Winter Folkstyle Tournament Guidelines

2002 - 2003

Summary of document items-

• Middle school division made-up of 7^th & 8^th graders born in years 1988-1990.
• Coaches certification with a current USA Membership is required of all coaches at the Kids state championship.
• Wrestlers may enter only one (1) bracket per tournament.
• Tournament sanction forms must be submitted at least 6-weeks prior to event.
• All tournaments are pre-registration only. Absolutely no walk-ins.
• Only sanctioned USA clubs may pre-register wrestlers. Out-of-state wrestlers / clubs should contact the tournament director directly.
• Wrestlers must check in and get weighed at least 15 minutes their age groups start time prior to every tournament else get scratched from the tournament.
• Tournament registration fees are $12/individual with a $25 family cap. Only the state tournament will have a registration fee of $15 per every individual.
• Madison weights will be used for all tournaments with the following exception-
• Novice and Middle School division state qualifier and state championship will follow the USA Wrestling weight classes for their age group.
• Tournament starting times will be staggered according to age groups. See table.
• 4-man round-robin bracketing will be implemented in order to improve tournament efficiency and allow every wrestler to get three (3) matches which should also be more competitive.
• Only Novice and Middle School wrestlers will need to 'qualify' for the state championship the weekend of March 1-2. The state will be sectioned-off into two (2) areas where each wrestler must wrestle in 'their' section. A state map will be provided later identifying how the state will be separated.

New items:

USAWCT is combining the Schoolboys and Cadets into a single category labeled 'Middle School' division. This will reduce the confusion about the two age groups competing together or separately. This is applicable to only those wrestlers who are both born in 1988 and are in the eighth (8^th) grade. The Middle School division will therefore include only those wrestlers who are presently in the 7^th and 8^th grade and have a birth year in 1988, 1989 or 1990.

All coaches will be required to have both a current USA Wrestling coaches card and be at least Copper certified to be able to participate in this years State Championship Tournament. There will be several coaches' certification classes available throughout the year. To get more information about these clinics you may visit the website (www.usawct.org) or by calling Steve Makein at (860) 225-1807. Coaches certification is not mandatory during the regular season tournaments however, a current USA Wrestling coaches card is.

Wrestlers are permitted to only register and wrestle in one (1) bracket regardless of staying within their own age group or not.

Tournament Sanction forms should be submitted at least six (6) weeks prior to the tournament date. Forms may be obtained from Mike Quibble (860) 464-9128. Tournament sanction fees are $100 for normal tournaments and $25 for small invitational tournaments.

The winter folkstyle season is broken-up into three (3) distinct sections. The regular season will operate from December 14, 2002 through February 23, 2003. The state championship qualifiers will operate only on the weekend of March 1 and 2, 2003. The state championship will be on March 9, 2003.

Regular Season-

Registrations:

• All tournaments require pre-registration. Absolutely NO Walk-ins will be permitted.
  • Only Directors, or their appointee, of sanctioned clubs will be allowed to pre-register wrestlers. Wrestlers who are not club affiliated or are from out-of-state are requested to contact the Tournament Director directly by the Thursday immediately before the event.
  • Only approved tournament registration forms (excel document) will be used. Anyone who chooses not to use this file and faxes, emails or phones their registration in runs the risk of not having their registration(s) accepted.
    • The approved registration form (excel file) will have the following information-
      • Wrestlers name
      • Date of birth (month & year)
      • Club
      • Weight
      • USA card number
    • Each wrestlers weight must adequately represent the weight that they will be come tournament morning. Every wrestler will be required to check-in the morning of the tournament to officially weigh-in and get a skin check. Anyone who does not check in at least 15 minutes prior to the listed start time for his or her age-group will be scratched from the tournament.
  • Tournament registration fees are $12 for each individual with a family-cap of $25. All club directors are to collect their wrestlers registration fees and pay the tournament director the morning of the tournament. Payment should not be made with more than one (1) check.
  • There are NO refunds for no-shows.
  • All wrestlers are required to have a current USA Wrestling membership.
    • Wrestlers in need of a card should contact their club director or Mike Quibble at (860) 464-9128.

