Hey, everyone-

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday. If you haven't seen them yet, there are some new pictures posted on the Meetup site from the tourney. Peter, if you have any additional ones, I hope you'll share them with us as well.

In no particular order, here are some rambling thoughts about how the tourney went:

1. Next time, we will definitely pick a weekend other than Thanksgiving to schedule this. I know that there were at least a half a dozen other guys that would've joined us if things were a little different.

2. We would be better off with a real ref next time, and volunteers to run the scoring table. It was harder to get ready for your own matches when everyone was sharing the responsibilities for running the tourney rather than warming up.

3. I loved how hard everyone wrestled. Joe, David, and Peter all fought off of their backs and got right back into their matches. That is rare to see.

4. Thanks to Dan Willis from the Chicago Wrestling Coaches Association, the group of public school coaches that want to see wrestling regain its success within the city of Chicago. CWCA member David Gallegos wrestled, and was rooted on by Dan and his little boy, Oliver. Nice to see.

5. Next time, we really need someone to step up and take responsibility for taping all of the matches. It is a great way to see where your own weaknesses are.

6. Some silly awards, just for fun...

Best takedown-David's low singles were tough all day.
Best throw-Has to be Peter's headlock on Josh.
Cleanest technique against a much heavier opponent-Carl against David, hands down.
Most impressive pushout-Josh picking up Joe's leg in a single and basically carrying him off of the mat.
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly award-In 5 plus periods, Peter and I made each other stumble around the mat several times, trying to make use of the pushout. Not exactly ballet.
Most welcomed return-Chicago Matt, jumping right back into the fray after being gone for weeks, faced three tough opponents in Peter, Josh, and David.
Tough guy award-I have to acknowledge how Joe fought off of his back in his match with David, was TOTALLY gassed between periods, and still hung on to pick up a very close win.

7. The USA Wrestling membership thing worked out better than I expected (assuming, of course, Josh is able to get USAW to send us our cards). I encourage EVERYONE to get theirs!

8. Financially speaking, this event didn't kill us. I will get Howell all of the receipts, including those for the first aid kit, and encourage Josh to do the same with his recent purchases of a scoreboard and ref's equipment. I didn't ask for money from any of the competitors, but if you had a good time, please consider making a donation. I also hope that the other members will consider making a modest donation ($10 is fine) for these purchases that are for the good of everyone. Thank you for considering to help defray these costs.

What's next? I'd say two things: T Shirts, and a second tournament. I'd like to have another tournament sometime in early March. If no one has any major problems with that, I'll generate a poll in the near future and we can vote on which date works best. Josh has already done some work on the T Shirts thing. Who will step up to help us with these tasks? I'll wait for a bit to see who volunteers, but I may have to reach out and ask for help. It isn't healthy for the club to have too few guys running things...

See you at the next practice on Thursday!

Jim