Did anyone hear if Whitehall moved to Monday for open mats....

Bah! My bad. I meant to ask yesterday...

Stand by...

This just in...

Whitehall Open Mats will be moved from Sunday nights TO MONDAY nights! Start time is still 6pm.

And that is straight from the horses, er, Rams mouth!

Central Ohio: Your line up could be:

Sunday: Bishop Ready
Monday: Whitehall
Tuesday: Central Crossing or Groveport Madison
Wednesday: Central Ohio Open Mats hosted by New Albany (for June)
Thursday: Central Crossing

Even if you only went to two, you could make up a season in a month and a half!

Get out and take advantage of this stuff! Hope to see you soon...

Thats great on the Whitehall news.....we were going back and forth with Ready so now we can do both....We plan on hitting three/four a week......any thoughts of someone taking over in July for Central Mats.....

July = THEE Groveport Madison.

Not sure if we are going to run Tuesday AND Wednesday or just Wednesday for that month. Perhaps we'll try running both for a week and see how it goes. But NOTHING is set in stone either way at this point.

Cool....I actually thought Groveport deserved the mats....you do more work for the wrestling community than most......opens mats in June.....camp in June....now central Ohio mats......looks like Groveport will be the place for the summer....

Just a point of note... Groveport Madison is ALWAYS the place to be. Not just during the summer. But I know what you meant.

This is exactly why Central Ohio cannot compete with the rest of the state. What kid is going to go to 4-5 different open mats in a week? Once everyone learns to work together, the area will benefit greatly. I was hopeing this is what the Central Ohio open mats would do, but it seems to be faltering as we move into month 3.

I can tell you that this week alone i have been to 5 separate open mats. The reason why central Ohio suffers is because some kids do not like to train in the off season. Those who are putting miles on the cars are the ones who will benefit the most and might make an appearance down at the shot next year

upset_125;790226 wrote:I can tell you that this week alone i have been to 5 separate open mats. The reason why central Ohio suffers is because some kids do not like to train in the off season. Those who are putting miles on the cars are the ones who will benefit the most and might make an appearance down at the shot next year

I also usually average at least 4 a week.

I went to 4 sometimes more

although, zero faith in central ohio is usually the downfall of central ohio wrestling. It's the attitude that other areas have, each thinking that they are the best in Ohio. Central Ohio just needs to instill an attitude along with hard work.

There are many reasons why Central Ohio has fallen. Open mats, or too many open mats have little to do with it. These factors influences success more than open mat.
1. The addition of many schools in Central Ohio in the last ten year. This waters down the talent pool in many communities . How many new schools have been built in Cleveland or Akron or Cincy?
2. Tradition. There are few school in Central Ohio that have tradition like the bigger schools around the state. This is influenced by the above.
3. Lack of Private schools that increase the level of competition between other schools. No school in Central Ohio sets the bar and makes the others chase it.
4.Poor coaching. Don't work together
5. Lack of mat skills, this influenced by the way matches are officiated in Central Ohio

huntergreen26;790171 wrote:This is exactly why Central Ohio cannot compete with the rest of the state. What kid is going to go to 4-5 different open mats in a week? Once everyone learns to work together, the area will benefit greatly. I was hopeing this is what the Central Ohio open mats would do, but it seems to be faltering as we move into month 3.

I'm not going to argue with this point too much, but I will say this... Some open mats in our area have been around for 7, 8 and even 9 years. They have established a room that kids from a wide area have come accustomed to.

I'm not tooting our own horn, but I will use us as an example. For two years it was my brother and I. That was it. The third year it was us two and a graduate from Teays Valley. All the while, we kept pumping it on JJ Puddle. Year number 4, we saw one of our kids, the Teays Valley grad with one of his buddies and a small group of Canal Winchester Indians. Year 5 was a little bit more of the same and then6 it seem to really take off.

And this is where my slight bit of contention grows... Central Ohio has HAD established open mats before this year. Just because a number of people didn't take part in them, didn't mean they didn't exist.

On the one hand, one COULD ask, "Why don't we just push THESE (the already established open mats) open mats?"

On the other hand (and this is the hand I've chosen), "Why can't there be options?" It's a big city... Kids from Westfall ain't driving to the Nut. BUT!!! They will drive to Central Crossing. Kids from Teays Valley might not go to Coffman, but The Port and/or Whitehall and/or the Crossing are well within the realm of possibility.

I ain't hatin'...just statin'.

So much has to do with the dedication of the athlete. I have heard many times "hard work will beat talent". We drive from Newark every week. Been to Bradley, Big Walnut, New Albany, Whitehall, Ready and the Port. Even made the trip to Solon. Average trip is over 70 miles at lest three times a week. Is it worth it...sure is. At these mats we find the regulars who show up at each of them. Then we find what you can call the locals at each of these mats. But each mat you find exactly what you are looking for, different strong talented kids to wrestle. Is this a bad thing?

I am not saying that a central mat is a bad idea but you work with what works in your area.

