We had a kid from newton(Austin Cross-8&U 70) who turn just turned 7 in December. He took 4th At District 3

I think you some of you miss the point we are trying to make about the 6 & u GROUP. wE ARE NOT SAYING WE NEED TO EXCLUDE THE 16 YEAR OLD GROUP hOWEVER WE ARE SAYING THAT THEY CERTAINLY NEED TO INCLUDE THE 6 YEAR OLD GROUP.

This is one thread that stayed very positive until KCWrestlersMom jumped in to gloat about her JV wrestler keeping a spot at state and to bash the little guys. Go back in your in your hole KCWrestlersMom.

Start another thread if you want to change the subject.

Congrats to Mom160 son for his 6th place finish in HS State.

When there are over 1600 6 years & Under in the state and they are not included in the state tournament, and there are 600 16 & under that are, that is a problem. I think they all need to have the opportunity to wrestle. I think it's great for everyone.

I think they should just keep state the way it is, it is the last year for the 16 year olds in kids wrestling and the 6 yr olds have years ahead of them.

averagejoe - how were my comments NOT positive? There were several comments directed towards the 16u, and my point is that we need to find a different alternative than eliminating the upper age levels. In NO way am I saying that the 6u need to be kept out of state. BTW - wrestling 14u & 16u made my son a high school state medalist, so please research before you go name calling. The only "gloating" done by me was not even for my son.

I personally dont want anyone elimanated from the tourney. My 6yr old is very excited about going to state,and being in the parade with some of his favorite older teamates, one is 14. My 6yr old has been drilling and conditioning with the big kids and looks up to them. His state experiance wouldnt be the same without their presence and support. Not to mention the support of other parents in our club. Having 6yr old state seperate takes away alot of these kids support. Just my opinion.
Anyway best of luck to all participants and to all the 6yr olds who made it and to those who tried and did'nt.
Jon Murray
Parsons Wrestling Club

Thank you average joe. this situation is not even comparable to High School. First of all if these ladies had any idea about wrestling or sports in general they would know there is a huge difference in maturity between 6 & 8 year olds. As these kids get older i.e. 8, 10, 12, 14,16 that gap becomes less and less aparent. It is not fair to exclude these kids who are more then qualified to compete at State. The only kids that aren't effected are the kids that wrestle the weights that most 7 & 8 year olds don't typically weigh. i.e. 37, 40, 43, 46. The rest of the classes have pretty much no class.

Why are you assuming that I know nothing about the sport? I am a mother AND a teacher and I do understand the difference in age groups. What I don't understand is why I have made some of you SO angry? I am not disputing having 6u at state - but I do not make the rules.

Filling the Expo with eager excited fans and wrestlers should be reason enough if there is anyway possible to include the 6 and under brackets.

You would not fill a small gym with a 15 & 16 year old tournament. It is hard to find a seat at a 6 and under event.

I bet if you really look at the 6 year olds actually wrestling week in and week out it's less than the 14 and unders which is around 1100 plus kids. I bet it's closer to 800. We had 20 6 and unders signed up this year. And 4 of them came week in and week out. All kids are different. Plus it depends where you live at in the state. In the Wichita area you can go to several tournaments without traveling that far and get more participation. In western kansas you have to travel more to get to a tournament. Which you get less participation. Kids develop at different rates and stages. My oldest son which is in 10 and under now went to state as a 6 year old his first year of wrestling. My other son who is six now started when he was 5 and he will be lucky to make it to state when he gets to be 14. I haven't coached him any different than my other son. He actually knows more moves at 6 than my oldest son did. Wrestling or even any sports activity isn't in his heart. He doesn't care about them. He just wants to participate right now and be part of something. Now my 3 year old will tear your head off. He wants to wrestle all the time. It just depends who they are. We just need to let our kids go out there and do as they please. Just guide them and coach them the best we can without burning them out. Either way if their having success or not having success. Because I almost lost my oldest son his first year. Because I went overboard. It would be nice if Ottawa would do their tournament a little earlier in the year and do it on a Saturday instead of Sunday. Because I would like to bring some kids to Ottawa instead of going to districts and traveling that far for a tournament on a Sunday and wrestling that late on a Sunday. Especially when we didn't get home from our district tournament until 8:00 p.m. that night. Then state in just a few days. I would like to keep state 8 and under thru 16 and under. Because they have many opportunities to go to state. Because as our kids get older we don't want to hear from those new parents of 6 year olds wanting our 16 year olds out because there are more 6 year olds than 16 year olds that hold a USA kids wrestling card. Just let it go. Let those 6 years come up and kick some butt. Because some will.

