Carolina Takedown Talk podcast is HERE

[coachsmithwick]

Join hosts Rhett Hoy and Ryan Mitchell for Episode 1 of Carolina Takedown Talk on Takedown Tuesday. Give us a like, subscribe and leave a comment.

https://anchor.fm/rythencwrestlingguy/episodes/Carolina-Takedown-Talk-Episode-1-eqf25g

[Tapout]

Great job on the podcast. 4A team race I agree will be a complete dogfight. With the short season it will come down to what team has put in the work during the 14 months away from the mat. What team has the athletes that have challenged themselves and traveled and competed against high level competition across the nation. The virus will reveal if you have used it has an excuse or jumped on the opportunity to get better. 4A team race will be fun to watch 4 teams deep, Hough, Laney, Lake Norman, Mooresville but I would not count Pinecrest out, they are young but have a lot of hammers.

[Coach Atwood]

Tapout, I don't think that is a fair assessment at all.  Saying the virus will reveal if you have used it as an excuse or jumped on the opportunity to get better is really lame.  For someone like me who doesn't have wrestlers attending wrestling club workouts that isn't the case at all.  My guys would have been working out and wrestling the entire time had it been allowed.  Most wrestlers don't have the means and ability to wrestle in clubs.  If we were allowed to have workouts at the school my guys would be working out and competing every week and weekend.  These guys who have been going are fortunate to have been able to do so even when it was forbidden by the Governor.  I know coaches in several places were told that it was a fireable offense to be caught coaching kids during the pandemic. 

As for the 4A team race, let's see if we even have a season before getting into that.  I'm still not convinced of it.  Due to the nature of the sport we're involved with, the restrictions will be toughest on wrestling.  That will have an impact.  The virus will have an impact.  One kid being COVID positive could disqualify an entire team.  But none of that has anything to do with the most important impact on the state tournament.  I didn't listen to the podcast, so I don't know if they covered this or not, but no consolation rounds will place the complete emphasis on the championship bracket.  Most state tournaments are won in the consolation rounds.  The team with the most finalists will most likely win it, because there is no way to catch up in the consolations. 

[Longdayrunner]

Well put Coach Atwood.  For school districts, athletic directors and coaches, there is no right or wrong in the way they have handled the pandemic issues.  They all have had the best interest of their athletes at heart.  No one wanted to be accused of causing an athlete's dead by allowing competition or practice of their sport, so people have made hard decisions.  And that has led to second guessing on both sides of the argument.

If you notice on the NCHSAA web page, there hasn't been any update to the wrestling sport page since the fall.  The current handbook has not been updated for this wrestling season.  So we will see if there is a wrestling season in the next 30 days or so. 

[Tapout]

Coach Atwood, yes your on point and I apologize no ill will
Intended.

[Coach Atwood]

No worries.  Trust me, there isn't one coach in North Carolina who wants to have their kids active more than me.  I'm more motivated and inspired to win state championships than I believe I ever have been.  I'm STARVING for the grind of wrestling every weekend.  It's nice to have extra time to do other things, but I'm sick of it.  I want to be competing.  Watching the kids develop while competing.  Screaming, hollering, eyeballing, scheduling, rounding kids up, etc.  I'm about to go crazy.  I think many other coaches are too.  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ry Mitchell]

Thanks for listening, y’all!

We have put out a few more episodes. We have done a college recap after the conference tournaments and super regionals for D2. We also talk about Women’s wrestling in NC. This week we had  Tanner Sewell on and talked recruiting.