Indiana tournaments are better than Illinois ???

[white dog]

We have been to a couple Indiana tournaments this off-season and have seen there is a major difference in the way they run their tournaments and how Illinois IKWF tournaments are run.

There have been several threads on how to improve tournaments in the IKWF and we all basically follow the same format every tournament, every week. Some try to make improvements often and some do their tournaments very well.

The Indiana tournaments that we have been to, we have had matches every hour. When you have 4-5 matches and are out by 1-2pm and the tournament starts at 9am on the dot, something is going right. The Illinois freestyle tournaments are also very slow running.

The most important parts seem to be the number of mats (8 full size, divide 6 in half,) and the head table helpers (at least 12, all with designated jobs, older kids/teens do the job well).

To get the event started on time is also a factor. They do not wait untill all brackets are written, once enough are done, then they get started (on time). All brackets are posted on the wall for all to see once completed (and updated throughout the event).
They use a main announcer, who is close to their staging area (for communication). Brackets are called to the staging area, (midget 65lb, novice 85lb, and in no particular order, once the bracket is written, they are ready to wrestle) not entire divisions, which are some times impossible to control. The staging guy calls out names and hands out bout cards, the kids report to their designated mat (there can also be an extra guy matside where kids report to get a mat #). The staging guy tells the announcer when to call out more brackets. This seems VERY effective compared to calling out entire divisions (ALL BANTAMS TO BULLPEN).

Also, the tables were never overloaded with kids, you usually have about 3 matched in front of you before you wrestle.

These are just a few of the observation made, hopefully we can pick up on some ideas on how to run our tournaments better next season.