Mr. Noblet:
I have the some of the same concerns and thoughts you expressed about the six and under participation. I believe you had some excellent points about that. There does however seem to be a strong demand for their participation. I would alter Coachjt's plan a little to revise the age divisions. Instead of our current system which is geared to 3rd grade & under (8&U), 4th and 5th (10&U), 6th & 7th (12&U), and 8th and 9th (14&U), I would propose 7 & Under (2nd grade and under), 9 & Under (3rd & 4th graders), 11 & under (5th & 6th graders) and finally 14 & under with no high school wrestlers allowed to participate but would allow kids who might have been held back a grade or started school a little late (7th & 8th graders primarily). This would use the same August 31st cutoff date to match the schools.
This would make it a little easier for a few more younger kids to participate since they would be facing 2nd graders instead of 3rd graders. I'm not sure that the majority of the high school wrestlers who actually come back to participate are really the first year Freshman or JV type wrestlers anyway. It seems like the majority of the ones I see at State are varsity wrestlers who have actually qualified if not won or placed at their high school State tournaments.
I say let's give the grade school kids the high quality State tournament experience that they deserve. I do not think we are doing that 100% right now. Let's have a Grade School Kids State Tournament. Grade school kids and high school young men and women should have separate tournaments like just about all other sports do.
