I want to have this as an Open Discussion item, because I am trying to figure out the root cause of the reason numbers for tournaments are down causing tournaments to cancel and other issues.
In working with Marc West from Edmond Generals, He told me that his numbers were down this year by about 100 wrestlers (which he was actually glad for time constraints). I have also witnessed numbers for tournaments being down (Sprawl Nationals, Team Lightning, etc.)
My question is this: is this a result of the economy being the way it is right now? or is there an actual drop in total numbers of kids wrestling?
In our club we have seen an increase in total numbers with our Novice kids overflowing our Novice practice room like never before. Our Advanced room hasn't grown or decreased by much except for the kids who are now in high school wrestling which are actually on our roster for registration. What I am asking is are other clubs seeing this growth as well or is there a decline within the clubs which might be a driving factor for the tournament entries? Or is the economy driving the kids to not go to tournaments even though they are wrestling in a club?
Just some things to think about and like I said I just wanted to keep this as an open discussion regarding the broad range of topics that these questions might bring up.
Sincerely,
Craig Gash
