Rules are rules. I think that someone who got hurt for the majority of the season should be able to participate in regionals, but I am NOT in favor of someone joining a team late. If you don't join within two weeks of the first tournament, you may as well forget it, in my humble opinion. Joining a team late like that is saying you are only in it for yourself, not your team. And while wrestling is an individual sport, there are TEAM trophies to be earned at all tournaments. A kid who goes out there and gets pinned every match but tries is doing more for your team than someone who joins a week or two before regionals, I think. With all the talk about the individual accomplishments (and that is what wrestling is mostly about), we lose track of the team aspect of the sport.

Declining participation or not, I think that it is a good rule.