Issue today at WVYWA Region 1

[Shuffman123]

I post this in hopes that their will be corrective action by the WVYWA such that other children in this organization will not be unfairly treated or affected by regional chairs not following their own rules.

To start, my son is an experienced wrestler who has wrestled for a peewee team for years, but attends school in another County. A few weeks ago, we registered for the Region 6 WVYWA tournament with His peewee team in the approved region for That team ). Last week, we received a phone call (my son and another wrestler on the team) that we were not allowed to wrestle at region 6, but had to wrestle Region 1. I spoke with the president,, explained my case (my son wrestled for the peewee team for 5 years). I requested a petition to allow my son to wrestle in region 6 with his team, his friends, and most importantly his longtime coach. Late last week, I was notified that my petition was denied. Specifically, I was told the region 6 chair and the president were in favor of the petition, but the region 1 chair was adamantly against it. Being a rule follower, we accepted the decision...off to region 1 today, without his team or his coach.

Arriving at the tournament, we looked at his bracket. My son and only 1 other kid in the bracket (X lb class) What caught my eye, the other kid in the bracket was also a very experienced wrestler. However, at the Brooke qualifying tournament the week before, the other boy wrestled X +10 lb base weight. Coincidentally, one of the coaches of this boy was none other than the Region 1 chair. I thought that was very odd and not within the rules. So I looked on Wv mat. This child had wrestled 2 qualifiers for WVYWA, but both at weights higher than X lbs. The rules were also clear...you must attend a qualifying tournament and establish a "base weight". That child can wrestle that weight or 1 weight higher. I confronted the president with the issue. He politely told me that a petition had been made for a "special weigh in" for base weight, and this child along with 2 other were "permitted" a "special" opportunity to make another base weight in the past week. He kindly told me this was allowed by the bylaws, and forwarded them to me....SO I READ THEM.

The bylaws are clear. A wrestler must attend an approved qualifying tournament and establish base weight. And must wrestle that weight or 1 weight class higher, with two exceptions by petition only

a) a wrestler who had been injured and was not able to attend a qualifier and establish a base weight can request a petition for a special weigh in.

b) a wrestler that due to "unforeseen circumstances" could not attend and establish a base weight at a qualifying tournament

So clearly, the child did not meet the intent to be allowed to write a petition, let alone be granted the petition. He was not injured or had unforeseen circumstances. He clearly made base weight at 2 qualifying tournaments, just at weights higher than X lbs....

I want to be clear here. I am not a sore loser. My child wrestled great today and won. I also have no issue with the wrestler. He is a great kid, and an awesome wrestler.

What I do take issue with is a Region 1 chair who refuses to grant a petition clearly allowed by the rules to allow my son to wrestle with his team, his friends, and his coach...and follows that decision by granting a a petition (totally against the bylaws to even make this petition) to allow one of his own wrestlers on his team the "special exception" to make a "special weigh in" and drop weight one week before the regional, and illegally drop weight classes into my son's bracket....Does this seem like a coincidence, or a blatant disregard for rules, and an abuse of power?

I would like to thank the president of WVYWA for hearing my concerns today and making this an agenda item for the next meeting Friday before states. I would hope their is some serious action taken to prevent this type of abuse in Region 1 from this point forward. Rules are made to apply to a organization...the full organization...not just some and then others who the Regional chair deem as exempt for the benefit of his own team!

[RWWS]

Doesn't the by laws state that you must wrestle within the Region in which you reside? Is your address in the Region 6 or Region 1?

[abettnman]

I post this in hopes that their will be corrective action by the WVYWA such that other children in this organization will not be unfairly treated or affected by regional chairs not following their own rules.

To start, my son is an experienced wrestler who has wrestled for a peewee team for years, but attends school in another County. A few weeks ago, we registered for the Region 6 WVYWA tournament with His peewee team in the approved region for That team ). Last week, we received a phone call (my son and another wrestler on the team) that we were not allowed to wrestle at region 6, but had to wrestle Region 1. I spoke with the president,, explained my case (my son wrestled for the peewee team for 5 years). I requested a petition to allow my son to wrestle in region 6 with his team, his friends, and most importantly his longtime coach. Late last week, I was notified that my petition was denied. Specifically, I was told the region 6 chair and the president were in favor of the petition, but the region 1 chair was adamantly against it. Being a rule follower, we accepted the decision...off to region 1 today, without his team or his coach.

Arriving at the tournament, we looked at his bracket. My son and only 1 other kid in the bracket (X lb class) What caught my eye, the other kid in the bracket was also a very experienced wrestler. However, at the Brooke qualifying tournament the week before, the other boy wrestled X +10 lb base weight. Coincidentally, one of the coaches of this boy was none other than the Region 1 chair. I thought that was very odd and not within the rules. So I looked on Wv mat. This child had wrestled 2 qualifiers for WVYWA, but both at weights higher than X lbs. The rules were also clear...you must attend a qualifying tournament and establish a "base weight". That child can wrestle that weight or 1 weight higher. I confronted the president with the issue. He politely told me that a petition had been made for a "special weigh in" for base weight, and this child along with 2 other were "permitted" a "special" opportunity to make another base weight in the past week. He kindly told me this was allowed by the bylaws, and forwarded them to me....SO I READ THEM.

