Copied with Mr. Spence's permission from another forum.........sounds like a nightmare

Not sure if anyone will be able to help me. David Spence Jr is my son and a senior wrestler at Pickerington Central. He has been ruled ineligible by OHSAA due to an administrative error surrounding the alpha hydration tests wrestlers are required to take at the beginning of the year. David took his test in early December. The school has paperwork as proof the test was taken and has provided this to OHSAA. The PCHS trainer claims she entered the test with OHSAA as required on December 10th, well before the January 24th deadline OHSAA set forth. However OHSAA has no record of his alpha test being entered. The first time his coach attempted to add David to his roster on January 27th for a tournament in Mason that weekend he discovered David wasnt entered in the database. David was academically ineligible for the first half of the season so he didnt get to compete until report cards came out at the end of the first semester. While he wasnt able to compete he did practice and worked hard to make up his schoolwork. Not only did he make it up but he actually even made the honor roll when grades came out. PHSC acknowledges the error is their's and no fault of David's. The AD is looking into filing an appeal with the OHSAA, but has been told it will do no good. The next board of directors meeting where the appeal can be heard is Feb 17th, rosters for sectionals must be submitted by Feb 16th. We are trying to see if there is any way we can get this appeal date moved up. Additionally, we have another obstacle. We have been told that following the January 24th cutoff OHSAA submits the alpha tests to some national agency located in Pennsylvania. Following that, their ability to enter any additional test results is blocked. Does anyone know anything about this?

Does anyone have any suggestions of who could help us? The hydration test was taken on Dec 10th well before OHSAA's Jan 25th deadline. However due to a data entry error on the school's part it is not on file with OHSAA. The school claims they entered it, OHSAA has no record of it. My son has done nothing wrong, to the contrary, he has done everything required to be eligible to wrestle. This is his last chance. Please help if you can my email address is [email protected]

Hope you can get this corrected. Best of Luck!

Man, that stinks

Best of luck, and tell your son great job on getting his grades up while continueing to practice.

The OHSAA could make up for the bad taste left in some people's mouth in the Nelson case by doing what seems to be the clearly right thing here...making him eligible.

The first sign this gets personal or beyond its closed!!

What are these hydration tests? I'm guessing they are relatively new.

justincredible;672745 wrote:What are these hydration tests? I'm guessing they are relatively new.

Each wrestler must be tested for proper hydration and develop a weight loss plan determining the weight classes they are eligible for based on body fat %.

Fab1b;672748 wrote:Each wrestler must be tested for proper hydration and develop a weight loss plan determining the weight classes they are eligible for based on body fat %.

National rule mandated by each state. Oops quoted myself

Collegiatley they have been using a form of this rule for a while now. The intention of following the hydration test process is good but it opens the door for exactly what they want to avoid which is massive short term cuts.

A kids isn't supposed to wrestle below 7% body fat for males and 12% body fat for females. That weight class at or above a kids weight at 7/12% body fat is his/her minimum wrestling weight and he /she may not reach that weight at a pace faster than losing 1 1/2 % per week. Sounds good right??

If you take the hydration test at a weight below what you weigh at 7% body fat that becomes your minimum wrestling weight. Kids now cut as much as they can right before the hydration test to establish their minimum wrestling weight. They make scratch one time and then get their two pounds at Cristmas. At that point they don't have to make weight until Sectionals. They wrestle up all year and then cut sometimes up to two weight classes from their conference tournament to wrestle their minimum at the Sectional Tournament...so much for losing 1 1/2 percent per week.

The intention of the rule is good but it doesn't work. I have seen kids brag about weighing 120 pounds at District in the 103 class because of weighing out the night before. It's not good for the kid and it's not good for the rest of the weight class. The only solution is mat-side weigh-ins which stink in my opinion.

The alpha testing is terrible, i have seen kids wrestle 15lbs heavy in the State Finals. What a mockery.

If the school has the paperwork....get this kid reinstated. THE OHSAA needs to address the Real problems of ALL sports instead of bothering with miniscule issues that impact kids lives. How about dealing with WHOLE teams/Coaches that breaak the rules. Fine the parents...leave the darn kids alone. OHSAA is walking a tight rope in my opinion picking and choosing who they go after. Coincidentally enough, the real problems with repeat offenders are NEVER touched with a ten foot pole.

