I do not think you will ever shorten the season, but for younger kids it does make sense. By the middle of February alot of younger kids are done. Your solutions:

On starting earlier, Kansas does start late. Missouri starts kids tourneys normally the 1st weekend of December. Kansas normally has nothing to compete.

You do need to take breaks, we normally took a break every 5 weeks, and seldom wrestled both days of the weekend.

I also think we lose alot of kids because a tourmament takes ALL day Saturday. Parents burn out much sooner then kids do. Maybe clubs should start running more week night duals with a couple of neighboring clubs.

Just remember, the hard core, are going to keep the season long, just like they do in baseball and soccer. In girls traveling softball they start practice in January and go thru late October. No real difference.