Nigel, I disagree with you on the 16 & under issue and I agree with Will. Just because the 16 & Under is more fun for an adult to watch doesn't mean that it should be included it in a grade school State championship tournament. As adults we have a lot of opportunity to go out and enjoy watching our high school wrestlers during their high school season. I do this and I take my son to those high school meets too. Next year we may go to the Maize youth tournament and then maybe attend the high schools finals in the afternoon.
You say it is fun for you to watch the 16 & unders. Well as a father of a 12 year old it would have been more fun for me to watch my son wrestle his State tournament matches on a big mat. I think most people are really only mostly paying attention to their child, their teammates around their child's age whom they practice with and their child's opponents. When my son was in 8 & under all I cared about was that group. I have expanded my interest some in six years but honestly my main focus is still on my son's group and the competitors and teammates around his age group.
To me this tournament consisted of about three different groups the young grade school kids, the older grade school kids and then the high school kids. Other than a couple of teammates that were outside of his age group, our focus was entirely on the older grade school kids that my son is a part of. It seemed liked the high school kids took up almost half the floor space. That means the grade school kids do not have enough floor space to have big mats, they have long waits between matches and they do not have enough room to warm up. I just think the grade school kids are entitled to more quality in their State tournament.
Like Will Cokeley, I think it would be great for our Kids State organization to offer a separate tournament at a different time and place for the high school kids. It could be a one or two age division tournament or possibly an A and B division to reflect junior varsity and varsity. If we had that then I believe it would be the closest thing we could come up with to a high school Grand State.
