Can one of you KC metro area people please go by Nowak's house and give Vince a sedative? I have a feeling he's going to need it after reading this thread!
sportsfan02, thank you the KC wrestling community has rushed to my aid. I think I will make it. Whew!
Actually, I have recently been on the mat.com and already knew of this, since it has been a topic on there. I posted this on the topic on the Mat.com:
I really think it would be better for high school wrestling participation to keep the weight classes at 14 but to adjust them as I have suggested in the other topic I introduced on Should there be more weight classes for wrestlers over 160. I suggested these weight classes: 108, 115, 122, 129, 136, 143, 150, 158, 167, 178, 190, 210, 230 and 285. Kids are getting bigger. It will bring more football players and their fans into the stands. It should help cut down on excessive weight cutting and instead encourage wrestlers to get bigger and stronger. This would too would help wrestling's image with the general public.The reason I had got on the Mat.com recently was to introduce the topic: Should there be more weight classes for wrestlers over 160.
sportsfan02,
If they go to 12 weight classes and lower 215 to 210, it is not going to personally change anything for myself or my son. Jacob wrestled as a sophomore last year at 285 and he weighed a little under 220 about the whole time (he weighed in at 217 at regional). Jacob likes wrestling heavyweight even though last year was his first year at it. He weighs around 225 now and he wants to weigh around 240 to 245 for football and wrestling next year. I don't know if he will get that high but that is his goal and he is truly committed to the 285 weight class next year. So it really would not make a difference for Jacob or myself. It would not even really make a difference for Jacob if they raised the weights to have a 150, 158, 167. 178, 190, 210, 230 and 285 for heavier kids as I have proposed because like I said he wants to weigh 240-245 and we have a junior coming back for his senior season next season who would be the 230 in that scenario and I believe under our current weight class system that returning junior will be our 215 next season and Jacob will try to win the 285 spot again next year.
The only way it means anything to me is that I personally want to see wrestling grow. I hate seeing all these colleges without wrestling programs. I believe the only way this trend will reverese will either be from legislation which is unlikely to happen in my opinion or from the general growth of popularity in wrestling. Is this a good thing for wrestling's growth to cut the weights down to 12 from 14? I tend to think not. I think it would be better to try raising the weight classes as I have suggested and I think this will make it easier to fill more weights for teams. That seems to be one of the main selling points of the plan to go to 12 since many schools are having trouble filling all their spots and it is evidently not just at the lower and higher end of the weight classes. These supporters say it is bad for wrestling's image having all these forfeits at duals.
To me the worst thing for wrestling's image is excessive weight cutting which I believe can be a product of too low of weight classes and too small of a differential in a number of our weight classes (only 5 pound differentials in the middle weight classes). I have had a lot of people over the last ten years tell me that they are just not interested in having their child wrestle because they saw what a brother or friend went thru losing a lot of weight to meet a lower weight class. I believe the general public still has this image of wrestling.
I believe raising the weight classes to what I am proposing will help get more participation in wrestling because it will make it more attractive for football players and their coaches and give juniors and seniors more opportunities to find a weight class. I really think that football players are a natural for wrestling and that the two sports complement each other. I believe there are a lot of very athletic football players over 160 who are not giving wrestling a try and wrestling needs to do more to recruit them into our sport. There are only four weight classes over 160 out of 14 weight classes. This is not enough in my opinion. Most football players weigh over 160 and quite a few of them over 215. If you have ten junior and senior linemen over 215 (and I do not think that is too unusual anymore at least from what I am seeing around here it isn't unusual), you just do not have a lot of opportunity for them with only one weight class over 215. I don't think you are going to get six to ten football buddies to wrestle when they only have one varsity spot available between them. Most football coaches are not going to be interested in their 230 to 240 linemen dropping 15 to 20 pounds or over to compete for a varsity wrestling spot. They would just as soon have them lift weights during the winter. If they did not have to drop all that weight, I believe you would get more support from the football coaches.
I also think that all kids are getting a little bigger and that raising the weights will give more opportunities especially for juniors and seniors over 150 and I think the majority of the juniors and seniors are over 150. I believe our weight classes should be based on the weights of juniors and seniors. I think the changes that I have proposed from 152, 160, 171, 189, 215 and 285 to 150. 158, 167, 176, 190, 215, 230, 285 would give more opportunities to a lot of these juniors and seniors who have crept up into the weights over 150 up to 190. I would like to see an entirely new philosophy in wrestling from cutting weight to the lowest possible to going stronger at your maximum strength best weight. In other words hitting the weight room instead of having to running around the qym the day of the tournament to make weight constantly.
So sportsfan02 don't worry, I really don't need a sedative. All I can do is submit my proposal for weight changes to the NFHS. I realize that I have as about as much chance of it happening as my appeals to Lew Perkins to add a team at KU the last couple of years. At 56, I guess I fit well into that saying about there is no fool like an old fool. I will keep dreaming and asking though.