Weight Classes:

• A Madison weight class system will be followed. All wrestlers will be grouped relative to both their age and weight. There are no published and strict weight classes to follow during the regular season. The maximum weight distribution will be no more than 5 lbs for weight classes up to 120 lbs and no more than 10 lbs for weight classes over 120 lbs.
• The results of every tournaments weigh-in will be published and distributed to all club directors each week. A single file will collect the weigh-ins from each and every tournament and be used to evaluate each wrestlers registered weight versus their actual weight each week.

Age Categories, Start Times & Period Length:

Category	Year of Birth	Check-in Time	Start Time	Period Length	Paperwork Color
Mighty Mites	1997-1998	11:30-12:15	12:30 PM	1-1-1	Pink
Bantam	1995-1996	11:30 – 12:15	12:30 PM	1-1-1	Yellow
Midgets	1993-1994	11:30 – 12:15	12:30 PM	1-1.5-1.5	Blue
Novice	1991-1992	8:00 – 8:45	9 AM	1-1.5-1.5	Green
Middle School	1988-1990 & in the 7^th or 8^th grade	8:00 - 8:45	9 AM	1.5-1.5-1.5	White

Tournament Results:

• It is the responsibility of each tournament director to forward the results to Mike Quibble by Tuesday morning immediately following the tournament. The top three (3) wrestlers in each bracket must be identified with the following information-
  • Wrestlers name by placement with-
    • Age category
    • Weight class
    • Club or town

Officials:

• Only certified officials may be used. Tournament directors are required to contact Brian Reardon (Officials Director) at least 4 weeks prior to your tournament. Brian's phone number is 203-696-1348. You'll need at least one (1) more official than the number of wrestling surfaces that you will be using.

Site:

• Mats- no less than one-half mats are to be used at any time for any age category. The minimum mat size is recommended to be the equivalent of two (2) full-mats broken-up into three (3) mat surfaces. Where time permits every opportunity should be taken to wrestle both the Novices and Middle School wrestlers on full mats.
• Sound system- adequate sound systems must be available in each area where wrestling matches are present.
• Emergency personnel- it is the responsibility of each tournament director to have on hand one of the following type of personnel (certified trainer, nurse, doctor, paramedic, EMT, fireman with medical training)

Bracketing:

• All wrestlers will be grouped by both age category and weight into 4-man brackets. Each wrestler will wrestle one-another giving each wrestler a total of 3 matches (round-robin format). There are many advantages to doing this.
  • Everyone gets 3 matches. When using 8-man brackets with only 7 listed wrestlers the #1 seeded wrestler will only get two (2) matches. Wrestlers with lesser experience tend to only get two (2) matches too. The round-robin format automatically gives these wrestlers a 50% increase in the number of matches.
  • There are no byes. Many a wrestler has waited a couple of hours for their first match when there are byes.
  • Wrestlers of equal caliber can be grouped together providing for more competitive matches. This should give everyone 3 competitive matches versus a #1 seed in an 8-man bracket who usually gets only one (1) competitive match.
  • It is a very easy format to operate. This will allow the tournaments to be operated more smoothly and in a timely fashion.
  • This is also a very easy format to understand. Everyone, coaches, wrestlers and parents alike should quickly understand the progression through the tournament of each and every wrestler. With only three (3) rounds the match-ups will be identical week in and week out.
    • Round 1- #1 vs #2 and #3 vs #4
    • Round 2- #1 vs #3 and #2 vs #4
    • Round 3- #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3
  • Parents will quickly understand the format and know when their child is finished wrestling for the day.
  • Where we have an odd number of wrestlers we will modify the bracket to be a 3-man round robin.
  • This format also allows each tournament director to pre-bracket their tournament. In the event of a no-show the bracket then becomes a 3-man. If there are two no-shows from the same bracket an adjacent 4-man bracket will be modified and combined with the 2-man bracket to now become 2, 3-man brackets.
  • Criteria are being developed to identify place winners in the event of some wrestlers having the same win-loss record.
    • When only two (2) wrestlers have the identical win-loss record the tiebreaker will be the one who won their match.
    • When three (3) wrestlers have identical win-loss records the following criteria, in order, will apply-
    • Match points- 3 points for regular decision (minor), less than 8 pt delta in the final match score; 4 points for a major decision where the match score delta is between 8 and 14 points; 5 points for a technical fall where the match score delta was more than 14 points; or 6 points for a fall, forfeit or injury default.
    • Scoring total- the wrestler who had scored more points in their 3 matches regardless of the type of decision, fall, forfeit or injury default.
• The tournament registration form will be modified to allow each coach to identify those wrestlers who would typically place in the top three (3) of an 8-man bracket. Wrestlers will then be grouped by not only age and weight but their skill level as well.
• A minimum of 20 minutes must be allowed between wrestlers matches.

