I don’t know... seems like every year some ole some ole... I think somethin worth discussing is how to u keep the largest age grouping the state from fizzling out a few years later to the size of 12 and 14U... Most of the 6U kids are novice level and don’t understand true competition, state championships etc. THEY JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN!!!
MY EXPERIENCE
I coach a middle school in KCK where each year maybe one of those kids has club experience. Middle school wrestling is 7th and 8th grade and many of these kids think wrestling is in a ring with ropes... boy don’t they get disappointed.
The middle school I work at has (75) 8th graders and (110) 7th grader. (Very small school to be in a city) We have a total of 47 wrestlers. Now I would like to think that in a "dying sport" that encouraging this high percent of kids is impossible BUT its NOT.
Although we haven’t lost a dual in 3.5 years I don’t put any focus on winning. These kids don’t even understand basic strategy of being on the mat let alone how to win. Yet these kids LOVE to wrestle, the most popular sport in the school BY FAR. Because they know when they come to practice they are gonna have fun, learn, and be part of something special... and if u ever been to one of my practices... fun wins out.
The principle at this school used to hate the sport… mostly because she didn’t have a good understanding of it... However it has grown to be one of her favorite. The wrestlers get special assemblies and the entire attitude of the sport of wrestling in the school has changed. We have even been able to have wrestling in P.E. class for the last 3 years.
Making the kids feel good as if they are part of something special is very important.
REWIND
Seven year ago I was 18 and it was my first year of coaching at the middle school. I wanted to win sooo bad that I ran those kids into the ground we were 7-1 in duals that year... But to kids winning wasn’t that important as I only has one kid return the next year. We lost all our duals that second year. But I suffered and learned my lesion.
The BIGGER PICTURE (HYPOTHESIS)
Teaching kids how to wrestle and not necessary to win, decreases the burn out rate while increasing the number of kids who will continue to wrestle.
THE PAY OFF
The high school I coach at is known as the "BASKETBALL" school. This is my 4th year there and the first few years we would start off with only 10-12 kids and end up with 4-5 kids at regionals.
Last year he started with 30 kids and ended with 12.
This year we are expected to not only have a full line up but to also have a full JV and some. 54 kids signed up... the largest sign up in my own personal memory (12 years)
ALMOST DONE... The ULTIMATE EXAMPLE
When I first started my wrestling club I was fortunate that people was willing to follow the lead of an 18 year old. Now at the ripe old age of 24 I have be able to follow a few kids through their journey from kids club, through middle school, and into high school.
There is a kid who I currently coach who I coached for all 7 years I have coached... since day one he might have missed 5 practices total in 7 years... This kid started off as a short round pudgy kid. Taking third in a kids tourney was a major accomplishment. No matter how many time this short fat kid lost his desire to win never declined. The coaches in our kids club didn’t a job of motivating kids with out pushing them off the cliff. 7 years later this kid is a junior in high school. On pace to break EVERY high school record and regardless of if he wins a state championship or not there will never be a kid I am more proud of.
THE EXIT STRAGY
Unlike Bush I can provide a plan for a way out... Sometimes as coaches we focus on the kids who win NOW... MAYBE because when a lot of coaches first start… they begin as club coaches and just like high school coaches they want to win bad… I know I did… I guess how that I coach high school I have a better understand that bein a great wrestling for MOST KIDS isn’t a sprint but a marathon. We drag our kids to tournaments all across the nation to prove who is best. Now we thirst to know who’s the best 6U in the state.. I caution u on this move… I'd much rather see this passionate energy used to see how can we KEEP more kids in wrestling. I wrestled at Schlagle in the late 90's and being a state qualifier(high school) was a major accomplishment. This past year my team laced with freshman from top to bottom...qualified the most wrestlers since I was a sophmore in high school. High school have a lot of great wrestlers, but at a lot of tournaments the level of competition isn’t nearly as strong.
We should do a better job at providing an environment where these 6U will still be around at 16U. And if a small piece of that formula means having these novice 6U kids wait a year or two... WELL in the BIG PICTURE... ISNT IT WORTH IT???
I’d much rather see a kids wall decorated with an assortment of medals over years then for him to look back and say I used to be state champion when I was 6 but basketball, soccer, football , baseball was more fun.
I can only speak from my experiences
Travius Stokes
