Beeson I know you have said that for years, and I disagree. We should both just copy and paste our posts from years past. MOST 6 and under kids are novice. There is nothing like a 6 and under stud coming into a novice tournament and destroying every kid. Now if you tournament has 6 and U and splits into 2 brackets then the is no reason for novice. I only let each of my own children wrestle novice one year. I personally don't think novice should be defined by years of experience. We have several kids in our club that have wrestled 5 years that would struggle placing in a novice tournament. And we have kids that are in their first year and win open tournaments. If everybody acted with integrity would could redefine novice with ability level.