Time to dress up the tournaments
Another reflection by BG Sentinel Tribune sports writer and former Elmwood coach Joe Szymczak. This time it's on making tournament's better...
A long time ago, about 20 years, University of Michigan coach Dale Bahr told me the Ohio High School wrestling tournament was the best in the country and this was before it was at the Schott. The only better one in the U.S was the NCAA nationals. After what I saw last weekend he was right. The NCAAs were very similar to the OHSAA tourney. It was very fan friendly.
Their announcers were the best. They would announce who was on deck.
They would bring attention to and exciting match going on at the time so spectators could refocus on that match, and they would read the results of each weight class after it was completed so you could complete your brackets. These additions would make the Ohio tourney much better.
This brings me to a critique of local high school wrestling. Many of the local tourneys are not fan friendly. I went to the Van Buren tourney this season and I was impressed at how well it was run and Dave Lee’s dual meet tourney is also pretty fan friendly, but for the most part the duals tourneys are run like cock fights. Many have score boards (most of the times not in the line of sight of all spectators) for the individuals matches, but not posting the teams score. They often lack the weight class. As the duals wind down during a round the other wresters use the open mats to warm up. Often this obscures the vision of the spectators. They gather around the one remaining mat to make it look like a cock fight. Better score boards and better security would help spectators in the traditional tourneys also.
Wrestling need to dress-up tourneys and cut down the number of dual meet events, because they are just too long, if they want to attract more spectators. Wresting is a great sport and we as avid supporters need to do things to attract the casual fan not just the zealots.
-- Joe Szymczak
A long time ago, about 20 years, University of Michigan coach Dale Bahr told me the Ohio High School wrestling tournament was the best in the country and this was before it was at the Schott. The only better one in the U.S was the NCAA nationals. After what I saw last weekend he was right. The NCAAs were very similar to the OHSAA tourney. It was very fan friendly.
Their announcers were the best. They would announce who was on deck.
They would bring attention to and exciting match going on at the time so spectators could refocus on that match, and they would read the results of each weight class after it was completed so you could complete your brackets. These additions would make the Ohio tourney much better.
This brings me to a critique of local high school wrestling. Many of the local tourneys are not fan friendly. I went to the Van Buren tourney this season and I was impressed at how well it was run and Dave Lee’s dual meet tourney is also pretty fan friendly, but for the most part the duals tourneys are run like cock fights. Many have score boards (most of the times not in the line of sight of all spectators) for the individuals matches, but not posting the teams score. They often lack the weight class. As the duals wind down during a round the other wresters use the open mats to warm up. Often this obscures the vision of the spectators. They gather around the one remaining mat to make it look like a cock fight. Better score boards and better security would help spectators in the traditional tourneys also.
Wrestling need to dress-up tourneys and cut down the number of dual meet events, because they are just too long, if they want to attract more spectators. Wresting is a great sport and we as avid supporters need to do things to attract the casual fan not just the zealots.
-- Joe Szymczak
posted by --J-- at 8:49 PM
2 Comments:
well said...hopefully someone will take to heart
Coach Szymczak,
I have always had the dream of running a very large and very competitive tournament (similar to Medina, Brecksville, etc.). You better believe that I will be calling on you to help me out. I know you have been to many wrestling tournaments and I respect your opinions. I try real hard to make your tournament at Elmwood a success, and I will continue that until I am no longer around.
Maybe Mr. Baker can get us in at UF and run a large tournament there. I know Ashland does it. It could be a fundraiser of sorts and the UF wrestlers could run the tables. I've e-mailed UF's coach about wrestling a dual meet before one of his meets and he never e-mails me back. I must not have enough clout, lol. I am working on a meet with Heidelberg though.
Robert
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