For better or worse, internet message boards and fan forums have become a large part of high school athletics.
Wrestling is no different.
Anyone who has tried to gather any information on high school wrestling has encountered a forum at some point.
One long-standing problem with forums is most of the posts have come from middle-aged men bashing younger kids anonymously in public.
After one of his kids went on to the District 4 forum saying he was hurt, former Hughesville coach Steve Budman lectured his kids on posting messages about the team ” and deservedly so.
His reason was simple.
“If I’m the kid who has to wrestle him, and I see him saying that he has a bad knee, where is the first place I’m going to go after?” he said after a loss to Warrior Run in 2003.
Forums have come a long way, however, since then.
Now, most sites have become results driven, meaning people see how fast they can post results after a match or tournament.
Sure, the trash talking of “our kids can beat up you’re kids” still exists, but for the most part, forums have become a research tool.
Jersey Shore’s Jeremy Brooks and Curt Herman, like most wrestlers, check forums and websites for information on future or past opponents.
“Curt and I are on all the time, looking to see where different people are ranked, and different pairings and matches and stuff,” Brooks said.
While a District 4 forum exists, most of the content discusses Class AA wrestling.
For AAA news, the D4 kids have to travel to a District 6 site to find information on the Bald Eagle Areas and Central Mountains on the schedule.
“I get on the Bellefonte forum,” Jersey Shore coach Tony Owens said. “It’s based around District 6, but it deals with more AAA wrestling. I also check out the District 11 stuff.”
Jersey Shore has recently added a Web site to promote its team, and yes, it comes with a forum called “Dog Talk.”
Created by Craig Seasholtz, it sets a new standard to team sites. It comes complete with photos – both action and candid – and personal information on every wrestler.
“The Bellefonte Web Site is probably the most talked about site,” said Brooks, who is pictured flexing his biceps in his information. “Maybe in a couple of years, Jersey Shore’s will be the talk of the area.”
The message board already has talk going back and forth between the Bulldogs’ junior high wrestlers and Bald Eagle Area. It also has postings from coach Owens.
“I’d like to try and keep ours as more of a message board, where I can congratulate the kids and communicate with them,” Owens said. “But you still can’t rely on it because someone could get on there and post something with my name on it. There are a lot of things on these boards where you don’t know whether to believe it or not.”
Owens is right. Not everything posted is 100 percent true, but it is right most of the time.
Two weeks ago, the news of Chris Fleeger leaving Purdue surfaced on a national collegiate wrestling forum.
We all know how that turned out.
ONE-TIME DEAL: State College’s Chris Decker surprised most when he weighed in at 167.5 pounds prior to Tuesday’s dual meet with Jersey Shore.
Ranked among the top 5 160 pounders in the state, Decker bumped up to wrestle Shore’s Sam Eck, where he hung on for a 9-8 decision.
The move, however, was for the Shore match only. He will move back down to 160 ” at weight where he has lost twice to fellow District 6 wrestler Landis Wright of Bald Eagle Area.
“It was a one-time thing,” Decker said. “I was just trying to help the team out. I’ll be back down. I think I’m better there.”
His coach agrees.
“He’s a 60-pounder,” State coach Shad Benton said. “He wanted to move up because there was a good wrestler there. It was nice to challenge himself to move up, and he did a nice job, but he’s a 60-pounder.”
HEAVY ADDITION: Kyle Weaver has made his way back to the Williamsport lineup. A lineman on the football team, Weaver left the fall sport weighing nearly 330 pounds, which caused him to miss part of the season until he could reach 275.
He beat Line Mountain’s Sam Smith, 7-3, last week. Smith placed fifth at the King of the Mountain. Weaver will help the Millionaires out in dual meets, and he is probably the mid-season favorite to win the D4 Class AAA heavyweight title.
In his freshman season in 2002-03, Weaver did not make regionals because of Shore’s Chris Winchester and Selinsgrove’s Jay O’Hora, but he had an outstanding summer, qualifying for the state’s cadet Greco-Roman team. He missed all of last year with an injury.
On the net:
www.jerseyshorewrestling.com: The official team page for Jersey Shore. The site contains results, photos and bios on every wrestler.
www.kcsd.k12.pa.us/cmsid: Follow the wrestling link for Central Mountain results, stats and news.
www.shikwrestling.com: Shikellamy results and team history and records.
www.basd.net: Follow the athletics and wrestling links for Bellefonte news and results. It also has a message board.
www.beasd.org: Contains one of the area’s highest-regarded forums. It also has news and notes on Bellefonte wrestling and other District 6 schools.
Section: Sports Date Posted: 1/6/2005
As appearing in Thursday – January 6, 2005 edition of The Sun-Gazette
BY Gregg Tripp Sun-Gazette Staff
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