Info
BELLEFONTE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
333 Benner Road
Bellefonte, PA 16823
(814) 777-4986 (cell)
tja2@psu.edu
January 2, 2023
Dear Coach,
Happy New Year and welcome to our 2023 Bellefonte Jr. High Invitational. Once again, we’re all set to what will prove to be a very competitive day for all wrestlers. We are ready and excited to have 20 quality teams committed to our two day event. The two days also gave us the ability to now have a full wrestle back for 3rd place. These changes were made a few years ago reinforce our feelings that this is arguably the best and toughest Jr High tournament in the state. We’re very excited to be hosting such an event! There’s a lot of information below. Please be sure to read everything so we’re all on the same page.
2023 Teams include:
| Bellefonte | Canon-McMillan | Central Dauphin | Central Mountain |
| Connellsville | Cumberland Valley | Easton | Erie Cathedral Prep |
| Fort LeBoeuf | General McLane | Mifflin County | Montoursville |
| Nazareth | Norwin | Palisades | Philipsburg Osceola |
| Reynolds | Shaler | Spring Grove | Trinity |
Online roster entry: We will be using FloArena again this year. Using this software allows us to be more efficient by using the technology it supports. Coaches will be entering their own lineup and seeding information this year. See LINEUP section below.
Live Table Scoring:
We will be using live scoring which simply means you’ll be able to follow along on Flo, “live”.
We will use TV’s to display the bout time and scores during matches.
The results will also automatically post and make the next mat assignment based on that result.
Mat assignments are first available mat, which is how it’s always been but now it’s automated.
Bout Board – No announcing!
We will be displaying the Bout Board on TV’s located in several areas in the school.
Main Gym, head table area.
Lobby
Aux Gym(maybe)
Cafeteria
If we do have problems with this we will resort to announcing the mat assignments.
We will again allow teams to place up to one additional JV wrestler per weight class, into the main varsity tournament. These wrestlers will not accumulate teams points. The Tournament Director also reserves the right to move wrestlers back to the JV tournament if varsity brackets get too large. The intent is to give more JV wrestlers a chance to compete in the varsity tournament. At the same time, strengthening our varsity brackets. Be sure you enter the correct “wrestler type” when doing your online roster entry. Coaches PLEASE fill holes in your varsity lineup before placing wrestlers in the JV tournament.
LINEUP Information and Instructions:The most urgent piece of information I need from all teams is your lineup/roster. We are doing this online again this year. I’ll send each of you a separate email with login information and instructions. We hope this will be easier for everyone. Proof read what you enter to eliminate data entry mistakes.
Weight Allowance:
- At least one team has back to back dual meets on Wednesday & Thursday prior to our tournament. So we will be awarding the maximum consecutive day weight allowance.
- At this point in the season, there’s also the 2 pound allowance in place, so we will at the maximum weight allowance.
- Friday & Saturday: A total of a 4 lb allowance. So for example: 80 will be 84.
* We have 7 mats to wrestle with. Five mats in the Main Gym and two in the Auxiliary Gym. We will use all 7 mats at times, for the varsity segment (depending on the round…see schedule below). The JV tournament will be held on 2 mats in the Auxiliary Gym (Saturday).
Friday, Jan 17
- 4:30pm – 5:30pm Weigh-Ins (+2 lbs allowance- total of 4lbs allowance)
- 5:30pm – 6:00pm Coaches Meeting
- 6:15pm – 7:15pm Round 1 – Pigtails (7 mats)
- 7:30pm – 9:00pm Round 2 – Prelims (7 mats)
- 9:00pm – 10:30pm Round 3 – Consy Rd1 (7 mats)
- 7:30am – 8:30am Weigh-Ins (Same allowance as Friday)
- 8:30am – 9:00am Coaches Meeting
- 9:00am – 11:00am Round 4 – Quarter Finals & Consy Rd2 (7 mats)
- 11:00am - ? JV Tournament in Aux Gym (2 mats)
- 11:15am – 1:15pm Round 5 – Semi Finals & Consy Rd3 (5 mats)
- 1:30pm – 2:45pm Round 6 – Consy Rd4 (5 mats)
- 3:00pm – 4:15pm Round 7 – Consy Rd5 (5 mats)
- 4:30pm – 4:45pm Parade of Champions
- 4:45pm – 7:00pm Round 8 – Finals – 1st thru 6th place (3 mats)
Weigh Ins and Arrival Information:
- Please keep in mind we have two weigh-ins (Fri and Sat). See Weight Allowance section above for that information.
- You MUST provide your usual PIAA weigh-in sheets, both days. Varsity wrestlers only.
- We will be using two (or three) scales for weigh-ins.
- Please report to the Main Gym upon arrival (both days). Coach must check in at the head table as soon as you arrive. After checking in, please remain in the Main Gym until you’re called to weigh in.
- We will be weighing in 2 or 3 teams at a time in our Wrestling Room.
- Please be prompt because our schedule is very tight and it’s important we have no delays.
- Friday – Bellefonte students DO have class. Do not arrive until 4pm in order to avoid school traffic and parking lot availability.
- Once in the school…Please stay together in the Main Gym until called.
- If you’re running late for some reason please call me – Tom Alterio (814-777-4986). Leave a message if I do not answer.
