Can a high school wrestler earn service hours helping out at a kids club practice? Would this affect their eligibility for high school wrestling?

There would be no coaching involved at tournaments - just assisting a kids wrestling club on a volunteer basis at practice.

I have tried to access this information at the KSHSAA website but the website has been down.

I always thought that if you were in season, you couldn't participate in other wrestling endeavors at the same time.

When I was running our rec board I always hired high school basketball players to ref the biddy basketball games. There was never any problem with that - it was simply a part-time job. I would think that since there was no competition involved for the students that there wouldn't be a conflict, but it's worth checking into.

We use High School kids all the time for coaching little guys. This has never been or will ever be an issue with the KSHSAA. I think it's a great opportunity for these young men to give back to the wrestling community and satisfy some of their civic responsibilities. The kids get a big kick when these next level wrestlers acknowledge their existence! Both parties benefit from this experience.

Mark Miller
Manhattan Wrestling

I know that from watching the little dudes react when they are around the older high school guys, they seem to get more from the high school kids then from the coaches. They look up to those guys

I received a response from Rick Bowden, Assistant Executive Director at KSHSAA as follows:

"[Rick Bowden, Assistant Executive Director] They could assist in coaching during practices but could not receive any compensation (ie., money, gift certificates, discounts on goods, etc.)."

"Coaching at practices would not violate KSHSAA rules PROVIDED that the student wrestler could only work with the club team during his school season, but not outside the season if any member of the student’s school wrestling coaching staff is present."

"The basis for the interpretations is rule 20, rule 21 and rule 30."

Also a Gary Musselman responded, possibly the Executive Director @ KSHSAA? Here is his response "As I see it, the wrestler could help with a kids program, provided they did not coach in tournaments. Since they say volunteer, I assume no pay would be involved. If pay were involved, Rule 21 – 1 – 3 would be in effect.

If the high school athletes school coach were involved with the club practices, the high school wrestler could only work with the club team during his school season, but not outside the season due to school coaches presence."

See the KSHSAA handbook online Rule 21.