Okay, I have a 4 year old who started wrestling this year. We paid for his membership and he worked hard all year long too. Why can't he have the same chance? Reason: My husband and I made the decision that both of our boys, age 4 and 6, had plenty of years ahead of them full of tough competition and they could wait until they were older. Our oldest boy, age 13, started to wrestle when he was 5 and we did not even start going to sub-district until he was 7. Not because he was not ready. We just felt that in the long run, we did not want to burn him out and instead wanted to end the season on a positive note. (5 months is a long time for a 6 year old-especially going to practice 4 days a week). Many of the kids that he use to wrestle with are no longer wrestling (including one of his friends who placed at state from age 6-10). Again, I just don't understand why parents can not wait. No one is saying that they can not go to state. If they truly are ready, they will go. If not, just wait a couple of years. As far as the 16 year olds, yes they are only in the program for 3 weeks, however, they still pay the same dues. They still are practicing everyday (just in the high school program). And, in some clubs, the 16 year olds are in the CLUB after high school practice helping out the little kids.

Mom4 you asked "Okay, I have a 4 year old who started wrestling this year. We paid for his membership and he worked hard all year long too. Why can't he have the same chance?"
BIG DIFFERENCE all year long your 4 year old wrestled 6U. If there was a 4u class all year long and then they were excluded from State, I would make the same argument.
Kids deserve rewards for their hard work. Kids work all year to get good enough to make it to State. Why not give 6u the same opportunity? You claim if they are good enough they can make it at 8u. With that logic, why not eliminate the 14U weight class, and ask them to wrestle 16u, if they are good enough....

mom4

You hit the nail on the head with your post.

You and your husband made the decision that your children would wait until they were older to compete in the qualifying tournaments. I respect the choice you made.

That is why I would like to see the 6 year olds at State competing with 6 (and yes there will be some 7) year olds.

There may be some of those out there who would like to have the CHOICE! Let it be their CHOICE to compete against kids in their age group!

6 year olds don't need to be at state.They have a lot of years left to go to state let them learn the sport and learn how to compete and handle the stress of state. why don't we have a 4u state also . let's drop 16u they have the high school season why not drop 14u too they have middle school. Let's get real 6 year olds don't need to be there and the majority i think it was 70% last year voted against it.

I've seen this statement a couple of times possibly by bubowski and it needs to be corrected. 1. To my knowledge there was NO vote on this issue at the 04 meeting and the subject never came up. 2. At the 03 meeting it was voted on and I would say the results were close to the above estimate BUT as I recall this was after it was explained to the body that allowing 6U at state could only be done (for space reasons) after either eliminating 16U or adjusting the weight divisions in both 16U and 14U. At the time, nobody was prepared to deal with these issues of who/what to eliminate so the vote was moot and the tally reflected the same. My guess is, with a proposal as to how to deal with the space issues this vote would have been and will be much closer in the future.

Just a thought, what would the wrestling family (everyone of us) consider by allowing the 6 and under's at state but also seperating them and the 8 and unders at different times and maybe extending the tournament to 3 days. In other words put all 6 and 8 and unders together and have the 10's, 12's ,14's, and 16's together. But also let them all share the same amount of time in the spotlight.

sounds like a great idea if somehow everyone could be in the opening ceremonies and then everyone had finals on the same day so all finalists could be in the closing part. I donot know exactly how this could work but looks like a reasonable solution that should be looked at.

bubowski,
Why do you feel the need to go to the absurd "why don't we have a 4u state also"
There is no 4u group all year long, there IS a 6u class all year until it is ripped away before state. Arguments can be made either way, but to go to the 4u card is ridiculous

Does anyone out there know why it was decided in the very beginning of Kansas USA wrestling to allow 6 &u there own division all year long and, then omit them from the State Championship? Or, was it changed later on down the road? I'm just trying figure out what the thought processes were.

3 days is not a great idea. That would increase the cost for everyone.

the original reason for not having 6U (I believe) was that most who have been in the sport for along time believe that is too young to put those kids under that pressure. 95% of those kids will not be wrestling when they are in HS. Granted, the 5% who do will be studs. The issue is we all think our kid is one of the 5%. Most pushing for 6u state are parents caught up in the moment. As a parent and a coach I have seen both sides. Those not as emotionally connected are generally against it as proven by the state vote each year. We have seen it too many times.

I offer this honest opinion. This is not meant to offend anyone just to give my perspective. To be completly honest most kids that play at 6u, or just start later, get more serious at 8u and then jump in at 10U or even 12U will be far ahead of the 6U phemoms. Everyone has their own examples, but my son wrestled only to play at 5 and 6 in a very few tournaments. At 7 wrestled some open tournaments. By 8 was turned loose and was state runner-up and by 9 was national champion, kicking the hell out of all those 6u studs. Some would agrue that I even started him seriously too young and others that get serious at 10-12 will pound him by HS. Time will tell. The very high odds are however that if you get your wishes and are allowed to put 6u's in that environment, you will regret it in 3-4 years. Some will thrive. Most will not.

The truth is none of us know the perfect answer. It's different for each kid. It's fine balance between starting them seriously too early and the sport losing it's luster, or starting them too late and they can't catch up. The odds say however that 6u is not the building blocks for HS champions. That occurs somewhere about 10-12 then is fine tuned at 13-14 then you deliver them to HS ready to compete at a very high level.

