Rankings

[Bearhugger]

A lot of talk about rankings. To each their own.

Two points:

1. Some of the known detractors of rankings also are affiliated with teams that have gone down hill big time in the past 5+ years. Promoting recognition and enthusiasm comes in many ways. The more a young KID hears "this doesn't mean anything and that doesn't mean anything", then they will believe nothing means nothing.

2. When you compile rankings or collect anything from the wrestling community, you get to see behind the scenes people who care, people who follow, and hear some select stories how small things mean a lot to some.

[Country Roads]

I couldn’t agree more Mr Bearhugger. I know when my 14 year old wrestler seen he made the top 10 he felt a sense of achievement. He immediately made sure I knew he was in it. It reinforced that all his hard work was paying off. It also allows for him to set a goal of climbing from 8 to 6 and so on. I just hope that he doesn’t read the posts on the other thread about how meaningless a rank is. It wasn’t meaningless to him. I just want to thank the folks that put the time into making the ranks and let them know that it does mean a lot to some folks.

[figure4match]

Completely agree. I must say your rankings Bear, are the most accurate that this site and the state has..
Just wish we would could get a true coaches ranking. I have heard from a few, that not all head coaches within the state have access to submitting a ranking on teams and wrestlers. And or the coaches will not take the time to submit one that have access. How can we go about and facilitate this and make it viable on this site or a State High School site?

[matcoach90]

Like this as well... however, we need to somehow make them more accurate. In a few areas, there are kids ranked in the wrong weight class that have been in their new weight class for a few weeks now. I know it’s hard to keep track sometimes though.

[Justdeserts]

. I just hope that he doesn’t read the posts on the other thread about how meaningless a rank is. It wasn’t meaningless to him.

You should hope he does read it, and realize that he can still win a match, even if someone who has never even met him ranked another kid higher. Once he succeeds in doing that, the rankings meant nothing, because he disproved them... see?

WVmat rankings don't earn college scholarships, they don't pay for an education, and they certainly aren't going to put food on the family table once these kids grow up.
They quite LITERALLY mean NOTHING.

That said, I quite enjoy rankings myself, and yours are the best I've seen on here Bearhugger. I was just irked by talk of seeding the state tournament, like it is preordained who will win or place, and I meant they were meaningless in that context.
Also, I'm sure your son works very hard, and you are very proud, Country Roads. I would be too. Congratulations.

[Bearhugger]

. I just hope that he doesn’t read the posts on the other thread about how meaningless a rank is. It wasn’t meaningless to him.

You should hope he does read it, and realize that he can still win a match, even if someone who has never even met him ranked another kid higher. Once he succeeds in doing that, the rankings meant nothing, because he disproved them... see?

WVmat rankings don't earn college scholarships, they don't pay for an education, and they certainly aren't going to put food on the family table once these kids grow up.
They quite LITERALLY mean NOTHING.

That said, I quite enjoy rankings myself, and yours are the best I've seen on here Bearhugger. I was just irked by talk of seeding the state tournament, like it is preordained who will win or place, and I meant they were meaningless in that context.
Also, I'm sure your son works very hard, and you are very proud, Country Roads. I would be too. Congratulations.

PERSPECTIVE!! It all comes down to a given person's perspective. Lets all (all readers) take a quick snapshot of all the polls that exist. Bear Tracks, The Coaches' poll and Sleeve Tracks. Lets make a note of who is ranked in the top TWO that also wins a state title. I predict the majority. Lets make a note of who is ranked in the top FIVE that also places in the state tournament. I predict the majority. Lets make a note of who places in the state tournament that is NOT ranked somewhere. I predict hardly any.

I agree that rankings should not and do not hold any given person back from succeeding or bettering themselves. However, rankings are an indicator of how you are doing right now. How a person is doing right now is also an indicator or the direction they are heading in unless they make some positive changes.

Another perspective on rankings. If a given school has few wrestlers ranked, it either means the team is "rebuilding" or they wrestle a fairly weak schedule. Rankings are more easily complied when schools wrestle in the bigger tournaments and/or wrestle duals with the better teams.

I like rankings. I also enjoy the kid who comes out of nowhere and places at the state tournament. Hess of North Marion and Hovermale of Lincoln are two that come to mind from the 2019 state tournament. There will be a few this season too. Keyword is "few".

[Campion]

WVU Mens Basketball team is currently ranked 12 and 13, coaches poll and AP. At the beginning of the season, they were unranked primarily because of their performance from the previous year. It doesn’t predict future results, nor is it intended to, but it is definitely one of the clear measures of improvement and recognition much deserved. I can’t think of a major sport that doesn’t have some kind of rankings and many have more than one.

I believe extra effort should be applied to sharing team and individual performance and rankings is one of the tools to help recognize those deserving young men and women. The posting of results seem to be an issue in our beloved state, perhaps because it is optional? I am not quite sure why anyone would not want to provide recognition for the hard work behind success.

[Bearhugger]

WVU Mens Basketball team is currently ranked 12 and 13, coaches poll and AP. At the beginning of the season, they were unranked primarily because of their performance from the previous year. It doesn’t predict future results, nor is it intended to, but it is definitely one of the clear measures of improvement and recognition much deserved. I can’t think of a major sport that doesn’t have some kind of rankings and many have more than one.

I believe extra effort should be applied to sharing team and individual performance and rankings is one of the tools to help recognize those deserving young men and women. The posting of results seem to be an issue in our beloved state, perhaps because it is optional? I am not quite sure why anyone would not want to provide recognition for the hard work behind success.

Once again, PERSPECTIVE. Rankings measure many, many things.

[Heath]

Speaking of rankings, Intermat finally has Frazier ranked in the top 20 HW's in the country, coming in at 11th. Out of the top 20, four are playing football, and one his doing track and field.