Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion Kids Folkstyle Liberty, The good & the bad?

Just curious as to what everyone thought of this year's Liberty Nationals Tournament. It was my first year there, and I personally thought the competition was great. I also thought that it ran pretty smooth throughout the day. I did have some concerns though and would wanted to hear everyone else's opinions.

The competion was great, but...

With the number of detractions and the fact that its cost are now higher possibly even Tulsa we are going to really question if we go again.

$40 entry, $7 parking, $10 coaches pass, $4 bracket, $8 admission for wife, super high food prices, poor gym layout, poor seeding, not enough quality refs but great, great competition.

Because of the competition and the fact that it's close we will probably keep going, and quite honestly I think Bill Gossett is doing all he can do. I appreciate the passion he has to bring a national tournament to the KC area, but the tournament is going through some growing pains.

The top end refs were just as good as you find anywhere, but the bottom were way over their head for a national tournament. When you have to explain back points to the refwhen a matched is stopped for a high bridge you know your in trouble.

But the tournament has gotten too big. Too big for the facilities, too big for the number of quality refs on KS HS state weekend. The bigger the better, but not at the cost of a quality product. It needs to be a 2 day tournament and it needs to be on a day when enough quality refs are available, and they need to find a facility that is not a 1/2 mile between gyms.

SlamBam

This was our first year at Liberty. Great competition, and for the most part, the refs on our mat I thought were good. The big disappointment was that there were two "gyms". We had assumed we would be wrestling in the auditorium.

Perhaps a two day format would be better? Our son wrestled 6 matches Saturday - all very tough competition. He was exhausted by his last match. Our son was in a 16 man bracket - how many matches did the kids have who were in the 32 and 64 man brackets?

Food prices were high, but they seem to be that way at all the major tournaments.

The picture taking portion went A LOT faster than Salina TOC.

$40 entry, $7 parking, $10 coaches pass, $4 bracket, $8 admission for wife, super high food prices, poor gym layout, poor seeding, not enough quality refs but great, great competition.

I agree with this statement. I know Bill had his hands full as well, and thought that overall, it was a great tournament. I did feel sorry for some of the parents that had to travel hundreds or even a thousand miles, in order to watch their kids wrestle in the basement of the building, where there was little to no seating. It appeared to me that they had plenty of room to place all of the kids upstairs. Was there anyway they could have down the pictures and awards downstairs instead? I kow that several of the coaches had a really hard time running back and forth between the two floors in order to coach kids as well. I was also dissapointed when I realized that my own kids were downstairs. Several parents paid $40.00 along with everyone else, just like the older kids and should've gottent the chance to wrestle upstairs. I heard several comments on this throughout the day. In addition, I also agree with the comment about the inexperienced referee's. We had one kids from our club getting his arm tweaked, when our two coaches that where mattside began yelling to the ref to stop the match. The ref kept on going. The two coaches went out on the matt themselves and stopped the action, but by then it was too late. Our wrestler had to go to the hospital, where it was learned that he had dislocated his shoulder and was done wrestling for the rest of the season. It was something that shouldn't have happened. The ref simply wasn't doing his job, and wasn't watching.

If you are going to compare prices of Liberty to Tulsa nationals or any other 2 day format nationals then you have to factor in the extra hotel night. Plus coaches passes for Tulsa are $20 verses $10 at liberty. Bottom line the total cost of Liberty is still cheaper than Tulsa Nationals. For the core national circuit wrestlers this is one of the best for competition and it is a long day especially if you get flipped to the back early. For any national level tournament regardless of 1 or 2 day format you need to be in shape and prepared to wrestle 6+ matches a day.
Refs this year were worst we have ever seen. There is still plently of good refs available even though Kansas HS state tournament is going on. It's a matter of doing your homework and not settling for less. Also your right the food is extemely high in the auditorium, but the place to get lunch or dinner is outside the front door on the sidewalk. There is a vendor with fresh grilled burgers, brats, hotdogs, chips, soda,and gatorade less than half price of the rates inside and 10 times better.
Bill has struggled to keep this to a 1-day format, and he is getting a lot of pressure to go to a 2-day format from the sponsors that get our money and not from the wrestling community. If it keeps growing the entry limits will have to be enforced or a 2-day format will have to happen, and you may see the entry fees go up again.

Having this tournament on the same weekend as Kansas High School State was a bad choice. How many siblings of high school wrestlers - including my own 8 year old, had to miss this tournament since the rest of the family was at high school state? He placed 2nd last year and was ready to try for first this year but you don't miss your high schooler wrestling at State for a kids tournament - National or not! Next year schedule on a weekend that doesn't conflict!