Kansas Wrestling Forums Southern Plains Tournament

The Southern Plains FS/GR tournament rotates among 8 states every 2 years. Kansas has the tournament the next 2 years. In addition, the Southern Plains Junior Regional has been added to this tournament. Now the tournament will be for all wrestlers from Bantam up to Juniors. It will be the last Regional tournament before Cadet and Junior Duals, Fargo and Kids Nationals. This is a great oppurtunity for Kansas to showcase our ability to run a tournament. It is also a great savings to us (think about how much gas cost going to Carlsbad)

To make this tournament a sucess we need volunteers. Lots and lots of volunteers. I have been assigned the task of helping recruit volunteers. If you volunteer you will receive free admission into the tournament (even when you are not working), meals on the days you volunteer and a volunteer t-shirt. You will also be a part of the USA Kansas team that made this tournament a sucess. You do not have to commit yourself to the whole tournament.

If you or your club are interested in volunteering then please email me at bdisney@cox.net I will work with you on the task you will perform.

Do the volunteers have to attend the Southern Plains camp?

just kidding....

I have to be there as I won't let my 11 year old to the end of the earth by himself and he is required to go to the camp. I know Hays may not be the end of the earth, but you can see it from there. If you get my Dad's fee from the camp cancelled I will work the two day tourney. Don't hassle me about the camp fee, I miss a weeks worth of summer wages to be there also, I am paid by the hour, thats a lot more than the camp

Our club will have several kids attending the Camp and am sure we can come up with 6 or so volunteers. Please let me know what duties you are looking to fill and I'll see how many we can come up with.

My kids have attended this camp only one year...last year and they loved it! I was alot leery of allowing them to ride to New Mexico....at ages 9 & 12...but they did...and believe me...to me that could have been to the end of the EARTH. Middle of Kansas is ALOT closer for me! I love that it is here for the next 2 yrs! I had to miss out on the tourney...and my son place in both the freestyle and greco styles...hope they both do this year so that I will be able to watcha and cheer them on!

I feel that we should support our Kansas wrestlers and those who volunteer their time year after year...Bob Phillips is one of those people! And my family salutes him! He is a huge supporter of wrestling in our corner of the world! Wrestling plays a large part of our lives and we volunteer hrs upon hrs every year to support the growth of kids wrestling.

Keep up the good work!

Barry,

First, thanks for volunteering your time to help organize the Southern Plains Tournament.

Second, directly related to volunteering for Southern Plains, is USAWKS’s published policy (or lack there of) regarding Kansans competing or coaching at the Southern Plains Regional.

It would be most helpful to potential volunteers, coaches, and wrestlers if USAWKS would put out some sort of “official” statement, information paper, flyer etc. on the requirements for Kansans to participate in Southern Plains.

I have gone through the “Southern Plains Requirements” post on the “kid’s folk style” forum, and I am still unclear of the requirements for wrestlers or coaches.

If for example, USAWKS requires all Kansans (Bantam through Juniors) to attend the camp as a prerequisite to wrestler in the tournament, several wrestler (and potential volunteers) will not attend.

If for example, USAWKS will not allow club coaches to coach their kids (only Team Kansas Coaches allowed), then again several coaches may decide to stay home that weekend. Another way to look at this, if club coaches are forbidden by USAWKS form coaching their kids, club coaches could volunteer to help run the tournament.

USAWKS members and potential volunteers would be greatly served if the leadership of USAWKS would publish some sort of definitive guidance on the requirements for Kansans participating at the Southern Plains Regional.

Mike Flynn

up4wrestling -
Thanks for the help. We will need people to run brackets, work tables, set up for the tournament and etc... Just let me know the approximate age of those who will volunteer and we will find an appropriate job for them.

Mike -
The flyer has the requierments for coaches. (Certified with wrist band, etc...) I do not know of any rule or policy that says a kid cannot be coached by the coach of his choice (for instance his local club coach). If I am wrong I am sure I will be corrected.

Barry,

Thank you for pointing me to the Flyers.

As you stated, I see no restriction in the event flyer that would prevent a certified coach (coaches card and copper card min, and wrist band) from coaching at the tournament.

From my read of both the Camp and Event Fliers, I see there is no requirement for Kansas wrestlers to attend the Southern Plains Camp in order to wrestle in the Southern Plains tournament.

Under the “Eligibility” section, “Athletes must present proof of USA membership”.

Under the “Entry” section, it states "Athletes must check with respective state directors regarding Southern Plains Kids Regional qualifying procedures". Oklahoma and Missouri Kids and Cadet Athletes MUST register through their State Director. No individual registrants will be accepted from Oklahoma or Missouri.

