Lets just take a poll and settle the argument. Should Freshman be allowed to wrestle 8th graders in Kansas Kids state tournement?

Freshman allowed in 14 and under in Kansas Kids State or out? single choice
	Allow freshman to wrestle 14&under
	Freshman shouldn't be allowed to wrestle 14&under
Votes accepted starting: 01/01/70 12:00 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

"settle the argument?" ... I doubt that any poll or for that matter a vote ... will settle disputes. :-)

10th graders are also wrestling 7th graders. Just to be clear on the poll.

I can't think of a scenario when a sophomore would be in the 14 year old division... please enlighten me.

I am not sure which side of the fence I come down on with this issue. Right now I am squarely on the fence. I think it is a good debate, but I haven’t been convinced in the need to change what is working well.

You are right Randy a poll or even a vote on the issue at the State Body meeting will not settle the dispute.

The one thing it does disprove though is Nigel's post which stated that Will Cokeley and myself are the ONLY two to support this idea.

By the way neither Will or I are wanting high schoolers not to wrestle in a post season USAW-KS sponspored folkstyle event. We both want them to. We just are suggesting that the high schoolers should be wrestling against each other and not against grade schoolers.

As long as they follow in the age requirements what the problem. Some one always is going be in the bottom and some one at the top. What next? Should junior high wrestle elementry. This happens to.

My brother was an 8th grader last year @ 130lbs and he placed 3rd @ state in 14 and under the kid he lost to placed 1st who was also an 8th grader both will be in the 14 and under division again this year. The kid who placed 2nd was a highschool state champion. I think an 8th grader can hold his own if he is prepared and is good enough.

Alright then Vince,

Let me rephrase my original comment.

You and Will are the only two that I ever noticed posting about this subject year after year. Perhaps you could go back and dig them up for me. But I do not recall ever seeing this subject being brought up by anyone else but you two which is what led me to the original comment. It just surprises me that year after year this gets brought up when we all know what the conclusion will be.

It kinda hits a sore spot for me because everyone who has grown up through Kansas Wrestling has goen through this same system and most of us never had a problem with it. In fact many Kansas wrestlers have never been out of the state to wrestle, so why would they care what other states do with their cutoff dates? I recognize your opinions about this subject, but I very much disagree with them.

Actually Nigel I did do a search yesterday to try to get an idea of others besides myself and Will who saw this the same way. I did find in the search a topic from I believe 2002 maybe it was 2003. It was not introduced by either Will or myself. It was kind of amusing to read over it. You and I sound like broken records. I will bump it up for you so you can see that Will and I were not the ones to bring it up that year and I bet that would be the case in some subsequent years too. You probably have the perception that we do because we both post a lot about it when it comes up just like you do.

Typically though I think this subject is brought up by parents of 8th graders. I know it is discussed by parents outside of the forum too, especially by parents of 8th graders. I am pretty sure that it has been brought up this year on another topic by someone other than Will although he did bring it up again in that Freshman topic yesterday.

One thing for sure since my son is a 9th grader this year, this is the last year you will have to concern yourself with me on this particular issue. Now I will go see if I can find that topic and bump it up to confirm to you that I or Will did not introduce that year at least.

Why is everyone so concerned about our eigth graders wrestling against Freshmen? That is just the normal 2 year age group. What about our young Freshmen going up against 18 year old Seniors? It seems to me there is a much greater difference in strength and experience there.

i dont see a problem i think it will get the eight graders prepared for high school and like the last guy said freshman wrestle seniors in high school and im a freshman and i have beat most of my opponents and they are seniors

Kansas kids wrestling is done by age and weight. It is fair and people have to understand that there will be bumps in the road as they are growing up. The age bracket is 14 and under not Jr High. Just because a kid is getting better competition is no reason to say he can't wrestle. If 8th grade kids thinkwrestling 14 and under is tough they are in for a long year next year during school. one year age compared to 4 years age difference is a small matter.

To be the best you have to wrestle the best

Nice point Kansas my son took his lumps last year at the bottom of 14 & U and this year he has had to wrestle seniors almost every time at the 4A 140lbs bracket and I think he is giving up more than an 8th grader does.

exactly slap 2414..theres a WAY bigger difference from a senoir to freshman then a freshman to 8th grader.. I think my bench went up 20 lbs from that year..I'd hate to see how much it goes up in my next 4 years

Why are people so concerned about this? Nobody has ever been concerned about it before. Grow up!

Why are people so concerned about this? Nobody has ever been concerned about it before. Grow up!

Nobody? It's a nationwide majority that believes High School and Kids division are not the same.

i to agree that they are not the same. but the bottom line is wrestling is wrestling,you have tough matches and you have the easy matches and the age has nothing to do with it, although in a very few matches the maturity of one to the other does.So not to be harsh but if a kid cant handle his age group of competition he should look into basketball

That is not exactly true what you stated about nobody has ever been concerned about this before. I believe it has been debated by myself and others about every year over the last four years at least. I recently bumped up a topic from 2003 to show someone that myself and another person were not always the ones to bring the topic up. I admit I have probably posted in favor of change about every year. I have a 9th grade son and I still support a format in which the 9th graders would not be wrestling 8th graders.

It is very evident though that the majority on this forum and the voting members on the State Body do not share this view. It is not likely to change in the near future. So at this point, I say to the supporters of our current format, congratulations you have won this fight and from what I can see by a big margin.

Why do we have 12 year olds wrestling 11 year olds? Or 10 year olds wrestling 9...
It's the way it is. Take a year off if you don't like to wrestle up.