News October 2003

Huskerland Update October 2003 

      Have got the ball rolling for my 19th Huskerland season.     Many thanks to the other three managers, Fred Hall, Doug Denson, and Darrell Jennings, who have taken firm control as they head into the third year of their duties. Their leadership along with the Huskerland Board efforts have taken Huskerland to a level where we are a major force for youth wrestling in Nebraska.  The board has worked hard this past summer making plans for 2004 season and to build on the success we have enjoyed the past couple of years.

      Huskerland 19 has been set for April 9-10 at UNK’s Sports & Health Center in Kearney.  Last year went over very well and we are very excited about returned to Kearney.  Marc Bauer, Head Coach at UNK, is working very hard to keep the Huskerland State meet at UNK for next year and beyond.    Fred Hall will again serve as the meet manager while Doug Denson still heads up the site arrangements.   We are just going to conduct Grades 7-8 on Friday and run both Grades 3-4 & 5-6 on Saturday.  That will make Saturday a very long day but this schedule will force just one third of the wrestlers to wrestle on Good Friday.  Huskerland 20 will be on April 9-10, 2005 with tentative plans to keep it at UNK.  Note that we will avoid both Good Friday and Palm Sunday for our XX Edition!

      The 2004 Huskerland Young Officials Training Program has been finalized.  The program headed up by Chuck Sherer is aimed to attract high school juniors and seniors into becoming wrestling officials.  Individuals interested in this program will need to get after this ASAP.  This new program is the reason for the annual November Update becoming an October Update.  Young Officials must attend a NSAA Rules Meeting and take NSAA Rules Test.  Rules Meetings start Oct. 22!  There is a $10 fee to obtain rule book and rules teat.  Please read over the attached Young Officials Program and Young Officials Requirements information.   If we can get just one or two wrestlers from even half our clubs into this program we feel it will have a major positive impact.  The board feels it is very important for our sport  to improve the level officiating at club tournaments that are not using NSAA registered officials.  To encourage this we will waive the $25 Tournament Sanction Fee for club meets that will use only NSAA Registered or Huskerland Young Officials to work their tournament.  For this program to work well we need NSAA Registered Officials to mentor these Young Officials next spring.   Please encourage officials in your area to fill out the attached Seeking Registered Officials and send it to Chuck.  I have attached information for a Wrestling Officials Clinic to be held at Clarks on Nov. 1st.  Young Officials will be offered a half price rate of $20.  This clinic is not mandatory but we are going to consider those first who attend the clinic for the 10 Young Officials hired to work the State Meet.

      Huskerland Duals VI has been set for March 6-7 at Lexington High School.  The site worked great for us the last two years and has attracted teams from Omaha to Gering.     We are going to run Grades 3-5 on Saturday starting at 3 pm and Grades 6-8 on Sunday starting at 9 am.  Darrell Jennings will again serve as the meet director with Fred Maloley making the site arrangements.    Note the entry fee for one team this year will be $150 and the entry fee for two teams will be $275.  Note that a Huskerland Duals Application Form is enclosed in this mailing.  The format we use provides all teams that enter with four duals.  We have been very pleased with this event and many of the coaches have said they think the Duals is a better event than our State Meet.   The duals are loud and exciting with coaches, parents, and teammates cheering on the wrestlers.  Note several of the teams are made up from 2 or 3 clubs to form an area all star team of sorts.  This works well for them to fill out all the weights and we hope that we can attract more of these teams next March.  We are looking at having final wrestle-offs for the Huskerland National Team on March 6th at Lexington also.  We are looking at entering teams in both the USA Wrestling and AAU National Middle School Duals this year. Ben Nicola will post information about National Team qualification on our website in December.            

Huskerland Update October 2003      Page 2

      Fees for 2004 will see little change from 2003.  Note that the 2004 Huskerland Wrestling Fees have been enclosed in this mailing.  Entry fees for the Huskerland Duals have been raised $25 but other than that things are basically the same.  Club dues might appear to have been raised but they have been combined with Camp Team dues and have actually went down some.  Note that club dues must be paid before a Club Packet will be mailed to you so we encourage you to pay your dues as soon as possible.   Camp Team officials requested that we create a system that has all their fees be sent to Huskerland rather than them for the 2004 season.  So new for this year “ALL” Camp Team fees will be sent to Linda Hill.  This will be a great responsibility for Linda and for this reason we have created new manager’s position of Office Manager for her.  Please read the attached 2004 Camp Team Insurance Program Adjustments and the 2004 Huskerland/Camp Team Program carefully.  Camp Team coverage starts November 1st for wrestlers and coaches that have already paid the $5 fees.  This year only wrestlers and coaches that belong to a Huskerland/Camp Team club can obtain season coverage.  In the past wrestlers not belonging to a Huskerland club could obtain season coverage.  Camp Team experience a high number of problems and calls from these sales thus we have chosen not to provide them this year.  This year clubs must join both Huskerland and Camp Team.  In the past some clubs have joined Huskerland but not Camp Team, that can’t happen this year.  Note that before our webmaster will post your meet on our website tournament calendar you must join Huskerland/Camp Team plus pay the $25 tournament sanction fee first. Non Huskerland/Camp Team sanctioned events can be posted for a $40 fee.  Forms for non-sanctioned events can be found on our website.