There are no requirements listed for Kansas. I am assuming that Kansas wrestlers can register for the tournament individually and do not have to attend the camp.

Again, I could be wrong.

Mike

I may stand corrected, but if it is as in past years, ALL Kansas wrestlers must register through their State Organization.

Leanna Grater

Leanna,

You are much more knowledgeable on the working of Southern Plains Registration than I.

I do note in the Event Flyer, under Entry, it states: "All athletes MUST register on-line at http://www.themat.com ....". Both the mat.com and USAWKS.com links to Southern Plains registration lead to "trackwrestling.com". It appears a Kansas wrestler can register individually.

There is a special note for Oklahoma and Missouri Kids and Cadets that they must register through their State Directors. I see no special note for Kansas.

Also of note, there is no requirement in the event flyer for Kansas to attend a pre-camp in order to be eligible to compete in Southern Plains. For Cadets and Juniors, the event flyer states a wrestler is eligible that presents a USA Card and of the proper age.

Cadet & Junior Regional Championships: Both Division are open to ALL wrestler that meet the necessary age requirement.

Kids Regional Championships: All Participants must reside in a Southern Plains state….

Hopefully, a little clarity on the requirements for Kansas registration and requirements to wrestler in the Southern Plains will be out soon. Will be standing by.

Respectfully,

Mike Flynn

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Side Note: Whomever is managing the Southern Plains Page on USAWKS.com, the link for registration takes you to Cadet and Kids Registration. If you go to mat.com there is a link for Cadet and Kids, and a link for Juniors. Recommend we put both links on the page with the appropriate labels.

On the other hand, if Kansas wrestler must attend the pre-camp and register through the state director, recommend putting a note on the page stating so.

The Kansas Southern Plains camp flyer states that camp registration must be mailed in, and the tournament registration form attached. If that is the case, than Kansas wrestlers should not use the online registrations and send their registration in with their camp registration.

Mike,

Entry into the Kids/Cadet division regional championships must be processed through the member's state. Each state is allowed to establish their own policies for participation, as long as those policies do not violate rules established by the region or by USA Wrestling. Oklahoma and Missouri have restrictions on who can attend this tournament and requested that online registrations not be allowed by individuals from their respective states to avoid a problem with having to turn away nonqualified wrestlers at the tournament.

This is the first year for the Southern Plains Kids/Cadet tournament to utilize online registrations, although we did a test run on the procedures at the Junior Regionals last year in Hutchinson. I'm sure there will be some discrepancies that will show up as the process runs its course and we'll try to deal with them as they come up. Thanks for the notification of the problem with registration from the Kansas page. I'll look over it and try to get things corrected ... if you or anyone else find any other problems, please let me know.

The Kansas Kids Executive Council is currently reconsidering their policy that the camp is mandatory for all Kids/Cadet competing at the Southern Plains Regionals. I would prefer to wait to respond to your questions regarding this policy until the Executive Council makes their final ruling.

Mike,

Thanks for the response. I will hold questions/comments until an executive coucil ruling.

Mike Flynn

Now that the SP camp is non-mandatory and everyone is feeling good I want to hit you up to volunteer. We need a lot of people to help run this tournament. It will be a mess if we don't get them.

It would be nice if I had clubs come up and volunteer to provide the workers for one mat for the tournament (or a day of the tournament). Are you a parent and going to be sitting around at the tournament? Why don't you volunteer to hand out medals? If you just let me know you are interested I can find a job for you.

I will help in whatever respect I can or you desire when I am not coaching.

The tournament is only a little more than three weeks away. I hope all of the kids in Kansas take this opportunity to get to experience a good quality Freestyle and Greco Roman event. We have over 8,000 registered USA Card carriers so we should be able to get 5% of them to particpate. That would be 400 kids from Kansas!! NO EXCUSES!! Don't let your inexperience scare you away because at the end of the day it is just wrestling! Hope to see everyone in Hays!

My son weighed in today and was 1/2lb over.We wanted to drop the 1/2 lb by tomorrow for freestyle weigh ins they said no which is bull.I wanna know why.

Did you read the rules on the flyer for weigh-in procedures? It looks like if you are entered in both styles, there was one weigh-in today. You were allowed two consecutive weigh-ins without leaving the staging area. It still seems logical that you would be allowed to weigh-in for FS tomorrow. Did you appeal to the tournament director, Mike Juby?

Thanks Renegade,I should and will,It's like us parents and coaches don't know if the scales are gonna be light or heavy,you would think the kids doing both styles would get the breaks.