Dave Black, Wisconsin Wrestling Federation Chairman
The State Chairman’s Newsletter is a monthly publication written by the current Wisconsin Wrestling Federation (WWF) State Chairperson. Each newsletter will keep members up-to-date on the business and events of the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation.
January 21, 2012
The wrestling season is well underway and the holiday tournaments were awesome as usual. The Wisconsin Wrestling Federation looks forward to a full calendar of events this year with two new additional tournaments hosted by the WWF. This year, we are starting a new event called the March Matness. This tournament, which was referred to as a handful of tentative names, will be held in Wisconsin Dells at the Wisconsin Sport Center at Chula Vista Resort. March Matness is for competitors who did not qualify for state in Madison and will be held on Sunday, March 18th. Registration must be postmarked by Monday, March 12th and the deadline for online registration will be Tuesday, March 13th. There will be more details forthcoming at wiwrestlingfederation.com and at the WWF Folkstyle Regionals. If you are called as an alternate to the state tournament and accept, you will no longer be able to compete in both tournaments. This tournament follows the Dominate in the Dells, a national-level folkstyle tournament that is open to all ages. Due to the high level of competitors expected, the WWF strongly recommends that those that are competing in the March Matness do not enter this tournament.
On April 14th and 15th, the WWF is hosting the FILA Junior National Championships at the Convention Center in Madison. This tournament is open to competitors 17-20 years of age. Freestyle will be wrestled on Saturday and Greco-Roman on Sunday. For more information, please go to themat.com/events.
This year at the Kids Folkstyle State and Freestyle & Greco-Roman State, coach membership with USA Wrestling is now required to be coaching mat side. If you are in need of coach’s membership, please go to usawmembership.com to begin the process. Membership requires a mandatory background check that is typically processed within 5 days. Many times the screenings come back in less time than that, but please begin the check in advance of the regionals to ensure the ability to purchase coach membership. The WWF has discussed this for the past three years and it has been discussed with members at district meetings, and was put into place at the WWF Annual Meeting in October. For those parents that choose not to become a member, there will be coaches available at the Alliant who will be willing and qualified to coach your son or daughter.
WWF State Coach Coordinator Scott Kluever is working with college students statewide to be clinicians at our eight training sites. Many of those student-athletes will be at the State Folkstyle Tournament to offer coaching assistance. We are aware that this is a change, but we are also convinced that this is the next step to making this a higher quality tournament and provides a professional standard of coaching. Also, USA Wrestling coach membership will allow you to enter the tournament at no charge through a pass gate prior to weigh-ins.
Since 2002, the WWF has enhanced and added many changes and opportunities at the State Folkstyle Tournament. The first and biggest change was moving the event to the facility as we recognized that the high school facilities were limited in space. This has also allowed for the creation of a separate girls-only division at this great tournament. As we moved forward, we have purchased mats that fit the building and provide the same wrestling areas for everyone. The WWF has purchased pedestal clocks and recently replaced those with clocks that have larger numbers and have bout numbers that can be read from the seats. In the past three years, we have gone to mat side scoring and have updated all of our equipment as we recognize the need for that. It has been our enforced policy to only hire certified WIAA officials that have been ranked and classified through the Ref Ranking System. We’ve offered Copper Clinics on-site as a way to further the education of the coaches in the state.
This year, you will notice that we will be using the Visatron suspended from the middle of the arena to project the mat assignments. This will allow athletes ample time to get to their wrestling area. This information will also be broadcasted in the lower halls to increase convenience for coaches, parents, and wrestlers. I identify these improvements and changes to highlight the fact that we have anticipated and recognized needs that have enhanced the experience for everyone in attendance of the State Folkstyle Tournament. We have made these decisions as an organization knowing that the benefits of these improvements have far outweighed the cost. The WWF has fielded many requests to require coaching membership by many of our current coaching parents and the board of directors has had many conversations about the cost and value to our members. We strongly believe that this change will be equally as important as the other changes that we have added over the past ten years.
Dave Black, Wisconsin Wrestling Federation Chairman
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