Originally posted by TRAVIUS wycowrestling.com:
We should do a better job at providing an environment where these 6U will still be around at 16U. And if a small piece of that formula means having these novice 6U kids wait a year or two... WELL in the BIG PICTURE... ISNT IT WORTH IT???
I’d much rather see a kids wall decorated with an assortment of medals over years then for him to look back and say I used to be state champion when I was 6 but basketball, soccer, football , baseball was more fun.
I can only speak from my experiences
Travius Stokes
Travius, I would agree with the goal if the presumption that keeping the kids out of the state tournament would, in the long term, keep them in wrestling BUT in our experiences that just doesn't seem to be true. Someone at the state meeting made the statement that if not having a 6U class at the tournament was so bad then how come the 6U numbers remained the largest category every year. I can't speak for other clubs but in our club it's because we continue to get a whole new crop of 6U, all the while watching those that wrestled the previous year go off to try their hand at ******ball. The kids we get back consistently are those that by luck of their size and/or abilities were able to participate in the state tournament in the 8U division. Those kids/parents are typically sold on wrestling from that point forward. I wish everyone would quit saying we don't allow 6U kids to enter the state tournament because as we all know, we do! You will never get me to say that we need to provide a better enviroment for the 6U age group BUT I will say we need to provide a better enviroment for ALL ages.
