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I say Wheeling Civic Center

I would agree... wheeling is nice! I enjoyed Beckley armory also

1. The armory in Fairmont
2. Wheeling
3. Parkersburg

My favorite venue is wherever South is wrestling!

Seriously, Huntington and Wheeling are both great venues. One main reason for us older fans is that they both have seats with backs on them.

I have also witnessed great atmospheres in many gymnasiums where some great duals have taken place. Parkersburg High, the ROAC, Indy, Oak Glen, Brooke, Wheeling Park, John Marshall, Fairmont, just to name a few.

The Nathan Goff Armory in Clarksburg is a solid venue! More events should be held here...North Central WV is the best for all high schools in the State. Yes/No?

1:Parkersburg Fieldhouse. Unobstructed views. Only downside is no backs on seats. Cozy atmosphere, lots of history.

2: Wheeling Civic Center, great view and chairback seating.

3:...

4:....

........

32: Big Sandy Arena is the worst .. at least for the big tournies as obstructed view is a pain.

Big Sandy is indeed the worst. The location is terrible for anybody coming from the eastern panhandle, Hampshire,Grant, HArdy and preston counties. I would agree that somewhere in Clarksburg would be a great fit for everyone.

I like the Big Sandy arena.

I did have a miserable experience a few years ago where the tournament was ran in a manner where certain mats were dedicated to certain weight classes. This put 195 through 285 over in a separate gym. Horrible idea, horrible tournament.

Parkersburg's fieldhouse is always a fun place to go because of the hundreds of pictures on the walls.

My most memorable experience was approximately three seasons ago when the snow storm hit during regional weekend. I was at Woodrow Wilson watching AAA region 3. AA/A region 3 was going on nearby at Independence High school. The power went out and stopped action at AA/A R3.

The decision was made to ship all of the AA/A wrestlers over to Woodrow Wilson and finish up there.

I sat in the same seat and watched the AAA region 3 finals and then the AA/A region 3 finals.

Qualityshots wrote:Big Sandy is indeed the worst. The location is terrible for anybody coming from the eastern panhandle, Hampshire,Grant, HArdy and preston counties. I would agree that somewhere in Clarksburg would be a great fit for everyone.

Clarksburg might be more geographically desirable but can that area assemble a team to run the tournament? The area is struggling to assemble a team of wrestlers. Few wrestlers on the teams could be an indicator that the parents, schools and community are not supporting wrestling enough.

WIfan wrote:The Nathan Goff Armory in Clarksburg is a solid venue! More events should be held here...North Central WV is the best for all high schools in the State. Yes/No?

It’s been many years since I’ve been in the Nathan Goff Armory. What is the seating capacity of the Armory?

Seating Capacity at Armory is 4000

Seating Capacity at Big Sandy 9000

But do we ever fill the stands at Big Sandy?????????????

How many tickets on average are purchased every year??

Have they ever wrestled at the civic center?

Best venue- WesBanco Arena Wheeling
Worst venue- Big Sandy Arena Huntington

aacoach61 wrote:Best venue- WesBanco Arena Wheeling
Worst venue- Big Sandy Arena Huntington

I don’t hate Big Sandy but I love Wes Banco besides the concession prices and buying your ticket to get it. At least you don’t have to stand outside like before.

The Charleston Civic Center would be the best place for the state tourney. It's centrally located with more hotels than any where in the state and chair backs. Now that Saint Albans, George Washington and Riverside have pretty good programs down there they need to try to get the State Tourney down there'

Mywvu wrote:Have they ever wrestled at the civic center?

Charleston Civic Center??? Again, can Kanawha County assemble a team to run the tournament?

Bearhugger wrote:

Mywvu wrote:Have they ever wrestled at the civic center?

Charleston Civic Center??? Again, can Kanawha County assemble a team to run the tournament?

.

I think this is the key to choosing a location. Who is the organizer and how many workers do they have in place to run the state tournament.

For years the state tournament rotated between Huntington and Wheeling. It has been my experience that both did an excellent job at putting on the event. Bad seats, obstructed views aside, it’s more about running the event. By comparison, IMO, Huntington does a good job keeping the state tournament running and Wheeling does a good job keeping the OVAC tournament running. Either could host the state tournament and do well.

It’s probably more about who can run the event successfully than it is about location.

I know Bill Archer, Diane Archer and many others work hard to make the state tournament go and I’ve witnessed my ole friends Soupbone, Smitty and others run a tight ship at the OVACS and Wheeling Duals.

I’m certain it is a lot stress to do this. I’m thankful for those who do.

