We must have been a 1%er. My son did not gain much at all from being on MS wrestling team. I felt he went backwards in terms of aggressiveness and interest. He had nobody to practice with and was never challenged at meets. Pinned everyone he wrestled in the first period and only had one opponent at league meet. The coaching was subpar and negative towards him. Which was to me the worst part as I initially believed that he should have the "Team Experience". Instead he was mistreated and ostracised by the coaching since his level was more than they could handle. Having a positive and motivated HS coach has helped alleviate that. Most of the team mates he had in MS did not go on to wrestle at HS, so no sense of team there. We would have prob been better off wrestling kids club and going to the bigger National Tournaments. The only positive was keeping his weight in check for Kids wrestling later.

I think you have to weigh the situation to see if MS wrestling is worth the time for your wrestler. If he/she is good then the MS wrestling program is prob not going to give your wrestler the challenge that they need. I'd say 80% of the wrestlers who are in MS wrestling are brand new at it and are just trying it out. Which consequently getting thumped those first few years usually drives them away completely. If it weren't for the strong Kids Club program here feeding the MS with talent and proven wrestlers, then they would not have much of a team at all.

I would have to say that we were hurt by MS program but we are prob the exception not the rule. If your gonna wrestle in this day and age it is better to have had a year or two of kids wrestling under your belt before going to MS or they are likely not going to wrestle much further than that.