What is considered novice? Made state last year but only won one tournament and averaged 2nd or 3rd. This is our second year and would like to attend a few as novice because I believe it would do us some good. Thanks for your input.

This is a hot topic each year. There are definite exceptions, but the generally accepted rule is:

1. You must be a 1st or 2nd year wrestler.
2. If you have won an Open tournament or placed in more than 4 Open's, you are not a Novice.

Making State does not disqualify you. I would consult with an experienced coach who should be able to tell you with certainty which division you belong in.

No, you are not a novice!

I've seen some wrestlers in novice that did not belong. They were there to build confidence. The problem is, I know of at least two wreslers that will not wrestle now because they were destroyed by a kid that should not have been in novice. If he is placing 2nd and 3rd, wrestling better competition will help him more than wrestling beginners.

Thanks folks, I agree with those assesments, we will keep to the open class.

This IS a hot topic. I don't think that there is enough talk getting us to an actual solution to the Novice definition. Until then I think coaches should be the ones to dictate who should be novice. Not every first year kid is a novice and not every third or fourth year kid is an open wrestler. I have had kids who we would not let wrestle novice after their first couple novice tournaments. On the other hand I have had kids who needed to wrestle novice every week into their third year. Along with coaches dictating who wrestle at the novice level, parents need to adhere to that decision. Some parents feel their kids need "extra mat time" so they put them in novice tournaments. How about having them wrestle someone else in the wrestling room. Someone that would push them. I feel this would help them more than going out and spending 2 minutes on the mat on a Sunday pinning kids who have no chance. The whole idea of a novice tournament is to alow new kids to get the quality mat time they need in order to get them excited about the sport and the confidence to stick with it. It is not here to give more talented kids a feeding ground to build their ego. We as coaches are responsible for that.

exactly ... coaches need to be ethical!!

I couldn't agree w/ you more Coach Craig. Regarding the kids wrestling against kids with the same ability in a novice tourn., this also gives those kids the opportunity to win some hardware, which will give them some confidence.

A real solution would be to revamp the rules at a novice tournament so that they emphasis learning instead of winning. Examples:
1. Do away w/ awards or medals at novice tournaments. What is the purpose: learning or winning.
2. Do away w/ line bracketing and give each wrestler a guaranteed number of matches. Isn't the kid who goes 0-2 at a novice tournament in more need of matches then the kid who goes 2-0?
3. Reset the score to 0-0 after each period. Let the kids work on what they need to work on w/o worrying about the score.

The intent is not to make the novice tournament "touchy/feely" but to put the focus back on instruction. I beleive if you do this that only the kids who want instruction will go and the ones who go for the medals will stay home.

I think you nailed it Barry.

Our experience in Nebraska was similar to what you described, they took kids and put them in 4 or 5 man pools.
They got matches and mat time in. A lot of the tournaments also were Friday afternoon ones as well that lasted just a couple of hours

One of the things that we did at our novice tournament last year was that we held exhibition matches after the bracketed matches were done, this was partly due to poor attendence due to illnesses/our late scheduling of the tournament, but it worked out great. The kids that wanted more mat time could stay and have a few more matches. We were careful of age and weight of opponents. The tournament was still over earlier than normal. Another thing that we did was letting the matches stand as is instead of re-bracketing everyone, this enabled us to start almost on time, and gave the kids a quick tournament. Also, everyone gets a medal for participating.

I think there sould be a more flexible definition for novice wrestlers. WE have a kid in our club that has been wrestling for 5 years and has only won 2 matches. He keeps coming back but he gets destroyed at open tournaments. I think it would be nice if everyone would be honest when they sign their kids up for the tournaments and put them in tournaments that they can compete at- not walk out their and win every time or get beat everytime! WE definitly need to do away with 1st or 2nd year only and rely more on the clubs coaches to determine if the kids are ready for open or novice.