January 28, 2008
Dear Coach,
Next year’s Clash wrestling tournament will be held the first weekend
after New Years. Every few years we hold
the tournament after the holiday season to allow for the inclusion of teams
from states that prohibit competition between Christmas and New Years. The
Clash 7 tournament will be held Friday, January
2nd and Saturday January 3rd, 2009. As in the past, teams will wrestle 3 matches
on each day of the tournament.
Due to the growth of
the tournament and the shift in the tournament dates, we have received interest
from over 120 quality teams. As such, we are going to try to set the Clash 7
field during this year’s wrestling season.
We would be honored if your team would accept our invitation to the
Clash 7 tournament and confirm your participation as soon as possible.
As in the past, our
goal continues to be to invite 25% of the teams from
Competition Venue
- The Clash will again be held at University Center-Rochester (UCR) field
house. The street address is:
Competition Format
– As with past years, teams will be seeded into four 8-team brackets for three
“qualifying” matches on Friday. The
three matches will place the 8 teams in positions 1st through 8th. On Saturday, the four teams that finished first
in their brackets will be placed in a 4-team round robin bracket (called group
1) for three more matches. Likewise, the four 2nd place teams will
be grouped together into “Group 2” and so on.
Full-Roster/Best Effort - Each year our organization does its best to assemble a
top-notch field of wrestling teams for this tournament. Likewise, we expect each team competing in
the Clash to put forward their best effort in this event. Please decline this invitation if you do not
believe that you will be able to field a full line-up during the tournament or
cannot commit to putting forward your best effort.
Seeding
– Seeding is based on national rankings, tournament results, team records, and
head-to-head competitions. We have
independent wrestling writers from national wrestling newspapers providing
input to the seeding process.
Additionally, we will try to separate teams that could possibly meet
during the regular season.
Sanctioning
Activities - The Clash is
sanctioned annually by the National Federation of State High School
Associations (http://www.nfhs.org/). As soon as the paperwork is completed, it
will be posted on national and state sanctioning calendars.
Schedule
– Wrestling will be divided into two sessions each day. The morning session
will have matches at 9am, 11am, and 1am and the afternoon session will have
matches at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm. 16 teams
will wrestle in the morning sessions and 16 teams will wrestle in the afternoon
sessions. Your positioning on the
second day will be determined solely on your results from the first day. Teams that win their first match on Friday
will finish in the top half of the tournament and will wrestle Saturday
afternoon. Conversely teams that do not
win their first match on Friday will be in the Saturday morning session.
Weigh Ins
- Weigh-ins will be from 7-8:30am for teams wrestling in the morning and from
2-3:30 for teams wrestling in the afternoon session. These are the only opportunities each day to
make weight. We will assign weigh-in
times for teams, four at a time, during these slots based on the order in which
we received your contract.
Weight Allowances
– NFHS weight classes will be used.
There will be at least a 2 pound
weight allowance on the first day of the tournament. 103 pound wrestlers will need to make 105. All wrestlers will receive another pound
allowance on the second day. (Regardless of your state’s growth allowance
policy, these are the weights that will be used.)
Tickets
– Each team will receive 28 passes for the event. These passes are for: 20 wrestlers, 6 coaches
(including trainers and assistants) and 2 cheerleader chaperones. 6 cheerleaders in uniform will be allowed in
for free without a pass or ticket. Additional
tickets can be purchased at the door. Ticket prices are Adults: $10 per
session, or $25 for a two-day pass.
Hotels
– In order to coordinate local travel, you are requested to stay in one of the
official Clash host hotels which will be determined as soon as possible. They will be posted on the Clash website and
sent to all teams. Host hotels agree to
handle local transportation for any team flying into the tournament. Room rates have averaged approximately $69 -
$79 in previous years for up to 4 occupants.
Entry Fees
– Entry fees will be $250. If a team meets
the requirements listed below, $100 of the entry fee will be returned to the
team at the Coaches’ dinner the evening prior to the tournament. Please make the check for $250 payable to
“SEMWREC/Clash” and mail it to: Steven Patton,
Required Information
-
1.
Team website: Please send a link to your school or wrestling team’s
website prior to the start of the 2008-2009 season to TheClash@ClashMN.com.
2.
Program
information: You will be sent a
userid and password to a team registration website at the start of the wrestling
season. You will be required to provide the following information at that time:
a.
A digital team
picture of the wrestling team
b.
A list of
wrestlers in the picture above
c.
List of
Coaches with years of coaching experience.
d.
List of
Managers, Cheerleaders and Cheerleading Advisor.
e.
Tentative
roster for the Clash 7 with individual records and achievements (such as state
tournament appearances and/or places finished).
f.
Any team
accomplishments of note
3.
Scholar/Athlete
Candidates by December 15th.
In order to recognize those wrestlers who have excelled beyond the wrestling
mat, we award 10 Scholar/Athlete awards to Clash competitors. The top five
senior recipients receive $1000 college scholarships. We expect every team to submit at least
one candidate. Wrestlers may be
nominated by coaches, parents, teachers, athletic directors, or even the
wrestlers themselves.
Thank you for your
willingness to do those extra things necessary to provide this wrestling
opportunity to your wrestlers. Please
feel free to call me any time with questions.
Sincerely,
Steven
B. Patton, Tournament Chairman, The Clash --