Food for Thought.

[technical violation]

According to my calculations ( I may be off a team or two) This is how the teams in wv traveled this past season
4 Teams I could not find a schedule for
22 Team traveled outside the state more than one time this past season
28 Teams only traveled outside the state once
40 Teams did not travel outside the state at all

I don't know if some teams added or subtracted meets inside or outside the state these are # I could come up with what was available.

With that being said, I want Wv wrestling to grow and succeed , lots of good teams and tournaments close to and just over our borders, would be nice to see Wv teams go show everyone what we have

[coach_williams]

It is not as easy as a coach just deciding the team is going out of state. There are other deciding factors.

1. Some schools simply will not allow athletic teams to travel across the state border. This can be because of a county policy or it can be because of restrictions placed by their liability insurance.
2. Some schools limit how far a team can travel for competition.
3. Some teams simply can not afford to pay for 5 or 6 hotel rooms and two days of a bus driver for overnight stay for a regular season tournament.

[technical violation]

It is not as easy as a coach just deciding the team is going out of state. There are other deciding factors.

1. Some schools simply will not allow athletic teams to travel across the state border. This can be because of a county policy or it can be because of restrictions placed by their liability insurance.
2. Some schools limit how far a team can travel for competition.
3. Some teams simply can not afford to pay for 5 or 6 hotel rooms and two days of a bus driver for overnight stay for a regular season tournament.

Coah W . I agree ,these are things that I thought of but forgot to include in the post. I know many small schools and counties are on a tight budget making it difficult.
Although I was suprised at the schools that did travel alot , and some that didn't were suprising as well

[Goherd989]

It is not as easy as a coach just deciding the team is going out of state. There are other deciding factors.

1. Some schools simply will not allow athletic teams to travel across the state border. This can be because of a county policy or it can be because of restrictions placed by their liability insurance.
2. Some schools limit how far a team can travel for competition.
3. Some teams simply can not afford to pay for 5 or 6 hotel rooms and two days of a bus driver for overnight stay for a regular season tournament.

It’s definitely not anything to do with the liability insurance. All schools in WV have the same provider, BRIM, and therefore the same coverages. I am in charge of that insurance for a BOE, so I know that as a fact. Most teams can not afford to bus them there. It’s expensive. However, you can get parents to drive them as long as they (1) have a background check and (2) have a valid drivers license and insurance. If there is an accident, the drivers insurance will be the payee. BRIM would cover all costs in excess of the limits provided by the drivers personal insurance. These trips also need to be approved by the County BOE’s.

Another way to travel is to rent a vehicle in the BOE or schools name. As long as that vehicle is driven by a BOE employee, BRIM covers the liability. Only catch is that they don’t want You transporting students in those ginormous vans. They want you to rent 8 passenger vans.

[Studcradle]

I’m aware of county middle school policies but can someone point to a West Virginia county that has a blanket policy for high school? I know most require permission from the board for overnight or extended travel but have not heard of one that would outright ban kids from getting good competition.

Fundraise! Do not ask the school to pay your way, fundraise and pay your own way. If the AD or school will not let you do fundraisers in the name of ______ High School Wrestling, then form a non profit under the USA cards that you all have and fundraise through it.

It would be interesting to know how many of the schools that do not travel had wrestlers at Fargo or super 32. Can’t blame county or school policy for missing those. Great way to get in front of college coaches.

[mike.carman]

I’m aware of county middle school policies but can someone point to a West Virginia county that has a blanket policy for high school? I know most require permission from the board for overnight or extended travel but have not heard of one that would outright ban kids from getting good competition.

Fundraise! Do not ask the school to pay your way, fundraise and pay your own way. If the AD or school will not let you do fundraisers in the name of ______ High School Wrestling, then form a non profit under the USA cards that you all have and fundraise through it.

It would be interesting to know how many of the schools that do not travel had wrestlers at Fargo or super 32. Can’t blame county or school policy for missing those. Great way to get in front of college coaches.

Fundraising is a great way to fund trips. However, there are schools that do not allow individual sports to fundraise for whatever reason. They have a more share the wealth attitude on this, even though they don't share it equally. Even in those schools though, there are still ways to make it happen. In any case, kids won't go out of their areas if parents don't push for it. Just saying.

[coach_williams]

It’s definitely not anything to do with the liability insurance. All schools in WV have the same provider, BRIM, and therefore the same coverages. I am in charge of that insurance for a BOE, so I know that as a fact. Most teams can not afford to bus them there. It’s expensive. However, you can get parents to drive them as long as they (1) have a background check and (2) have a valid drivers license and insurance. If there is an accident, the drivers insurance will be the payee. BRIM would cover all costs in excess of the limits provided by the drivers personal insurance. These trips also need to be approved by the County BOE’s.

Another way to travel is to rent a vehicle in the BOE or schools name. As long as that vehicle is driven by a BOE employee, BRIM covers the liability. Only catch is that they don’t want You transporting students in those ginormous vans. They want you to rent 8 passenger vans.

I wasn't sure if it was the insurance or not. Now that you say it is BRIM I recall hearing the name.

When I was HC at Eastern Greenbrier MS we had parents drive to all meets and did the background check and license/insurance check thing to make it work. That can be a tough avenue for out-of-state tournaments that start on Friday if the parents work, but would be a more viable option for Sat/Sun tournaments.

Busing is a big issue, especially for us in Braxton. We have a shortage of bus drivers already, so pulling a bus driver from the pool for a Friday tournament is a challenge for us. Even when we do a local tournament that starts on a Friday our bus driver usually has to drop us off, then head back to the county and drive his/her route, then come back to the tournament and pick us up after we finish wrestling. Taking a driver for an entire Friday to go out-of-state would pretty much be a no-go for us.

[Monarch1996]

One thing you may want to consider doing in the one-in-a-million chance something would happen for those parents who drive with the kids in the cars...have them check their own coverage to see if this is permitted. I work in insurance and there can be funky rules when it comes to what may be considered ride-sharing. While I do not think this technically fits the bill, when you have a large carrier that is covering what we call "excess," there could be issues. I've actually sent part of this thread to a PL manager just to ask the question (my carrier does not operate in WV, so this would not affect any school in WV strictly speaking).

While I want to stress that it is very unlikely, they may see this as "ridesharing," and that could void part of the coverage on the policy. Again, very, very, very unlikely, but it's worth raising the consideration. When I hear back, I'll return to this thread, but with the caution that A) this would be for my company alone as each carrier can define how they choose, so long as it is filed with the state and B) again, since my company does not write in WV, there are some laws that are state specific that may render this moot.

[Monarch1996]

Okay...confirmed with an underwriter, BRIM or whosever the driver's insurance is will have to prove they are taking money to do the transport, it's not ridesharing. Some companies can be goofy, so I'd advise the drivers/policyholders to confirm there aren't any strange restrictions/exclusions per the carrier. It's unlikely, but the last thing anybody would want is for something catastrophic to happen and then find they're on the hook. I know for my company--who does not operate in WV--we would not deny coverage, but others may.