America's Cup/Western States Championships

[tirapell]

Spectators, coaches and participants:

I hope you all enjoyed the Wrestling this past weekend. Our coaches, parents and wrestlers do our best to make the event spectator friendly and enjoyable for wrestling fans, coaches and participants. Thanks to all the wrestling people who made this a great event and special competition. The participants, coaches and families throughout California were ALL GREAT. Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Clovis, Poway, Bakersfield, Vacaville, El Dorado (SS), Gilroy and many other programs represented well. The three days were fabulous for those who participated and spectated. It was truly a great off-season competition. The Michigan California Dream team finals match treated wrestling fans to some of the best wrestling in the country. California wrestlers, coaches and wrestling fans benefited by this 3-day event. I would to thank Central wrestling program for their table workers and Rick McKinney for having top officials for the event.

Sincerely,

Stephen Tirapelle
Clovis High Wrestling
www.cloviswrestling.com

[occoach]

Thanks to the Tirapelle Family....Bernie, Halsey and everyone else it was a great event, our kids benefitted greatly, you guys were all very courteous and hospitable..had a great time and we will definately be back....Its so nice to go to an area that values ourpassion for the sport of wrestling and the field of education like the Clovis area does...Thanks again

[Coach Lawson]

Fun was had by all with great wrestling and now I 500 club---wow!


In no particular order here are a few changes that would make the event better for "ME", I don't know what others think.


1. I would prefer the tournament (or the long day of wrestling) to be on Saturday--I think more kids would wrestle and not go home early. It would also allow the wrestling to be over by 3pm on Sunday after the 3 duals allowing people to get home---the midnight or 2am for San Diego guys was a little brutal I'm sure. Always nice to save a night on hotel rooms and also try being safe on the drive home.

2. There is no excuse for a computer program to get screwed up and have 12 or 13 guys in one bracket and 7 in the other. My son had a bye to the quarters while some kids had two matches prior to the quarters---it simply should not happen.

3. For me personally, I don't know how many Memorial Day weekends I am willing to commit to the sport of wrestling. I loved the competition and I loved the tourney but I love my family more! I work pretty hard all year as a teach and enjoy a nice refreshing 4 day weekend the last week in May---I'm not so sure I am feeling refreshed today---quite frankly---it sucks traveling through LA on both ends of a Holiday weekend.

4. It is really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the Michigan team did not stick around to wrestle in the tournament? They are a huge reason why many of us traveled to the event and there can always be good or even great kids on some of the worst teams there that had no opportunity to wrestle some of the best kids in the country---I just don't know that I would ever take 14 kids to Michigan for duals then say hey, I gotta go check out Windsor for a little sight seeing---I really enjoyed watching those guys wrestle and it was a bummer they were not there Sunday.

5. Bernie---I thought you advertised a coaches social on Saturday? I must not have got the invited and I'm glad I didn't!

6. Medals need to be a lot bigger if you want people to come back! lol j/k

7. We must have female coaches refrain from yelling during the match, "squeeze your balls together" at the top of her voice---sounds bad for the sport and we all have teaching credentials----I didn't know who to report her to.


Best part of the event beside competition?

1.Rick McKinney put or someone put together a very good group of officials from all over the state. I have never seen so many good/great officials in one place for an out of season wrestling tournament. They had some good young guys to that I recognized as former wrestlers---well done

2. Have you ever been to a tournament that puts out 9 40X40 one piece wrestling mats of their own? $100,000 plus in mats and about $35,000 in score clocks---simply unbelievable. I don't think my team could roll a 40X40 mat and I'm sure we could not lift it and put it away.


Later,

Lawson

[tirapell]

Lawson, thanks for the feedback and not only making the trip, but saving our butts with two teams. Anyone who says Steve won't step up in a pinch to help friends doesn't know him very well. He talks a big game on the forum, but there's a lot of heart behind that keyboard...

1. I would prefer the tournament (or the long day of wrestling) to be on Saturday--I think more kids would wrestle and not go home early. It would also allow the wrestling to be over by 3pm on Sunday after the 3 duals allowing people to get home---the midnight or 2am for San Diego guys was a little brutal I'm sure. Always nice to save a night on hotel rooms and also try being safe on the drive home.
I'm not sure how we could work this, but already thinking about how to make it better for next year. Would people really want to wrestle duals on Fri, tournament on Sat, and then final duals on Sunday? If so, it would be sweet to send people home early on Sun! It would be a true survival of the fittest on Sunday, that's for sure!

