First Impressions of HUSKERLAND XVI by Fred Hall

     The very first thing I wish to say is that many of you assumed that as
tournament director, I also was "head" of HUSKERLAND. That is not the case as
it is a group effort involving many fine people without a "head" as such. I
accepted your many compliments on behalf of the entire BOC and passed them on
to everyone.
     Secondly let me make clear that as I do this on Easter Sunday the day
after the tournament, these words are my personal opinions and thoughts, very
unofficial and not necessarily reflective of how things will be next year.
     That said, I want to thank every club and wrestler that came. We had
about 1250 wrestlers, and while smaller than in the past, the competition was
every bit as good if not better. Two wrestlers, Craig Brester of Fremont and
Josh Nelson of KWAA became the very first 6-time Guy Mytty medallists. They
deserve recognition.
     I spoke with several of you, particularly from western and central
clubs to let you know we understood the problems of the drive east. I
mentioned my "perfect world" where the tournament would alternate from North
Platte to Lincoln/Omaha in alternate years. That would be great, but we all
know we don’t live in a perfect world. We received many compliments on the
site and Doug Denson was the one most responsible for that. At this time the
board has certainly not yet looked at depth into our options so we are far
from making the site decision.
     I asked a great many of you about club classification methods hoping
that I’d hear overwhelming support for one method. Your responses were split
almost exactly 50-50 so you weren’t much help. What discouraged me was the
great number of clubs who chose not to classify at all this year . Most of
you have competitive wrestlers and while you may not be in contention for the
plaques given the top 3 in any class, your wrestlers may like to hear the
club announced  and listed as Top 10.
    I heard some good ideas about providing a  scale for unofficial weight
checks on your own and that may be worked into next years system.  The random
weigh-ins seemed to go well with few complaints. Indications are it is the
best method we’ve used to date. Unfortunately a small number of wrestlers
were disqualified for being overweight. Our entry forms and mailing all
stated to send a "safe" weight as being found in excess of 3 lbs over DQ’d
the entrant. The actual method was to allow 3.1 lbs over bracket              
 weight , to allow you to remove shoes and socks and step on the scale a 2nd
time, and give you every opportunity to make it.  I explained to one coach in
a civil debate that there has to be a line somewhere, if 3.3 is OK, then why
isn’t 3.5 lbs and so on ?  To disqualify any wrestler is not our goal here
folks. We want them all to compete.
     I also passed on to many referees your thoughts that this was the best
officiated HUSKERLAND ever. That was great for them to hear and for us too.
    We want to continue to make this a fun event for you and hope we did so
this year. I can’t stress enough your thoughts are important to us. Let us
know what you like or dislike throughout the year via the webpage, or
personal contact.  Each of you as club directors, coaches, parents, and
competitors has an investment in the larger HUSKERLAND association and the
right to express your opinions.  Just remember no decision we ever make will
be universally accepted.  Even a much smaller BOC has varied views on any
subject and few decisions are unanimous. However once made we all buy into
and accept the majority opinion as our own.
     As a final word I’d encourage as many as possible to come to Waverly NE
on the 28th of April for our first stand-alone Huskerland Freestyle Classic.
See you there.