I agree with the thoughts expressed by smokeycabin above and Mr. Noblet in the Kansas vs. Oklahoma topic. We all have older boys and we have seen what happens to a lot of young kids who are pushed too far and too fast. Too many of these young wrestlers and families end up dropping out due to the pressure of winning at the highest level possible. I really do not believe the majority of these young kids are ready for that pressure and once you throw a potential State title into the mix there is automatically more pressure. I know my son would not have been ready for it as wrestler and truthfully I was not ready for it as a parent either. I remember how important I thought it was that he ought to be best wrestler in his age group at 7 when he started. I was wrong. It was more important that he was growing slowly as a wrestler every year and having fun at it. Many of the kids that had great success in his group at 8 & under at State are either out of wrestling now or not being as successful at the older age group.

From the practical side, it is not going to happen either in our current system. The resources at the State tournament are stretched to about their limit. You have older grade school kids wrestling on smaller mats than they should be at a State competition. You have long waits between matches on the first day, especially if you lose your first match. There are other things like an overcrowded parking lot and lack of a good warmup area for the wrestlers, etc. Parents of six & under should be concerned about these things because you will be experiencing that soon enough. Anyone who has experienced the full mats and shorter waits between matches for all age groups (at the Johnson County Classic and the District 1 South Sub-District at Pittsburg) can appreciate the difference between that experience and the smaller mats at State for 10 & 12 & unders. Contrary to what some say I believe our young wrestlers appreciate that difference. I know my 12 year old does.

I would say for those who want the closest thing to a State experience for 6 & under that you should take advantage of two events (the Park City/Wichita Classic and/or the Ottawa 6 & Under Championship meet). Encourage other parents on the forum next year to have their kids participate in those events. I agree with Mr. Noblet that an event that is 6 & Under only would be a lot better environment for children that young. If your team coach does not want to take the team to either, you can probably still go as an individual. In most cases you will be able to find a willing coach from another team who will coach your son or daughter at the meet. That is what happen for my son at Liberty Nationals this year where we entered him and our team did not go. He had three different coaches for his three matches and they were great and gave him some different perspectives and good advice after each match.