I have a tournament that Im considering because of its location and date.

The Form says "Novice wrestlers follow kansas kids guidelines"

what does that mean?

My son is rated a C wrestler by the coach. 6 and under
He wrestled one tourney at the age of 4. finished 1st
One Tourney at 5. finished Last
He wrestled 3 tourneys last year. 3rd (twice) and 4th
We have had one so far this year. finished 2nd

His record is 9-12 (approx)
I just dont want to sign up and drive 2 hours and not quailify.

If he is rated a "C" I would not consider him a novice. This is also his 4th year of wrestling and he is in the 8U division. Not many drive 2 hours for novice tournaments. Without seeing him wrestle, I would say he is no longer a novice. Too many people try to justify why there child should still be novice by getting others to say it is ok. Do him a favor and keep him out of the novice ranks. His wrestling will improve dramatically in the open division. I personally think there should not be a novice division under the age of 8.

He is in the 6 and under division.
I work Saturday's and the Sunday Tourneys are often Novice.
He went to one last year and got 3rd.

I just wanted someone to define "Novice wrestlers follow kansas kids guidelines" that's all. I looked all over the website and can not find it. I emailed the Contact and they said "no state qualifiers"

His first season was 3 weeks then our tourney. He was 4 and that was enough for us.
His second season was 3 weeks as well.(got sick)
Last year he did wrestle 3 tourneys.
We are on week 3 of this year.

Believe me... Im not hoping you will say he is a novice. I just want someone to define it.

Yes, Im am searching for Open Tourneys too. There are alot of people that think my son isnt novice. I still think he is but..

3 weeks practice and a tourney at age 4
3 weeks practice and a tourney at age 5
9 weeks practice and and 4 tourneys age 6
3 weeks practice and a tourney at age 7

7 Tourneys and about a .350 win %

His birthdate is sept 14th 2002 he is still 6 and under at the age of 7.

Its just hard to believe that 3 weeks of practice and a tourney equals 3 months of practice and 14 tourneys.(like some kids actually wrestle) I guess it still counts as a year expierence.

It is one of those things. If you win a novice tournement someone will always assume your not a novice. Just email the Contact and get things strait before you travel.

I too agree that there should not really be a novice... 6u kids are All novice, most have wrestled no more than 2 years and some have just started.. There is not much difference in competition for 98% of the 6u kids out there, yes there are a few that are studs, but that is the minority..

He will only improve by wrestling better competition week in and week out.....

There are not any official guidelines. Rule of thumb is if they have wrestled more than 2 years, it is time to wrestle open. I don't believe it does any kid any good to wrestle novice.

i think that novice tourneys help out those 12u/14u kids who have never wrestled before. it helps them get mat time with equal abilities. otherwise the brackets are usually big enough at open tourneys that most kids have a chance to wrestle others with their same experience. after 2 years, practice or tournaments, its time to wrestle opens.

thought I would get back on this topic today as I took 2 first year kids from our club to the derby novice championships today. we have one kid that pinned all of his kids and noticed some coaches shaking their heads and saying there is no way that kid is novice. Well this kid is a first year kid. he is our only novice kid that is over the age of 6 and practices against some state and national placers everyday in practice. I dont know what some of you think we should be teaching novice but just because a kid runs different moves and pins kids with those moves doesnt mean he isnt still a novice wrestler. this kid is getting better and better every week and wouldnt doubt he does well later on this year. this kid has natural ability and will be very good someday due to his work ethic but still makes novice mistakes. Just wanted to clear that up with those coaches shaking their heads today. Im sure he wasnt the only kid that was questioned today. Thats just the way it goes.

Good judgement should be used by the coaches and parents. I have had kids 1st year win 3 novice tournaments and I ask them and their parents to consider entering lower level open tournaments.
At that point they do not need to move up - but they will only get as good as the competition they are wrestling. I have a couple of kids in their 3rd and 4th year who never won a match or just finally place 3rd or 4th in a novice and have a couple of wins under their belts. Doesn't mean they are not progressing - it just means it may take them a little longer to develop. General rule of thumb - 2 years of novice and then move up in the 3rd year.

