Is it legal to wrestle two age groups at same tournament?

I don't know about "Legal" in all situations. I do know it has been done at some tourneys - not the large ones. At State, I know it is not allowed (except for a 6U wrestling 8U). In the cases where I have seen it done, you usually have a very good wrestler who would not get a lot of competition at his "natural" age/weight, so he does both brackets to get some competition. Usually it is understood that one bracket won't wait for him/her to finish another match, or there may not be much if any "recovery" time between the matches. I think it is usually just a decision between the wrestler's coaches and where they are wrestling if they will allow a wrestler to enter two different brackets.

It is if the tourney is utilizing a split format. Each session is considered a seperate tourney. You can not however enter in two different weight classes in the same age group or different age groups in the same session.

This is one of the reason Derby will be using the split format.

Get after it.

Has this changed then? There was a time that the kids rules, at least as we were told, prevented a wrestler in Kansas from wrestling in two different divisions, or I thought wrestling up.

Mike, I don’t believe the rule has changed but with the creation of the split format the opportunity now exist. As you are aware in OK there are no restrictions to wrestling up, which I agree with.

I could not find any thing in rules that said it was illegal. I know some tournys say they dont want this done in flyer. I know some wrestlers do this. My 8 year old has been wanting to wrestle up for two years now. I would not let him last year. I think he could compete with the 10U this year.

Rule 4

Competition shall be in the following age and weight classes. Age determination shall be as of midnight, August 31 for that competitive year. For example, a child with a birthday on August 31, 1997 will wrestle as an eleven-year-old during the 2008/09 season. A child born on September 1, 1997 will wrestle as a ten-year-old during the 2008/09 season. Any USAWA-Kansas Kids club may challenge the age of any wrestler during weigh-in at a sanctioned tournament. The wrestler or the wrestler's club must, within one week, provide a birth certificate or similarly reliable verification that the wrestler's age stated on his/her membership card is accurate.

The age divisions are:
Eight and Under
Nine and Ten
Eleven and Twelve
Thirteen and Fourteen
Fifteen and Sixteen

The rules do not provide for an eight year old to wrestle up an age division.

There are kids that wrestle up. Maybe not in two different ages at the same tournament. In MO and OK you can wrestle in both your age and the next age up. My son did it several times.

24/7

We used to have kids do this all of the time in Oklahoma, I understand the reasoning for the rule in Kansas, but liked the opportunity to get additional matches. Of course we don't worry about it anymore, but I remember many times doing 2 divisions at 2 different weights all of the time in the same tournament. There are some high school aged tournaments that even allowed it in Oklahoma, as long as it is a classification tournament, and the wrestler was not a senior in high school. I know I have seen kids with only an opponent or two get bumped up to the next weight, plus get the opportunity to wrestle the kid in their weight in Kansas. I don't know about the legality of it, but know I have seen this take place.

Richard, thank you for the post. I however think that the spirit of rule 4 is to address those wishing to wrestle down not up. In addition, this option is strictly prohibited for qualifying tournaments as indicated under that section.

By following rule 4-4-1: Additional and/or combined age and weight classes can be used at the option of the host tournament director. I think this still can be accomplished.

When the tournament is run utilizing a split format, it has been ruled that the two splits will be considered separate tournaments; therefore, if 8 & Under were wrestled in the AM session and 10 & Under wrestled in the PM session, an 8 year old wrestler could elect to wrestle in the 8 & Under in the morning and in the 10 & Under in the after, if the tournament director elects to make the 10 & Under bracket a combined 8 & 10 & Under bracket for this weight class.

We had this question at our tourney a few years back...

Here is my understanding. It is allowable to wrestle up in age ***except in Qualifying Tournaments.

The rules below are for QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS!! ***Rule 4.

Rules Modifications for Qualifying Tournaments

Qualifying tournaments are subject to all sanctioned tournament modifications, except where those rules have been modified or expanded below.
Rule 2 The safety mat area defined in modified Rule 2-1-2 must be kept clear at all times, except for two coaches per wrestler. Only coaches with copper or bronze level coaches’ cards will be allowed at mat side.
Rule 3 The referee’s uniform is mandatory. All referees must be both High School and Kids certified.
Rule 4 No additional age or weight classes are allowed. At no time will a wrestler be permitted to wrestle out of their age division unless it is specifically stated in these standing rules.
There shall be no weight allowances given.
Rule 6 The first period in all consolation matches will be one minute.
Rule 10 In the event of a bracket with three or four wrestlers, there will be a round robin. In the event of a two-man bracket they will wrestle the best two out of three matches.

"Wrestling Up" gives the wrestler an opportunity for more mat time. Some kids especially can handle the "wrestling up" every now and then while some desire "not to".

The recovery time as well as the potential to interfere with matches may make it difficult if not in a split tournament format.

Ultimately, many kids wrestling over the years and especially the better ones can have some better competition "wrestling up" --- ultimately it's all based upon the individual.

Keep in mind as well that the matches are great however the wins only count in their age division --- so it's great mat time especially when your kid may have a bye and only have two more matches and the tournament is over.