Talk about jumping the gun. The Ohio High School Athletic Association certainly did last week, and that’s not just my opinion.

On Thursday, the OHSAA announced in an administrator’s update, that it was suspending the State Dual Team Wrestling Tournament. Although the OHSAA didn’t come out and say exactly why, reports have been it was for financial reasons and not circumstances surrounding the global COVID-19 pandemic.

If so, what happened to the mantra, “It’s for the kids?”

According to a report, it was revealed in minutes from a May 2019 OHSAA Board of Directors meeting that the tournament, which was always held on a Sunday for some unknown reason, suffered net losses of revenue from 2015-19 while being staged inside iconic St. Johns Arena on the campus of Ohio State University.

The first eight events were held approximately one month prior to the individual state tournament, allowing wrestlers to see kids from other schools prior to the postseason.

However, while looking back at last year’s results, I noticed that the tournament, which is broken down into three 8-team divisions — I, II and III — drew a state-record 4,015 fans

Interesting?

“It saddens me to relay this information to the wrestling community. We all know that the dual team tournament provides an unique team environment and atmosphere for our sport that the individual tournament simply cannot. I don’t know what the future holds for the dual team tournament, if and when it could be resumed, or when that determination would be made,” Tyler Brooks, OHSAA Sport Administrator for Wrestling, said in a Tweet.

The Buckeye State was the only state in the nation not to have a state tournament in 2020. It was postponed one day before it was scheduled to begin when the first COVID-19 cases were being reported.

A couple of area high school wrestling coaches were very vocal in their responses when asked their thoughts on the suspension. Although two of the coaches have enjoyed some success in the regionals leading up to the event, they have never punched that ticket.

“My first thought was ‘oh no, here we go again,'” St. Clairsville’s Joel Sansone said. “(The cancellation) brought back emotions from them canceling the state tournament last year.”

He also wondered, “why this far out?”

After some research, Sansone said he found out the real reason.

“It’s disheartening. For an organization that is supposed to be for the student-athletes, that is not putting them first if you cancel an event because of money,” he added. “It shouldn’t be about that.

“What’s next?” he asked.

Sansone did say that his Red Devils have already had a couple of out-of-the-area tournaments canceled.

“It’s just a shame.”

Sansone’s 2019 Red Devils were a Division II regional runnerup.

Barnesville’s Jayson Stephens, echoed some of those sentiments.

“I think they jumped the gun a little too early. Give it time.”

The veteran Shamrocks head coach was excited about his team’s chances this year at the Division III level.

“I thought we could really be competitive this year,” he declared. “To find out the state duals were canceled was very disappointing, especially with everything going on with the COVID-19 and such.

“There are probably ways they could work around it,” Stephen noted.

He gave his idea.

“They could maybe divide it up into three different tournaments,” he said. “Hold each tournament at a Division I school or a big high school.”

When the tournament began in 2013 there were sectional tournaments held locally, with the winner advancing to regionals. For the past several years, that hasn’t been the case.

For example, last year the Division III schools (Barnesville, Bridgeport, Martins Ferry, River, Shadyside) were scheduled to trek to Alexander High School, which is west of Marietta. However, the Bulldogs and Pilots chose not to participate which schools that don’t have full rosters have the opportunity to do.

Martins Ferry made the 2-3 hour journey only to wrestle one match and head back home.

“I wasn’t too disappointed with the decision,” Martins Ferry head coach Chad Ware said. “Although we didn’t fare too well, it was a good experience for the kids to see other teams from your district.

“As long as nothing else gets canceled, I’m alright with it.”

The Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association hinted in a couple of tweets that something might be on the horizon.

“We are disheartened with today’s announcement of the suspension of the state dual series for the 2021 season. As association leaders we are committed to working with the OHSAA to bring it back into the fold as soon as possible.”

Another read, “lots of conversations happening regarding today’s OHSAA announcement … 20-21 OHSWCA State Dual Championships is a real possibility. Stay tuned as we continue to discuss and plan potential formats.”

So, until then, whenever that might be, stay tuned and continue to follow all the mandated guidelines so the student-athletes can continue to play their seasons.