This has been a source of irritation for me all year. In my opinion Tournament placing mean little if the competition is not good. My son is in his second year, he does good against kids with his experience level, but against kids that have several years of experience (the kids winning the big tournaments)he loses consistently. I see these guidelines listed above in Tators post & feel they are a joke because there are so many small tournaments where if the kid wins one match he places. Now call me crazy, but to me that should not disqualify the kids from competing with similar experience & skill level kids. My son has places at 4 open tournaments this year & his record is 6-10 in Opens! From what i am reading he should not be allowed to compete at a Novice tournament. But by his record he definately should be allowed. Braxx has it right, you know where your kid should be wrestling! The rest is all arguable.