December 21, 2009

Holiday Schedules and Upcoming Tournament

Holiday Schedules

I hope everybody is adusting into the tournament portion of our season.  For those of you who are new to wrestling, did I mention that it can be chaotic at times?  The Hononegah Kids Classic last Sunday started on time and ran very smoothly.  Most people were able to make it home and see the second half of the early football games, which is very unusual for a tournament Sunday.

Even though your kids are getting ready for a nice break from school, the kids wrestling season just keeps picking up speed.  We will be sending wrestlers to 8 different tournaments over the next 3 weekends.  This weekend (12/19 - 12/20), we will have a dual meet team competing at the Wolves Varsity Duals at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake on Saturday.  There will be another large group of wrestlers competing in the Genoa-Kingston tournament on Saturday.  On Sunday, there will be a small group of elite wrestlers competing in the Little Celtics Elite tournament and a much larger group of wrestlers competing at the Stillman Valley Holiday tournament.  Next weekend, we will have wrestlers competing in the Bandits Holiday Brawl at Belvidere High School on Saturday, 12/26, and the Rockford Bad Boys Invitational at Rockford East High School on Sunday, 12/27.  The following weekend, wrestlers will be competing in the Sycamore Good Guy Tournament at Sycamore High School on Saturday, 1/2, and the Wolves Interstate Battery Classic at Prairie Ridge High School on Sunday, 1/3.  Good luck to all the wrestlers in their upcoming tournaments.  In addition to individual honors, we will also have the opportunity to compete for team awards in many of the upcoming tournaments.  We will be sure to display any team awards we win in the wrestling room, so be on the lookout. 

We will also continue to practice over the holidays.  We certainly understand if people are going to be out of town for the holidays or involved in other family activities that might prevent them from attending every practice.  However, I encourage all parents to try to get their young wrestler(s) to practice if you are going to be around.  They can learn a lot over the next couple weeks by attending, but they can also forget a lot by not attending.

The practice schedules are as follows:

  • 9 and under wrestlers will practice Monday, December 21st and Monday, December 28th at 6pm
  • 10 and over wrestlers will practice Tuesday, December 22nd and Tuesday, December 29th at 6pm
  • We will also have practice on Wednesday, December 23rd and Wednesday, December 30th at 6 pm for wrestlers of all ages who can attend

Volunteers Needed

As you are all aware, we will be hosting a second tournament on January 23rd in the main gym.  This tournament is for first and second year wrestlers only.  Within the next couple of weeks we will be requesting volunteers to help in any of a number of different capacities at the tournament.  We will be needing help setting up, tearing down, running the actual tournament and running the concession stand.  Your help is greatly needed and greatly appreciated.  Sign up sheets will be available outside of the wrestling room after the first of the year.  Please see Coach Zalapi for more details.

Upcoming Tournaments

First of all, I would like to point out an error on the tournament schedules that were handed out to parents at the beginning of the year.  The schedules you received states that Bantam State will be held on March 20th - March 21st.  This is incorrect.  The event held on these dates is Midget (Intermediate) State.  This is an open tournament for any 8, 9 or 10 year old wrestlers.  There will be more information provided on this event in late January or early Februaruy.  Banatam State will be held on Sunday, February 14th at Bloom Trail High School.  Bantam State is for 6, 7 and 8 year old wrestlers; it is also an open tournament, meaning you do not need to qualify to wrestle.  However, it is recommended for wrestlers who are experiencing a reasonable level of success or would like the opportunity to test themselves against other serious to elite wrestlers in their age group.  We will provide information on how to sign up for this event in the month of January.  You can also go to http://www.crosstownwrestling.com/bantam_state.htm and click on "Bantam Info Letter" for more information.

In addition, to the tournaments listed below, information is forthcoming on the IKWF Kids Open, which will be held in Peoria at the Civic Center on Sunday, January 17th with weigh-ins taking place on Saturday January 16th.  The Kids Open is the only IKWF tournament in the entire state on this weekend and is one of the largest kids' wrestling tournaments in the country.  It is open to wrestlers ages 7 and up.  This is a unique tournament in that there is no coaching allowed.  Parents and coaches are restricted to the stands and only wrestlers, tournament workers and officials are allowed on the main floor.  Wrestlers in the 7 and 8 age group wrestle in 4-man straight brackets (maximum of 2 matches), while other divisions, with the exception of Elite, wrestle in 8-man straight brackets, double elimination (maximum of 3 matches).  Wrestlers competing in the Elite division could wrestle many more matches througout the course of the day.  The tournament is a great experience for both kids and their parents.  Sign up information for the Kids Open should be available within the next couple of weeks.  All signups take place online.  The club will secure a block of rooms at a Peoria area hotel that you will be able to reserve to encourage all families to stay in the same location.  Information on hotel arrangements will also be provided as it becomes available.  Please contact me with any questions regarding the Kids Open.

One other event I would like to make everyone aware of is a dual meet tournament for Intermediate wrestlers (ages 8 - 10).  On Saturday, January 30th, we will be taking a dual meet team to the Broncos Intermediate Duals at Barrington High School in Barrington, IL.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the dual meet format, a dual meet team is comprised of a lineup of wrestlers at pre-determined weight classes, one wrestler per weight class.  Dual meet competitions feature two teams battling head-to-head, where each team will earn points based on the individual wins their wrestlers earn.  Wrestlers can earn 3, 4 or 5 points based on margin of victory or 6 points for a fall (pin).  Team points are tallied throughout the dual to determine a team score and, ultimately, the winner of the meet.  Due to the fact that only one wrestler at any given weight class can compete in a dual meet, we will be having wrestle-offs to determine who will go to this event.  In most cases, we will bring only one wrestler per weight class.  However, we will likely bring some alternates to provide us some flexibility in determining the best lineup to field in any given dual.  Wrestle-offs will be held in early January during practice.  This will provide any wrestler who does not earn a spot on the team the opportunity to sign up to wrestle at another tournament that weekend.  The weight classes this tournament are as follows: 49, 52, 55, 58, 62, 66, 70, 74, 79, 84, 89, 95, 101, 101, 122 and 138.

Here is some information on some upcoming deadlines for tournament signups:

Once again, thank you for the support you provide the program.

-Coach Vince (vmzalapi@yahoo.com)

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