As a head coach of a kids team this is an issue that I personally struggle with every year. We try and promote team unity and teach the kids how to be members of a team. Because of that we have our kids wear team singlets during the folkstyle season. We used to do that for the freestyle and greco but now leave it up to the kids.

My personal feeling is that our job as kids club coaches is to try our best to prepare our kids for their high school careers. One of the biggest challenges I see, because of the open tournament format, is that kids don't fully grasp the team concept sometimes. We don't have duals at the kids level so it makes it hard to teach them that part of the team aspect. By having team singlets it allows us to teach the team concept as well as teach our older kids how to be team leaders.

Not saying we are right or wrong....just the way we do business based on our club goals.

Shawn Budke
Leavenworth County Spartans