son started at 8 years old & his first novice tournament was the Novice Championship. My youngest is 6 & his first tournament will be Rossville Open. As far as split format. It worked well last year with one wrestler. This year I may have a different opinion with a 6/under & a 12/under.

I personally like the split tournaments. My son doesn't have to sit around half the day to wait to wrestle. He gets the same amount of mat time in, and in half the time. I have to be there all day, but if we can split them, why should he have to. Yes sometimes for some people, it can be considered a pain, but if you have two or three kids wrestling in a regular tournament, that are separated between a.m. and p.m., what's the difference between that and a split tourney?

From a pure parent point of view, they sure drag on when you have more than 1 kid wrestling. Last year I had a 6U and a 12U and they never wrestled in the same session. This year I have an 8U and a 12U and they actually both wrestle in the afternoon at Derby this weekend. They also both wrestled the morning session at Ted Anderson in Edmond last week. I think it depends what age divisions the kids fall into, but it sure stinks when you have 2 kids who are split. But we finally get to sleep in for a change on a Saturday this week, so Thanks Derby!

Bottom line is that most weekend tourneys that aren't split format, we are out of there by 2-3:00. However with a split format, I can't remember being done earlier than 5:00 and usually it is much later than that.

Amen, Love the split tourneys!!! Instead of waiting 1 1/2 hrs. between matches you might only have to wait 45min. if your lucky. This keeps the adreniline going in the kids instead of all the down time they normally would have at a regular meet.

did someone say lengthy. i was there at 7am and didnt leave until after 7:00pm. but boy it sure makes the suds go down good. i like the split format and for the love of coaching i would do it again from 7 to 7. i even coached kids that i had no idea what their names were. i only practice with our open kids but helped out with the novice and loved it. my boy wrestled 4 times and i only got to watch one of his matches. but overall the split format is good.

I dont mind the split sessions but I am really not in favor of the Friday night wrestling. JMO