hi my son loves to wrestle, 5 years old and 40 pounds, 2 work out nights with the club and 1 nite with me at home. we pull double weekends {2 tournaments} and he loves it on sunday in derby he asked if we could go to a third one monday.do you think this is two much if he likes it? The other two nites he does what ever he wants. thanks

Nix, if your son loves wrestling this much, then no let him wrestle. I have been a coach/dad for 4 years now and the only advise I can give is if he starts complaining take a break. My 2 sons are on different levels one wants too wrestle every weekend and the other doesn't. Ask your son weekly what he wants to do and go from there, keep in mind this is one long sport. Remember it's about the kids not the parents. Sounds like you have a future state champ on your hands!!!!!

I can tell one of my son's which he is 7 is getting burned out or bored with it. Last weekend we got to the meet and he said he was sick and did not want to wrestle. I could tell it was from the lack of desire not really that sick,since he just ate 2 daylight donuts. I asked him if he wanted to continue the season or if he wanted to call it quits for this year and he told me he did not know he had two days to decide I asked him to make his mind up and he come back to me in 10 mins after thinking about it and said he wanted to wrestle. I am stuck in taking him and having him get there and say he don't want to wrestle or just leaving him home. Any sugestions?

Try this: Do not let him wrestle this weekend, even if he says he wants to. He'll either like the break and decide he is done for the year or he will like the break and really want to wrestle next week. Either way he will like the break.

I think as parents we need to make the kids and ourselves take a break for at least 4 tournaments a year. Be careful, these little guys look up to dad and want to make dad happy. Sometimes they will say they want to wrestle because they think that is what dad wants.

I'm not trying to tell anyone how to raise their kid, just something I learned from experience.

This is a question that I can answer with a little experience. Two sons wrestling, one in middle school who doesnt have the heart or desire like my 10 year old. Two completely different personalities thats for sure. At the start of the wrestling season I asked my older son what he wanted to do and he decided that he wanted to wrestle for middle school so I didn't force him to work out with club beforehand. After a couple of weeks of practice with the middle school program he came to me and wanted to come to club I told him he needed to finish what he started, he was a little upset but then things kinda changed for him socially and wrestling for the school was helping him in that aspect. So, for him and his personality, I think that we made the right decision. My younger son goes from one sport directly into another with Baseball, Football, and Wrestling. I am afraid of burnout with him as well so we took the last two weeks off from tournaments and one full week off from the practice room (mixed in a baseball practice here and there while he was off though)and when he came back to the practice room this week I have seen that fire of desire back in his eyes. We will see this weekend if the 2 week layoff for him has done any good or not at Liberty Nationals. In the past we have always taken 1 week off, and at this age I don't want to burn him out because I really feel that once he starts his career in high school that's when he needs to really have the love of the sport.

I think if your son loves it that much, you will probably burn out before he does. I know I am by the end of the year. But am always anxious for it to begin in October.

A 5 year old wrestling 5 days a week. Yes, you will burn him out no matter how much he loves it. Just my opinion, but just a few more years could make a big difference. I believe you need to hold them back and portion the amount of wrestling until they are 7 or 8. They will still be just as advanced by the time they are 9-10 as the kids that go full bore at 5-6. And you have less chance for burn out.

It's a long time until high school. Again just my opinion and it is your child. Each child is different.

24/7

AMEN to that Coach Bill. I can't wait to get started each yr and I can't wait to be done each yr. My boy is 7 and this is his 3rd yr. He always asks, "where we wrestlin this week dad?". If he had his choice it would be tournaments with no practices...ha ha
But with the talent of Beeson and Green in his age/weight, he can't afford to miss a practice. The only times he says he doesnt want to go to practice is if he is in the middle of an XBOX game or his brothers and sis are goin to grandmas, but as soon as we're in the truck its all good. When the shoes are laced up its all fun and I expect he is gonna try a little freestyle this yr.

Each kid and situation is different, just have to play it by ear and be sure that we hear what message they are trying to send.

Personally, I probably won't start my kids wrestling until they are in at least 5th grade, but that's just me. It all depends on the kid, and you know the answer to that question better than any of us. Good luck!