I will not bore you with my credentials in this area, but suffice it to say that I am fully aware of the time commitment involved with wrestling and am also fully aware of the dedication most wrestling coaches have for their sport.
The Saturday thing is a good point, but lets not lose sight of the fact that the point system now used in Kansas has moved wrestling to that kind of schedule. Not too many years ago (as recently as the season of 92-93, I believe) a Kansas high school wrestler was "limited" to four tournaments per year (not counting KSHSAA tournaments) which automatically limited the number of Saturdays being consumed for coaches AND athletes and placed greater emphasis on week night dual matches.
The decline of full teams led to the demise of dual matches but it was also IN LARGE PART the coaches themselves who led the charge to convince the KSHSAA to depart from days of competition and go to points--thereby giving wrestlers the "opportunity" to wrestle more matches in a year by reducing the number of week night duals and "loading up" on tournaments (Saturdays) where the number of matches wrestled per points of competition is greater.
In the past ten years we have gone from twenty matches being a lot of mat time in a season to where now 40+ matches in a season is commonplace. This parallels the increase in Saturday schedules.
And what about the A.D.s and/or principals and the occassional superintendent who are now present at BB and wrestling matches 3-4 nights out of five and at wrestling touraments on Saturdays from December until March. Should we pay them more as well?
