wvmat.com

Today, January 5th, I was contacted by Assistant Wrestling Coach John Ferens of Fairmont State.

His request was simple. He asked if I could add the wrestlers' grades to the rankings.

Coach Ferens told me that Fairmont State is interested in getting wrestlers on their roster from WV. I was able to quickly note two wrestlers from Parkersburg South that intend on wrestling at Fairmont State. How did I know?? Because Parkersburg South does a great job recognizing their wrestlers.

Whereas I already have the information and it has been provided in the past, I will be adding the grades to the rankings. A few more key strokes for me but one of the "life lessons" wrestling taught me is the more work you put in, the more you get out.

Now here is my point that I hope coaches, parents, fans and wrestlers can consider.

There are people behind the scenes looking at WVMat, looking at the rankings, looking at the scores. I have other stories that I will share later.

These "people's' intentions are geared toward providing opportunities for West Virginia wrestlers.

WV still has too many people that think keeping everything a secret gives them some form of competitive advantage. Think about this. If a score is posted that communicates Hank Gates of Bugtussle High School pinned Slim Amos of Ringo Central at the 220 pound weight class, just what top secret has been exposed? LOL! LMAO!!! Your 220 has to get on the mat and beat Hank and Slim eventually.

Better yet, some coaches think by keeping everything top secret, they are going to be able to pull the wool over the seeding committee's eyes and get their wrestler seeded #2 as opposed to #3.

To clarify, the grade reference pertains to their year in school.

Senior, Junior, etc.

Bearhugger wrote:Today, January 5th, I was contacted by Assistant Wrestling Coach John Ferens of Fairmont State.

His request was simple. He asked if I could add the wrestlers' grades to the rankings.

Coach Ferens told me that Fairmont State is interested in getting wrestlers on their roster from WV. I was able to quickly note two wrestlers from Parkersburg South that intend on wrestling at Fairmont State. How did I know?? Because Parkersburg South does a great job recognizing their wrestlers.

Whereas I already have the information and it has been provided in the past, I will be adding the grades to the rankings. A few more key strokes for me but one of the "life lessons" wrestling taught me is the more work you put in, the more you get out.

Now here is my point that I hope coaches, parents, fans and wrestlers can consider.

There are people behind the scenes looking at WVMat, looking at the rankings, looking at the scores. I have other stories that I will share later.

These "people's' intentions are geared toward providing opportunities for West Virginia wrestlers.

WV still has too many people that think keeping everything a secret gives them some form of competitive advantage. Think about this. If a score is posted that communicates Hank Gates of Bugtussle High School pinned Slim Amos of Ringo Central at the 220 pound weight class, just what top secret has been exposed? LOL! LMAO!!! Your 220 has to get on the mat and beat Hank and Slim eventually.

Better yet, some coaches think by keeping everything top secret, they are going to be able to pull the wool over the seeding committee's eyes and get their wrestler seeded #2 as opposed to #3.

If I had a dollar for every seeding meeting (with 8 seeds or less) that coaches fought over 4 and 5...

Bearhugger wrote:To clarify, the grade reference pertains to their year in school.

Senior, Junior, etc.

Many of them are the same or relatively close age regardless of graduating class…

Campion wrote:

Bearhugger wrote:To clarify, the grade reference pertains to their year in school.

Senior, Junior, etc.

Many of them are the same or relatively close age regardless of graduating class…

Many of them? Probably not. And no one really cares if some are…except perhaps you.

Campion wrote:

Bearhugger wrote:To clarify, the grade reference pertains to their year in school.

Senior, Junior, etc.

Many of them are the same or relatively close age regardless of graduating class…

I believe the clarification was meaning to differentiate between "grade in school", as opposed to "grade in the classroom " and had nothing to do with age.

On another note, to Bearhugger, I had asked a few times to include year in school in the rankings but guess I don't carry the clout of a college coach (for clarification that last statement was said with tongue in cheek). Keep up the good work.

KDunbar wrote:

Campion wrote:

Bearhugger wrote:To clarify, the grade reference pertains to their year in school.

Senior, Junior, etc.

Many of them are the same or relatively close age regardless of graduating class…

I believe the clarification was meaning to differentiate between "grade in school", as opposed to "grade in the classroom " and had nothing to do with age.

On another note, to Bearhugger, I had asked a few times to include year in school in the rankings but guess I don't carry the clout of a college coach (for clarification that last statement was said with tongue in cheek). Keep up the good work.

The year in school was on Bear Tracks during 2019. This can be verified if one chooses to search Bear Tracks 2019.

In 2020, it wasn't included. Bear Tracks almost didn't happen that year. I was dragged down like everybody else because of what Covid did to the season. However, once the season started, I went to work.

In 2021, the plan to add the grades was there. The information is in the database for most wrestlers. However, the new BT format along with all the great feedback, there is more work to do to update.

Now that I have at least one verified occurrence of a college coach looking at the rankings, I will do the extra work.

Now if only all programs can do some work, delegate the entry to a willing parent and get their scores entered.

Bearhugger wrote:To clarify, the grade reference pertains to their year in school.

Senior, Junior, etc.

Oh I agree with this for sure. Would love it to know what grades these guys are in. I hate to admit at first I thought you meant their school grades or GPA lol. I was thinking, dang that probably should be kept private haha.