I will say two points on this topic. One is what I believe is right and one is my personal opinion.

First, If parents want their kids to compete at the state level at 5 and 6 years old that is their right. They pay their money like everyone else. The governing body has decided that is not what they want because I believe they are trying to "protect". They believe they are trying to protect these kids. But the reality is people will find a way if they want to do something as is the case here. This is proven by the Ottawa "state 6u championships". The challenge is that the Ottawa tournament although well intended and very well done is now more grueling than what the governing body was trying to protect kids from. 64 man brackets in one day for a 5/6 year old. Wow. That said if that is what people want they should have that right. They pay the same money as anyone else. They should get the same rights.

Now my personal opinion. I don't care how much little Johnny loves wrestles and as parents we think we need to let him have more. Wrestling that much at that young of age does nothing except provide a much greater chance of later burn out. I have no doubt many of these kids love it at 5 or 6. But the goal is to get them to love it at 14, 16, 18 and 20. I will also tell you that kids that are the studs at 5/6 have very little if any advantage over kids that are allowed to really go at say 7-9. By the time they are 12 or even delivered to HS at 14, you won't be able to tell who was allowed to wrestle 40-50 matches at 5 and who was at 9 except many of the 5/6 studs are no longer wreslting. In many cases the kids started just a little later are better by HS. They are still hungry and learn better technique. I understand every case is different. In my case my son started at 5 and wrestled one night a week and 3 tournaments. He has no clue if he won or lost. He was playing a game. He did the same at 6. He got thumped by the kids the same type of kids that were winning the 6u state championships now. He was still getting thumped by them at 7 but starting to make some gains. We turned him loose when he was 8 and he was national champion by 9. It's all a gamble to know when is the right age to let them wrestle "all they want" and "go longer" to special training, etc. It's different for every kid. I can't tell you what is right for your kids, but I will caution don't let your passion as parents cloud the long term vision. My kid would eat 100 pieces of chocolate until he pucked at 5/6 if I let him. He loved it. But that doesn't mean I let him do it. I applaud all the parents that put in the time to haul your kids and invest in their time. I just caution to wait a year or two before you put them in high pressure situations and 64 man brackets. let them wrestle and play at 5/6. I would suggest 10-15 matches MAX. It will pay off down the road.

But I will re-iterate. It's your choice and you should have that right. Just be careful. Love wrestling and it's families. Good luck and sorry to be so long winded.