Change brings wrestling tournaments to Williamson County
By Marcus Stone, Sports Writer
mstone@williamsonherald.com
The 2009-2010 school year has been a time of change for many Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association events. Changes started during football season with rearranged classifications and a new playoff system and ended with a new venue for the state championship games.
Change has now struck for high school wrestling as well, with the alterations having a direct affect on Williamson County.
“Our original plans were to try and get the state duals,” said Brentwood Coach Joe Blair. “That tournament is a smaller thing than the individual tournament. It’s a lot simpler to run.”
These talks stalled at first due to the Williamson County Agricultural Exposition Park being verbally committed to another event. Blair did not take ‘no’ for an answer and prodded people in the city and county commissions to get involved.
“It’s going to be good for Williamson County from a revenue standpoint and also just to show off the Ag Center and what kind of facility it is,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a very fan friendly environment.”
The center renegotiated with the party that previously requested the park and the center was granted for the TSSAA state duals. During preliminary meetings, the TSSAA requested to have the individual state championship there as well. Another scheduling conflict emerged for this date, but it was quickly resolved.
The duals are scheduled for Feb. 5-6 and the individual tournament for Feb. 18-20. Both will be held in the park’s Main Arena which accommodates 4,180 permanent, stadium-style seats with the capability to add an additional 3,500 temporary seats according to the Ag Expo website.
These tournaments could be calling the county home for the foreseeable future if all goes well. The area has many advantages against other bidders including its central location in the state and the size and flexibility of the venue.
“A lot is going to depend on how it goes this first year,” Blair said. “We’re probably going to make a lot of mistakes. I think if everything goes well enough and the TSSAA is happy with it, they’ve told us as long as we feel like hosting it they would like to keep it here.”
Chattanooga, a hotbed for wrestling in Tennessee, had been the individual state championship host for nearly three decades before losing out to Franklin this year. The dual championship had called Clarksville home since 2000.
Posted on: 1/28/2010
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