I want to throw this question out there for some debate. As a high school coach I’m always asked by club coaches why “my kids” don’t wrestle in the kids series. I usually respond that maybe some kids are just flat out tired of wrestling; they want to do a spring sport or just need a break. As coaches we do want them to keep wrestling and mention the opportunities to wrestle but we can’t make them want to wrestle or force them to do it. We also have summer workouts and camps scheduled and some of the kids tell us they are going to take a break until then. So, how do others keep high school kids wrestling after high school state? I would also like to hear from some of you high school kids if possible.

I carry a small caliber handgun with me, in a holster on my hip, and ask them if they are going to come back and wrestle, while I tap on the hammer of the gun...........

Actually, we put somewhat of a guilt trip on them, about how cool it is for the little guys to be on the same team with the HS kids. Just like they thought when they were little guys. Also point out the extra month of wrestling that they get in, to make them better for next year, keep in shape for some of the postseason national events, or keep in shape for FS Greco.

There are alot of different reasons. I know very few off our HS team are competing in the kids series. Many are Sr's and wrestling in several all-star events. Those that are not Sr's like my son have many different paths. Some are out for track or baseball. We rodeo heavy this time of year. But several of our HS kids are at the kids practices helping and giving back. They are having a great time and usually end up going at it with some live goes after the practice is over. The smaller kids love it and still bond with the HS kids, but the HS kids get to have some fun without any worries over competition. It has actually invigorated my son. He is having more fun helping the kids club that he has had with wrestling in some time. It's not ALL about competing ALL the time. Sure you need to compete to test yourself and figure out how to get better, but many of these kids will wrestle this summer and train almost year round. Some will do nothing. That will show too.

JMO

After a long grind of a high school season it is hard for some of them to get up for kids wrestling. Its just not the same, but you can tell the kids that really want to get better by who is wrestling in the kids series.

Great question!

Ultimately it comes down to the kids and or the individual. If a high school kid wants to get better and compete they will and if they don't they won't. Almost seems like there is no middle ground here.

couple things I have noticed:

- high school kids that start wrestling in high school are less likely to do more wrestling in the off season. I don't want to say it is not important to the kids but most the time I get the feeling the new ones are happy when the season is done. Yes, they might be back out the following year but then its next year and they are still the same wrestler when they left. For a 1st year kid, wrestling is demanding, and can take a lot out of a high school kid. The culture of wrestling or drive to succeed is not a factor in their home environment either. I do think this plays a part in kids not investing their extra time, money, and energy into taking it to the next level.

- The kids that started when they were in grade school know what it takes to be successful and are more willing to pay the price. Family is a big part of this as well. It's like the whole family is involved to a certain degree. Parents spend countless hours driving to tournaments, sitting at tournaments, talking with their kids after a great win or tough loss. In kids wrestling parents take on a little more of a coaching role and seem to be more into the sport as well. Let's face it when a whole family is into wrestling, a young wrestler builds and or grows off that energy (if used in a positive way.)

Yes, there are cases against both examples and everybody knows high schoolers that won State championships where they were only out for 2-3 years. But if you are ever in a wrestling room in the off season, the more majority of the kids in there are the ones who have done it for a while / the ones with at least a little bit of kid experience.

Bottom Line:
If you think you young kid might take to wrestling or will eventually go out. Why wait till they are in high school. Give them the best chance to be great and start them off a little sooner.

I know this has been discussed before but why not have a different deadline for HS kids to commit to the kids state series. These kids are literally asked to sign up for kids state the week after high school state. If some were allowed to get out of the wrestling room for a week or so they might just miss it a bit and sign up.

And believe it or not, some actually go out for spring sports. Tryouts start the Monday after state. There is something to be said for kids participating in a variety of sports. They are competing, just not in wrestling.

I have to agree with Badbo. We don't have a lot of kids competing because they are tired, don't want to cut weight, etc. We have asked them to come in and help coach or just come in and roll around and drill. This seems to be working fairly well. We have some young high schoolers practicing but not competing. Others are coming and coaching the little guys....this is great. The HS kids love it and the little guys look at them as rock stars!

We also tell them that we want them to focus on making 1 open gym night a week. This seems to relax them some and they end up coming in 2 to 3 times a week. This spring/summer we are going to plan some cookouts, bbqs, swimming, etc after our open gyms a couple times a month.

We also give them some freedom. We let them work on what they want, wrestle live if they want, etc. It also helps that in the summer we get some of the college wrestlers in the room.

I want to publicly thank Bo Pursel, Spencer Blew and Tyler Baughman for coming in and helping coach our kids. They are great with our little guys!