      We are retaining the same 5 Class system based on number of state entries we used the last two years for team scoring.   We are looking at changing the criteria for TTT Plaques.  Instead of awarded to the club that brings the most wrestlers for the high school they feed in each of the four NSAA classes will be based on the number of points those wrestlers score.  The rationale is that this is a better way to determine the top tributary teams.  We were pleased with our vender selections last year and will award contracts again to Kick’s Sportswear, Sunflower Wrestling, PK3 Action Shots, and ABC Trophy.  Note that we are going to put up all the vender areas for bids for the 2005 State Meet.

      Two new board members have been added this past summer.  They are Karen Hunt and Rusty Steiger both of Lincoln.  Karen along with Fred Maloley will be in charge of award presentations.  Rusty will take over the team scoring duties that have been done by Dick Thomas in the past.  Note that Dick has moved to Colorado to take a school administrator position.  I have attached a revised list of phone numbers and address for all our board members.  I am seeking nominations for the Huskerland Hall of Fame for our third class of inductees.  We plan to add 4 more individuals or couples who have provided long service to youth wrestling in the state.  The Huskerland Hall of Fame is designed to honor those who have not been inducted into the NSWCA Hall of Fame.   Seeking nominations by Jan. 1, 2004.  Information on the first 8 members of the Huskerland Hall of Fame can be located on our website.  Doug Denson is heading up a group that has brought the AAU Grand Nationals to Omaha in June of 2006.  Doug is looking for addition committee members to help with this great event, so give him a call if you want to help.

      The Cornhusker State Games went off well and were highlighted by Rulon Gardner doing a clinic at Waverly plus lighting the caldron at the Opening Ceremonies.  Jay Sherer of Columbus who won 5 Gold Medals was named the Outstanding Wrestler.  Jump roping sensations Buddy Lee and Elvis Malcolm put on a show between sessions on Saturday.  Buddy is a past USA Olympic Wrestling Team member.  Note I have attached a list of Iron Man Shirt Winners and a CSG Wrestling Recap. Past 5-Time Huskerland Champion, Brad Vering, brought home a Silver Medal from the Pan-American Games this past August as did past Husker, Rulon Gardner, and current Husker, Justin Ruiz.

Huskerland Update October 2003      Page 3

      My days of being a wrestling dad appear to be over.  Marcus hung up his shoes last November so I won’t  be making any trips to South Dakota this winter.  All he is aiming for now is getting that degree in Landscape Design next May from SDSU.  I’m looking forward to following the East High Spartans this season in their quest to 3-Peat.  Appears the Huskers have nice home slate of duals to watch this season and will follow them to the NCAA Championships next March in St. Louis.  Note Huskers have a pair duals with Portland St. & Oregon St. on Nov. 15th when Kansas St. comes to Lincoln to play the Huskers.   I’m taking the test to become an NSAA registered official again.  Plan to jump back in slowly into the mix to see if my 50 year old body is up for it!  All for now and as always looking forward to seeing everyone again. 

Craig

Returning to Old Score System for Team Points:

4 points for 1st place      3 points for 2nd place       

2 points for 3rd place      1 point for 4th place        

1 bonus point for COC win

Last year wrestlers that were challenged and lost still got 3 points.  This created confusion and was tougher to verify scoring.  All wrestlers that lose challenge for true second will just earn 2 team points.

New Award Picture Format: 

The contracted photographer will take award pictures in the Zikmund Room located in the southwest corner of the UNK Sports Center.  No parents or cameras will be allowed in this room.   After the contracted photographer has taken award photos the medalists will be sent to a second award stand just north of the Zikmund Room where parents can take pictures.  This format will allow contracted photographer to take pictures without any interference but still allows parents to take pictures of the four medalists.

Kearney Area Huskerland Booster Club: 

We will be attempting to organize a group of supporters made up of club directors from the Kearney area wrestling clubs who want to help Coach Bauer with both the Huskerland State Meet and the Midwest Classic.  The goal of this effort is to take some of the load off Coach Bauer yet increase the quality of both of these events.  Clearly having these two events at Kearney is great deal for the clubs in the area and hope they will pitch in.  A letter will be going out later to club directors in the Kearney area who would like to be part of this effort.

