My son tried middle school wrestling in 7th grade. He wrestled 10 matches and got 6 penalty calls against him for being too rough. He was wrestling like he did at Tulsa and other tournaments where you have to be at that level to survive. I pulled him after 10 matches and he went back and wrestled club. If was not the right fit for him.

On the other hand one of my very good friends kids wanted to try wrestling and MS wrestling was perfect for him to get started in the sport. So it's different for different kids.

My point would be everyone wants top kids to participate, but the rules and the culture is not set up for it. If you really want top kids to participate then KSHSAA needs to open it up as many others have stated. That would be a major start. Why is it that we are asking only the top kids to sacrifice? They have sacrificed with hours of blood, sweat and tears. We are wanting all the benefits for the newer kids, and that would be wonderful. But in real life to ask the kids that have done the work to get to a higher level, to give up club competition, and be asked to dumb down there level of activity, for sake of learning the team concept is too much in many cases. There are alot of other chances to learn "team" concepts. Clearly the newer kids are not involved enough in wrestling to ask more of them. Heck many are just trying the sport out. And that is awesome, but call it what it is. A great learning ground for basic wrestling and having fun. Those are two wonderful things. Many Middle school meets in east KS don't even keep team score so that is not the driving benefit. And kids can get that from middle school duals, etc.

You can say that top kids not participating, produces wrestlers or families that feel they are better than others and don't fit into the team concept or help others, but that is crap. My son volunteered more time that almost any kid I know to help others in wrestling. Little kids, big kids, newer kids, it didn't matter...But not at the cost of him not being able to get some of what he needed. Heck that 7th grade year, myself and my son worked a couple nights a week in our basement, with his buddies from the MS team to help them. And he was not even on the team anymore. Those are some the kids that are now helping the HS team.

My point is there is no one answer. My belief is do what is right for your kid and balance that with what is right for the team. The key word is balance.

Just my two cents.