There are SO many things involved in growing your wrestling population base. First and foremost, get good people running your kids' club that want to grow not only their program, but the high school program as well. I know that's easier said than done, but that is what has made the biggest difference here at Washburn Rural.

Just like Coach Lueders said, your high school coach will bear the majority of the responsibility of growing the program. He will always have more "pull" with potential wrestlers than fellow students. Recruiting the hallways is a part of it, but that's a "band aid" fix to fill a weight or two. It has to start sooner than that.

I would suggest having your head wrestling coach get involved in coaching middle school football. Developing relationships with those younger athletes and preaching the importance of wrestling for their football development has paid huge dividends for our high school wrestling program. A lot of those kids get to high school and realize they are too small for football, but by then they are hooked on wrestling. This has really paid off for us; for each of the past 4 years we have started the year with more than 70 wrestlers. It's a 6-year investment, but well worth the time. Good luck!


D. Parker, WRHS