We lost two individuals with strong Huskerland ties this summer:

Kyle Sorensen of Weeping Water, 18.  Kyle along with two of  his friends were killed in an auto accident on June 21st.  Kyle was a 5-Time Huskerland Champion for the Lincoln Warriors and a 3-Time State Champion & 4-Time State Finalist  for Weeping Water.  Kyle was named the 2003 NWI Wrestler of the Year and and the 2003 NSWCA Class D Wrestler of the Year.

Bruce Schoepf of Seward, 55.  Bruce passed away on August 12th from complications created by a staph infection.  Bruce and his wife Karel were long time directors for the Seward Mat Club.  Bruce was an avid Nebraska Husker and Seward Bluejay wrestling fan.  Two of Bruce’s sons, Jeff and Jeramie, now work as officials for both the Huskerland State Meet and State Games. 

Camp Team Insurance Program Adjustments

* We have made some changes that we feel will make things easier:

A.    All payments for club dues, tournament sanctions, season coverage, and one day coverage to be mailed to our Office Manager, Linda Hill.  No payment will be made to Camp Team.  All checks will need to be made out to Huskerland Wrestling.

B.    Clubs will pay one fee that covers both Huskerland dues and Camp Team club sanction.  Note the dues have been increase to $60 to include the Camp Team sanction.  Actually clubs will be paying $5 less than last year when you paid $40 to Huskerland and $25 to Camp Team.  Note only the clubs that pay dues will be mailed the state meet entry forms in March that have the $15 entry fee.

C.      Wrestlers not belonging to a Huskerland/Camp Team will not be able to get season coverage.  We get very few wrestlers attending the Huskerland State Meet from Non-Huskerland Clubs anyway but feel those wrestlers caused Camp Team most of their calls.  They can still enter the state meet with the Non-Huskerland entry form and we will just pay the one day coverage fee on them.  Note the Non-Huskerland entry fee will be $25.

D.       Wrestlers and Coaches will not be given Insurance Numbers.  The new system doesn’t have Insurance Numbers but have created a makeshift number by giving each club a “Club Number” and each wrestler a “Roster Number”.  We have also given each coach a “Roster Letter”.  The “Club Number”  and the “Roster Number” we feel will be very helpful for keeping track of everything for Linda, Darrell, Fred, and Camp Team.  Note you will be able to enter only wrestlers from your club that have Roster Numbers.

E.    Club Directors won’t need to call to see if their wrestlers have got coverage.  By just putting completed rosters in the mail with payment they know coverage is in force.  Coverage begins one day after the postmark date.  Linda Hill will record the postmark date on the roster form when she opens the mail.  Clubs will also be given roster update forms for move ins and and wrestlers that come out later.  Season Coverage for wrestlers and coaches will still be $5.  Coverage will end on April 11, 2004.

F. Clubs will be required to send $25 Tournament Sanction Fee before we post their on our website calendar this year.  Shouldn’t have the problems we had with clubs posting their events on our website but not requiring Camp Team coverage for their event.  Also have made it clear that all sanctioned events must require all wrestlers to have or obtain Camp Team coverage to enter their meet.  One Day Coverage for wrestlers and coaches not having season coverage will be $2 each.

G.    Club Directors should carry copy of Roster Form/Roster Update Form as their proof that their club has Camp Team Coverage for all their wrestlers.  Camp Team is not going to post names on their website and we won’t on our website either.  On our website we will have which clubs have paid dues and paid the tournament sanction along with the number of wrestlers with season coverage and the number of coaches with season coverage that they have paid for.  We will also post assigned “Club Numbers” & “Meet Numbers”.

H.  The 2003-04 Camp Team Coverage:

(1) $1,000,000 liability per occurrence, $2,000,000 per aggregate, the liability is primary coverage with zero dollar deductible.  This also includes court cost and attorney fees.

(2)  The medical/dental expense benefit is $25,000 (excess) coverage with a $100 deductible.  If the claimant has no medical or dental insurance, then this coverage becomes primary with a $100 deductible.

(3)  $12,500 accidental death dismemberment. 

Result Adjustment:

The records for the Grades 3-4 Bracket A-54 have been adjusted because Alan Taylor from the Islander Wrestling Club has been disqualified.  It has been determined that Alan was a 5th grader for the 2002-03 school year.

The adjusted results for Bracket A-54:

1.   Brodie Kring - Minden 

2.   Michael Shoff - Cambridge 

3.   Grant Kubik - East Butler 

4.   Colten Fales - Sargent     

*Note both Brodie Kring and Bodie Moeller of Tri-County, Bracket A-53 Champion, will be recognized as Champion of Champions.

* Team scores were not adjusted.

* Alan Taylor will not be allowed to enter the 2004 Huskerland State Meet.

• See the previous newsletter HERE

Craig craigh@huskerland.org

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