HorseShoe289
USMCdevil2005: How do you host? Have your team's wrestlers travel and show up to Competition Nights in droves! Then, when we choose new host sites for the summer, your school, because of its attendance from your guys, will be in the conversation.
The thing that is making these work is the emphasis coaches are putting on them and the willingness to travel a bit from the wrestlers attending them. (THANKS COACHES AND WRESTLERS!) While hosting is a luxury, it is not nearly as important as GOING. Competition Nights will surely fail if they become more frequent. Competition nights will surely fail if guys wait around for the location to be right in their back yard to go. There is the temptation to make many competition nights at multiple locations. If that happens, it won't promote attendance like it may seem. (This has killed this idea in the past.) It will become a diluted event; numbers will surely drop. Competition nights are not meant to take the place of the other stuff teams do--individual open mat nights or club practices. They are meant to be a feasible addition to the training guys are already doing...and something less-frequent enough that all coaches can commit to getting guys to them (as that a coach's time is precious, especially if he is also running open mats, lifting, and club practices...ask his wife and kids). Two nights a month is something the coaches who are frequenting these things have decided is doable while maintaining balance with the other training teams are doing and their personal lives.
That said, (1.) we will surely add more Competition Nights that run through the summer, (2.) we will keep it going at the rate of about two a month, and (3.) we will consider different, and more centrally located host sites, while being fair to those teams who are doing the traveling in big packs...it's only fair that the teams with great attendance get some priority.
What can involved parents and coaches (like the ones on these forums) do to help it grow? Spread the word and organize carpools for your guys. Get them there.
The next Competition Night is at Hilliard Darby on Thursday, May 7th at 6pm!