Every year you see the same argument that Freestyle and Greco should have no effect on Folkstyle rankings. And its always the people who have never tried it or their kids have never tried it. FACT: kids that wrestle Freestyle and Greco tend to do better and go farther in the sport than the kids that do not.

Look at the All-Class rankings. I know for a fact that 11 out of 14 of the current #1 ranked wrestlers have some kind of Freestyle/Greco background.
Look at the high school rankings on Intermat. 10 out of 14 guys #1 ranked guys are either fargo national champs, double fargo champs, cadet world team member, cadet world gold medalist, or junior world team members.
Look at the College rankings. 10 out of 10 guys ranked #1 have a freestyle/greco background. Logan Steiber has a Junior World silver medal and Dom Bradley has a gold. Kyle Dake may be the guy to knock off Burroughs. Do you see a pattern here?

I understand that a lot of kids also play another sport in the spring and summer. However, if you are serious about wrestling and think that it might be something you want to do in college then you need to hop on the freestyle/greco train. The two styles each offer so much that can transition into folkstyle. Freestyle teaches kids all about being in good position the entire time. Hardly ever do you see scrambles like you do in folkstyle because its much easier to give up points. Greco is NOT all about the fancy throws. Most of the elite greco wrestlers win off of head position, hip position, and hand fighting.

The GOOD wrestlers can wrestle just folkstyle, but the GREAT wrestlers can wrestle all 3.