Nigel,

I realize that many have made it through our current system both now and in the past. Actually my son and my family have made it through his first six years. Truthfully, the only reason we did was because I realized early that he was not a soccer, football, basketball or baseball player. I knew he had his most potential in wrestling. He did not start out anywhere close to how Marvio Tischhauser did but he did have enough success early to keep him enthused. I could see all the time we devoted to it was well worth it to him. Athletics and exercise has always been a big part of my life and I want it to be a part of my kids' life too.

To me though the question is does our current system attract the general public? Are we developing mass appeal for wrestling? Do we want a system that weeds out the true tough survivors so early in their introduction to the sport? In my opinion the long weekend tournaments do not entice new participants and families into the sport. I think the popularity of the sport suffers because of it. I want to see it grow in popularity. It is my son's sport and will probably eventually be his kids sport. I would like to see more media coverage rather than the pathetic amount of coverage wrestling currently gets. I think if that starts to happen then you might start seeing a reversal in the drop of college wrestling programs. I know Title IX is often blamed for that, but football and basketball programs are not being dropped. If the general public saw wrestling in the same way as most of the people on our forum, I do not believe we would be losing college wrestling programs.

So why does the general sports public not find wrestling that appealing? Maybe wrestling needs to be looked at and maybe some things need to change. I know that shortening youth tournaments in Kansas is not going to be the cure for all that but maybe it is a place where we can make a start at least to make it more popular in Kansas and who knows maybe someday we can get a college program at KU, KSU or Wichita State.