2. There is no excuse for a computer program to get screwed up and have 12 or 13 guys in one bracket and 7 in the other. My son had a bye to the quarters while some kids had two matches prior to the quarters---it simply should not happen.
That was an error by our computer operator that he said won't happen in the future. He tried something with all the scratches on Sunday and it did not work. My apologies to Gress and the others. At the point he tried it and it did not work, the other option was to wait around another hour or more to fix it, or just start the tournament to get people home. We chose the latter, maybe in error, but we thought getting home after a long 3 days would outweigh the benefits of proper brackets. Next year, it won't be an issue.

3. For me personally, I don't know how many Memorial Day weekends I am willing to commit to the sport of wrestling. I loved the competition and I loved the tourney but I love my family more! I work pretty hard all year as a teach and enjoy a nice refreshing 4 day weekend the last week in May---I'm not so sure I am feeling refreshed today---quite frankly---it sucks traveling through LA on both ends of a Holiday weekend.
It's only for the hard core wrestling people, that's for sure. But you do have summer's off which happen to be in about 2-3 weeks, so as a non-teacher, I'm not feeling for you too much.

4. It is really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the Michigan team did not stick around to wrestle in the tournament? They are a huge reason why many of us traveled to the event and there can always be good or even great kids on some of the worst teams there that had no opportunity to wrestle some of the best kids in the country---I just don't know that I would ever take 14 kids to Michigan for duals then say hey, I gotta go check out Windsor for a little sight seeing---I really enjoyed watching those guys wrestle and it was a bummer they were not there Sunday.
I agree. I did not see that one coming as I thought for sure they would wrestle Sunday. Maybe your Day 1 - Duals, Day 2 - Individual, Day 3 - Duals is the answer?

5. Bernie---I thought you advertised a coaches social on Saturday? I must not have got the invited and I'm glad I didn't!
Can't comment here.

6. Medals need to be a lot bigger if you want people to come back! lol j/k
Right.

7. We must have female coaches refrain from yelling during the match, "squeeze your balls together" at the top of her voice---sounds bad for the sport and we all have teaching credentials----I didn't know who to report her to.
Can you visit the Central Valley just once without causing problems?

Best part of the event beside competition?

1.Rick McKinney put or someone put together a very good group of officials from all over the state. I have never seen so many good/great officials in one place for an out of season wrestling tournament. They had some good young guys to that I recognized as former wrestlers---well done
Agree. Incredible crew. If you complained about the officiating, I would like to see what you are used to because I need it too.

2. Have you ever been to a tournament that puts out 9 40X40 one piece wrestling mats of their own? $100,000 plus in mats and about $35,000 in score clocks---simply unbelievable. I don't think my team could roll a 40X40 mat and I'm sure we could not lift it and put it away.
Thanks. We do our best to make it as friendly as possible to fans, coaches, and wrestlers. It doesn't ever go perfect, but we'll make some adjustments for next time.


Not mentioned, there was at least one complaint of costly admission/coach's bands. Listen, I have no problem saying we charge money. Unlike some others that think the world should be FREE, this is a fundraiser for the SCWAY organization and our program, and Madera South's program as well. Our kids and parents not only worked their butts off for 3 straight days, they wrestled all 3 days as well, including our state champion giving a visitor an exhibition match after the day was over on Sunday. Our entire team looked like they had been in a street fight at 7pm on Sunday and guess what, we still had to clean it all up!

If you don't feel like you should kick in to a tournament providing top competition, outstanding facilities, and a great atmosphere for high school wrestling, then there are plenty of local yokel tournaments that would suit you much better. We strongly advise you to choose according to your budget. However, I don't believe you'll have 17 state champions wrestling and God knows how many state placers/qualifiers, but I'm sure it'll be CHEAP and like I tell my clients, sometimes, you get what you pay for.

As good as this year was with 20 teams including Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, and Florida, next year promises to be MUCH better. All the out-of-state teams are committed to returning and promised to represent well after seeing the level of competition in our state (kudos to all the California boys for showcasing their talent). Going to make some changes to make it all better and try to keep building a premier event for the off-season!