The bylaws are clear. A wrestler must attend an approved qualifying tournament and establish base weight. And must wrestle that weight or 1 weight class higher, with two exceptions by petition only

a) a wrestler who had been injured and was not able to attend a qualifier and establish a base weight can request a petition for a special weigh in.

b) a wrestler that due to "unforeseen circumstances" could not attend and establish a base weight at a qualifying tournament

So clearly, the child did not meet the intent to be allowed to write a petition, let alone be granted the petition. He was not injured or had unforeseen circumstances. He clearly made base weight at 2 qualifying tournaments, just at weights higher than X lbs....

I want to be clear here. I am not a sore loser. My child wrestled great today and won. I also have no issue with the wrestler. He is a great kid, and an awesome wrestler.

What I do take issue with is a Region 1 chair who refuses to grant a petition clearly allowed by the rules to allow my son to wrestle with his team, his friends, and his coach...and follows that decision by granting a a petition (totally against the bylaws to even make this petition) to allow one of his own wrestlers on his team the "special exception" to make a "special weigh in" and drop weight one week before the regional, and illegally drop weight classes into my son's bracket....Does this seem like a coincidence, or a blatant disregard for rules, and an abuse of power?

I would like to thank the president of WVYWA for hearing my concerns today and making this an agenda item for the next meeting Friday before states. I would hope their is some serious action taken to prevent this type of abuse in Region 1 from this point forward. Rules are made to apply to a organization...the full organization...not just some and then others who the Regional chair deem as exempt for the benefit of his own team!

With this special petition also happened last year at the 10U division with the WVYWA.

[Wrestlewv]

I post this in hopes that their will be corrective action by the WVYWA such that other children in this organization will not be unfairly treated or affected by regional chairs not following their own rules.

To start, my son is an experienced wrestler who has wrestled for a peewee team for years, but attends school in another County. A few weeks ago, we registered for the Region 6 WVYWA tournament with His peewee team in the approved region for That team ). Last week, we received a phone call (my son and another wrestler on the team) that we were not allowed to wrestle at region 6, but had to wrestle Region 1. I spoke with the president,, explained my case (my son wrestled for the peewee team for 5 years). I requested a petition to allow my son to wrestle in region 6 with his team, his friends, and most importantly his longtime coach. Late last week, I was notified that my petition was denied. Specifically, I was told the region 6 chair and the president were in favor of the petition, but the region 1 chair was adamantly against it. Being a rule follower, we accepted the decision...off to region 1 today, without his team or his coach.

Arriving at the tournament, we looked at his bracket. My son and only 1 other kid in the bracket (X lb class) What caught my eye, the other kid in the bracket was also a very experienced wrestler. However, at the Brooke qualifying tournament the week before, the other boy wrestled X +10 lb base weight. Coincidentally, one of the coaches of this boy was none other than the Region 1 chair. I thought that was very odd and not within the rules. So I looked on Wv mat. This child had wrestled 2 qualifiers for WVYWA, but both at weights higher than X lbs. The rules were also clear...you must attend a qualifying tournament and establish a "base weight". That child can wrestle that weight or 1 weight higher. I confronted the president with the issue. He politely told me that a petition had been made for a "special weigh in" for base weight, and this child along with 2 other were "permitted" a "special" opportunity to make another base weight in the past week. He kindly told me this was allowed by the bylaws, and forwarded them to me....SO I READ THEM.

The bylaws are clear. A wrestler must attend an approved qualifying tournament and establish base weight. And must wrestle that weight or 1 weight class higher, with two exceptions by petition only

a) a wrestler who had been injured and was not able to attend a qualifier and establish a base weight can request a petition for a special weigh in.

b) a wrestler that due to "unforeseen circumstances" could not attend and establish a base weight at a qualifying tournament

So clearly, the child did not meet the intent to be allowed to write a petition, let alone be granted the petition. He was not injured or had unforeseen circumstances. He clearly made base weight at 2 qualifying tournaments, just at weights higher than X lbs....

I want to be clear here. I am not a sore loser. My child wrestled great today and won. I also have no issue with the wrestler. He is a great kid, and an awesome wrestler.

What I do take issue with is a Region 1 chair who refuses to grant a petition clearly allowed by the rules to allow my son to wrestle with his team, his friends, and his coach...and follows that decision by granting a a petition (totally against the bylaws to even make this petition) to allow one of his own wrestlers on his team the "special exception" to make a "special weigh in" and drop weight one week before the regional, and illegally drop weight classes into my son's bracket....Does this seem like a coincidence, or a blatant disregard for rules, and an abuse of power?

