Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School local newspaper coverage

I wrestled in high school and my son is a second
year wrestler and a freshman at a school in wichita. I noticed last year and so for this year that local papers dont give wrestling very much coverage. Even the team profiles in the paper this week were a disappointment. For a great sport like high school wrestling you would think they could do better. Is it always like this?

If you contact the Eagle, I'll give you their response for them: "We can only print/write about what we know about!"

***READ WITH SARCASM***

So I'm sure the Basketball community does everything in their power to let the Eagle know when they're playing, the wrestling community just doesn't publish/put out their dates as much!

***FEEL MY SARCASM???***

The Wichita Eagle is better than most, believe it or not. You should try keeping up with high school wrestling in the Kansas City area (see comments in thread about pre-season preview article). For a metropolitan city located in the heart of the most decorated college programs in the land, their coverage is horrible. Just another obstacle which prevents the exposure this sport in this area deserves and needs.

I was VERY impressed with the ElDorado Times today. All area teams were covered, with equal space given to wrestling, basketball, and swimming. The Times has really stepped it up in regards to promoting area high school sports.

Are wrestling coaches opposed to "working at" getting the media involved?

It might be cavalier to think that newspapers actively cover any high school sport, let alone one that is not very friendly towards their fans or the media! How many sports reporters do most local newspapers have? Are there game summaries reported that did not have a reporter present?

It might be easier for "wrestling people" to sit back, cop an attitude, and whine about not getting our share of the pie. It might be easier for "wrestling people" to be bitter about someone else getting bigger piece of the pie.

I wish my "wrestling friends" would take a diplomatic approach and write a few stories and make wrestling an easy sport to cover! I'm sure you all wish that I would get off my soapbox!!

:-) Sorry ... one of the few nerves I have left just felt a little twinge!!!

Randy,
You are exactly right, when i was coaching at PR, the only coverage i got was from press releases that i did myself and sent out after each match. It takes someone working the press to get the coverage.

Klint Deere

That's why you get guys like me working for the paper. When I was at Chapman all I would cover was wrestling and typically was given full pages. The wrestling results and stuff aren't just a problem on the high school level. Colleges have been receiving tons of flack for poor results in a promptly manner (sometimes 72 hours later still no results). But rest assured they are being worked on. I've talked with Intermat, REvwrestling, and many other online sources that are trying to figure out the college aspect. As for high school, Randy was dead on. Want to make a difference....REPORT SCORES.

I'll post anything I get on my web site Sweaz, they just won't let me get out and go to any meets for a couple weeks yet. Until then, anyone is welcome to submit articles and I'll post em.

Didn't mean to forget about you Bob. By the way were you at Butler when Dodge beat the Grizzlies this year? Glad I wasn't.

No, that was the week I went to the hospital. I have not been to a sporting event since and from the looks of it, have a couple more weeks until I can get back in the saddle. Gus Garcia will get any photos I need until then. He should be able to get to Douglass if I can't on Sat. That was a bad loss for the Grizzlies, but so was today's. I got the box online, but it got ugly and someone should have lost team points.

The Kansas City Star has pretty good mini publications every Wednesday and Saturday that come out in each little area of the city such as Overland Park, Leawood, etc...... The converage isnt amazing buts its not bad either.