I'm 44 years old and still took the easy road this morning. "should I pick up those underwear with the hash marks exposed, or should I let them there so that Kim yells at me, gets a long pair of tongs, and picks them up and puts them in the hamper....." I left them lay there........

Doug:
As you know I have a few years on you and I learned long ago - dispense with the underwear - less laundry and a whole lot less hollering by the misses.

Glad you called Doug out---- sharts are inecusable in undergarments especially 'tidy whities'. Depends undergarments for men if you're worried about zippers. Ha.

The older you get the less you worry about zippers.

I fail to see the issue here. If you qualify for 14U... wrestle 14U, if you don't wrestle HS div.

The issue being brought is that over the years that have been state placers, and even state champs as freshmen, that have wrestled the 14u division at kids state, instead of wrestling HS division. Some of us are of the opinion they should wrestle the HS division, as they have already proven they are capable of beating all comers at the HS division during HS season, and that it is actually a step down in competition, in most cases, to go 14u.

But you also get into the debate of "at what point should they be "required" to wrestle HS?" HS State qualifier? Lucas Baker would say that isn't enough. HS State Placer? HS State Champ?

I'm confused, you say its fair for a 14 year old to wrestle 18 year olds all season, but is not fair for a 13 year old to wrestle a 14 year old?

You think the HS 14 year old should face tougher opponents, but you don't want the 13 year old to have to face tougher opponents?

If you want 8th graders to wrestle 8th graders (or 7th) attend the Middle School Championship in Lindsborg, going to Iowa is a great experience.

I don't have a dog in this fight this year but will the next three years. What about that 14&U freshman that is varsity on a weak team who didn't make it to state much less place at state? What about a freshman who skipped a grade in school who is bottom of 14&U and may have a varsity spot? I hope my boys chose to wrestle the HS division but I will let them chose after giving them some advise. It is their wrestling season.

Andrew Steele

Yep. It seems that younger wrestlers continue to get better, which is good for the sport. Personally, if they place in high school State, I would like to see them wrestle the high school division. At the same time, I have no problem with them choosing to wrestle U14 if they are qualified to do so.

If I have have a super stud 14U HS state placer, I'm probably convincing him to wrestle in the HS div at KIDS state. If I have a 14U HS kid who wasn't a factor in HS (for whatever reason), I would tend to give him the opportunity at the 2nd year of 14U at KIDS state... the same opportunity that half the other freshmen had as eighth graders. As compared to convincing him to go have his ass handed to him in the HS div. The super studs will float to the top... let the other ones battle it out!

Part of the reason for the HS division was to hope we get some HS champions/placers, from different classes (321a, 4a, 5a, 6a) to wrestle each other. There is nothing written that says who "should" wrestle HS instead of 14u, but I would think that folks should look at the big picture. A tough, state placing freshman should wrestle HS, IMO, to push him self against tougher competition.


Something that could have an impact is a kids' club coach that is after the state team title at Topeka, telling the kid to wrestle 14u for team points.

I am one that is frustrated when I see kids wrestling 14u instead of HS, but I can only make my own kid do what I feel is right, and best for him. I can't determine what I think is right for someone else's kids.

Just remember, ANY kid, when given an option, will take the easier road. This crap about "he's a kid, let him make some decisions and learn", is crap. Kids need to be told what decision to make, so that when they get older, and are faced with the ole' "when you have frogs to swallow, swallow the biggest one first", they are prepared........

my $.02


"Great post - Can you put this in every grade/middle, & high school classroom, and have a copy sent to all the students parents as well."

I believe that this was the hope. Looking at the numbers this year, there appear to be many wrestlers/coaches/parents that didn't get the memo, or didn't take time to read it. This year's High School division (Sub-District Totals):

D1 164
D2 138
D3 103
D4 88

My son wrestled the H.S. division last year and would have wrestled it this year had it not been for a H.S. band trip next week to Florida that cost us a heap load of money. I know that others have their reason why their H.S. wrestler is not competing. It is unfortunate, because this could have been the "Grand State" that many people have asked for.

Well, no band trip the next two years, so barring injury or illness, Garrett will be back in the mix at the Kids' Fed H.S. division in '13 and '14 (unless it is dropped due to the low turnout).

