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DEWrestling » Wrestling Talk » Youth Wrestling » Re: Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament

Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament

Last post 02-21-2008, 7:41 AM by Anonymous. 5 replies.

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• 02-10-2008, 6:29 PM		892
  Anonymous	Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament Reply Quote
  	The Ravens 2nd Annual tournament should be named "The Ravens Last Annual Tournament". This tournament was the worst tournament I have experienced in nearly 30 years of wrestling. If their goal was to raise money then sell pizza or cookies. DON'T subject wrestlers and their families to the worst run tournament this side of the Mississippi River. In short here is what was wrong with the tournament: It started late: 10:20 instead of the scheduled 9 am start They were accepting walk-ins until 10 (resulting in the late start and adding money to their bank) The brackets were never updated after the original posting leaving families in the dark Matches were not numbered Many wrestlers did not wrestle their first match until after 3 pm the brackets were posted wrong in many cases: one wrestler was listed as 3rd place when in fact he was 4-0 One tournament official got frustrated and walked away from the scoring table half-way through a match requiring a parent to fill in A tournament official who was upset about the above yelled at the parents that if they didn't sit down he was going to have all parents in the gym removed, he was the rudest, most un-professional and totally ignorant official I have seen in 30 years. Need some advice? Ravens need to hire a professional tournament director or get out of the business. If I were involved in this cluster#%$* I would be embarrased. If you want to see how a tournament should be run go to New Jersey!An I urge anyone who reads this NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS TOURNAMENT NEST YEAR; IT WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
  	Filed under: Anonymous

• 02-10-2008, 7:04 PM		894 in reply to 892
  Anonymous	Re: Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament Reply Quote
  	Absolutely! These people are moron's. It was obvious that no one was trained prior to the tournament. It's not easy keeping score of a match especially if you have never done it before and with kids the scores can be very high. The referee's were great. They kept the scorers in check which added to their burden. Whatever the ref's got paid, it wasn't enough. STOP doing tournaments. You brought discredit to your organization. As for the tournament official that yelled at the parents, he needs to grow up. I was there, he was acting worse than the 8 year olds. He brought discredit to what I believe is a fine organization (minus the tournament).

• 02-13-2008, 8:10 PM		900 in reply to 894
  Anonymous	Re: Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament Reply Quote
  	All aboard the Band Wagon!!! If we stop and look at the active messages on this board you will find that most have one thing in common – Bash the tournaments.. From the Sussex Central tournament to the Ravens, someone has found some negativity and thrown it on this site. I was at the Ravens tournament and experienced some turmoil also; however, it was not by far the worst I have seen.   How many tournaments have you been at this year that actually started on time? Not many, including 2 in New Jersey; One was the Contender at The Cross that actually was over 2 hours behind schedule and they never called any competitors names for on deck or in the hole – really in the dark there.    I did speak with the Raves tournament director and he politely explained a couple of the problems: 1-       Satellite weigh ins were called in under incorrect weight/age 2-       Some wrestlers who did show left due to being ill with the virus going around (my son was one) 3-       Trying to accommodate a team outside of Delaware who paid in advance and got lost on the way.   I agree that they need better organization to be prepared for future tournaments, but to say I’ll never be back is spiteful. If we had that attitude with each bad encounter then you will never have a tournament to go to. I heard a person recently bragging about how good Dover tournaments were ran only to later hear the most recent started late with no brackets up at all. Another said Smyrna is the only team that can run a tournament but the last Smyrna tournament couldn’t even come close to filling the brackets (Kent championships).   If you take a step back and ask the boys who were on the mat what they remember about the Ravens tournament most would recall a match they had or a move they used. Most complaints come from us-the parents.   I think we need to rethink our attitudes and try to help our “Brother Clubs” in running these tournaments; not drool at the mouth with excitement to post some negativity. I could care less if you are a Tyrant, Mat Rat, or Raven, they are our children who learn from our example. Maybe if we help each other out our kids will follow our lead.   Remember this: If you are a Delawarean who bashes our local tournaments then be prepared to pay $3 per gallon and drive to Jersey only to find some similar disappointments.

• 02-15-2008, 9:49 AM		901 in reply to 900
  Anonymous	Re: Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament Reply Quote
  	I complained about the Sussex tournament and agree with the complaints about the Ravens. There is no hiding that both tournaments went south in a hurry. That said, I have always given local tournaments more then one chance and hope that others will too. I hope that the teams will see the criticisms as ways to improve. Good tournaments make every effort to begin on time. This may mean eliminating walk-ins. Parents and coaches should be given all possible information. Good brackets are not a luxury, they are a must. They are self correcting in that each wrestler has an advocate (parent, coach) who will bring problems to the officials. The earlier those brackets go up the earlier the corrections are made. Don't rely only on printers. Two seperate tournaments had their printers malfunction this year. No wrestler should ever be sent to the mat without the opportunity to warm up. That requires at least an in the hole and on deck announcement. Bout numbers are even better. Pat Gullicci and Mr Sargent did a great job running the young riders tournament this year. It was the best it has been in the 7 yrs I've gone. Many local teams have already begun to ignore the local tournaments seeking what they believe is better competition out of state. If tournaments self destruct we could lose our good youth programs.

• 02-20-2008, 1:21 PM		902 in reply to 901
  Anonymous	Re: Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament Reply Quote
  	Where was the tournament director Johnnie Dove? I never heard an announcement from him throughout the tournament on what was going on. It seemed as if he let his staff take the brunt of the complaints. If you proclaim yourself as the “Tournament Director” you should make yourself available, not run and hide. It looked as if some monkey was running this operation. No announcement was made during the delay to keep anyone abreast on the situation. I say if you cant handle the responsibilities of running the tournament then find someone who can. And where were the Ravens coaches? I seen some working the tables instead of coaching the Raven wrestlers. How embarrassing…Couldn’t the tournament director even assign his staff to work in specific positions so his coaches could actually coach??

• 02-21-2008, 7:41 AM		903 in reply to 902
  Anonymous	Re: Ravens 2nd Annual Tournament Reply Quote
  	Well, it must be very easy for you to be a critic.  My son wrestled in the tournamnet last year and I have to say it was a very well run tournamnet.  Yes, I think they grew to big too fast, but I also must say that this year was far from the worst tournament I've ever been to.  My son had a great time and wrestled some tough matches.  It's sure easy for you to criticize Mr. Dove for his tournament but have you ever met him?  Have you ever been to any of his Practices?  When my club has gone to thier's for a scrimage he has been a very gracious host and I can tell he has the kids interests first before his.  Most of us have our public schools backing our clubs, but where were the Ravens 6 or 7 years ago?  There's no public school there, only what they recruit by word of mouth and through the catholic school.  Not to mention that Thomas More now has a program too, which he also coaches I might add.  They are sending 3 or 4 kids to states this weekend in their second year as a program.  I wonder how he finds the time to coach both teams and did you see his 1 week old daughter at the tournament?  So he ran a tournament that was less then perfect, far from it actually, but don't start throwing stones.  I can pick apart a past tournament from every club who has ran one over the years so lets keep this place positive and not start attacking anyone who has given so much of his time for wrestling.