[tirapell]

Thanks to the Tirapelle Family....Bernie, Halsey and everyone else it was a great event, our kids benefitted greatly, you guys were all very courteous and hospitable..had a great time and we will definately be back....Its so nice to go to an area that values ourpassion for the sport of wrestling and the field of education like the Clovis area does...Thanks again

Stewart, thanks man. Glad you guys liked it. We try to provide something for everyone -- from the elite to the kids looking to test themselves in the off-season and prepare for next year. I know there were lots of "non-elite" kids that gained some valuable confidence competing against some of the state's best. Everyone I heard from enjoyed the event. Hopefully things that were problems can be shared and we can correct them for next year. It's always a work in progress.

[Achilles]

I want to thank the Clovis coaches and parents for putting the matches on the internet live. I have 3 kids, all under 6, so driving up to watch my one of my wrestlers compete on the CA Dream Team and see some great wrestling on Memorial Day weekend and still being married wasn't going to happen. It was great to be able to see my wrestler compete against some of the best kids in the state and nation on my smartphone while my kids played in a jumper. Thanks for making a great tournament accessible for those of us that couldn't make it.

[Brian Skellenger]

Nice job, a little boy who loves wrestling as much as Gable himself woke up and said with the largest most satisfied eyes I have ever seen, " I got a Cougar ". The Cougar has not left his side since. Thank you, it is difficult to train year round in any sport let alone wrestling but every once in awhile you get to wrestle in an environment that is how you envision wrestling to be.

Thank you to everyone involved again, the tables were great, the Refs were outstanding & the head table as always pulled off a great day of wrestling, Clovis continues to be the heart and lead the future of California wrestling,
-The Skellenger Family

[UniHighCoach]

I have no doubt we will see a better AZ team, and at the very least OR and ID next year to add to MI, FL, and NV.

Lawson on everything except the social Adam has already set to pen a series of alternatives to make the event format even better. You may actually get credit for some changes.

As for the social after friday night I felt certain boosters might be appreciative of a nights sleep needless to say we all hope that you will provide the ultimate social this summer at your mega event.

The Villa Park crew was great and when you add Coach Ochoa. TJ, Luke and Jlowe the SS brought some of their best coaches. I even saw Bloomington Gabe walking around with some guys that we will likely be talking about next year.

Almost every section was represented (O, SF ??)

My favorite moment outside a brief 20 minute pit stop on the hotel stairway looking at some new art form with Mr. Roman had to be---one of two

Watching coach Tirapelle and Branstetter sitting side by side in a chair matside laughing at god knows what---likely chuckling at why on earth kids would spend their holiday weekend beating each other up for three days.

or

Watching Victor Lopez after wrestling for three days go up to Daniel Gaytan who already had his shoes off and suggest a challange match. I guess they answered Branstetter and Tirapelles question because they duked it out all the way into OT. Not sure what impressed me more Lopez not having had enough or the fact Gaytan said yes and put his shoes on.

anyways will work to improve it..Thanks to Rick, Pearce, and everyone who was involved in one way or another. Special thanks to the athletes, coaches and parents.

Ernie

[Pin4Win]

Nuff said.

[tirapell]

CA Dream Team 31 - Michigan 18
140: Taylor Simaz (M) dec Timmy Box (CA), 3-1OT
145: Isaiah Martinez (CA) pinned Gabe Morse (M)
150: Andrew Morse (M) dec Damien Arredondo (CA), 6-3?
157: Matt Frisch (M) dec Blake Thompson (CA), 7-5OT?
165: Jim Wilson (CA) dec Kevin Beazley (M), 5-3
176: Nikko Reyes (CA) pinned Benjamin Ralston (M)
194: Anthony Abro (M) dec Reuben Franklin (CA), 6-4?
220: Gabe Dean (M) dec Austin Lobsinger (CA), 6-3?
290: Nick Nevills (CA) mdec Lucas Stephens (M), 12-4
108: Johnson Mai (CA) dec Martin Rodriguez (M), 11-4?
117: Freddy Rodriguez (M) dec Jonas Gaytan (CA), 10-6
124: Daniel Gaytan (CA) dec Alex Calandrino (M), 6-3
130: Javier Gasca (CA) dec Nick Leal (M), 6-2?
135: Nik Pena (CA) mdec Nick Trimble (M), 11-2?