I think u made alot of assumptions...

Strange but true I dont even like the fact that kids 3,4 or even 5 years old are wrestling...

I dont like the fact that if u do school wrestling with our freestyle state in June kids are wrestling 8 months out the year.

I dont like to see EXCESSIVE weight loss... However, YES I do promote a wrestler bein at the RIGHT weight for their body. Our school had a Tanita Scale that can tell you how many brain cells you have... well at least it does a good job of tellin u what weight class you should wrestle in.

Losing weight is about the individual. Everyone isnt willing or wanting to lose weight. I have a middle school kid who I coach now who only weighs 110 lbs. He say "Coach is wrestling and football kinda opposite because wrestling is about gettin smaller and football is about gettin bigger" I told him that wrestling isnt about gettin smaller, its about being lean and pound for pound.

I could be wrong but thats my coaching philosophy. Look at your High School state champions at every weight... How many of them wrested there natural weight? Many of them cut SEVERAL weight classes.

I have a kid who got may or may not have got burned by this very idea. You prob know who I'm talkin about its no real secret. As a freshman he wrestled 119 (maybe should have wrestled 112) as a sophmore wrestled 125 (maybe should have wrestled 119) as a junior wrestled 112 (maybe should have wrestled 119) and as a senior certified at 119 but wrestled at 125.

This in my opinion is a very weird case as a freshman we didnt CUT weight, through natural weight loss he weighed at regionals at 115 but had to wrestle at 119. Wrestled kids at 115.

Sophomore year wrested at 125 because the certification that year was moved to before Christmas and I didnt want to force him to cut alot of weight. He qualified for stated weighed in at state at 118. Wrestled Kids at 120.

Junior year he decided to work all summer and BULKED UP. He became very lean and wrestled at 112. Took second at state but was one of two kids to NOT weigh in on Friday night. Wrestled 120 for kids took second.

Senior year kept weight down all summer wrestled and certified at 119. Decided that he was a good enough wrestler to not try to pull those extra few pounds. Wrestled 125... weighed in at state at 124 on the second weigh in. I told him at that point he was prob the lightest 125 pounder in the state. He took second.

... I wouldnt say cutting weight made him a better wrestler but I'll go out on a branch and say that when he was leaner, he was faster, stronger, and more powerful.

I dont promote cuttin excessive weight. I dont recommend anyone in NOT in high school to drop more than a pound or 2. however I do believe in eating right and bein at the right weight for your body.

Excuse any typos

BWT Let the kids be kids but if you have mat side weigh ins and u let the kids eat biscuits and gravy, kriss cakes, and all the water and gaterade they want and see how many of them make weight...

And no if I'm coaching matches I cant control what kids sneak to the snack bar and get something... like you said kids will be kids no mater how much u teach them about nutrition ... kids will be kids.

The main problem with this idea is it MIGHT eliminate some problems BUT how many more problems is it creating???

WOOD_WON In no way am I defending dramatic weight cutting; I don't approve of cutting weight in any form at the younger ages as you so graciously proved for me by showing my past posts(that was pulled from 6/under state topic where parents were complaining about having to weigh in again if the kid competed at sub-district the day before); I also don't agree with this radical suggestion that you & others seem to be advocating with the matside weigh in; what I am trying to articulate in my post (evidentally not doing a very good job) is adding weigh in several times a day at a tournament is overkill & will make a long day longer & the already difficult task of organizing a tournament even more complicated & the wrestlers that are big weight cutters will continue to be big weight cutters; I do not believe a wrestler can cut 10-15% plus of total body weight in a short time & recover from it by gorging after weigh in; that wrestler is still going to be weak from what they have put there body thru the days leading up to weigh in. As far as this thread being about younger kids as you said in your post, give me a break! if you have a 10 year old or younger that has the discipline to drop weight then you probably have a 10 year old that has had some real bad role models brain washing there kid that this is the way to be competitive. Example: my son got sick 2 weekd before subdistrict & dropped from 58 to 55; I asked him if he wanted to try to wrestle at 55 for the upcoming qualifying tournament? He said yeah he wanted to; I told him he was going to really have to watch what he ate if that was going to happen; He was back to 57 in 48 hours; now my son is extremely competitive,motivated etc. but at this age has no concept not to mention the discipline to watch his weight not to mention drop weight. I'm proud to say that's the way it should be, by implementing this constant weigh in are you maybe putting in the spot light exactly what you are trying to eliminate? Obsession about weight! Peace

