I saw a kid hit a spladdle off a shot which he was setting up by letting the opponent in on his leg (missed the pin but scored) after that he threw in the legs, power half and stretch out a kid in a novice tournament - that young man is about ready to move on to open even if he is a 1st or 2nd year wrestler. You can fool some of the coaches but not all of them.
I would give him another year in novice. After all he didn't pin the kid with the spladdle.
Novice can not be determined by any length of time or placements in tournaments. Many novice tournaments only use round robins. Some open tournaments could have the same thing in their age and weight.
Coaches could have the novice kid wrestle 10 or so novice matches.If a kid wins 80% of his matches in novice he should move up.
