I would personally like to thank everyone who came out and supported DKWC and our extremely important patriarch Dean Sheets. This man has given well over 50 years of his life to this great sport and deserves a huge "Thank You" from all of us who are involved with KS wrestling. He has become like a grandfather to me and my family and I sincerely feel blessed to have him in my life.
That said, to the man that had to be escorted from the building yesterday, as long as I run the Dean Sheets Classic you are not welcome back in the same building as this tournament. He is a perfect example of what makes those of us who give so much of our lives to this sport and these KIDS, question why we are willing to spend 3 nights a week and most weekends away from our family and homes, like COACH Dean has done for his entire life.
This man stood in the corner of his grandson/son/friends son...I'm not sure... and spewed obscenity after obscenity, not at the wrestler(which we've all heard before), not at the official(which we've all heard), no he chose to scream and verbally assault the other KIDS COACH...89 year old Dean Sheets. Not for what Dean said, since all Dean was doing was coaching his wrestler, but he was spitting and screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs because the 89 yr old COACH was one foot inside the boundary lines coaching his wrestler. After I explained to the man the situation and he continually assaulted Dean, who by the way never even raised his eyes from the match (his hearing aid might have been turned down..??), the young official did the correct thing and ejected the man from the tournament and the DKWC staff escorted him out of the facility. This man also informed our staff that he was gonna be waiting for Dean in the parking lot!! Not kidding!! And I bet even now Dean would not know what went on... not necessarily because of his age or hearing aid, but because while this man was being escorted out, COACH Dean was on one knee mat side COACHING his wrestler who had just won a closely contested match.
For as much as COACH Dean embodied my vision of a COACH, this other man embodied the exact problem with many of us ADULTS. We allow the activities of our youth and our desire for them to succeed and excel at everything that they participate in cloud our judgement and not see the bigger picture. This is not an isolated event and similar altercations happen at almost every tournament, game, beauty contest, etc. and it is very SAD!!
We all should step back and take a page out of COACH Deans "book", it's about the KIDS!! So next time you are in the corner of or sitting mat side screaming for your 6u child, and decide to yell at another parent, official, table worker, or other COACH, remember that its for the KIDS, and they are watching!!
Thank you so much COACH Dean Sheets, for showing me what it means to be a good person and a COACH, you are a very important part of the history of KS wrestling!!
Sincerely,
Ben Ross
DKWC
