Eagle One,

I don't have a lot of answers but I can tell you what we do. It seems to work out ok for us and the school districts around us...

1. We don't have to pay for the rooms. Immaculata, Lansing and Leavenworth schools give us outstanding support.

2. Our middle schoolers have a very short season (Nov-middle Dec). They wrestle middle school and then come out for the club. This hasn't been a big issue so far. We encourage the kids to wrestle middle school because it supports their respective schools. I know this wouldn't work for all clubs because the middle school season is different.

3. We try and work very closely with the high school coaches in our area to ensure we are teaching the basics and technique that they want to build on in the future.

4. We promote the team concept but we have an open room. We encourage kids to come in the room anytime and from anywhere. The only requirement is that they have a USAW card (insurance purposes).

5. We are fortunate that we have some very good opportunities for our kids outside the club; Erik Akin, Travis Phippin, Zach Roberson from the East Kansas Club; Tony Purler, etc. We encourage our kids to go out and experience what they have to offer. We are fortunate in that they all are focused on helping kids improve. In fact, I encourage and challenge our older kids (high school) to get out and learn from these guys. Then as leaders of our club, come back and help coach/teach the younger wrestlers. Eric, Travis, and Zach our great about this. We also offer their guys the opportunity to train with us.

6. We have had kids that have practiced primarily in Missouri but wrestle with our club because they live in KS. This has been great for us because they bring back additional technique and training tips without shortchanging their individual desires and goals. They also make the effort to come to our practices when they don't conflict and help with the club.

BLUF: I think the team concept is important to teach our wrestlers but it is just as important to build in flexibility to allow individuals to achieve their goals. I think in a kids program both can be achieved if the adults can get along and focus on what is best for the kids (both from a team concept and an individual concept).

We have also found that by having 1 kids club that supports multiple schools, it actually helps the middles school and high school coaches. They can actually be in the room helping our younger kids or working with kids from another school. We can also do things as a club (like take kids to camps) because we don't have a lot of the same restrictions as a high school coach. This in the long run helps the high school programs.

Shawn Budke
Leavenworth County Spartans