Jeff,

I recommend you guys push to change your middle school season to the early option. Brock did it for the first time this year (he's in 7th grade) and he had a lot of fun. After studying this for a few years the following are my thoughts to the advantages of having the early season....

1. Kids can wrestle for their school and still wrestle for the club after the school season. I like the idea of kids getting used to wrestling for their school.

2. We end up getting a lot of kids from the local middle school programs in our kids club because they wait until 7th grade to try wrestling. They like it and then they come out for the club. Another factor is that some of them realize they aren't going to be part of the "chosen 10" when they get to be freshmen and so they decide to wrestle.

3. For those that think they may have a chance at the "chosen 10" but are on the bubble they can do both sports. That way when they learn as freshmen that they really aren't part of the "chosen 10" they can still come and wrestle for the high school and have some experience.

One recommendation I would throw out there is to encourage your high school coaches to be the middle school coaches if you go to the early season. This helps the high school coaches get to know the kids and work with them before they get to high school. I have seen this really build depth in some of our high school programs.

Good luck.

Shawn Budke