Will,

I think one good outcome of more middle school programs in Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley and Olathe would be that we would also eventually see stronger JV wrestling in the area. Instead of first and second year wrestlers we would be seeing more third and fourth year wrestlers wrestling JV. That would ultimately improve both JV wrestling and varsity wrestling in our area. I realize finding enough good middle school coaches would be difficult but hopefully that would develop too with time. It would be a great opportunity for a local college graduate or current college student to start giving back to the sport that they love. I would like to see Jacob do something like that a few years from now. The bottom line benefit is that more middle school wrestling programs will get more kids and parents interested and involved in wrestling, so I hope more middle schools will follow Mill Valley and DeSoto and add middle school programs.

Middle School Wrestling, like any other middle school program, is a means to get individuals involved in the sport that otherwise might not be. It also allows for the athletes to bond and create a "Team" relationship that possibly has never been available. For coaches, it allows them to build relationships with their up coming athletes since the majority of MS coaches are also HS coaches. If the elite or more talented athletes choose to not participate in MS in order to continue to develop competitively I don't blame them. The current MS season is not for them. But what they will lack is the above mentioned. As a MS and HS coach I have found that sometimes those that are more talented, or at least think they are, that do not do MS wreslting come into the HS room and tend to have problems with team rules and authority. I like having all levels in the room for teaching purposes, but it does create issues when your highly talented kids are trying to be matched up for competitions. I think that if more programs were longer and possibly developed some novice competitions along with experienced then more kids might benefit from the MS experience.

For the majority of what I witness from the stands during MS and then on into kids wrestling, the head coaches remain the same...and if the coach from MS doesn't coach kids then he is coaching HS. Atleast this is the norm in our area.

Also, where else will your son/daughter have practice for 2hrs every day for the 6 week program? Plus have the mat time during 2 duals per week? My son benefited from that alone! Then we rolled right into our kids season...where we have 2 practices a week for 2 hrs per session. We go to tournaments every week from Dec. - April during the kids season.
As an 8th grader my son had the opportunity to practice w/the HS team 3-4 nights a week during their season as an extra body for the lower weights. He qualified for State for the 1st time this year...and I have to say - MS did not have a "bad effect" on him! But helped to stretch his goals and by being the leader on his MS team, helped him to focus on his future in wrestling!

Thanks for the time.

Middle School wrestling is a good introduction. I see the problem of coaching at the basic and fundemental level. Mat time and buidling interest is very important. I am going back 30 years and we had middle school wrestling - that is all we had.
We had 4 teams = 3 duals and then a citwide bracket tournament.
The season was 6 weeks long - 2 weeks of practice and 4 weeks of competition. Basketball was before Christmas (same length of season) Wrestling was after Christmas. There definitely was bragging rights between the schools and it teaches the team concept also. My middle school coaches new more about wrestling than my high school coach. There was not any other out of season clubs like USA Kansas. The area I grew up in did begin to get some clubs in the early 1980's. There were one or 2 local folkstyle tournaments back in the day and I think they were AAU.

Give me 4 years for College then I am going to teach and Coach someplace!

The smart high school coach is working closely with the middle school programs to make sure the philosophy and technique he wants to see at the high school level is being taught.
The smart high school coach is in the middle school wrestling room from the day middle school practice starts until high school practice starts; not to override the MS coaches but to help and encourage.
And the smart high school coach is making sure wrestlers of all levels of talent (experienced to novice) are in the middle school room, working together as a team.

Middle school wrestling should be about participation and program building, not about creating a few superstars. As Travius said, there is nothing like representing your school and providing leadership to help that. We can't be so worried about winning that we forget about building.

you dont need great coaches to have a middle school program that helps. you simply need to coaches who will emphasize a few simple fundamentals that these coaches should be able to learn from the highschool coaches. if you just get kids who know how to set up and shoot a double and a single leg, know how to sit out and stand up on bottom, and know a spiral ride and a 1/2 nelson series on top you will be ahead of the game.

Well said wrestle007!

Coaches at the middle school should have enough background to understand the importance of fundementals, and be able to work with kids of that age in a positive and supportive manner.