Last fall, the Central Section committee brought up the idea of implementing a Sectional Dual Championship, similar to the one that the Southern Section has, offering 6 teams the opportunity to compete for a Section title in a dual tournament format, dividing the teams into divisions. Last season, the Southern Section crowned St John Bosco (D1), Esperanza (D2), Sultana (D3), South Torrance (D4), Pacifica/Oxnard (D5), and Santa Ana (D6) as Sectional Champions.
Duals are essentially a great way to promote wrestling and create a draw for our sport. Dual meets provide the opportunity for a direct team vs team event that is more spectator friendly as you generally don’t have to sit around all day waiting for your kids to come up.
While dual meets are a great opportunity for wrestling to mirror other sports in a competitive, non-tournament setting, the issue with having a dual meet championship is the timing of the event and its value when it comes to your competition schedule to be prepared for the postseason.
Having the dual meet championship close to the postseason can lead to potential injuries that may lead to coaches holding out some of their better athletes. Not only that, but adding another weigh in to the mix can further drain athletes of being able to feel fresh for their postseason events. In a dual meet tournament setting, it would be important to utilize back ups to provide recovery opportunities for wrestlers in the event. For bigger teams, this is unlikely to be an issue, but for schools that have smaller teams or are in the lower divisions, this would be more common.
In 2021, California had the state duals that took place during winter break before Christmas. It was a great opportunity for teams from around the state to come together and scrap in dual meets that probably wouldn’t have happened at any other time. Buchanan defeated Palm Desert 43-25, and Temecula Valley 46-24 on its way to winning a Division 1 State Title. Other interesting duals that took place between Oakdale and Central Fresno (Oakdale over Central Fresno, 37 – 27), and Palma and Golden Valley (Palma over Golden Valley 48 – 36).
While this was a great opportunity for the teams involved and an opportunity for fans to watch high level high school wrestling, it seemed like the event itself lacked the attention it probably deserved.
I almost wish we approached dual meets the way college football approaches bowl games. Why not try to pair teams together that are interested in attending, put them in a cool venue, have some organizations sponsor them, and try to make the event a cool experience for the athletes and fans attending? Almost like a CA State Dual Series.
You have one weigh in, one match, and turn it into a priceless experience.
Imagine having an epic dual meet between Poway and St John Bosco in Riverside at Cal Baptist’s Fowler Event Center. You stream the event on FloWrestling or Rokfin, have Mike Mal and Brian Navarro commentate (Sorry Oren but you live in Nevada). Provide coverage to the event through vlogging the teams practices and interviewing coaches and wrestlers from both teams. WrestlingMart could sponsor some gear for the athletes in the event. Wrestlers from both teams could get time to work out in CBU’s wrestling room, unofficially visit the campus, and have some kind of civic outreach opportunity with a local charity or non-profit.
The participating teams could split the revenue for the event and I bet it would pay for itself.
Ultimately, these dual opportunities are great for the sport, my question is though, is it practical and does it have value to prepare for postseason success?