Not that simple, IMO. Your lower weight class may have studs in it. Example, at JOC we went a certain class to hopefully catch a couple of kids we'd been wanting to wrestle (luckily, got to go with both of them). Had a much better chance of winning either of the 2 classes above us. All things equal, the extra size probably matters, but all things are NOT equal. My theory with youth wrestling is you have to keep them challenged--if they aren't losing, they probably aren't improving like they could. And you are creating a monster for when those days come--how many HS studs have you seen fizzle in college? Having said this, going 2 and out is no fun for sure. But I have seen this be a catalyst for rappid improvement as recently as this year's CK Kickoff, when we took a kid who'd been having local success, he went 0-3, and got noticeably better within the next few weeks. I like a quote I read recently from Yves Choinard, the founder of Patagonia, who said "Adversity is the catalyst for evolution. Without adversity, you have the opposite--devolution." Put them in positions to experience adversity--yeah, they may not get the shiney medal (right now) but they are being equipped for greater success in the future. We've only been in the sport for a short time, but we've already seen a number of high fliers who, when the medals start to become harder to come by, decide that they don't want to wrestle anymore. If they're wrestling for the bling, their careers will be short. But, back to your question--we wrestled one pound below natural weight at JOC (73), and 7 pounds below the class he normally goes (80), and had a harder bracket than either 76 or 80. One other thing to consider is that you want to be exposed to a variety of competition; if there's a kid who's having a lot of success at a weight class near yours, try to wrestle him.