shawndj, I agree that if you start the season somewhere from mid-November or early December and wrestle it out until the end of March that for most kids that is too long of a season and probably for most parents too. I also agree with you that if you want to be competitive all the way thru that you do not want to give your competition too much advantage by starting late in the season. Starting late could also put you behind some of your own club's practice partners. I also agree with you that our Kids folkstyle season just goes too late in the year. It does not seem right that Kansas Kids actually finishes after the NCAA finals, so Kansas Kids not only finishes after the high school season but the college season too. I think this late finish with the better weather and Spring breaks contributes to kids and families starting to burnout this time of year. Several years ago the State Body meeting minutes indicated that the KWCA had come to our board telling them that they thought our season went too long and that we should end before high school State so kids could come watch it and then have a few weeks off for a break before starting freestyle.

As individuals though we can make the decision not to compete after a certain point in the season. I would like to see Kansas Kids change to finish the season before the high school season ends like the KWCA suggested but nothing says that a wrestler has to wrestle in the State tournament series (Subs, Districts and State). Over the years, I have seen wrestlers who have competed all the way thru the season and then stopped before Subs. My son wrestled this year thru the high school season as a freshman JV wrestler and made that decision not to wrestle Kids this year and he seems fine with that decision. I know this is not easy to do if a kid wants to be competitive until the end of the season to see how he or she measures up against the best in the State. If a kid really wants to do that bad enough though, I would say that they are most likely not suffering from burnout.