How many of you have wrestled kids club and feel it's helped you? If you havne't do you wish you would have?

I myself only wrestled kids club hard for 1 year and that year I qualified for State and had some fun but didn't place but those extra matches were invaluable experience I wouldn't have gotten else, it helped me to become a 2x HS State Qualifier

Alex

My son wrestled kids for the first time as a freshman and gained some invaluable extra coaching & mat time. He qualified state in kids that year, and placed 6th in kids state his sophomore year. He followed this up by qualifying HS state last year, and placing 6th this year. He is wrestling kids this year. He looks forward not only to the extra wrestling time, but the chance to visit with all the friends he has made.

My family is insane so i started wrestling when i was 3. i have qualified for feterated state 7 times and placed 6th and 3rd. and it helped me cause i qualified for highschool state this year. i also wrestle alot of freestyle. the more u wrestle the better u get.

I started wrestling when I was 4. I started out wrestling for Clearwater kids club and I was ok. But I started wrestling for Team of Hard Knox about my 5th year. That's when I became really good. So I think wrestling in kids helps, but it depends on what club you wrestle for. It also depends on how seriously you take it.

Kids club was an valuable experience for me. I credit all my wrestling success to my coachs Dave Robinson who is now a fellow official, Kirk Gable, and all the other coaches I had. I only won 1 match my first year, after that I qualifed to state every year and placed most years until I graduated from high school. Our high school won two state championships from the same group of kids that I grew up in kids wrestling with, I'd say kids club made hug contributions to all of us.

The kids club is clearly helpful in developing great wrestlers. I am not so sure it is helpful in developing good high school wrestling programs. It is critical to have a sense of moderation from the club coaches, directors etc. They need to have good insight into how much a young wrestler involved to the point they are making them hungry and excited about wrestling and not to the point just past that where they are tired and bored with it. To the young kids who get passionate about wrestling early, yes the clubs can develop them into great wrestlers.

I look at the Turner team and how many good wrestlers they have! Many of them are home-grown through their kids club. I hear a lot of wrestlers from other teams say they came up through the Turner kids club. There has to be something there.

It would be nice if the Turner coaches believed the kids club had an impact!

Hey, my dad's name is Dave Robinson and he used to coach and ref. That's crazy.

And kids club helped me catch up to everyone else since I started my freshman year. Without it I bet I wouldn't have done nearly as well because I was really bad. I think I went 4-25 or something like that on fifth string my freshman year and then after that I qualified for state the next three years. Sure in tenth grade I had a losing record when I qualified, but I actually had to beat a good kid to get there so it all worked out alright.

Just goes to show you can qualify in the upper classes way to easy, but still quite an accomplishment

Kids wrestling helped me out alot; placing 3,4,6 it was great experience for HS state

Kids programs CAN help, but sometimes great wrestlers get burned out from wrestling so much. Brantley Thornton from Caney was a Kids state champion, but stopped wrestling his freshman year. Why? He got tired of wrestling EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND IN WINTER. I agree that they can be helpful in developing wrestlers, but can also turn kids to basketball.

Eh, it's not like I did anything there. And 189 in 6A was by far the most stacked at state anyways, with Justin Dyer and Justin Stevens wrestling in the finals, so, like most years everything seemed to even out.

Kids wrestling can have a considerable impact on High school programs. I believe the greatest impact they have is in getting young kids and parents interested and invoved in the sport of wrestling. They also serve to teach some funamental technique, good sportmanship and, if the wrestler and parents are committed over time, can produce wrestlers who go to camps and learn from instructors who teach a variety of styles. I do believe that 7th and 8th grade scholastic programs do more to develop young wrestlers and help them make the transition to competitive high-school scholastic wrestling. But the kids programs are important in getting them out on the mat and sewing the seeds of desire to train and wrestle at the high school level. Losing our 8th grade program to budget cuts has made it much tougher to help kids make the transition from kids to high-school with nothing in between. The difference in the pace and intensity of practice, the personal discipline and sacrifice required, the mental and physical demands (including staying academically eligible while training and competing) can be a shock to the system. Probably more difficult is the learning curve for instruction in new or different technique. It's tough for some to discontinue their reliance on moves that worked well at the kids level, but have a low probablility of working against good high-school competition such as head-and-arm, fat-man roll, and reaching back from bottom to grab ....... something. Still, many of those who have wrestled kids club and have drilled hard in practice, gone to camps to take advantage of a variety of styles of technique, trained in a disciplined manner to improve their strength and fitness (cardio) are generally quite coachable and can learn and adapt quickly.

