The Open Mat Forum

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/05/02/positive-athlete-damoreon-travis.cnn/video/playlists/cnn-positive-athlete/

His story made CNN, they filmed some B-Roll with me in the room but for the third time in my life I made the cutting room floor of a national news story. The coach they interviewed, Dean, has been his coach Damoreon's entire career.

He's currently on the verge of signing with Life University but he just started talking to Notre Dame College. John Carroll wanted him bad but I don't think they can offer him the money he needs

125
Nick Piccinicincicnincniiini

133
Scott DelVechio

141
Thommy Torn

149
Steve Bleise

157
Paul Fox

165
Chandler Rogers

174
Jo Bordan

184
Myles Martin

197
Frank Mattiace

285
Mike Hughes

Flex
Max Dean

Thanks everyone, now he's excited about wrestling at Senior Nationals. He currently has some NAIA and D3 offers, I'd imagine we will get some more once we start the national circuit

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/preps/kentucky/2018/02/17/after-recovering-serious-illness-travis-gives-moore-high-first-state-wrestling-champ/333677002/

Here’s the article about him. He dominated the defending state champion in the finals. He gave up only three takedowns all year including one in the quarterfinals that nearly gave me a heart attack.

I was present in the interview but I don’t think the guy realized I was one of the coaches because I wasn’t one of the two in the chair

125- Nick Piccinnini, Ok State
2/3 UNI

133- Scott DelVecchio, Rutgers
2/2 Northwestern
2/4 Illinois

141- Tommy Thorn, Minnesota
2/2 Iowa

149- Steve Bleise, Minnesota
2/2 Iowa

157- Paul Fox, Stanford
2/3 Fresno State

165- Chandler Rogers, Ok State
2/3 UNI

174- Bo Jordan, tOSU
2/3 Penn State

184- Myles Martin, tOSU
2/3 Penn State

197- Frank Mattiace, Penn
2/3 Brown
2/3 Harvard

285- Mike Hughes, Hofstra
2/3 Drexel
2/7 Rider

Flex- Max Dean, 184 Cornell
2/3 Columbia
2/4 Lock Haven

At our City Championships the issue of numbers were brought up by the other coaches. For context most of the powers in the city have declined to the point there are really only two successful programs left ours and one of the major private schools. We also recently two programs this past year, one of which was a long time state powerhouse that fell apart in the past five years after a coaching change.

In the meeting the coaches from all the lesser programs were offering short sighted solutions that didn't actually fix anything such as having joint practices to shore up numbers with the claim that it's the only way to get their program better which is the only thing that will draw in more kids. I issued private commentary to several coaches I know that in my opinion that would frankly do jack s**** in getting their programs better. The bigger issue I have seen are coaches who don't recruit, don't try and bring in assistants, aren't good at developing talent, don't try and set up feeder programs, and then sit and complain when things don't go there way and claim ridiculous things like our school is successful because we "have money" which is so insanely not true that myself and another coach burst out laughing when they told us this.

A lack of competent coaching is what's hurting Kentucky at the very least

125- Nick Piccinnini, Oklahoma State
1/5 NC State

133- Scott DelVechhio, Rutgers
1/7 Ohio State

141- Tommy Thorn, Minnesota
1/7 Michigan State

149- Steve Bleise, Minnesota
1/7 Michigan State

157- Paul Fox, Stanford
1/7 Penn
1/7 Cal Poly

165- CHandler Rogers, OK State
1/5 NC State

174- Bo Jordan, tOSU
12/10 Indiana

184- Myles Martin, tOSU
12/10 Indiana

197- Frank Mattiace, Penn
1/7 Cal Poly
1/7 Stanford

285- Mike Hughes, Hofstra
1/7 LIU Duals

Flex- Max Dean, Cornell, 184

So we’re up at a tournament in Ohio and I’m used to weird calls getting thrown our way because we’re an out of state team that’s pretty solid.

But this is a call I’ve been seen getting thrown on everyone and it’s pissing a lot of coaches off. If you don’t know Blair Academy runs a ride where they take the wrist and trap it against the ribs then they put pressure forward with their hips. Kellen Russell used to hit it a lot but every Blair kid will hit it once in awhile. Anyway refs here keep calling it a technical violation and awarding points.

I’ve heard two separate explanations so far once it was “the exact same thing as taking his arm too high up on his back” and another time it was “they’re bending the wrist in like a key lock” which quite frankly doesn’t  describe any situation involving a Blair Ride especially the latter explanation which is basically physically impossible on a properly executed Blair Ride

I just want someone to justify why this move is suddenly a technical violation with an actual consistent explanation why