Watered Down Va Beach Nationals

[Bearhugger]

Earlier in the regular season, somebody called the Nationals at Va Beach "watered down".

I was there this weekend. This thing is the real deal.

As many of us talked about, nobody flies across the country, spends hundreds of dollars to then go 0-2.

In all sincerity, I saw more busted noses than I saw pins.

This tournament is a great road test for every kid to identify what they are doing right and what they need to work on.

I didn't see any "fancy or flashy" techniques. Also, few matches were decided due to big mistakes.

The kids who stayed busier, had a little more speed and/or a little more strength seemed to be the ones who came out on top.

Every match was a dogfight scrap.

[hurrmat1]

I agree!!! I took my son there to compete, it was his first experience at the tournament. It was a great experience. He got a chance to see it all come together and make sense. Great chance to see where he really is vs. the best in the country. He went 1-2, but got the experience needed to take the next step competitively. Lots of great clinics, great wrestling, and I didn't see any watered down competition.

[Refuse-to-lose]

Anyone that has experienced this tournament could not possibly say that its watered down !! I would personally like to know what information that comment was based considering that there were at least 48 states representing the two times that I attended the tourney.

[potomac highlander]

For the past three years I have witnessed very tough competitors from all over the country at the Virginia Nationals. No cases of a good wrestler walking through the bracket to the finals. You will find many juniors and seniors entered with multiple state titles.What I also found notable was the quality of referees. Fair, accurate, consistent, I had forgotten what it was like to watch several dozen matches in a row that you didn't see at least a couple of human errors committed by a ref. Do they drug test these guys or something.

[Repoman1304]

This was my first experience at the tournament but I will say it is NOT watered down! There were some quality wrestlers down there and the atmosphere is different from anything wrestlers experience here at home. Great time, Great experience!

[mike.carman]

As far as talent, top notch. As far as officiating, I have seen better. I have been going to the duals in May for the past 3 years and I do have to say that the officiating was better this year than I have seen all the previous years at the duals. I don't know if they will use the same refs or not. Officiating things I saw that hurt the competitors. Too quick on potentially dangerous. They were taking offensive moves away from the top wrestler all weekend. Several refs were confused as to illegal holds and the difference between those and potentially dangerous. Way too slow on swipes and getting into position to make the right call. Too slow to award obvious take downs and reversals. Too slow to call a pin. This is coming from sitting and watching a whole bunch of matches. There was a significant amount of time between my son's first three matches so we watch others wrestle. Some we knew and some we didn't. I found myself yelling at the refs a lot from the gallery. Just my opinion.

Anyhow, to get back to the original purpose of the post. I don't feel the tournament is watered down in any respect. I saw guys go 2 and out who probably shouldn't have, I saw OT matches and 3-2 matches. I saw last second pins from behind. Very exciting matches. I would highly recommend it to anyone.