Posted by Steve Dean on 2/27/2003, 7:10 am Now I agree with the rules that we have put in place at MYWAY in what constitutes an eligible wrestler for our Regional Finals. However, we never said anything about not allowing a kid from Indiana to wrestle in our organization. Nor do we put restrictions on Club Teams as to where a kid has to reside to belong to a club. Most of the Club Teams have no boundaries to their membership. For example, if the Indiana kid had joined the Bad Boyz would we be that much wiser. Perhaps we need to adopt rules next year about residence and proximity to club location? I'm not sure that is the answer. Many of the people that have such huge concerns over eligibility matters are struggling because now their son has a tougher road to the championship - "My son could be a champion if he could only avoid certain wrestlers." Think about the craziness of that thought for a moment. I have people that come to me and tell me that our league isn't competitive enough. Okay. I also have people that tell me that they predominantly wrestle in other leagues because their son never wins in MYWAY. Okay. Now, I have people telling me that their son could win this tournament if a certain kid wasn't on the chart and to check his eligibility. Okay. Let me ask the general audience this question - Under what condition(s) do we want competition? We have received inquires regarding 7 wrestler's eligibility at MYWAY. 5 passed the test, 1 was dismissed and 1 is still under investigation. These are inquiries that have been directed to a MYWAY board member or myself. We are not monitoring any message boards or chat rooms on the matter. Only those inquiries that come in the form of a phone call or e-mail are investigated. To sit here and debate a wrestler's eligibility on this message board is non-productive. I only felt obligated to jump in once I saw the names of young wrestler's and some of the comments that were made. Maybe we'll staff our board with a compliance officer next year? The impetus really belongs on the shoulders of the parents and the clubs to monitor compliance to the MYWAY eligibility rules. I view this message board as an excellent tool for information sharing in a manner that positively promotes our favorite sport, not tearing apart our life's blood - our young wrestler's who's development rests in our hands. See you Sunday! Steve
205.188.209.37
You know it's really bothersome for me to see all of these posts where we are using kids names in such a negative manner. Do you think that these kids are aware that a bunch of adults are debating their eligibility and integrity? If they are aware, how do you think a 10 or 11 year old boy is reacting to it? Shouldn't we feel just a bit foolish? Picture grown men, sitting in their offices, getting ready for a budget meeting or something of that ilk and they are huffing and puffing about the eligibility of 10-11 year wrestler.
Let's wrestle Sunday, let's display good sportsmanship, let's admire the competition and let's be proud of the fact that in 18 months we've come a long ways in promoting youth, folkstyle wrestling for our children. From now until then let's speak in positive tones and make this an enjoyable part of our lives far away from the grind of daily life.
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