wc1992

Congratulations Jimmy Jones and wishing you the best at Calloway County. It is great to see some former Webster County wrestlers still involved with the sport.

I am partial to single duals during the week and having the gym lights off except with a single light over the mat. We typically wrestle a JV dual first followed by exhibition matches then varsity. That works great if both teams have a pretty full line-up for both varsity and JV. Triangulars and Quads are better for number of matches per weigh-in but indeed make for a long night during the week unless all of the teams are nearby like in a metro area. I really like the 8 man/team scramble format on the weekends whether it is done by duals or individual format. Wrestlers get their five matches and usually find competitive matches along the way. Seeding is minimal in the individual match format since you are just trying to split the groups fairly even. Six team duals are good too for getting matches. Both formats are so much better than having a wrestler get beat out early in a traditional tournament and not having an opportunity to compete and develop.

The ISI camp series has been great for my wrestlers. The camps provide a good balance of technique and competition. There is always a nice assortment of clinicians and counselors at the ISI camps. Even if you do not have a full team or are an individual, they do a great job of pairing up partial teams and free agents for the competition side of the camp. The two camps in Cedar Falls, IA are in the same metro area as the Dan Gable Museum and close to nearby University of Northern Iowa and Wartburg college.

Yes the proposal that I saw also included girls weight classes. That was not voted upon yet just the proposal that I saw. That would be a nice step forward even if all states are not sponsoring girls wrestling yet. I hated going to high school tournaments where the girls used the same weights as the boys in a girls division. I am not a fan of the proposed lower weight changes on the boys side. I can live with the upper weight changes since many small schools can struggle to fill both 220 and 285.

The proposed NFHS weight class changes for 2020-21 that I have heard second hand are: 107, 114, 121, 128, 134, 140, 146, 152, 160, 172, 189, 215, and 285. This would be a reduction to 13 weight classes. Girls weight classes would be: 100, 106, 112, 118, 124, 130, 136, 142, 148, 155, 170, 190, & 235. Also, there are proposals to make changes on allowable hair length, hair coverings, and facial hair. These proposals appear to be loosening the requirements on them. I am not sure if these have been voted on yet or not.

Austin Myers seems to be wrestling great in a tough bracket. I was hoping to see him wrestle against Marcus Harrington out of Waterloo West in Iowa in the 220 finals. Harrington will be wrestling D1 at Iowa State this fall and quite impressive to watch on the mat (Marcus is my oldest son's hero). Good luck to Austin Myers in the consolations finals. He is definitely bringing some respect to Kentucky high school wrestling.

Many of the staggered tournaments that I have been to are at smaller gyms where it would be pretty crowded trying to squeeze in the wrestlers and families for PK - 8th Grade. If the gym are big enough, then it is nice to run all the age groups at once. I have two wrestlers that are spread out in age, K & 6th grade so the staggered tournaments can be a long day. Most of the tournaments that we attend have a youth tournament coupled with their high school tournament. The youth tournament is hosted either on Friday night or Sunday with a high school tournament on Saturday. I see kids wrestle multiple divisions whether the tournament is staggered or not. I actually see very few local tournaments with set weight classes in the state that I live in (It is a big wrestling state). I really only see set weight classes at USA and AAU sanctioned tournaments which are a small percentage of the total number of youth wrestling tournaments. If the youth tournaments don't have enough wrestlers, then the set weight classes can hurt the competition.

Ennels was amazing to watch on the mat and a definite beast. The Western Kentucky District was stacked around those weights in 1992. Ennels won State at 160 with Corley from Fort Campbell finishing 2nd (if I remember correctly). Joey Roby from Caldwell County won state at 152 that year as well.

Looking at the brackets, the Union Couty guys did show well against some great competition at USA Nationals. I live in Waterloo right next to Cedar Falls so I enjoy having it in my backyard. I grew up close to Union County so I am glad to see them doing well here. This is a great wrestling area plus there is the opportunity to visit the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo.

Iowa switched to this format this year. Their state duals had been held after the traditional state tournament. Now the Iowa State Duals are on a Wednesday followed by traditional state on Thursday, Friday, & Saturday. However, Iowa has individual state duals and state tournaments for 1A, 2A, & 3A schools which is different from Kentucky. I believe Minnesota uses a similar format as well. How do Kentucky schools qualify for the state duals currently?

I am not familiar with the current metro Lexington wrestling scene since it has been 14 years since I last lived in the area. I know Woodford County has been a strong program. When I moved to my current town and wanted to get my young son into a wrestling program, I contacted the wrestling coach for the high school district that we lived in, and he gave me details on the local club programs. The USA and AAU websites might also have some club listings for Lexington.

I have been trying to keep my oldest son (4th grade) at 45 - 50 matches per season since about 2nd grade. He had between 25 - 30 matches in Kindergarden and 1st grade. These are strictly folkstyle matches. For us that is averaging one tournament a weekend from mid November to early March. We could basically wrestle three folkstyle tournaments a weekend here if we wanted from November through early March. I know of kids even as young as PreK wrestling 90 folkstyle matches a season which is really too much in my opinion. For the average wrestler, I believe around 30 matches a season is a solid number to really get a good feel for competition. The quality of the competition becomes important to consider as well because it may take more matches sometimes to get the total number of quality matches that a wrestlers needs to progress to the next level. I have been hesistant to burn him out with freestyle and greco roman. Freestyle and Greco-Roman have struggled some to attract youth wrestlers in my state partly because AAU is stronger than USA here. This coupled with very long folkstyle season tends to make some kids ready for a break by March. However, my son does not have a true spring/summer sport currently so I may let him at least attend freestyle practice this season. Dad also usually needs a break by early March as well after eating way too many walking taco and super nachos over the winter.

