I grew up in Kentucky and never knew there was such a thing as youth wrestling until living in Kansas. We actually learned about it because the coach of the Fort Riley club had a booth set up at the PX on post to raise awareness. I think Kansas is in between what I just read about Iowa and what I have learned about Kentucky wrestling from here (and we have been to a camp and tourney in Louisville so the grandparents could see).
-Kansas youth is all clubs until 7th grade. You are not allowed to wrestle middle school until 7th grade period.
-Prices for clubs vary tremendously from free to $200. Sometimes you pay for your own tournament entries sometimes they are included.
-For youth you choose what tournaments you want to go to. Only the larger tournaments like state and tournament of champions even have a team score and state you have to individually qualify for. Basically you choose to do however many tourneys you feel is right for your kid.
-Middle School and High School cannot wrestle club until their school season is over and most clubs don’t charge them to join. They just have to get a USA Wrestling Card.
-After folkstyle there are Regional Training Centers for Greco/Freestyle. Some are free, some charge a small amount. Most kids do not do this 2 month season but enough do to keep the mats going.
-Off season folkstyle tourneys are few and far between and use Madison brackets so weight cutting shouldn’t be an issue. Lots of camps to go to though if you want.
I hope wrestling continues to grow there. We enjoyed Bluegrass Nationals and plan to be back next season.