Qualifiers- week of March. 1-2, 2003

Only wrestlers from the Novice and Middle School age categories will need to Qualify for the State Championship on March 9, 2003. There will be no exceptions to this.

• There will be two (2) qualifying sites. South Windsor will host one qualifier where the 2^nd location will be determined.
• Wrestlers will be eligible to only participate in one (1) qualifier, not both.
• Wrestlers do not get to choose the qualifier site to wrestle at. Their town of residence will determine this, not the town their club belongs to.
• A state map will be created breaking the state up into two (2) sections.
• Weight classes will be adhered to. See the weight classes found in the very top of the Schedule area.
• Weigh-ins will be conducted for the qualifiers. Check-in times and start times may be modified for these two (2) tournaments only.
• Only the top four (4) wrestlers in each weight class in each qualifier will proceed on to the State Championship.
• The top four (4) wrestlers of each weight class will be required to register and pay the State Championship registration fee before they leave the qualifying tournament. Anyone who does not pre-register at this time runs the risk of his or her spot be given to the next wrestler in order of placement.
• Seeding of each State Championship bracket will be based on the following pre-determined chart.
  • #1 East vs #4 West
  • #3 East vs #2 West
  • #2 East vs #3 West
  • #4 East vs #1 West
• The South Windsor site will be for all Mighty Mites through Midgets and one-half of the Novice and Middle School divisions. The second qualifying site will be solely for the other half of Novice and Middle school wrestlers.

State Championship- March 9, 2003 @ Milford

• Open to Connecticut wrestlers (residents) only who have wrestled in a minimum of one (1) tournament.
• All registrations will be $15. No family discount.
• 8-man brackets will be used for all age-groups. Novice and M.S. category weight classes are set and bracketed based on the previous week's results. Mighty Mites thru Midgets will be bracketed using Madison weights.
• Pre-registration only. NO walk-ins.
• All Novice and Middle School wrestlers are required to have wrestled in one (1) of the two (2) qualifiers and have been the top four (4) in their bracket.
• All Mighty Mites, Bantams and Midgets will be allowed to participate. There is no qualification requirement for these age groups only.
• Weight classes for the Mighty Mites, Bantams and Midgets will be the average weight of each wrestler based on the regular season weigh-in results. Anyone who has not previously wrestled in a CT tournament will have no such weight and will not be able to participate.
• Everyone's weight will be checked during the check-in period. Anyone more than +2 lbs from their averaged weight will be re-bracketed. This does not apply to Novice and Middle School division wrestlers. They must make the weight class that they qualified for in order to wrestle.
• Pre-registration for the state championships is required similar to all previous tournaments. Exception to his will be for the Novice and Middle School categories that are required to register and pay their fees at the end of their qualifying tournament the week before.

Category	Check-in Time	Start Time	Qualification Required
Novice	By 8 AM	8:30 AM	YES
Middle School	By 8 AM	8:30 AM	YES
Mighty Mites	10 AM	11 AM	NO
Bantam	10 AM	11 AM	NO
Midget	10 AM	11 AM	NO

Tournament directors who choose not to follow the adopted guidelines will not be permitted to operate a sanctioned tournament the following year.

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