Wrestling is a great sport for kids with a large "but". Young kids should not lose weight except by normal training and they should have lots restrictions on how many matches/tournaments they compete. A NCAA champ wrestles around 40 matches while some 9-10 yr olds are wrestling over a hundred matches!!! I truly believe that state and national championships for 10 year old kids borders non child abuse.
Would you allow you kid to wrestle?
- Thread starter DuffMan
- Start date
I personally know a kid that as a freshman could barely walk on the mat without tripping and won a total of 5 matches his freshman year all jv. He was a senior this year had over 50 wins and placed at state. I guess you didn't wrestle, cause unless you did, YOU JUST DON'T GET IT
2xer
Well-Known Member
Those that cut weight the incorrect way, have a much harder time being successful. "cutting weight" with proper nutrition leads to better conditioned athletes. Wrestlers are not only told how much weight they can cut safely, but they are restricted to how much they can lose over time, a.k.a. the descent plan.
BILLBUCKNER
Well-Known Member
My kids love to compete and there is no sport like wrestling when it comes to competing. It's mano e mano. It is the definition of 'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat'. Other sports a kid can hide on a team. Not wrestling. I'm really not much of a fan of the sport ,but I appreciate it. You have to have incredile conditioning,strength ans skill. Nothing better than pinning someone ,but dreadful experience when it happens to you.
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
The coaches do not recommend cutting weight at this age, it is something this parent decided to do on their own.
hawktransplant
Well-Known Member
I would be worried that my kid gets suplexed like Lawler did to Kaufman. So no, I wouldn't let him wrestle.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ-1ucVJGno&feature=relmfu]The Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 32 - The Final Match 2 of 2 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ-1ucVJGno&feature=relmfu]The Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 32 - The Final Match 2 of 2 - YouTube[/ame]
Igothawked
Well-Known Member
These quotes are the ones that I dont like or understand, "if you didnt do it you dont understand."
Its really annoying to listen to or read. Yes since you were a wrestler you are better than those who werent and were part of some secret society. You are pry that guy who goes to all the local meets to watch kids wrestle when you dont have any kids wrestling.
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
I gotta say my first grader going out for wrestling is probably one of the best things he has ever done in his life to this point. He is my youngest and is kind of babied but he absolutely loves sports, especially football. One thing I notice when he played flag football was his unwillingness to go after someone on defense, afraid of contact. I never knew he liked wrestling and I did not encourage it so when he brought back the sign up sheet to me asking to do pee wee wrestling I about fell to the floor. So I told him I would let him join but he had to stick out the whole season, he agreed.
So he goes to practices and they show me all these tournaments we can sign up for. I seen one only 20 minutes from where we lived so I signed him up, probably a not the best idea. He had only been to a handful of practices and really did not know what he was doing, but the coaches told me this tournament was usually good at bracketing based on age & ability. So we get to the tournament and he was scared, started crying, did not want to do it. I insisted he try it and not worry about winning or losing. Well his first match was against the kid who finished 6 in state the year before, so he gets pinned in 23 seconds. Next match not much better got pinned in a minute. The 3rd match was against the kid who had pinned the other 2 and looked really good. I told my son to go out and give it his all and the coaches showed him a couple of moves to keep him off his back. He gets in there and dang near beats the kid only losing 11-9 but the poor little guy was whipped. I could not have been more proud of him and we made him feel really good about how well he had done. I saw something in my son that day that I had never seen before, toughness. He went on to learn, wrestle other tournaments, get a few pins, and had some fun.
I doubt my son will be wrestler as he gets older as he really loves basketball. In fact I don't know if he will go out for it next year (I hope he does). But what he learned from wrestling will go far for him in other sports especially playing in a contact sport like football. Now he knows he can take someone down and I bet I see a different football player playing defense. But the mental toughness you learn from the sport helps you in life.
If your son or daughter (yes there are girls doing pee wee wrestling) wants to try wrestling, let them do it. In the younger levels there really is not much they can do to hurt each other.
So he goes to practices and they show me all these tournaments we can sign up for. I seen one only 20 minutes from where we lived so I signed him up, probably a not the best idea. He had only been to a handful of practices and really did not know what he was doing, but the coaches told me this tournament was usually good at bracketing based on age & ability. So we get to the tournament and he was scared, started crying, did not want to do it. I insisted he try it and not worry about winning or losing. Well his first match was against the kid who finished 6 in state the year before, so he gets pinned in 23 seconds. Next match not much better got pinned in a minute. The 3rd match was against the kid who had pinned the other 2 and looked really good. I told my son to go out and give it his all and the coaches showed him a couple of moves to keep him off his back. He gets in there and dang near beats the kid only losing 11-9 but the poor little guy was whipped. I could not have been more proud of him and we made him feel really good about how well he had done. I saw something in my son that day that I had never seen before, toughness. He went on to learn, wrestle other tournaments, get a few pins, and had some fun.
I doubt my son will be wrestler as he gets older as he really loves basketball. In fact I don't know if he will go out for it next year (I hope he does). But what he learned from wrestling will go far for him in other sports especially playing in a contact sport like football. Now he knows he can take someone down and I bet I see a different football player playing defense. But the mental toughness you learn from the sport helps you in life.
If your son or daughter (yes there are girls doing pee wee wrestling) wants to try wrestling, let them do it. In the younger levels there really is not much they can do to hurt each other.
You need to see Act of Valor.
DBorwig316
Well-Known Member
So much this.
Wrestling is a life lesson teacher. After a loss, he doesn't have teammates to blame. Only himself.
The majority of the weight loss problems stem from coaches needing to fill a weight class, in my experience. Occasionally, a kid sees his chance to place at state in a lower weight bracket, and uses unhealthy means to get there. That's where parents need to step in. If you keep a close eye, wrestling is an excellent sport for children! My youngest son didn't have the drive/determination for it, so he plays bball and soccer now.
The majority of the weight loss problems stem from coaches needing to fill a weight class, in my experience. Occasionally, a kid sees his chance to place at state in a lower weight bracket, and uses unhealthy means to get there. That's where parents need to step in. If you keep a close eye, wrestling is an excellent sport for children! My youngest son didn't have the drive/determination for it, so he plays bball and soccer now.
Sorry to disappoint you bud, but my daughter wrestles and I coach.
cutting weight is a part of wrestling at the HS and College level, but it has no place in AAU, especially grade school age kids. When my son was wrestling in aau i remember going to districts and there was a young man who if you turned him sideways he was as thick as a peice of paper and yet since he was a fraction of a pound off of where "HIS DAD" wanted him, he dressed up in sweats and went to the gym to run. Kids wrestling is as safe as the parents make it from a weight cutting stand point. I have an almost 3 year old who wears his older brothers old wrestling shoes and head gear and loves to wrestle and if he wants to wrestle in a few years then he will, without hesitation. His weight won't be controlled but his number of matches will be.