- We will give your kids that “need” to check their weight the opportunity before the official weigh-in…but please allow time for that. There will be very little time for overweight wrestlers to work out.
- We will provide each team with complete brackets at the Coaches Meeting.
- Scales will close at 5:30pm Friday and 8:30am on Saturday.
In years past, we usually break down to 3 mats for the finals and placement matches. Mat 1 (Finals), Mat 2 (3rd/4th), and Mat 3 (5th/6th) and wrestle one weight class at a time. If we have inclement weather OR need to speed things up we do something different. I’ll have a brief coaches meeting if we decide to change anything.
There will be a Parade of Champions for finalist only. This will be done before the final round. Please have your finalists represent their school by wearing their school warm ups for the parade and also on the awards podium. If we have inclement weather OR need to speed things up we may eliminate the parade.
I also like to get pictures of the team champion, individual champions group, and the outstanding wrestler for our website. Please stay in uniform.
JV Schedule/Details:
- Weigh-ins – Madison System.
- Please list all JV’s online with your other wrestlers, as instructed (see LINEUP section).
- Provide actual weight and rating!
- Coaches should fill their Varsity(+Unattached) lineup first before entering wrestlers into the JV tournament.
- Main Tournament wrestlers are NOT eligible to wrestle in the JV tournament.
- We guarantee JV wrestlers at least two matches.
- JV wrestling will begin at approximately 11:00am in the Auxiliary Gym.
- For a list of these hotels go to Lodging Information on our website: http://www.basd.net/Page/12988
- In the past, we’ve had some feedback from at least one hotel regarding bad behavior. Obviously, we’d love to avoid this so hotels are eager to house our wrestlers and families in the coming years. Thank you!
We will have a room set aside with food and drinks for coaches and officials ONLY. Our coaching staff and Boosters donate all of what we offer. They do an outstanding job. I personally always look forward to it. ENJOY!
Coaches, please remind your wrestlers:
- To help keep our high school clean and trash free. It keeps us in good graces with our school administration.
- PLEASE PLEASE…NO EATING or DRINKING (besides water) IN THE GYM!!
- Lock up their valuables and keep track of their belongings.
- Locker Room assignments will available when you arrive!
Remember the organization of the tournament often goes bad when coaches are unorganized with who they are bringing and the information they give us. Whether it’s varsity or jv wrestlers… we really need to know every wrestler who plan to compete so we can be sure they’re on the brackets. Also, lineup entry is online now. If you’re having trouble with the online entry please let me know. Again take your time….any misspellings will be your fault not mine ;-) All of this really helps us out, and in turn, we will get you back on the road earlier.
Also, space in the bleachers is a bit of a concern since going with 20 teams. We’re asking all teams to please keep this in mind and be courteous to other teams and spectators. Here are a few things we’d like you to do to help with this:
- Take the minimal amount of space needed in the bleachers for equipment and stay in one spot. Try to stay along the edges leaving the middle for parents and other spectators.
- No food or drink in the Gym so please either find a place in the lobby or move them out to the van or bus. You can also find space in the cafeteria, on the floor. Please don’t use up table space for tubs, bags etc when not being used. We, of course, would much rather you buy and eat the great food we have in our concession. If you plan to eat our concession breakfast food please let me know if you have any special requests and we will do our best to see that you have what you need.
- We’re also aware some teams bring their own food, for wrestlers, after weigh ins. Some tournaments disallow that. We don’t want to do that. So please be respectful of our concession. Our concession is a major player in funding this tournament so we can pay our bills. Use of the school facilities isn’t free for us and is actually quite costly.
- Have your wrestlers keep their personal items and valuables in the locker room, not in the gym where it takes up space and can be stolen.
- Wrestlers should not loiter in the locker rooms. We do have periodic walk throughs by our school police.
- Have wrestlers share locker space if possible. We have 10 teams in each locker room.
- We will try to have people in the parking lot to instruct bus/van drivers where to park.
We will be announcing the OW winner (coach’s vote) and top 3 Team place winners as soon as those results are available following the final bout. Trophies will be presented.
We also want pictures of the Team Champion, Outstanding Wrestler AND all Individual Champions. So please have your wrestlers stay in warmups. Thank you for your patience.
The Future
We continue to evaluate our tournament every year so we can improve your experience. I hope the changes we’ve been making continue to make this tournament great. Thank you to everyone for your continued cooperation to make this possible by your promptness and organization. We always re-evaluate after we see how things go year to year. I feel very confident things will continue work out. I know the gym gets pretty crowded with 20 teams so it’s very unlikely we will ever extend to 24 teams in the future.
One more note: This is an “Invitational”…So we do reserve the right to rotate new schools in every year in an effort to keep this tournament as competitive as possible. Many things factor in on these difficult decisions as our tournament grows in popularity. All decisions are made final by our tournament selection committee.
Please visit our Bellefonte Wrestling tournament website for up to date information. We also have results dating back to 2008, a champions list by school and by year (see left panel links).
Again, thank you all for your cooperation and support for a great weekend of wrestling!
Sincerely,
Tom Alterio
Bellefonte Wrestling Tournament Director
814-777-4986
tja2@psu.edu