Wow some comments really surprise me. I think the youth program should allow everyone to participate in the state tournament. The youth programs are all about growing the sport of wrestling. If we start limiting the kids participation based on ability I am sure that we will turn some of them away from the sport all together. My older son struggled to place at tournaments until he was a 4th grader even though he has wrestled since he was 4. I am sure if the youth state tournaments had been limited to the top 4 in region he wouldn't have qualified until he was a 4th grader. Instead he attended every year & every year he got a little better. He saw his peers up on that podium & he worked harder every year until he finally won a youth state title. This year he placed 4th at the middle school state tournament as a 5th grader. There is plenty of time to advance only the best when they reach middle school & high school. For now lets jut let them enjoy the sport.
As far as making for a long day, wrestling in general is all about long days. Many days we get up when its dark & don't arrive home until its dark. That's just the nature of the sport. My family of 5 (including a 2 year old) sat at the High school state tournament for 3 days, arrived for the early session where my younger son wrestled & then stayed through the 2nd session so that I could work a table ( I know we weren't the only family who did this). We didn't arrive home until after 9:00 & our kids had school the next day. But weekends like that are once a year & it was worth it all to see the smiles on all the kids faces as they went out for the face-offs & stood on that podium.
I think the fact that we have over 900 kids participate is a clear indicator that the sport is growing in KY & don't think we should do anything to hinder that growth.