Mat side weighing does not complicate it simplifies. They are killing our sport with all of these hydration and body fat rules. They are expensive and complicated. NO ONE can cut 10% and keep it off all day and be at the top of their game. I will tell you right now that mentally my son would be shot. The Friday night weigh-in is almost liking winning the championship for him. I am not one of those dads who says "My son doesn't cut." Ryne frequently pulls 10% for big tournaments, big tournaments that he wins. If he had to pull 10% and keep it off all day he would wilt. He will tell you right now that he hates weight cutting but he will also turn around and tell you that more the most part that is the best way to put yourself in a position to win. Mat side weighing eliminates all of the other goofy, expensive rules to control or prevent those from cutting. You cannot cheat the scale! Physically and mentally you will not be at the top of your game and if you can do it than more power to those who can. Keep it simple and inexpensive and keep it fun.

Multiple weigh ins in a single day is ridiculouse. I will give an example of the multiple weigh in flaw. If you have a wrestler that weighs 99 pounds naturally with no dieting at 7 am weigh in time, that same boy will not weigh 99 pounds at 10:30 unless he has not eaten or drank anything all day. So now we are going to ask the natural 99 pounder to wrestle up at 105 so we dont have to watch what he eats all day? Bad idea in my opinion. I do not condone cutting weight and would not allow my son to do so but he does wrestle whatever weight he is closest too. I feel it is the coaches and parents responsibility to monitor weight cutting and eating habits. To penalize all kids with multiple weigh ins is just wrong and bad for the sport in my opinion

How does it penalize? The rule applies to ALL wrestlers so they ALL have to make the weight. You lose weight during the day by wrestling and by just sitting around. It is the parent's responsibility but many are in it to win it and they burn their kids out by making them cut weight. Buy or rent a copy of REVERSAL. This isn't a penalty. There are many, many papers being written on this topic. Don't be surprised if you don't see it happening very soon.

I agree with those who say that it is the parents responsibility to monitor the child's weight. We were faced with this this past season. Our son wanted to stay at a lower weight than what he finished at. He was very frustrated with us because technically he had been 1 or 2 pounds under the lower weight, but we knew he could gain several pounds at any given time, he is a growing boy. He always seemed ill, irritable and we were very worried. After going up in weight, he decided that we were right because he wasn't stressed about what he was eating which made him concentrate more on wrestling. Sure he missed wrestling a kid that he really wanted to wrestle again because he had lost to him earlier in the year, sure he possibly could have placed higher at state if he stayed at the lower weight. He actually said "Thank You!" after his first tournament after the change in weight. I only write about this because it has been a learning experience for us, and hopefully it will help others. It is not healthy for our youth to be so stressed out over such simple decision. The multiple weigh-ins would not be such an issue if we (parents and kids) all followed this. I'm assuming that the multiple weigh-ins would apply to dual tournaments as well for those kids who come from out of state. This would quarantee that our kids have a fairer bout.

One of the things that I would like to see changed is what is served at tournaments. Why is so much junk served? I know it is easier to candy, nachos, pizza, etc. I was happy to see more fruit being served this year, but why not serve even more healthier items? I guarantee clubs would make just as much if not more off of sales. Maybe kids will realize even more the importance of a healthy diet, how it makes them stronger. Just a suggestion.

I appreciate your response mr. cokeley but I dont think that watching Reversal will change my perspective on anything. I wrestled in Pennsylvania for 13 years. I was fortunate enough to live that movie with constant weight cutting, and not for my own gain. In high school the weight loss or gain is not for the betterment of the athlete it is for the betterment of the team(In the school I went to anyway) Wherever I was needed that is where I went up or down. I never ran from anyone( got spanked 12-1 by Cary Kolat) and i wrestled with some of the best. In my opinion going up or down doesn't matter you are gonna run into some pretty bad boys in every weight class. Here is a suggestion for the kids group. Beginning of August when school starts we have a mandatory weigh in for all who are going to participate in kids club for the year. At that point weight is decided based on what they hit the scale at. So if you weigh 92 you can wrestle at 90 all year if you choose to but no lower and if you weigh 93 you can wrestle at 95 all year no lower. This seems like it would work.
But of course the argument will be that parents are gonna make their kids suck weght all summer. In that regard their are parents out there that are gonna make their kids suck weight nomatter what we try to do to stop it. The ones that believe sucking weight gives them the edge are gonna continue to find a way to do it and while it is horrible for their kids and for the sport their are rule breakers and benders in every sport. We should concentrate on making the sport better and more appealing to the kids rather than how to make weigh ins more difficult. We should be having fun in practice as well as learning and teaching discipline. If you want to keep this sport alive and growing (as i know you do ) then we must let these kids have fun at practice, at tournaments, etc. Kids club is a time for the love of the sport to develope, not a time to push the kids into hating the sport. I watched alot of good wrestlers quit before highschool in my day and would hate that to continue to be the rule and not the exception.
I mean no disrespect to anyone just letting my opinion out there
M. Pirl

