Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion Kids Folkstyle Questions about pairings for kids wrestling.

First off I'm a new parent to kids wrestling. I dont have a coaches card and I did very little wrestling as a youth. However I have done some pairing for MMA Events in Kansas. I know a little about how to match up MMA fighters.

My son started wrestling 3 years ago. Here is his record and I will put some notes by each season with some comments.

Season 1 His record was 5-3 None of the kids he beat could wrestle. My son couldnt do a move yet. 4 years old what do we expect. He was Happy. He liked wrestling. He placed 1st in our home town tournament.

Season 2. His record was 1-3 Wrestled first tournament. He got sick and was sick for 2 or 3 weeks. We missed our local tournament and retired for the year. He was 5.

Season 3. His record is 2-10 He is getting paired with the higher seeded 6 and under kids. I think they call them A brackets or A wrestlers. I refuse to tell him to cut weight. He isnt fat at all. Just a growing boy. Moved from 49 to 52 already.

I would call a 8-16 record a C wrestler. Is that accurate? I was told he couldnt wrestle in Amature meets last year since he won a tournement when he was 4. I think having some competition on his level would of helped him. I guess the rules disqualify him for novice since he won a bracket at 4 years old? (even though he didnt know a wrestling move yet)

I just feel that if he could get paird with simular talented kids he would:

A] Have more fun. I know he still has fun. He knows he losses alot. I stress on the fact he never gives up and tell him thats what makes a champion.

B] He would actually improve. Wrestling close to his level would help him learn the Art or wrestling more than wrestling more talented kids.

I know that you get out of it what you put into it, but I refused to make him wrestle longer in the season than what he was interested in. I think he has alot of desire to continue this year. I just wonder what it takes to get him paired against kids his skill level.

We took him to a tourny a few weeks ago. I made sure that they knew his record and I consider him a C. He had an One A wrestler and three D wrestlers in his bracker. (2 of the D's didnt show up and were replaced) Im not sure what they replacements were (A?, C?). My son won against the D wresler.

I cant imagine what the A wrestler did to the D wrestler. It must of been a fast match.

The truth is my son doesnt care who he wrestles. I sometimes think if he is paired up against the best he will soon lose confidence and interest.

I dont want to see him lose interest.

It's easy. Next year first tournament, put him in the novice and open. If he destroys the novice, don't put him in there again. If he has close matches in novice and gets beat in open, play them both for a month or so. If he places in the open...he belongs in the open only.

My two oldest boys started wrestling back in 2003 at the ages of 8 and 6. The oldest one didn't have much success while his younger brother did very well in Novice tournaments. After two season in Novice, my oldest son had 2 or 3 wins total (probably 14-15 tournaments). I didn't want him to lose interest either and talked him into wrestling one more year. I told him that if things didn't get better, he could call it good and do something else. After all, he was a third year wrestler, at the top of the U10 age group, and we still wrestled him in Novice (no reason to move up if you can't win at that level). I am proud that he competed hard and he never cried, although I did see tears in his eyes on more than one occasion after getting it physically handed to him during a match. Three years Novice, 4 wins total, and the rest is history.

Since those days, my oldest son has continued doing other activities. He made the high school soccer team (C team)this year as a 9th grader, something that I am very proud of.

The point am trying to make is that your son should continue to wrestle where he is matched with opponents at his skill level. If that is Novice, then so be it. As Beeson said, if he can place top four in open, then that is where he should be (and I am not talking about 4-man round robin type places).

Also winning 1 novice at the age of 4 shouldn't diqualify him from novice tourneys, there are some tournaments so small that it is nothing for a kid to win some his first year and not be a real good wrestler. Its really up to the coach wether he thinks they are ready for opens (and thats in the first few seasons).

Also if you are wrestling in opens make sure you go to large tournaments, that a way there are enough kids to make your A,B,& C brackets.

I went to Baldwin yesterday to watch my five year old take a couple of good old fashion thrashings. He was still smiling in the end, so things weren't as bad as they could have been. I am glad he likes to wrestle, and if you watch him, he has Novice written all over him.

While I was waiting for one of his matches, I was watching some of the older kids wrestle. On a U12 mat I watched a young man soundly defeat his opponent (1st period pin). Watching his demeanor while warming up and his better than Novice skill while wrestling, I said to myself that this kid should not be wrestling in this tournament. I immediately went to the U12 brackets and found the bout number on one of them and made a mental note of the wrestler's name. After scanning some of the results from this year, I saw his name in three open tournaments (1st in a B bracket, 3rd, and 4th). I guess the good thing is he pinned his opponent quickly and didn't use his full arsenal of moves on him while burning up some mat time and winning by major decision in three periods.

I had to make sure and double check that Baldwin was in fact a Novice tournament, and it was. In the tournament this wrestler finished third, the wrestler who finished fourth was the same wrestler who placed third in the A bracket (5 man RR) at the tournament the kid placed 1st in the B bracket (5 man RR). I know that this all sounds kind of confusing, but it does make me think that this young man should not be wrestling Novice tournaments and his coaches/parents should know better.

This is the reason we went to the Novice Champship in Derby last weekend. It promised 1st year wrestlers. For the most part I was happy with the tourney. On a side note, I think I saw another kid pin each opponent in his bracket within the first 30 seconds or so.