Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School JUNIOR HIGH COACHES-Season of Sport survey

I have made a proposal to my JH activities director to look into changing the season of junior high wrestling to begin after football season instead of as it is currently, beginning after Christmas break. He asked me to gauge support for my proposal, and if there was ample support he would bring it to the new league when they meet. I would even consider chairing a committee to standardize JH season of sport through KSHSAA as is done in high school, but I don't feel a lot of support for that. I understand that those in Eastern Kansas already wrestle before Christmas in most cases. We are in the process of developing a new JH league and this would be an ideal time for consideration. Currently, most schools in western Kansas have boys basketball after football, with girls basketball after Christmas. This allows, in theory, 7th and 8th grade boys to "try" both sports. We begin JH wrestling after Christmas Break and end it in the middle of March.

I would like to see the season of sport for BOYS basketball moved to January through mid March, GIRLS basketball to mid October through December, and wrestling to mid October through December for the following reasons.

1) I feel it would increase wrestling participation on the Junior High level without hurting basketball participation. We would no longer be in conflict with most of the major kids tournaments after Christmas. It would allow our talented wrestlers to have a longer, more competitive season if they desired without making the decision to choose "kids" wrestling OR JH wrestling. Mandating kids to choose between larger tournaments OR the team building aspects of school wrestling is a huge issue, in my opinion.

2) It will still allow those interested in basketball to participate after Christmas, yet permit them to participate in "kids" tournaments if their school allowed since wrestling is not their season of sport.

I know that this has been under consideration for years, and with the current development of several new leagues in western Kansas it would be an ideal time for implementation. I am only speaking for myself, but in my community it has the support of the kids coaches as well as the vast majority of parents. If you have any additional thoughts on this please let me know, both pro and con. We need to move very quickly. I will also be conducting informal polls at every meet and tournament for the rest of our school season.

email me at rcue@ulysses.org

Rick Cue
Ulysses