If I had to do over again I would not start my son until he was 8 or 9 and put that same time alot of people put into hauling that 6 year old and put that into summer wrestling and hauling them to Tulsa and other top competition when they can quickly grasp it between 10-13.

I also believe however that if enough people want it, even though I don't maybe agree with it, 6U should be put in at state. That's what are country is based on, if the majority wants it right or wrong...it should find a way.

Just my opinion,

SlamBam

It is my understanding, (at least this is how it was told to me so it could be wrong), that in the beginning there wasn't even an 8U division. Then someone (I'm sure it was District 2), said why not add the younger kids. This was opposed by the naysayers particularly in District 3 who said "7 and 8 are too young for state" and "where will it end?".

I think there has been a lot of good discussion on this topic, but I still don't think 6 & U should get cramed into the Expo center's main floor or remove an age, or add another day to the state tournament. I think there will be way to much pressure on 5-6 year old kids wrestling at state, and if memory serves me right at the state meeting each year the topic gets voted down by a very large margin. For all you lobbyist out there you definetly have your work cut out. To the guy who posted about the amount of difference in kids out at 6 & U verses the older kids should be the deciding factor on who is in or out at state I think you need to go watch the older kids wrestle because the difference is obvious kids start to "weed themselves out" the older they get. The amount of "cupcake" matches greatly reduces the older the kids get. A lot of the smaller kids wrestle 1-2 years and decide they don't like it and quit. On the topic posted earlier on how 8 & U was added good point, and my question is if we add the 6's when does it stop. Some kids start when they are 4 practicing ect... do we then add a 4 & U bracket on down the road, please let it go and move on the way it is now is perfectly fine! Way to go Team Kansas at Iowa I was impressed watching our kids wrestle in th UNI-Dome in Iowa!

I agree 6u does not need to be at state. The people lobbying hard for it now probably have 6 year old wrestlers, they will be the same one crying when their kid is 16 and they don't have an age group or one with just a few weight classes. Yes this has been voted on at either the state meeting or the district meeting for the last 4-5 years. and it was voted down last year 70% against and 30% for adding them. A 6 year old has a lot of time left to go to state why take a chance away from a kid that has been wrestling for 8-10 years. A 3 day tournament would not work that would mean 4-5 days off of work for most people, You want to reduce numbers have a 3 day state and a lot of kids would not be able to come because their parents could not get the time off of work.

I don't have a child in 6 and under. I was just making a (what I feel) decent suggestion. I can understand both sides of the line. But until we can find a solution to the problem, this topic will go on. Don't take anything away from the 16 and under but also don't deprieve the 6 and under from all the glory either. Who knows what to do. It is kinda like a midget using mouthwash, who would know?

SlamBam: I agree with your statement completely. I too have seen what becomes of most of the 6U wrestlers since my oldest son has been in kids wrestling for 8 years. When he started, we only went to a few small tournaments. As he became older, we started going to more and our goals changed with every season. Many of the kids he use to wrestle against and lose too when he was younger are 1.no longer the dominate ones 2. no longer even wrestling. This is not just something that I have seen in wrestling. As a teacher, I have seen so many grade school "studs" who never get any better, drop-out, or do other things. Yes, there are those rare (and I mean rare) kids who dominate in grade school and continue to dominate in high school. I have also seen many kids who were average in grade school that become awesome in high school. Kids need time to develop their OWN interest and their OWN abilities to succeed. They need time to just be a kid.

Perhaps the reason kids burn out on wrestling after a couple years at 6u have something to do with the fact they are shoved aside at the end fo the year in favor of all the kids going to "big state" . Perhaps if they had a 6u bracket at state to reward the kids for all their efforts, the kids would continue on in the sport instead of feeling like they didn't matter to anyone. Just a thought

give me a break, that's a lame excuse when your kid is older you will realize 6u don't need a state. It sounds like this is a big ego trip for you. If your kid likes wrestling when he is 7 he won't care if they had a 6u state. stop the whining and get on with it it's not going to happen

i have herd
from both sides in this 6 and under, just remember if you cut out the 16 and under group so the 6 and under can go to state that one day your child will be at that age and say who was the dum people that cut the 16 year old kids out. Then I am betting that the people that were for it then will tell there kids that it was not them. In to days world its the parents that want to stand up and say thats my son that won. i would just like to know how many parents that have there kids in wrestling have them in other sports and drive the kids tell they get old enough to say i quit. I know a teacher that has a small child that is driving him to the limet and belive me the day will come that he thows in the towel and i hope the boy learns from his life not to treat his child the same way.

I agree completely grandad, most 6 year olds quit before the season ends and by the time they are in 8u they could care less if they had 6u at state. It is the parents of the 6 year olds that want to say my son won state and they are mad because they can't do it in the 8u division. Time flys and kids grow up and before you know it they are gone. let the 6year olds have fun and let's not put any pressure on them to win, let them learn the sport and enjoy themselves and in a blink of an eye they will be in 8u

Actually, in the blink of an eye they are too old to compete any longer in kids club and you are thankful you had those extra years at the end when you can see the clock ticking away, knowing that your time watching them compete is coming to an end......