I just wanted to put the word out that the folks at OURWAY State Tournament ran the best run tournament that I’ve been to all year. (And that is a lot of tournaments.)
Form the get go, things went smooth. Ourway communicated to its participants when they needed to show up and when they would be wrestling. That saved us a couple of hours of sitting around. Unlike other oraganizations, they did not change anything that they told us when they took our money solely for their convience. In other words they did what they said they would do, and ran the tournament how they said they would. That gets my thanks and my respect.
I parked in the lot right next to the venue for FREE, and got a family of five in for $12 FOR THE WHOLE DAY. Concessions and souvenirs were reasonably price.
The rounds moved along ahead of schedule by about 45 minutes until the parade of placers. (which did take a little longer to set up than necessary and put them a bit behind their published schedule; but was nice for the kids and gave everyone time to get some dinner.) Over head announcements let people know when a group needed to go to staging.
Eight full mats ran all day. Refs were good, and so were the tables. (Especially with some of the parents antics.)
There were some skimpy brackets, especially at the older groups, but the quality of wrestling was good. (Not OAC State level, but certainly better than a few of their district events.) It is a shame more kids don’t participate in this series of tournaments, because they are so well run and really take care of the kids.
The venue was nice, clean, comfortable, big enough – basically everything you’d want in a venue other than a location in the middle of the State. Well worth the drive though. From any seat in the place you could see all the wrestling and the score on every mat. There was also an EMT on site all day, though I only saw it used when some old geezer fell.
The parade was enjoyable for the kids and parents. Fog machine, and announcing each of the wrestlers in the championship match by name under a spot light. (Yeah, it took a while, but I’m sure those kids will never forget it.) The awards were the best anywhere. Simply the best trophies anywhere – and that goes for first place all the way to the eighth place trophy.
The ceremony did take a while, and did cause the tournament that had run about 45 minutes ahead of schedule to fall about an hour behind, but they ran two podiums and their set up was much better than last year. And it is worth the weight for the photo opportunity of your kid.
Oh yeah, and Results are already on their website.
I am not any anyway associated with this tournament other than having a kid who wrestled in it, But I would highly recommend it to anyone with wrestlers 14 or younger. Congrats to all the wrestlers, and my thanks to those that ran this tournament.
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