I am not knocking anyone's efforts. I am guilty of the same thing. There are those that do make these commitments and go out and find places to wrestle. However, there is a reason people drive from Columbus to Solon. Because it is an established open mat where EVERYONE goes. I am sure there are many others in northeast Ohio as well. But, once our area starts putting our efforts together on a weekly basis, then we will benefit greatly. How nice it would be to have wrestlers from Hilliard, Olentangy, Groveport, Newark, Teays Valley, Ready, etc. all together every week. That competition would be insane and that could be called the best open mat in the state.

I applaud everyone who works hard to get better and I applaud the coaches that provide these opportunities. I just think that once we get the established room, that all coaches and wrestlers agree on, we will be headed in the right direction. Is it the Central Ohio open mats? Not sure. Maye we all need to agree that the Ready open mats are the best location, or possibly Groveport? However, I think once this happens, the rest of the state will take notice.

Maybe this question would give everyone something to think about.....what made Solon the place to be.....I see that other schools in the Cleveland area have open mats during the week like Central Ohio. But Hunter is correct when he said Solon is the best mats in Ohio. I am sure all are the same page with that. But Solon is what it is for a reason. These kids must be going to other opens mats just like our do but each Weds they go to Solon. Is it location? wrestler? coaches? Something started it and keeps them coming back. Maybe that is the question that needs answered.

At this point it's almost impossible to tell why Solon's open mat is what it is. They've been doing it at such a high level for so long now that it has become a self fulfilling prophecy. They're the best open mats in Ohio because great high school and college wrestlers and coaches go there week-in-and-week-out...And great high school and college wrestlers and coaches go there week-in-and-week-out because they're the best open mat in Ohio.

It may seem like there have been good open mat opportunities in Central Ohio for a while, and there have...but Solon's open mats have been Solon's Open Mats for decades. I went for the first for time in 1988 and it was as big and as packed with great wrestlers as it is today. It was the single biggest reason I had the small amount of success I had in the sport. Every Wednesday for two years I knew I could go there and roll with State qualifiers, placers and champions...throw in the college guys home for break, and you have a mix that is not is not duplicated. You just can't copy that kind of tradition (although it does give you something to strive for).

And it wasn't just the live goes. You just learned through osmosis there. I remember the first time I went up to Solon, I was nervous about walking in. I was alone and I didn't really know anyone there. So, unsure about how it all worked, I just sat and watched for a while. I had never met any of the wrestlers there, but I knew many of them from reading the Brakeman Report and seeing them at tournaments and State. So, when I saw Bill Lally (eventual undefeated State Champ from Solon) drilling with Shawn Nelson (eventual 3X undefeated State Champ from North Royalton) start to drill together, I watched and learned. The cool half slap hand shake, they would start kind of slow, no finishes but with attention to all the little details and then ramp up to full-speed shots and finishes. There was a flow to it...clean technique, meaningful and deliberate set-ups, moving from one technique to the next. And they went through a progression...singles, high-C, doubles, ducks, carries, front headlocks...all from different set-ups. I was a decent wrestler, I drilled hard, but what I did and whet these guys were doing was not the same thing. As I went back, I watched and learned and over time, my drilling started to look like theirs and the success on the mat wasn't far behind.

The Wednesday open mats at Bradley and Big walnut were as close to Solon's (in terms of size) that I've seen in Central Ohio in the time I've been down here. But still don't like the rotation. If you're going to build an open mat to stand the test of time, to be a staple of everyone in Central Ohio's off-season program, then you need to have it in the same place every week.


That being said, how were numbers at New Albany? And Cruiser, are you planning on having your Wednesday room with the same set-up or are you bringing in more mats?

Wednesdays will most likely have three mats down in the gym. If an extra mat is needed, we'll pull one down.

One option is to split (like our scrimmage) but I do not like that option. But it is an option nonetheless.

Ready just finished up its camp. Carl Amerine was the clinician on Tuesday, Jason Johnstone and David Rella taught on Wednesday, Tim Dernlan was in on Thursday, and Mike DeHart finished things up on Friday. It was an awesome week of technique and wrestling. All clinicians did an outstanding job. Thanks to all who helped out.

If you couldn't make it to camp, get out tomorrow for open mats. We'll start at 6 p.m. As always, it's free and open to all ages, sizes, and skill levels. See you Sunday at 6.

See you tomorrow Coach.

Ready had about 35-40 kids in the room last night for open mat. Let's keep it rolling all summer.

Central Ohio Open Mats - JULY Edition

Groveport Madison will be hosting the upcoming Central Ohio Open Mat Sessions. These sessions will occur every Wednesday night from 6:30 to 8pm.

Groveport Madison Middle School NORTH
5474 Sedalia Drive
Columbus, OH 43232

Enter through the back!

Our Tuesday night sessions will be put ON HOLD for the month of July. However, come out on Wednesday... See you then.

Ready's numbers are increasing and the room is full of talent. If you haven't made it out, we'll be working out Sunday. The workout begins at 6 and goes until 7:30.