Best age to start

[MR NKY 3x 0]

Just wondering what age everyone thinks is best to start wrestling and why.thinking of starting a youth club and trying to learn and take in everyones thoughts ,

[wc1992 0]

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.

[MR NKY 3x 0]

Very interesting stuff our clubs and teams which were in oh never had seperate practices but most and we went to a handfull over the years put them in groups with different coaches ,sorry to say but I guess it was ok that many were dads who were learning as the kids did .my own boys who are 14 months apart started on their own they came home with a flyer and said they wanted to do it so I said ok cool they went ayt it all the time anyway a great advantage having 2 the youngerr being bigger .in the early days when 1 would want to quit I never made a big deal I simply said your brother will have more medals than yoiu soon and he would say heck with that I'm wrestling too.

Not sure how many will show for a new club and all will be green but I would take advantage of that everyone will be the same level except skill ngdesire etc and having 2 who have been through it I can avoid a lot of mistakes and know what works best for the younger kids.

Being at different teams and clubs over the years, some low key and others amongst the best and most disciplined in the country I would mix all the things I think work keeping it fun but very serious ,I hated seeing kids from teams go out and get shell shocked expecting it to be all fun and get the crap kicked out of them then quit .let them and their parents know the truth and take it fom trhere .

Thanks your poost was very helpful my son is three and his brothers play around with him a lot he was in a wrestling room as a newborn so he's used to it I'm thinking let him play around with it at 5 maybe. A tournament or 2 if he catches on then lett him go at six and take it from there he's the youngest and spoiled but hiis brothers are anxious for him to go and will be great coaches for him maybe it will be good for him either way I look forward to avoiding the mistakes and hitting some bigger stuff that I waited to long to take my older boys too.and taking as many kids as I can with me.

[wc1992 0]

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.

[MR NKY 3x 0]

Thanks ,good stuff I know in oh some jr highs combine but not HS ,ky is probably the same but I do not know for sure .I agree with the gameas it makes it fun our teams played dodgeball and a game we call own the bone two teams and same sise kids opposaing and playing a sort of tug of war/wrestling match while trying to pull a rope back to their sideline.its fun

As for coaches some dads are too obviously homers and that stinks and I have seen many youth teams use HS helpers to coach .kids from the HS team

[MR NKY 3x 0]

Next ? Would be how many matches a year and when to start fr and gr ,if at all I know I'm jumping the gun but how many parents /coaches out there think kids should go nearly yr. Round and all styles fr and gr are a blast in my opinion.!!

[wc1992 0]

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.

[MR NKY 3x 0]

I guess the first yr or so you need to hit a normal # depending upon the kids but sometimes in order to make a jump in level you have to jump in the fire and take some bruises and burns and after a while you will learn where you stand and what you need to work on to hit the next level as for the burnout i think it varies from kid to kid ,i have had a kid wrestle 160 matches in a yr counting fr and gr and i have had a kid wrestle very few and still improve so i guess it all depends on the needs of the individual .Good stuff