If anyone is in doubt that six year old are ready for a state tournament needs to go watch the Ottawa 6 & u state championships. The numbers wre huge. These little kids wrestled their butts off. The Ottawa club did a great job! And a great turnout. I saw 2 64-man brackets and 5 0r 6 32-man brackets. Some of these kids wrestled WAY too many matches in one day! It was a very long day though. We left after the 55# finals and that was around 6pm. I think it would be better if the 6 &u were added to big state tournament. Then it could be a two day event.

It appears that the problem with adding the 6 year olds is space. If the Expocenter is not big enough to hold the current ages and adding 6U, is there a site in Topeka that the 6U could be held on the same days? They could be included in the ceremonies and the finals for 6U could be added to the Expocenter. I don't see changing the weight brackets for all the other ages to add 6U. As far as 16U, these kids deserve to be able to participate at state even if it appears they have only wrestled a couple of weeks in the kids program. Anyone who has an older wrestler knows what they go thru for 3 months of highschool wrestling. I commend any wrestler who stays out and wants to continue to wrestle. We have had several very good wrestlers decide not to continue in the kids because of the pressures of highschool wrestling. Good luck to ALL participating this week at state and keep Tyler and his family in your prayers.

First of all any club, coach, or parent that allows a 6u lose weight should be baned from the sport. Very few if any kids who are forced (this is the only way a kid this young would cut weight) to do this will end up wrestling in high school. This is a intro into the sport of wrestling and should be keep that way. A state tournament for kids at this age is for the parents not the kids. The state tournament does alot of good for the sport of wrestling, but keep in mind it has little to do with how a young wrestler will do in high school and beyond. So treat it for what it is a really fun tournament with really good young wrestlers.

What happen to Bryce Bacon - Hoxie?
He placed last year 8/40 and 1st at Subs this year 8/40.

We are from oklahoma and the 6 yr olds wrestle with everyone else at state,and the tournament runs just fine. as far as 6yr olds wrestling with 8yr olds are 6 yr old 52lbs kid beat some of the best 8yr olds in oklahoma and some 10 yr olds. just because there 6 if they got the talent it doesn.t matter.

Bryce Bacon was disqualified for wearing some kind of rubber or plastic suit to lose weight at Districts in Dodge City. I don't know how much weight it was, just heard different amounts.
It's to bad because he could have placed at 43#. Instead of cutting to 40#.

Who suggested removing the 16yr olds, and who said anything about 6's cutting weight? Anyone wanting to elimanate any age group is hurting the sport. If a kid wants to participate at 6 or 16 they deserve the opportunity. Not all little guys are ready to compete but you better believe some are. My older son wasn't ready when he was 6. I know this because when we asked him if he wanted to try subs he said no. He didnt try subs until he was in his 2nd year of 8& under. We didn't even ask our 6yr old if he wanted to try subs last year. This year older teamates suggested he try and he did and was able to make state. Every kid is different and their level of desire develops at differnt rates. Our 6yr old is more agressive in his desire for learning at school than his 12 year old brother. Several people feel these young wrestlers are being pushed into trying state. I'm sure some are, but I think most parents are more responsible than that. Most coaches wouldn't suggest putting in a kid who wasn't ready. As a coach I would make an honest assessment of a child's abillity to compete and hope the parent was responsive to my suggestion. I don't believe parents put in the time and money that we do with bad intetions for their kids. Do some parents push to hard? Sure, there are some but I think most want what's best for their children. I hope sometime in the future all who are ready to compete will be able to on a level playing field until then this will always be debated. Good luck to all at state.
Jon Murray
Parsons Wrestling Club

To all of the people who posted TJ and I thank you for the support on this issue. TJ went 2-2 at state this weekend with the 8 yr olds. I'm very proud of him this year and what he has accomplished.

Way to go T.J. Keep up the hard work and next year will be yours..... by the way... I just love your blonde hair!