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Pacific SportsBlogOkinawa-based sports reporter Dave Ornauer on military-related sports in the Far East. |
Giving wrestling double elimination peace a chance
Posted February 12th, 2008 by Dave OrnauerTurns out there was little debate during Tuesday's pre-tournament coaches' meeting after all in the Lanai Room at the Awase Meadows Golf Course restaurant.
After all the disagreement over the new double-elimination format in the run-up to the Far East High School Wrestling Tournament, coaches decided to give it a chance, if not fully embrace it.
"We've heard some good things about it and some complaints about it," Nile C. Kinnick coach Nico Hindie said. "We'll give it a year and see if it works. Change is not always a bad thing."
"Maybe this will be the best thing since sliced bread," said Yokota coach Brian Kitts, one of the format's most vocal opponents until this point. "We'll see."
Either way, the Foster Field House should be rocking the next four days.
Individual round-robin bouts begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The two-day individual freestyle tournament begins Thursday and ends Friday, with the one-day dual-meet tournament on Saturday.
Given a chance
Well, the format was given a chance and didn't prove very useful. No finals needed a second match so what was the point? All it did was take away second place from a few kids who worked hard for the upset. 9 of 11 coaches were still unhappy and did not like the format. On the last day the big joke was why the dual tournament wasn't being done in the same format if it was such a great idea? Kubasaki ran a first class tournament in all aspects, and I applaud them for trying something new. However I hope a format can be set and agreed upon for all future tournaments.
Thanks for a great week Coach Bales et al. The ref's busted their butt and did a great job, the facility was awesome, the parents and those helping to run everything were very kind and supportive, and no request or question was ever turned away. I don't know how you will top this next year but I can't wait to be a part of it.
Food for thought
This format cost Steven Wood of Zama, Kenneth Radford of Edgren, Darrell Morris of Edgren, Keith Delaine of Edgren, and Ray Tenorio of Guam thier second place finishes. Had that format not been used, the team points would have been:
Kadena 62
Misawa 59
Kubasaki 48
Yokota 46
Zama 37
Seoul 29
Guam 28
Taegu 19
Sasebo 17
Kinnick 16
Osan 13
Maybe not a big deal, but tell that to Misawa! Kubasaki and Yokota should be grateful for the format they used!