Need to also thank Nathan Butler, Jevon Haynes, and Josh Bush for helping with the little guys. Didn't mean to forget them...just fat fingered the wrong button. Sorry guys.

You have to find parents that are committed to it! Parents are usually ready for the season to be over or have other kids that participate in other activities as well. I know since I have started offering to take as many kids that can fit in my van to practices and tournaments the number of kids doing summer wrestling went from 2 to 8. Not a huge number but an increase. So seek those parents that are totally on board and have them help. I also believe that more would participate if they had a week to decide instead of a couple of days.

Carlos, that's a great question, and I think it's been answered with thoughtful insight. I also remember very well one of our conversations four or five years ago, when you stated that your son was talking to you on the way to a kids tournament, and mentioned that he didn't really feel like wrestling that day. I remember that you said that you just turned around, went home, and did something fun with him that day. You also questioned yourself, wondering if you had done the right thing. Personally, I thought the answer was obvious, and since he is now one of the premier young wrestlers in Kansas, with an obvious inner desire to excel, you took the right attitude to keep him from getting "burned out". I admire that.

I certainly appreciate greatly the work and time of those dedicated to the kids programs. With their dedication, the best kids programs become the best high school teams. Of that there is no doubt. Understandably, they want the high school wrestlers to continue with THEIR teams. Usually, those coaches have been seeing the same faces for a while and are excited for the older kids to get it on, whereas the high school kid (and coaches) may be needing a break. I can certainly sit on the fence on this issue as well as anyone!

Let's also not overlook the expense for parents, who may have been following their son for two and a half months with many weekends in motels. It wouldn't surprise me for some parents to discourage their kids, telling them they can take a break not wanting to admit that much of their thoughts are financial. I also know that many parents gladly use all of their vacation time and money on wrestling, knowing that those days will end soon enough and appreciating it enough to make those sacrifices.

I don't think that there is simply one good answer.

Rick Cue
Ulysses

I agree with the question in general. If we are looking at Juniors and Seniors, There are many opportunities that exist at various regional and national levels that give them more exposure necessary to get to the next level. Some of these events conflict with the Ks championship series. That being said "Mat time is the vehicle to improvement"

While I agree with every answer given on this topic, I think it would be remiss to ignore another real reason. It's not politically correct, but a lot of kids see the spring as a time to party and chase after girls. If you want to say that only the kids who don't care about getting better do this, we could start a list of the biggest partying wrestlers we know. It would be full of a LOT of champions that spent more time partying than in par terre during the summers.

I'm glad my coaches not only expected me to wrestle in the summer, they also put in hours helping with freestyle/greco. They put together trips for our FS club and "put their money where their mouth was." As a coach, I was in a different family situation (3 young daughters), so I did not put in the time I wish I could have, and we didn't have many summer wrestlers.

It also seems like there are fewer opportunities to compete in the summer locally, too. We used to have several FS/GR tournaments in Wichita, Ark City, Hutch, etc. Now, much like other sports, it's all about the tournament in the biggest place with the biggest trophies. I used to drive an hour or less, wrestle 4-5 matches (often bumped up a weight to fill a bracket), and be home in time for supper. The tournaments weren't full of super stars, but we had fun and got a little better.

Just my two cents.

I think most of our HS kids were just as much into coaching than they were wrestling, which is still great to me.

I know I would have been in a lot less trouble had I been "encouraged" to wrestle kids' series after HS season, and especially FS GR in the summer. I couldn't even tellyou if they had such a thing back in the early to mid eighties.

The way the Senior Nationals was scheduled this year, I was surprised at how few Seniors were wrestling the kids' series this year. What better way to stay in wrestling shape, and sharp, for the senior nationals, Iowa Folkstyel nationals, Brute, etc.......

This isn't politically correct either, but we do have a problem with kids that don't understand that to get better, they have to wrestle better kids, and some of them that were able to sneak onto the podium at HS state, didn't want to take a chance at getting their tails handed to them, and just "ended on a high note" for the year.

I think the series is too long and the fact that we make them commit to a weight by the Wednesday after HS state is WAY too soon. I personally advocate having only Districts and State for HS wrestlers. In fact, I think if we had a District tournament the Saturday after HS state and then a state then next Saturday I would venture to say that we would have a 50% increase in participation. It might even be better if we had a Cadet and Junior Division allowing Cadets to choose which division they want to compete in. It could be a great series and alleviate some of the pressure from the numbers we get at our Kids state tournament. Also let our HS wrestlers who want to FS/GR wrestle get started two weeks earlier. The first regional was this past weekend in Oregon. It would be awesome to have 20 KS HS wrestlers out there next year.

Yes, we are a month behind, in FS GR, from most other states, so we are playing catchup from the get go each summer...........