Personally, my favorite venue was the old Huntington field house. I also like the old WSAZ format better than the new. They would turn all the lights off and spotlight the finals matches. You had 2 mats, one for high school and one for middle/junior high. I can still remember the smell of the place. Wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

Honestly, I would like to have states at the WVU Coliseum....but that is outside the wishes of the flagship University. Would be centralized locale, could show of WVU's wrestling facilities too.

Bucktail wrote:Honestly, I would like to have states at the WVU Coliseum....but that is outside the wishes of the flagship University. Would be centralized locale, could show of WVU's wrestling facilities too.

I’ve always thought that WVU would be a great location. Not sure if Morgantown has ever submitted a bid to host the state tournament. Again, it comes down to who’s running the tournament and do they have the resources(people) to make it go?

Wesbanco is hard to beat in my opinion.
South needs to expand the ROAC, terrible HVAC system and tight aisles, poor restroom facilities, great spirit atmosphere though.
Parkersburg needs better audio (terrible PA system) and replace those old wooden bleachers (maybe use the aluminum bkeachers of the condemned side of football stadium)
Big Sandy TERRIBLE view for large tournaments! (Do away with the first two rows of seating and something about the rails. They do a great effort but need to resolve those issues.
Charleston Civic Center could be a great venue if someone will take on the administrative of tourneys.
Beckley armory is nice facility.
WVU COLISEUM maybe a place to look at doing the states too!

vortexfan wrote:Wesbanco is hard to beat in my opinion.
South needs to expand the ROAC, terrible HVAC system and tight aisles, poor restroom facilities, great spirit atmosphere though.
Parkersburg needs better audio (terrible PA system) and replace those old wooden bleachers (maybe use the aluminum bkeachers of the condemned side of football stadium)
Big Sandy TERRIBLE view for large tournaments! (Do away with the first two rows of seating and something about the rails. They do a great effort but need to resolve those issues.
Charleston Civic Center could be a great venue if someone will take on the administrative of tourneys.
Beckley armory is nice facility.
WVU COLISEUM maybe a place to look at doing the states too!

Good insight here, but I am not sure if you are allowed to talk about the condemned bleachers at phs. Too many people get upset over it.

shemailman wrote:

vortexfan wrote:Wesbanco is hard to beat in my opinion.
South needs to expand the ROAC, terrible HVAC system and tight aisles, poor restroom facilities, great spirit atmosphere though.
Parkersburg needs better audio (terrible PA system) and replace those old wooden bleachers (maybe use the aluminum bkeachers of the condemned side of football stadium)
Big Sandy TERRIBLE view for large tournaments! (Do away with the first two rows of seating and something about the rails. They do a great effort but need to resolve those issues.
Charleston Civic Center could be a great venue if someone will take on the administrative of tourneys.
Beckley armory is nice facility.
WVU COLISEUM maybe a place to look at doing the states too!

Good insight here, but I am not sure if you are allowed to talk about the condemned bleachers at phs. Too many people get upset over it.

I’d prefer PHS put back rests with new seating in Fieldhouse and they really need to get that stadium issue resolved.

BRING IT TO WHEELING! At least for a change. There are already several large wrestling events held there yearly with experienced persons in place to make it happen. Plus, Im sure that many or all of the teams in that region, and possibly others would be happy to contribute to make it a success, current staff included. I know, I know it is not a centralized location. Neither is Huntington. Give Huntington a break, give everyone else a much needed change. Viewing is much better than Huntington, just remodeled with all new seats (comfortable with backs), plenty of lodging and restaurants, # of mats not an issue, etc.

I wouldn’t mind Wheeling if football wasn’t already a mainstay there. To have another state tournament that far away from southern West Virginia would be tough on us.

lets get something going for a sports complex in flatwoods. get this thing right for everyone

mscoach64 wrote:lets get something going for a sports complex in flatwoods. get this thing right for everyone

Calling out Coach Williams. Flatwoods is your hood. Suggestions?

Football? Sorry, I was talking about a state WRESTLING tournament.

Flatwoods, yes centralized. How long until this sports complex is complete?? Who do you think is going to fund this project? Even if there are LEGITIMATE answers to these two questions, let's try something different for until then.

Scar73 wrote:Football? Sorry, I was talking about a state WRESTLING tournament.

Flatwoods, yes centralized. How long until this sports complex is complete?? Who do you think is going to fund this project? Even if there are LEGITIMATE answers to these two questions, let's try something different for until then.

Yes I know what you were talking about. I was just giving my opinion. I thought that’s what a forum was for. The attitude that I see on this site has really hurt in the last couple of years. This used to be a very enjoyable site.

aacoach124-you sir are correct about forum/opinion...this is simply my opinion on this forum about wrestling. My opinion was not meant to be "attitude" as you call it. If I have offended you...well, sorry. Not my intention.