In all fairness, the scales at the state tournament aren't exactly finely tuned. At least that's what the look of astonishment and unbelief tells me when a kid shows up on day one 3 pounds under, even though he left his high school a half a pound under. But hey, whatever, dude.

1_beast;672776 wrote:The alpha testing is terrible, i have seen kids wrestle 15lbs heavy in the State Finals. What a mockery.

...

Yep. I agree.

Not sure why his coach didnt go over his alpha report at some point to make sure the kid was on it. I look mine overas soon as it comes through to check for any mistakes. This should have been noticed in December, not February.

As for the weight testing...it has MANY holes to it. The 1.5% rule is only in effect when it comes to how early you can make your minimum weight. A coach I know even got clarification from the state that this is the case. The state said if a kid makes his minimum weight, they can wrestle up and drop all the weight back in just one week.

EXAMPLE: kid makes 103 for his minimum weight during week 1, wrestles and weighs in at 112 during week 2, loses 9 pounds in one week to wrestle 103 in week 3. According to the rules, this is perfectly acceptable. Roughly 8% of his body weight in one week but still not in violation of the rule.

Well I applaud ohsaa for at least telling you what the exact issue is for ruling th is. That is the only reason why though. They need the appeal process changed and need to get their heads out of some rears and use common sense... Unless you have some money or some pull I feel that you will not get a favorable result on this. My deepest sympathies...good luck.

ksig489;672881 wrote:...

As for the weight testing...it has MANY holes to it. The 1.5% rule is only in effect when it comes to how early you can make your minimum weight. A coach I know even got clarification from the state that this is the case. The state said if a kid makes his minimum weight, they can wrestle up and drop all the weight back in just one week.

EXAMPLE: kid makes 103 for his minimum weight during week 1, wrestles and weighs in at 112 during week 2, loses 9 pounds in one week to wrestle 103 in week 3. According to the rules, this is perfectly acceptable. Roughly 8% of his body weight in one week but still not in violation of the rule.

Yep. This is why I feel the purpose of the rule is completely negated by affording such activity.

check out nwcaonline.com for alpha info. on individual wrestlers. Very hard site to navigate but good info. once you get the hang of it. I checked Pick Central's team and Spence is not even on the roster, http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwcaonline/results/Scorebook/TeamInfo.aspx?ID=79420&SchoolYear=2011. Too bad

They do what ever they want to do. End of story! They are under no laws! They are a Private club. If you don't have money to get it in a court.....Game over. Admitting mistakes is not in their game. Best of luck its heart breaking he is a senior! There is no King Solomon On this Board to use common sense and Wisdom in something that does not fit into thier fit all do all Box, Unless of course its their mistake and then they make exceptions!! LOL!!!

Its OHSAA hunting season be very very careful your kids are the prey!

I'm pretty sure this is a joke....

Jokes don't end seasons. Jokes don't cost 10's of thousands of dollars and scar kids for life.

Westie101;673170 wrote:I'm pretty sure this is a joke....

I'd be surprised if it was. Dad4Sports is the real deal.

...unless the joke is unknown by him as well.

falcon81;673177 wrote:Jokes don't end seasons. Jokes don't cost 10's of thousands of dollars and scar kids for life.

They can if you plan well and try real hard.

cruiser_96;673178 wrote:I'd be surprised if it was. Dad4Sports is the real deal.

...unless the joke is unknown by him as well.

If it's a joke, I'm in the dark too. It was posted on the Huddle.....I asked the father if he would mind it it was posted elsewhere. I have no personal knowledge of the situation. Could someone from Pick Central confirm they know this wrestler?

EDIT....after a quick Google search, I can confirm there was a junior wrestler last year by the name of David Spence. So he does exist.....can anyone confirm the situation though?

http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/pickerington/stories/2010/03/17/sports/0318pkwrestling_sp.html

falcon81;673177 wrote:Jokes don't end seasons. Jokes don't cost 10's of thousands of dollars and scar kids for life.

If sitting out sports scars a kid for life, said kid has unfit parents.

Where's the lid? WHERE'S THE LID!?!?!?! This can of worms has to be capped off!!!