Sadly I have to agree. The sport at the youth level has gotten out of hand, and with events like this and websites offering national rankings for jr high kids its just more incentive for parents to push their kids harder at younger ages, and its killing the sport. Dont get me wrong it's not just parents pushing kids to hard. Its a dying sport to begin with, kids dont want to cut weight and put in the time, theyd rather be on facebook, xbox live or twitter.
Do you see this as just a wrestling problem? there are national rankings/competitions now in nearly every sport. Also, participation #s from the NFHS would disagree that it's a dying sport because of twitter.
For the sixth straight year, high school boys' wrestling participation numbers have increased while girls’ participation hit an all-time high as the
National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) released the 2009-10 participation numbers.
The numbers tell an encouraging story for both male and female prep wrestlers:
> Boys' high school wrestling: The number of boys wrestling in 2009-10 was 272,890. That makes wrestling the sixth most popular boy’s sport in terms of participation levels. The total number of boys wrestling in high school in 2010 is the highest number the sport has seen since 1980, when participation statistics were listed at 273,326 by the NFHS.
More good news: the total number of boys' wrestling teams is at an all-time high, with 10,363 programs nationally.
In terms of total teams and individuals involved in high school wrestling, these numbers show significant growth in the past year with 111 programs added since 2008-09 and individual participation up by 5,512.
This growth is part of an ongoing trend. In the past decade 1,317 teams have been added throughout the country along with an increase in individual participation of 33, 785. Every state but Mississippi has high school wrestling.