Hey Vince, Nathan wasn’t even seeded at Salina, go figure! I just used it as motivation for Nathan though and would encourage coaches to do that. I even had him carry the bracket to the finals match to look at when getting ready. I have purchased 3 books in the last month titled Winning State which goes into how to turn this type of thing (motivation) around. I do definitely agree though that the best kid will finish at the far right of the bracket as Forvac suggests. The true number one seed of any tournament is the kid that wrestles the best that day, and Lord knows, that could be any number of kids in any weight in any division.
The more I have thought about the ratings system I believe another option is having just two divisions, Novice and Advanced. Then you will need a better definition of what a true Novice wrestler is. I will say this, the system here in Kansas is as good as any place I have seen but everyone is going to have letdowns at times. Including the Salina tournament, which by the way is a tournament hosted by what I believe to be one of the strongest and best clubs in the state. Their wrestlers, parents, and coaches have never been anything but courteous and if there were mistakes, I believe they were just that, mistakes which could happen to any club.