It is always the same, the problem with a novice definition starts with the number of years a kid has been wrestling. As I have said, it should have nothing to do with the amount of time, but rather the abilities of the kid in question.

i agree with sportsfan about time, but as smokeycabin said, the competition might hamper progression.

either way i see it, if you win a couple of novice tournaments it's time to step up.

those "novice" mistakes, wouldn't he have made those in an open bracket too. not trying to start a big debate here.

when a parent asks me i tell them "general rule"/ what we TRY to stick to is, two years/ two first place finishes, then wrestle open.

we have run into the same problem, a 6u has wrestled for 3 years now, (i know, i know), he can't place in a true open, yet always gets 1st at novice tourneys. we told his mom, that our stance as a club, was to protect the reputation of the club, and that he would have to wrestle open.

Our rule of thumb is after two years you wrestle open. You might check with the tournament. There was one novice tournament that took only first year kids and another that took kids with three years. Jjust be smart if your kid has the natural ability wrestle him in opens.

he has wrestled back and forth all season long. has placed in a couple smaller opens but also had small brackets. I think he will probably wrestle open from here on out so I guess using Derby as a measuring tool was good for us.

My opinion is if your kid is rarely seeing a victory or a medal at open tournaments, let them go to a novice tournament (1st year or 4th year). If they win a novice or place top 3, this does just as much for that kid's confidence as anything. This is such a mental sport and sometimes all these kids need is to see a little success to give them the boost they need to raise the level of their wrestling to compete week in and week out at open tournaments. If my son was a C wrestler and had an A wrestler the first round of every tournament (cause nobody wants to rate their kid a D), getting pinned in the first 20 seconds isn't helping him either. That's not really mat time.

fair enough.

Going to novice tourneys and going to the "Novice Championships" are two different things IMO. That was a large tourney of 1st year only kids, so it is good for a kid to gauge his improvement against other first year kids. I think that is the intent of that particular tourney.

thanks doug. I think thats what we got out of taking him there. that was my first time going to that tournament and it was fun. Crazy but fun. My 5 year old had a blast. Just wish I would have paid better attention and saw that they were giving up to 6th place. we left after my son lost his 2nd match to get in for 3rd and 4th. he was mad that he didnt get a medal. then i check the results and see his name for 6th place. lol. told him this morning he got 6th and he asks well do I get a medal.

You weren't the only one that did that Scott. I received your email and will get your son his medal asap. For those that were at Derby on Sunday, I just wanted to say thank you. I hope everyone got home early enough to be able to see the Super Bowl kickoff. (hopefully those that drove a long way were able to get home before the nasty stuff hit the roads) I know after cleaning up and packing things away I was home on my couch before 5:00 with plenty of time to watch some pre-game festivities and such.

We had one group that did go a little long and had to wrestle with little rest in between matches, but when you have a 64 man bracket you are going to have that sort of thing. And for those that went out the backside of that bracket and placed 3rd through 6th they had up to 9 matches. This was true for those kids coming out of the backside of the 3 32 man brackets that were all around the same weight classes.
6U - 40, 43, 46, and 49 lbs

Congrats to all.

Sincerely,

Craig Gash
Derby Wrestling Club
Tournament Director

The council I give the parents and kids in our club on Novice is to start there and when the kids begins to consistently be successful 1st/2nd 4-5 times in a row move up to open B brackets and begin the process again. When you can repeat this consistency in the B brackets move up to the A brackets and begin again. Repeat this process at each level and if you are among the lucky few to still be 1st/2nd all the time and have run out of levels congratulations, you are probably now among the elite of your state or the nation. I agree that it is more about coaches and parents exercising good judgement in the development of their wrestlers and moving them when it will progress their development properly and less about a set timeline for every kid. We need to do what is best for the kids and that does not always line up cleanly with keeping a steady flow of medals and brackets flowing to the bedroom wall. Beesons right, they have plenty of friends, what many have in short supply are parents and coaches willing to make the touch calls that are best for them and stick to them.

IMO.
If you have kid in novice who places 1st. in more than 3 tournaments, then he or she should go open, for the remainder of the year. A true novice should be a 1st. or 2nd year wrestler who doesn't place at any other tournament BUT novice! If your wrestler starts placing in open brackets then they should be in open tournaments.

Where Ks. has the biggest problem is too many brackets per age and weight group for an open division. Keep it simple 2 brackets, "A" "B" "C" in one and "D" in the other. You have to start some where.

How many kids try for state who are 1st or 2nd year wrestlers?

Not many unless you weigh 40, 43 ,46, 49, or similar due to not many 8u weigh these weights. Novice is too hard to judge, some should be, and others are in it for the hardware. If you place every week at novice then IMO you need to move into the open division, take your lumps and move on, it will only make you better.