We have dads that have some experience helping in our club practices including myself. The rule of thumb for coaching as I know it is one coach per five kids so it does take some parent volunteers typically to meet those numbers. The size of a wrestling room or number of wrestling rooms can also factor into if you run practices for all age groups at the same time. My personal preference is that the younger group to practice the hour before the older age group. This helps keep the families connected in the different age group. I would not say that one club format is better than another. Club may have to evolve depending on the kids in the room. I agree with making a club fun while keeping it serious. Prek - 1st almost always get a game at the end of our practice. For our 2nd - 8th grade group, we typically have a game at the end of the practice if everyone works hard. Dodgeball in the wrestling room is one of their favorites and is good way to help build cardio. We usually have about 30 minutes of wrestling per practice paired with 30 minutes of technique which leaves 30 minutes for exercise, basic drills, & a game. We have a number of these non-competitive tournament options available for Prek-K. They will be a four man round robin three 1 minute periods with both hands raised at the end of the match (no score is kept). If there is a pin, then both kids re-start in the neutral position. These type of tournament can help get young wrestlers used to wrestling kids outside your club and wrestling in front of a crowd plus they get a trophy or medal. The transition from non-competitive to competitive should be less of a shock for young wrestlers this way. I hate to lose a kids because of a bad 1st experience which is why I support this format. Of course, there are very few options like this for older first time wrestlers beyond a handful of begineer tournaments (less than 3 years). I alway tell parents of new wrestlers when they fill out tournament entry forms to write on there additional information like "1st ever tournament" or "very little tournament experience". This sometimes help the people pairing up the brackets make competitive brackets for all the kids. There is not much good to be gained by pairing up a AAU/USA State Placer with a 1st time wrestler - this is true for both wrestlers in general. I am somewhat in the same boat with my younger son since I know more about the youth wrestling scene this time around with him while I was still learning what my current state had to offer with my oldest son. Good luck with getting your club started. I am pleased to see the number of Kentucky schools that are starting wrestling programs since it seemed to be dying about 15 years ago. Unless it has changed, I do not believe Kentucky allows schools to have program sharing agreements which would help develop the sport in the rural areas better. My current state allows schools to enter to sharing agreement with athletic programs. We have a number of small schools here which combine wrestling programs so they can field a full team without the individual school merging. I have seen up to three different schools go together in sharing agreement for athletic programs. These agreement can be for specific sports or entire athletic departments.

I started by oldest son in Kindergarten, and he turned six years early into that school year. I would have liked to have started him earlier but he had some early childhood developmental delays that really prevented that. My youngest son will be starting this year at age 4 (does not start Kindergarten until 2013). Our club splits our practice into two age groups PreK to 1st Grade (1hr per week) & 2nd Grade to 8th Grade (3hrs per week) four about a four month season in folkstyle. Since we have the age group split I am more comfortable letting him start at the younger age since these practices are not very intense. Plus he is already been asked to stop putting kids in half-nelson during pre-school which is a good indicator that he is probably ready. I might enter him into one non-competitive tournament toward the end of the season this year if he is ready. My goal this season and next season is to expose him to wrestling while not burning him out for the long run. Gradually I will increase his competitive match count per season to about 45 around 2nd grade if he matures into the sport at a similar pace to his brother. Ultimately, I believe it depends on the youth wrestler's skill level and maturity level for when they are ready to start. Our club also discuss the same thing when considering moving kids up to the 2nd - 8th grade level. There are some 1st grade toward the middle of the season that are ready to take that next step. If they are ready, then we often encourage them to move up to the older group. I have also seen other clubs that only practice the younger ages (1st grade and lower) for about one month. The coaches identify kids that are ready to practice at the next level, and let these kids practice with the older group for another two or three months. I do not agree with this method because it may discourage kids from coming back out, and it does not consider which kids may be late bloomers that end up quitting. Also, keep in mind that post is based on the experience that I have with my kids who do not wrestle in Kentucky. I read these forums since I wrestled in Kentucky so I can keep updated on Kentucky wrestling. You may have to consider what is typical for your area of Kentucky - rural vs. metro, proximity to other states, etc. If there are very few younger kids signing up for your club, it may be more difficult to find enough wrestlers to match up partners to the appropriate weight and skill level. I am glad to see more youth wrestling clubs trying to be established in Kentucky.

Being from a small KY school that lost their wrestling program, I am glad to see the sport appears to be growing in the state. Does the KHSAA rules allow for shared sports programs? Shared ahletic programs are pretty common in other states. Some of the shared programs may only involve one or two of the athletic programs offered. I have seen up to three small schools (less than 200 enrollment) in one state combine their wrestling team so they have enough kids to fill a squad. The school districts had to sign a formal agreement that had to be approved by the state athletic association. Sharing agreement are not always long term so has enrollments change, these agreement may be disolved or modified. In really small schools that offer limited sport programs, they may have agreements with other schools that allow their kids to participate at that school in certain sports. Sharing agreement in some state can be also cross county lines since school district are not required to be totally inside one county. Perhaps, Kentucky already allows shared aports programs, and I am outdated on the KHSAA rules. If KHSAA does not currently support it, it might be worth pushing for. It would give some small schools a chance to keep sports with low participation numbers or allow their kids the opportunity to participate at another school without losing their enrollment. It beats taking away opportunities for high school kids to compete.