I would like to thank the president of WVYWA for hearing my concerns today and making this an agenda item for the next meeting Friday before states. I would hope their is some serious action taken to prevent this type of abuse in Region 1 from this point forward. Rules are made to apply to a organization...the full organization...not just some and then others who the Regional chair deem as exempt for the benefit of his own team!

Sounds like the rules weren't followed about allowing him to compete with his team. The way I read the rules is you compete where you live and consideration is given to where you attend school. To compete outside your home region both chairs have to agree and if they can't agree then there should have been a vote by the wvywac to resolve it.

[Mwright]

Sounds like a few rules weren't followed

[James]

I only see one rule broke here. If wrestler B made base weight at qualifier then there was no unforseen circumstance that should have allowed a special weigh in from region chair for a lower base weight. I see no rule allowing you to wrestle in another region then your residence because that is were your youth team is. I'm am guessing that wrestler A resides and goes to school in same region, and is part of a team outside of that region.

[Tshelek]

Huffman, you had all day to confront me with your belief that I somehow granted a petition for base weight to benefit my team. Your were told several times by two different people to bring your grievance of this to me in which you chose to remain silent only to wait til you got home to go on rant behind your computer to state your displeasure on WV-Mat forum. If you would have approached me I would have explained my decision to grant said petition. I'm not willing or required to put this child's personal life on a forum or social media site. For you to incite this activity is horrendous only because you believe in a conspiracy to benefit my team and that you were made to wrestle in your region. What makes you think this benefits my team? Because I granted a petition to base weight and followed the rules of our regional aligning you claim I'm abusing my powers? C'mon man!! Powers!! Really? $0 pay mind you and no benefits to this position hardly constitutes you smearing my integrity on a forum page over abuse of power. Wake up. Petitions are done on a case to case basis. In this case, the petition was done properly. I granted his petition as well as another from a different team. Once again I was less than 10 feet from you and you chose to remain silent. Go figure!

If your sour about your child having to wrestle in his region then I suggest you take that up with your "longtime" coach. Your "longtime" coach made a request to the board of directors that Ritchie County be removed from Region 1 and placed in Region 6 at the beginning of the season. If your team remained in the original alignment of regions your entire team would be in region 1. I did not contest this assuming that team would participate after the restructuring of regions. Apparently your "longtime coach" did not feel that Tyler County needed to be included. Therefor your son that goes to school in region 1 is required to wrestle in region 1. That is required in by laws. I will work with what I have and continue to do what the teams in region 1 expect within the guidelines. Letting wrestlers leave the region removes competition and loses money for the host team.

Todd Shelek

[Shuffman123]

1) no kids name is slurred or was ever intended to be slurred or was even implied that the child did anything wrong, period!
2) I didn't know what fully transpired till the end of the day, the last time I spoke with the president. And I have no issue talking with you about this
3). I agree, you can grant petitions on a case by case basis. You just can't make petitions on a case by case basis. The by laws clearly state what petitions can be made for. In one case, a proper petition was made and denied. In another case an improper petition was made, and granted.

[forthekids]

WOW is all I can say, THIS is peewee wrestling nothing more. We should be making it a as much fun for the kids as we can.. You are all acting like this is world championships. This attitude and starting and putting this much pressure on kids is exactly what is killing the sport. Before you start saying no pressure here. STOP read your post and think about how many kids are reading this... I have been around the sport for fifty years and this level just keeps getting worse. LIGHTEN up the sun will come up today and 85% of the kids that wrestled yesterday will not be wrestling in high school. ASKED yourself why?

Chris Diserio
CW 0441

[Crusty1]

Todd,
Can you elaborate more on the base weight petition and explain if this is allowable in the bylaws?

[Tshelek]

This is a petition for a wrestler to compete in a region other than his home region. I did not receive this petition pertaining to any wrestler from Region 1 to compete at a different region. If I would have received this proper petition I would have taken this to asst. chair and then to the member teams of region 1 for their input before making a decision. I did not receive a petition for this even though you are stating you made the proper petition within the bylaws. Who did you give this petition to?

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Crusty, here is a petition to establish base weight. It is allowable under by-laws to petition to establish a base weight. Reasons for this petition is exampled in by-laws but not limited to. Each case is reviewed as it is received. This year I received 3 petitions in region 1 in those cases I granted 2 and denied 1.

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Crusty, I hope that is what your asking for. Future response to your questions will require you to state who you are. I normally do not respond to this forum being that many people on this forum refuse to use their real name and only try to incite argument and name calling along with trash talking. If you wish to speak with me I am very available to contact you by phone. Email me you concern with a call back number and I will promptly make that call.
tshelek@hotmail.com

Mr. Huffman and Mr. Diserio I appreciate your input and the fact that you don't hide your identities! Just sayin'.

Todd Shelek