Burn Out

I agree that some say they get burn out on wrestling but the same could be said about basketball. Not like their is much of a difference. Face it- wrestling is an individual sport and some kids just don't like that pressure. No one to blame but yourself. pressure is what makes these young men decide to play basketball or do nothing. The kids program is what makes champions. How many state championsnever wrestled kids?

I've been wrestling since I was 7 years old, the extra 10,000 double and single legs I drilled as midget helped me become a 4x state placer in HS and a Federation State Champion. YES!!!

Scooby-

"How many state champions never wrestled kids?" Excellent question! As for superiorsteve's "Probably more difficult is the learning curve for instruction in new or different technique." It has been my experience that the kids coaches show several techniques and styles of wrestling. Is that true in hs or is it just the head coaches style?

One thing that I have always wondered about. How many kids winning kids state come from Western Kansas vs Eastern Kansas. Is this the same as high school? You really don't hear that much about outstanding Norton kids who are under the age of 10 but when they get to high school-watch out. The same thing for Hoxie, St. Francis, ect. What are they doing that we are not? Do they have many kids dropping out of wrestling? Do they have a burnout problem? someone from northwest Kansas please feel me in.

kid's club has helped me tramendously. If I hadn't of done club I really wouldn't be where I am today. I probably would have struggled to be on JV. So yes Kids helps alot so do it.

This is easy, sure they have a major impact on most wrestlers, and the Turner people should know. For the record, only 23 percent of schools in Kansas still have a jur. high program. Budget cuts across the states have ripped many a programs from the schools, not only athletics. Superiorsteve's starting response commends these programs, then does a u-turn. Starting with "they serve to teach some funamental technique", most of those club coaches haved produced kids with great technique, from grambies,tilts,scrambles,standups,single and double legs, and on and on. Heck, your comment on moves that don't work good in high school(head and arm) Tristan Deshazer has won 3 high schools state championships using it still(hip toss). Most 7 and 8 grade programs only run for around 45 days, give or take, so how would you teach in such short time, so many moves or techniques. Kids that wrestle 7 to 9 months out of a year will by far in percent, excell further than those that do not compete on a consistent competitive level. Also as for practice,discipline,sacrifice,mental and physical demands, they are still there, even at 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 years old. They go to school,they travel, bring school work along, eat on the run, but most of them love it because of the desire to wrestle. A parent sacrifice,PRICELESS. I know a high school program that goes to 6,7,and 8,th. grades, and puts on an exhibition in sept. to get thier kids involved in their kids wrestling programs. Does yours do that? Try it with positive input to your club coaches, that could fill your void you are missing with no 8th grade program. Your kids program, by far has lifted turner to new levels,Smith,Bales,Hansen,Bird,Hulse,Thompsons,Figgie,Steinmets,Lee,Smith,Currans, I've watched them for a few years, take our medals. Their level speaks for itself. Club coaches like,Knox,Cisper,Zamm,Gonzales(kids and h.s.),and many many more do know more than just "some funamentals" even your own club coaches with the last names of the kids above. All coaches help to train the brain of young athletes.Many of times I have herd a H.S. coach tell a wrestler to get his bu!! into the club to get more mat time and competition after the h.s. season was over. Well its late,late flight in, early flight at 11, got to go. Superiorsteve, one last question, would you rather have your 8th. program or your kids club? Check your state placers, that should be your answer.