It seems to me that at a time when many are concerned about the amount of participation in the HS Division, that skimming the top 30-35 wrestlers to participate in Colorado is helping to defeat the purpose of having a HS Division for Kids!

this is a gentleman's sport. fierce competition, initiated and concluded with a hand shake. a battle of strength, and stamina built on the value of respect for one another, and the sport.

in my opinion a kids who has reached the level of HS State Placer should make the gentleman's choice, and respecfully enter the HS division.

in the end, as a coach you can only make suggestion, kids and parents will make the ultimate decision.

ExHeights Coach, you're onto something...............some of our "opportunities" to grow this sport are cancelling out our "opportunities" to grow this sport.

who are you and what did you do with Beeson???

we already medal 6, and recognize the top 8 at the HS level

then we add in a middle school state championship

the HA that i thought i knew would never try to disguise trophy hunting, as "just having fun"

As much as Chief does FOR Kansas wrestling, I let him know that I dont agree with the Colorado trip.

I am not sure the Colorado trip takes that many kids away from Kids State. My son was not going to do kids. The Colorado trip is only 1 weighin, not 3, only 1 weekend, not 3...and it a trip away from home.

I certainly understand the sentiment involved with having the All-Class trip at the same time as our kids series. I do wish they didn't overlap!

The main motivation behind our All-Class teams, is to reward an incredible accomplishment that transcends classes and to showcase the best that Kansas has by matching them up on the national stage in a folkstyle dual event AND a bracketed national tournament in one weekend! When we took 17 state champions to Colorado last year and won the dual event, then put 6 wrestlers in the finals of some tough brackets, I could hardly get the grin off my face.

I have talked with every wrestler on the team and the majority would have not wrestled in the kids series. There are several of our top ranked guys that declined the trip to wrestle in kids or to attend the DI's in St. Louis. I am all on board for those experiences too!

I am just ALL IN for our dual team events. Schoolboy, Middle School, Cadet and Junior duals are in my opinion the best life-changing events for our Kansas kids. These events establish lifetime friendships and state pride. It gives our wrestlers a confidence that they have competed on a national scale. When we waltz in to that kind of environment and excel, our whole team has a true sense that WE ARE KANSAS!

Chief,

Every thing that you have said is correct. It is too bad that these events overlap. Being a part of any Team Kansas experience is priceless as my son learned a few years ago at the Middle School National Duals. I wish that he was still wrestling this year but the band trip made that impossible. Dual team events bring wrestlers together to accomplish a mission as a team, not as an individual. I have always thought that wrestling is a team event once they get to middle school and high school. My son has bought into that concept and I am proud of him for that. I do wish that the best of all four classes could go against each other, but I don't see it happening in the Kids' Fed High School division.

That wasn't the reason the HS division was passed. I was there and voted on it. It was only passed because it gave other kids the "opportunity" to wrestle after the HS season ended. Which for the most part was seniors. So they did away with the 16 and under division and made it the HS division.

Everyone there who voted knew it wasn't for a "grand state." Because it was made clear that the best seniors who were now able to wrestle the HS division, were going to be wrestling in Senior Nationals during the Kids State tournament. The kids who are going to Colorado to compete, will probably be a lot of the same kids who will be in Virgina Beach, either in Senior Nationals or another grade level.

Also we discussed the 14 and under division and freshman who were elgible to wrestle the HS division. The majority didn't want to water down the 14 and under division so the vote was that those kids had the "choice."

For my son, I gave him the choice to make his own decision. Last year as on the bottom of the 14 and under, he was excited to get the opportunity to wrestle the HS kids that he didn't get a chance to see during the kids season. At state he got to see some of them, but not all of them.

At the end of his 1st year of HS wrestling at 106 lbs, he was looking forward to wrestling the USAW kids season. He said it'd be nice to go against kids his own age and that weren't big weight cutters. He planned to wrestle 14u 110 lbs, which was his walk around weight at the end of the season. I had no issues with it. It was his choice to make the decision, and I understood where he came from. Unforturnately, he broke his arm in his last match, for 3rd and 4th, at the HS state tourney so that ended any issues about wrestling for kids state.

He's not a kids who tried to duck anyone. He's always wrestled what ever weight he was, regardless of who was in it. He's traveled and entered the best tourney's throughout the years to challenge himself. As soon as his arm heals, he'll be back in Tony Purler's room battling with some of the best kids in the NE Kansas and NW Missouri area. He was elgible for 14 and under, and planned to wrestle it for his own enjoyment.

If it really upsets you, try to make the changes the way they should be. Through the state body.