This wrestling tournament going on this past week, and through Saturday—the first Section 1 Dual-Meet championship—is about teams and it is about Section 1 taking  a step toward being more competitive on the state level.

In the works for about eight years, the dual-meet tournament gives participating wrestlers three more (minimum) matches than the state allows, because this event doesn’t count against that total.

More, it leads to a sense of team-bonding as wrestling teams go through a unique event—unique for this sport, but quite similar to the bracket-style tournaments in other sports such as basketball. Teams wrestle against other teams, the winner goes on to face the next team.

You don’t get that in other events. Dual meets are one-day affairs and their outcomes don’t really matter except for league titles and such. The tournaments in which most of the wrestlers participate are more about the individuals. Team titles are based on how many points those individuals gain, not on team wins and losses.

I wrote a column about this topic for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow. Got a lot of positive feedback from participating coaches.

The quarterfinals are Thursday: Ossining at John Jay (Cross River), Suffern at New Rochelle, Sleepy Hollow at Fox Lane, North Rockland at Carmel. The winners move on to the semifinals, and then the finals, Saturday at John Jay.