The link below gives some more views on the subject. Posted on the HS forum last Jan.

http://www.usawks.com/forums/ubbthreads....=true#Post98769

MAT-SIDE WEIGH-INS would make this sport more exciting and the kids would benefit greatly.

What would prevent a club from holding a tournament now with matside weigh-ins? Why do we need to change or make some rule? We currently have tournaments that weigh-in on the honor system or give tollerances or require everyone to make weight. Why not allow the free market system to work and if a club WANTS to host a mat-side weigh-in, they can do so. If a tournament of this type is supported with entries, it would make sense that others would follow suit and have mat-side weigh-ins.

ok umm 1st off iam a wrestler well iam going into hight school but i have friends and famliy that will be wrestling for club next year and i just would like 2 put my word n that even tho i am a kid and u moms and dads (not saying all of u) but most of u do not know what it is like to cute weight and i think that kids will not wont 2 wrestle and love the sport as past kids have and i have seen many hurt wrestler n my time do 2 weight cuting and i think that we should keep it the old way and jsut weigh n on a friday night or a saturday moring because if u really want 2 see good dog fight like u have n the past on the mat a good wrestling match then u will not let mat side weight in's go in effect becase u will not see kids with as much engery and u will even start 2 loose kids and u will start 2 realize how poor the sport will become and i also would like to say i dont wanna be wrestling at sub and have 2 not eat cuz umm yeah that jsut dont work for me but listen 2 my valid points because u are hearing them from a wrestlers point of veiw

thanks
you
for
your
time

I'm glad to hear your going to continue your education in high school! They have got a job to do in the next four years! Don't worry to much about the wrestling... hit the books!

I was going to comment...but I just couldn't pull the trigger. Too many fish in that barrel.

I like that you are trying to give us a perspective. I think that as a youth caught up in this world ran by adults you feel lost, so it is good that you spoke up and gave an opinion. Now here are three points that are going to help you get this point of mat side weigh in accross to other adults.

#1 don't swear on this forum. Especially in the Kids forum. Please edit this. Adults are the ones that read it, but some kids get on here every once in a while. #2 Mat side weigh in's would bring more kids to wrestling, because it takes the emphasis off of weight cutting. #3...I understand that times have changed and people communicate differently, but if you want people to take you serious speak English and use periods. It helps with credibility and helps us, the reader, understand what you are talking about.

Keep it real, stay in school, and don't do drugs.

coach craig,

Thanks for seeing the light.

Jason Wood

Thanks to all that helped this youngster through the ropes!!

I'm not so sure that was a youngster. Seemed like an imposter to me. There is a point at which you have to find it hard to believe our public school systems are failing that badly.

... that might be the case and if it is, shame on you!

But if it is youngster of the "text message" generation ... I hope you take full advantage of the public school systems educational offerings!!

matside weigh ins are a bad idea. some kids would not eat all day. cutting weight is part of wrestling, just about everyone who has ever wrestled cut weight at some time. just live with it.

Posted by rassler:

Re: Schoolboys Duels June 6-10 [Re: 24/7]
rassler rassler
Junior Member


Registered: March 24, 2004
Posts: 5 I think if this is being used a a qualifier to make the national team, everyone wrestling should be required to make the weight they want to wrestle at. Especially at the upper weigts.
With th wieght classes going from 130-145-165-185.
Your saying a kid wanting to wrestle at 145 could show up at Manhattan weighing 155 and say they will make weight. That would be unfair to the natural 145lb kids. The same thing hold true for 130, 165, 185. Make the kids make weight and keep everything fair.

Are you on both sides of the fence? You used the words natural and unfair about the kids cutting weight? Please explain your position. Cut weight and be unfair or wrestle natural and be fair? You have to choose one or the other.

Side note:

Why don't all posters on this forum leave their real name? I have never understood that. Well, i guess that is why there are people that are in the front running with their faces and names out there and others in the background just talking about what needs to happen. Hope everyones summer has went well.



Jason Wood