Beeson's posts in the regional meeting thread made me think of something we've discussed at length here at WaRu. Over the past few years, we've seen almost every JV event we attend drop the "team score" aspect of the competition, which impedes all of our wrestlers' development.

When team score is involved, we're teaching our younger wrestlers about the value of earning bonus points and winning in the medal rounds to help their teammates. I can't ever see a situation where competition is a bad thing, whether it be JV wrestling or a tiddlywinks tournament.

If we are trying to prepare our younger wrestlers for varsity competition, leaving out the team score is a detriment to our wrestlers by not preparing them for the most vital aspect of varsity competition.

If you are hosting a JV tournament, please consider including (or keeping) the team score as an integral part of our wrestlers' growth. Trophies are cheap. It's worth it to the kids and for the betterment of our sport.